The Deepest Cut Read Online Free PDF Page A

again. It was a proper deep voice. Nathan was spun around fast, so we all stopped.
    â€˜Sorry,’ Nathan said again, face to face with the boy whose voice it was.
    â€˜You stood on my fucking foot,’ the boy said.
    â€˜He’s said he’s sorry, leave it, man,’ Jake said.
    The boy looked Jake up and down, then he turned back to Nathan. ‘Apologise to my foot,’ he said, deadly serious.
    Nathan went bright red. I wasn’t surprised: people were watching as they walked past.
    â€˜I said apologise to my foot,’ the boy said again. This time he was right up in Nathan’s face. I was so embarrassed for him, but too scared to do anything about it.
    â€˜I said leave it, man,’ Jake said again.
    â€˜Was I talking to you?’ The boy said to Jake. ‘Or was I talking to your little spastic of a friend?’
    â€˜Come on,’ I said, trying to pull Jake away.
    â€˜Apologise. To. My. Foot.’ The boy said louder, pulling Nathan back.
    â€˜Sorry,’ Nathan mumbled and I cringed.
    A teacher appeared. ‘Keep it moving guys, come on, get a move on,’ he said.
    The boy walked off with his mates like nothing happened.
    â€˜That’s William,’ a girl said to us. She’d started walking next to Nathan. ‘He was in our primary school and he’s a right idiot. Just ignore him and stay away from him.’ She smiled at Nathan, then ran off to catch up with her mates.
    â€˜You OK?’ Jake asked him.
    â€˜Yeah man, what a dickhead.’ He laughed. I knew he was only pretending to be OK.
    â€˜Ignore him,’ I said. ‘I’m Adam by the way, and this is Jake.’
    He did a sort of wave. ‘I’m Nathan, and thanks,’ he said.
    The bell went and we all went our separate ways.
    At lunchtime, we saw Nathan sitting on his own reading a book. He was looking lost and lonely. It made me feel lucky to have Jake. I didn’t think I’d be able to cope with the shame of sitting by myself all lunchtime.
    â€˜It must be pretty bad not having any mates,’ I said to Jake.
    â€˜Shall we go over?’
    â€˜What do you think of him?’ I asked.
    â€˜I dunno, let’s go and find out.’
    Nathan looked up from his book and seemed shocked when he saw us standing in front of him. He put the book away in his brand new, giant rucksack and smiled.
    â€˜Thought we’d come and say hi,’ Jake said.
    â€˜You alright?’ I asked.
    He nodded.
    â€˜You tried the school lunches?’ Jake asked. ‘They’re well rank. I’m getting my mum to do me a packed lunch tomorrow.’
    Nathan laughed.
    â€˜We don’t bite, you know,’ Jake said. Nathan was coming across a bit snobby, like maybe he didn’t really want to be talking to us. I reckoned he was just shy.
    â€˜I had a jacket potato; it was cold and hard,’ Nathan said.
    â€˜Haven’t you got any friends from your primary school here?’ I asked him. I sat down next to him, took a bag of sweets from my pocket and offered him one. He rummaged in the bag, took a cola bottle, and smiled.
    â€˜I’ve just moved here,’ he said. ‘My dad had to move closer to work so I don’t really know anyone.’
    â€˜You can hang out with us,’ Jake said.
    Nathan looked surprised and a bit hopeful.
    I smiled at him. ‘Yeah, we’ll look after you.’
    â€˜Ad, that sounds well soft, should have just stuck with hanging out, man.’ Jake laughed. ‘Didn’t he sound soft, Nath?’
    â€˜Yeah, totally,’ he said, and his face broke into a huge smile and we all cracked up laughing.
    â€˜And who is this, then?’ Debbie asked, as Nathan followed Jake and I into the kitchen after school.
    â€˜This, is Nathan.’ Jake did a little bow at Nathan like he was presenting him to royalty and we all laughed.
    â€˜Nice to meet you, Nathan,’ Debbie said, opening the fridge. ‘Would