to get up. Junior didn’t look too confident. After a couple of tense moments, James smiled and reached out his hand.
‘If you want a row, there’s plenty of easier targets around than me,’ he said.
Junior looked pissed off, but grudgingly let James help him up.
‘Where’d you learn to do that?’ Junior asked, brushing off his uniform.
‘From Zara, my stepmum,’ James said. ‘She’s a Karate instructor.’
‘Cool,’ Junior said. ‘What belt are you?’
‘Black, of course,’ James said. ‘What about you? Who taught you to throw a punch?’
‘Boxing club,’ Junior said. ‘I’m undefeated. Eight fights, eight victories.’
By the time the teacher got the classroom door open, the lesson was half finished. There was a spare seat next to Junior.
‘Mind if I sit here?’ James asked.
‘Free country,’ Junior shrugged. ‘This is Del and I’m Keith; but that’s my dad’s name, so everyone calls me Junior.’
‘I’m James. Thanks for rescuing us from sitting with freak-boy over there.’
James was pleased with himself. It had only taken an hour to break the ice. He sealed the deal by blowing a massive raspberry when the teacher asked him to be quiet. Junior and Del cracked up laughing.
Junior slapped James on the back as they walked out to morning break.
‘You’ve got bottle, James,’ he said. ‘What lesson’s next?’
Del got a timetable out of his pocket.
‘History,’ he said.
‘Balls to that,’ Junior said. ‘What about this afternoon?’
‘Maths and French.’
‘Don’t fancy that,’ Junior said. ‘You coming, Del?’
Del looked anxious. ‘I dunno. I don’t think we should bunk off first day. My dad’s gonna kill me if we get suspended again.’
‘Well,’ Junior said, ‘it’s sunny outside. There’s no way I’m sitting cooped up in some classroom. You wanna tag along, James?’
‘Where you going?’
‘God knows. We can get burgers or something, hang around the shopping centre.’
‘Whatever,’ James said. ‘Anything beats lessons.’
One of the coolest things about missions was being able to break all the rules without getting into trouble.
*
The two boys crawled under the back gate and ran a couple of hundred metres away from the school. Junior did a strip. He had a Puma T-shirt and shorts under his uniform.
‘If you’re gonna bunk off,’ Junior explained, ‘it’s best to get rid of the uniform. Otherwise you get some old bat spotting the badge on your blazer and ringing up your school to complain.’
‘Smart,’ James nodded. ‘But all I’ve got under here is bare skin, so unless you want me to walk round in my boxers, I’m stuck with it.’
‘You want to go to the Reeve Centre?’ Junior asked.
‘What’s that?’
‘Big shopping place. You’re seriously telling me you’ve never been there?’
‘We only moved here a week ago,’ James explained.
‘Why’s that?’
‘We were in London,’ James lied, repeating the cover story they’d all had to memorise. ‘My stepdad got a job at the airport, so we moved up here.’
‘If you’ve never been to the Reeve Centre, we should definitely go. It’s half an hour on the bus. There’s sports shops, games shops and a big food court.’
‘Sounds cool,’ James said. ‘But I’ve only got the three quid Zara gave me to buy lunch.’
‘I can lend you a fiver, James. But I’ll send my geezers round to smash your legs if you don’t pay me back.’
James laughed. ‘Cheers.’
9. THEFT
They wandered round the Reeve Centre for an hour, looking at trainers and computer games that they didn’t have any money to buy. It wasn’t as boring as school, but it wasn’t exactly exciting either. When they got hungry, they got stuff off a Mexican stand in the food court.
‘My dad’s loaded,’ Junior said, taking a chunk out of his burrito. ‘But he’s so tight. He says he doesn’t want me turning into a spoiled brat. I’m telling you, half the poor scum living down on the Thornton estate get more cool stuff than I do.’
‘That’s where I live,’ James said.
‘Sorry,’ Junior smiled. ‘No offence.’
‘None taken.’
‘Actually, it’s quite a laugh hanging out on Thornton. I was down there in the holidays and some kids started chucking bricks at the police.’
James laughed. ‘Excellent.’
‘It was brilliant. One cop car got the windscreen smashed and everything. I go to boxing club down there as well. Have you been round there?’
‘No.’
‘My dad sponsors it, actually. You should come along, everyone who goes boxing is a nutter. It’s a good crowd.’
‘Maybe I’ll try it,’ James said. ‘Does boxing hurt?’
‘Only when you get punched,’ Junior said, grinning. ‘So that’s something you should definitely try to avoid.’
‘So how come your dad’s loaded?’ James asked. ‘What does he do?’
James knew what Keith Moore did, of course, but he