my room and stuff.’
The busy country road had no pavement, so they walked single file until they reached the gates of the Eagles’ Nest. After a brief stop to climb on the tank the kids walked into the hallway. Joe’s mum rushed out from the kitchen. The Führer had moved to a bigger house after making a mint from the development of Marina Heights, but Dante knew Joe’s mum.
Marlene Donnington had always been heavy, but she’d gained more weight over the past five years and thick make-up and a deep sun-bed tan did nothing to improve her looks. But Joe’s mum had always been nice to Dante and her face reminded him of Brigands barbecues, shopping trips and sleeping out in a tent with Joe when he was little.
‘So nice to see some of your friends,’ Marlene said cheerfully. ‘Would you like some Pepsi and crisps, or I could make ham sandwiches if any of you are hungry? And I’m sorry to be a fusspot, but if you wouldn’t mind taking your shoes off inside the house.’
As Dante pulled off his Converse he remembered that he’d always liked Joe’s mum’s sandwiches because she used butter while his mum could only ever afford margarine.
‘Yeah I’m starving,’ Joe said.
‘I’m vegetarian actually,’ Lauren said.
‘Me too,’ Anna added.
‘Can you do some different ones?’ Joe asked. ‘Ham, cheese and pickle or whatever you’ve got, and maybe some crisps.’
‘So many of you teenagers are vegetarian these days,’ Marlene said, as she smiled at the girls. ‘I’ll bring the sandwiches up to Joe’s room.’
‘Your mum’s so nice,’ Anna said as they started up the stairs towards Joe’s room.
The house was neatly decorated and could have been the home of any wealthy executive, apart from the framed photos of bikers and the occasional bust of Hitler.
‘So is your dad actually a Nazi?’ Lauren asked.
‘Nah,’ Joe said. ‘He’s mainly interested in the history and stuff.’
‘I heard that the Brigands don’t let anyone who isn’t white in their gang,’ Anna said.
Joe pointed at Lauren. ‘It’s like she said, you can’t pick your parents. My dad has done a bunch of shit. Some of it like going on runs and the bikes and stuff is cool, but some of the more extreme stuff pisses me off.’
Dante wondered if the murder of his parents had anything to do with Joe’s opinions. Or maybe it was the standard thing of teenagers reaching a certain age and realising that their parents aren’t gods. Either way, it made Dante feel a lot better about hanging about with his old friend, but a lot worse about his prospects of wringing useful information out of Joe.
‘So this is my room,’ Joe said, as he opened up. His mess was disguised behind the doors of fitted wardrobes. He had a big bed, a cool Alienware gaming PC and a big LCD screen with surround speakers.
‘You spoiled bastard,’ Dante grinned. ‘These speakers must be so loud.’
‘Yeah,’ Joe said, as he picked Green Day’s Bullet in a Bible DVD out of his cupboard. ‘Surround sound is awesome, you wanna hear it?’
‘American Idiot,’ Dante nodded. ‘That song is fricking awesome.’
As the DVD went through its copyright warnings Lauren crashed out on a beanbag. Anna and Dante sat together on the sofa and kissed until the music started.
‘Jesus this is so loud,’ Lauren screamed, but nobody heard a word. She burst out laughing when she turned around and saw Dante jumping up and down, playing air guitar and rocking his head back and forth. His long hair flew wildly.
After turning the sound up even louder, Joe threw down the remote and jumped on his bed where he went into competition dancing even more crazily than Dante. Lauren stepped up and they held hands and jumped into the air together, high enough for Lauren’s hair to flick against the ceiling.
They repeated this until on the third jump Joe’s foot missed the edge of the bed and he stumbled sideways into Anna and Dante. Lauren got dragged off the bed and wound up crashing down on top of Joe, with Anna’s legs trapped beneath them and Dante’s funky sock in her face.
They were all giggling and trying to clamber out of the heap when Joe’s mum came into the room holding a tray stacked with four glasses, a bottle of Coke and a plate of little sandwiches and crisps.
‘Turn the music down!’ she yelled, as she grabbed the remote off the carpet and tried to find the button. When she got the volume down