CHERUB: Brigands M.C. - Robert Muchamore Page 0,54

tall and curly-haired Julian gave Ashley a kiss. He had a set of Fiat keys hooked over his finger. ‘Hi Ash,’ he said, in a plummy voice. ‘Took ages. Some dick took about ten minutes to get into his parking spot. Had a queue of cars a mile long.’

‘This is James,’ Ashley said. ‘He just moved here, he’s enrolling at Crossroads tomorrow. You’re coming into the diner with us, aren’t you?’

‘If that’s OK,’ James shrugged.

James had clearly been hitting on Ashley, so Julian didn’t look impressed. ‘Hey James,’ he said curtly. ‘You’re always picking up refugees, aren’t you, Ash?’

As James headed towards the diner, Julian put his arm around Ashley’s waist, making it clear who she belonged to.

19. HEY

Monday

Salcombe had stirred a lot of old memories, but seeing Joe had made Dante catch his breath. They’d been best friends from toddling around in nappies until the night his family was murdered. He’d often wondered what Joe’s reaction had been when he found out that his father had killed his best friend’s family.

In the early days after the murder Dante even fantasised that Joe would come out on his side and back up his story about being made to fight Martin in the boxing ring. But he’d never really expected it: Joe idolised his dad, and even if he hadn’t he’d have been insane to go to the police against the Führer’s will.

The thirteen-year-old Joe was recognisably an older version of the boy Dante had known which made him paranoid that someone would see through his new identity, despite reassurance from the experts on CHERUB campus that four years, a new name, an accent and a change of hairstyle were sufficient.

The school didn’t have uniform, so each clique had adopted its own. Joe hung with a crowd of cool boys in designer-brand polo shirts, baggy cargo shorts or jeans, complemented with Vans or Converse. Dante reckoned his old-skool Adidas T-shirt with Diesel Jeans would pass muster, but he hadn’t even been assigned to Joe’s class because despite Chloe’s best efforts, the school had a policy that siblings weren’t allowed in the same class.

So while Dante stood alone in the Year Eight common room, trying not to make it obvious that he was watching the boys around Joe and hoping some of them would be in his class, Lauren could make a direct approach. She acted baffled, then walked up to one of the girls sitting cross-legged on a table top at the fringe of Joe’s group.

‘Excuse me,’ Lauren said, as she held out the timetable she’d been given in the Head of Year’s office fifteen minutes earlier. ‘I’m in class 8C and Mr Brankin said it was easiest if I tagged along with someone to find my form room.’

‘I’m 8C,’ the girl nodded, as she played with her hair. ‘I’m Anna. I like your shoes.’

‘Lauren,’ Lauren smiled. ‘There’s a cool shop in Covent Garden, they do all limited edition Nikes and stuff that you never see in the chains.’

The boys around Joe were more interested in Lauren’s bare legs and tits, and while it felt creepy knowing that they were all checking her out, it was exactly what she’d intended when she’d put on short shorts and a tight vest.

Everyone in the group seemed curious. A girl and two boys edged back, making room for Lauren to join the circle. A few kids including Joe told her their names, or made little welcome gestures like nods or wrist flicks.

The boy standing next to Lauren was the tallest. He had a stooped posture and loomed over the edge of the group. He kept quiet, but laughed noisily at the cooler kids’ comments, making it obvious that he was a hanger-on rather than part of the core group. Sensing an opportunity to get a cheap laugh, he offered Lauren a handshake, which she took suspiciously.

‘My name’s Chris,’ the kid said, speaking loud so that you could tell he was building up to something. ‘Can I put my penis inside you?’

The boys all started laughing hysterically, while a girl called Jane booted Chris’ ankle and called him a pig. Lauren’s first urge was to snatch her hand away and swear at Chris, but she was an experienced CHERUB agent and she’d been through the making friends with strange kids scenario enough times to recognise a golden opportunity.

After freeing herself from the handshake, Lauren gave Chris a shove and snatched the Reebok backpack that had been standing on the ground between his feet. She glanced