CHERUB: Divine Madness - Robert Muchamore Page 0,105
a loaf of bread. The video-game shop was a thrill, but it was the bargain bookshop that sent him over the edge, buying a flurry of three-dollar paperbacks.
They ended up in a food court. Rat couldn’t decide between KFC and McDonalds, so they got one of each to share and Rat scoffed most of both.
‘What are you grinning at?’ Rat asked, as he looked at Lauren across the plastic table. She had a big black scab and three stitches in her bottom lip.
Lauren shrugged. ‘It’s nice watching you have so much fun.’
‘Don’t you like shopping?’
‘Sure,’ Lauren said. ‘If it’s somewhere ritzy and I’ve got money to spend.’
‘So there’s places better than this?’
‘Rat, this place is a dump. My best shopping centre is Bluewater near London. It’s like a big triangle, there’s two floors, a massive cinema and it takes a whole day to see everything. When my mum was alive, she used to take us there every November and she’d make a big list of everything we wanted stolen for our Christmas presents.’
‘Stolen,’ Rat grinned.
‘Oh, that’s a long story. She ran the biggest shoplifting gang in North London before she died.’
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Rat said, his face turning serious as he flicked away a piece of chicken skin stuck to his fingertip.
Lauren nodded. ‘Sure.’
‘Do you think I’m weird?’
Lauren shook her head and laughed out loud. ‘Rat, you’re funny and clever. I like you a lot. What made you ask that?’
Rat blushed. ‘Well … I’ve spent a lot of time watching girls in the shower, but we weren’t allowed to mix inside the Ark. You’re sort of … You’re the first girl I’ve ever actually had a conversation with and I wondered if you thought I was normal.’
Lauren reached across the table and put her hand on top of Rat’s. ‘You don’t need to worry,’ she grinned. ‘Most boys drive me nuts, but you’re really nice. Mind you, there is one thing.’
‘What?’ Rat asked anxiously.
Lauren twisted her face like she didn’t really want to broach the subject. ‘I know you’ve had a weird upbringing, but not everybody will understand. The whole thing about spying on girls in the shower is creepy. I’d try keeping it out of the conversation.’
‘Right,’ Rat said. ‘I’ll remember that – oh, there’s John.’
Lauren glanced over her shoulder, then at her watch. ‘John’s Mr Punctuality. You can set your watch by him.’
Dressed uncharacteristically in shorts and T-shirt, John Jones slid on to the bench alongside Lauren and peered down at Rat’s two shopping bags.
‘Looks like my fifty bucks didn’t last long. What did you get?’
‘Books mostly. I got a new copy of Oliver Twist and four other Charles Dickens novels. Plus that Lord Of The Rings book that Dana raved about at the hospital.’
‘Pretty brave attempting Lord Of The Rings,’ John said. ‘Never managed to plough through it all myself.’
‘I love reading, but we never got good books inside the Ark.’
‘You and James can stop squabbling over that handheld Playstation doo-dah now you’ve got those to read.’
Lauren shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t bet on it.’
‘Anyway,’ John said, ‘while I was over at the hospital visiting Dana, I had a phone call from the chairman back at campus.’
Lauren and Rat both straightened up, looking nervous.
‘I’m pleased to say …’
‘Yessssssssss,’ Rat screamed.
John raised his hand, but couldn’t help smiling. ‘Let me finish, Rat. Dr McAfferty has read James’ report on what you did inside the Ark and says he’s happy to waive the standard CHERUB recruitment tests. The doctor who examined you said you’re in perfect health and the results of your IQ test were outstanding. You’re being offered a place at CHERUB, with basic training to commence in three weeks.’
Lauren leaned across the table and gave Rat a hug. ‘Well done, mate. Basic training is rough, but once you get through that, you’re gonna love being a cherub.’
*
James sat in the living-room of a beachfront house, holding a cordless phone up to his ear.
‘Kerry, at last,’ he said, breaking into a grin. ‘I’ve been calling for two days.’
‘I just got back from a mission down in Devon.’
‘Right,’ James said. ‘Anything exciting?’
‘Not really. Kyle said you were in the Survivors’ Ark when it went bang. Are you OK?’
‘Yeah, not bad. We managed to escape through a sewage pipe. It’s lucky we did ’cos the explosion was right near the room where we’d been holed up. I picked up some nasty stomach bug in the sewer, so I’m on antibiotics.’