CHERUB: Class A - Robert Muchamore Page 0,30

Nicole and the drug dealing.
‘Who else knows?’
‘I’ve told a few people,’ Kyle said.
‘I can’t believe it,’ James gasped. ‘You don’t seem anything like a poof.’
‘Actually, I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me that.’
‘Oh, right … Sorry.’
*
James lay awake the whole night, listening to the aeroplanes rumbling over the house. He got up with the sun, had a shower, got a bowl of Shreddies and made himself tea. When the newspaper dropped through the letterbox, he read the sports page at the kitchen table, but it was like the words were going through his eyes and bouncing straight off his brain. All he could think about was Kerry with Dinesh and Kyle being gay.
Kerry and Nicole came downstairs. James didn’t like that they were together; it made his paranoid side imagine that the two of them were working together and scheming against him.
‘I’m making bacon sarnies,’ Nicole said. ‘You want one, James?’
‘Mmm,’ James said. ‘Cheers.’
Kerry sat on the opposite side of the table and poured orange juice. Kyle had asked him not to tell people he was gay, but James was practically bursting. He had to tell someone. It felt too big to keep locked up.
‘I spoke to Kyle last night,’ James said.
Kerry looked up from the colour supplement. ‘And?’
‘He told me something. It’s totally mind-blowing, but you can’t spread it around.’
‘Whatever,’ Kerry said. ‘Spill the beans.’
‘Kyle told me he’s gay.’
Kerry smiled a bit. ‘Well duh. Of course Kyle’s gay.’
Nicole looked away from the spattering bacon. ‘It took you this long to work out Kyle’s gay,’ she said.
‘He said he’d only ever told a couple of people.’
Kerry smiled. ‘You must at least have suspected.’
‘No. Why would anyone suspect that Kyle’s gay?’
‘Well, dingus,’ Kerry said. ‘He’s always clean and neatly dressed. Unlike most of you guys, his room isn’t covered in disgusting pictures of half-naked women and nobody has ever seen him within five kilometres of a girl. I mean, short of walking around with a plaque on his forehead saying Gay Boy, how obvious do you want it to be?’
‘But I share a room with him,’ James gasped. ‘He sees me naked.’
‘So what?’ Kerry said. ‘I’ve seen you naked.’
‘Well, he’s gay.’
‘You think he fancies you?’ Kerry giggled. ‘I wouldn’t flatter yourself.’
Nicole turned away from the frying pan with a big smile on her face. ‘Come to think of it, I’ve seen him eyeing you up, James.’
‘Shut up,’ James said. ‘It’s not funny. It’s disgusting.’
‘You think being gay is disgusting?’ Kerry tutted. ‘I thought Kyle was your friend.’
‘He is,’ James said. ‘But… I’m not comfortable with the whole gay thing.’
‘Do us some bread, Kerry,’ Nicole said. ‘Bacon doesn’t take long.’
Kerry got the loaf off the cabinet and started buttering.
‘You know, James,’ she said, ‘it must have been hard for Kyle to admit something like that to you. Especially when you’re always calling people faggots and queers.’
Nicole moved the pan off the heat and helped Kerry make up the sandwiches.
‘I heard that one person in ten is gay,’ Nicole said. ‘So it’s not that unusual. If you think about it, every football team probably has one gay player on it.’
Kerry giggled. ‘I wonder who the gay one at Arsenal is? Actually, the big clubs have loads of players and reserve teams. There’s probably at least four or five.’
James stood up from the table and boiled over. ‘That’s not funny,’ he shouted. ‘There’s no such thing as a gay Arsenal player.’
Kerry slammed James’ plate on the table in front of him. ‘Sit down and eat that,’ she said angrily. ‘Kyle’s your friend, so you better be supportive. If you say anything that upsets him, I’ll show you the meaning of uncomfortable.’
12. SUBURBAN
It was Wednesday evening, and James was on his third night making deliveries. His phone went off a couple of times a night; always the same calm female voice on the other end. James had no idea who or where she was, only that she seemed motherly, was happy to give directions and always signed off with the same words: You be careful out there, young man.
The deliveries were never more than a few kilometres’ ride. The job would be nasty in the winter, but on sunny early autumn evenings it was no hardship. James had imagined his customers would be scraggy-haired women in night clothes holding screaming babies, or wild-eyed men with beards and motorbikes, but it was nothing like that.
*
James was breathless by the time he found the housing estate. The houses were brand new. There was a developer’s signpost