CHERUB: The Fall - Robert Muchamore Page 0,13

that.’

‘Cheater,’ Bethany grinned.

‘Well it was out of order,’ Lauren said.

‘Oh there’s a shock,’ Bethany said, before making a smoochy sound. ‘Lauren defends her secret love.’

‘Bite me,’ Lauren said, as she flicked Bethany off.

Rat took the shot for the second time and the blue rattled in the jaws of the pocket, but didn’t drop.

‘Righty ho,’ Andy said, as he grabbed his cue. ‘One-four-seven break, here I come.’

Rat sucked a mouthful of orange juice from his carton before moving to stand alongside Lauren. ‘I’m glad we told everyone,’ he smiled.

Bethany huffed, ‘Oh yeah, it was such a big secret. We all knew what was going on anyway.’

Bethany was starting to wind Lauren up. Lauren had put up with several of Bethany’s stupid crushes, but now that she had a boyfriend, Bethany was acting all jealous.

Bethany’s brother Jake and some of his mates were sitting on a sofa waiting for the next game. Jake started singing: ‘Rat and Lauren sitting in a tree, B-O-N-K-I-N-G.’

Lauren turned her head sharply and glowered at him. ‘Unless you want this cue rammed up your arse, I’d suggest that you shut it.’

‘Ooooh, tetchy,’ Jake giggled.

‘Do you want me to make you cry again, baby brother?’ Bethany threatened, suddenly on Lauren’s side again.

Andy missed an easy red. ‘Your shot, Lauren.’

Lauren knew she was hopeless and decided on a radical strategy. There was an unbroken cluster of red balls in the middle of the table and she clattered them as hard as she could.

‘Skill,’ Lauren howled, punching the air as a red ball dropped into a pocket.

‘You are soooo jammy,’ Andy tutted.

Even better, one of the flying reds had knocked the pink ball into the jaws of a corner pocket.

‘Come on, baby,’ Rat grinned, as Lauren lined up her next shot. ‘That’s six easy points.’

She smiled as the pink rolled in, but the white ball followed it.

‘Stupid girl,’ Jake yelled gleefully. ‘You should have put some backspin on it.’

Lauren gave a couldn’t care less shrug. ‘I’ve only played snooker three times. I don’t understand how to do all that stuff.’

Lauren was sharing a cue with Bethany and as she handed it across, the room went oddly quiet. A bunch of lads who were fighting with Pepperamis, throwing crisps and making light sabre noises all settled back into their seats and tried looking innocent.

Lauren had to look over her shoulder to find the reason: Zara Asker, CHERUB’s newly appointed chairwoman, was walking down the spiral staircase that led into the lounge. Zara spotted Lauren and headed straight towards her.

‘Can we have a private word in my office?’ Zara asked.

Jake burst out laughing and made a sound like a whip cracking. ‘You’re in trouble,’ he sang, to the delight of his mates.

Zara turned sharply and jammed her finger under Jake’s nose. ‘You’re walking on very thin ice, Mr Parker. I’ve had several reports about your cheek in lessons and I can see punishment laps and a few months of washing-up duty on your schedule if you don’t sharpen up.’

Jake liked acting cocky in front of his little crew of ten-year-olds, but Zara’s glare made him wilt as Bethany poked her tongue at him.

‘Is it about Mr Large?’ Lauren asked, once they were out of the noisy lounge and heading up the stairs.

‘No it isn’t,’ Zara said, as they reached the top and walked out into the fresh air, heading for the main building. ‘I think it’s best if I explain when we get to my office. Although I did have a phone call from Mr Large’s partner earlier. His condition is improving, but it’s still serious and there’s a possibility that he’ll need a bypass operation. And even if Mr Large recovers fully, he faces a disciplinary hearing when he comes back to work.’

‘Why’s that?’ Lauren asked.

‘I’ve read all the reports on the Dales incident and it sounds like Mr Large had a skinful before his heart attack. The odd pint or two is fine, but he was in charge of twenty-six children and drunkenness is unacceptable.’

‘Will he get the boot this time?’ Lauren asked, trying to hide a grin.

‘Probably not,’ Zara shrugged. ‘For all his faults, Norman Large is a hard man to replace. It’s unbelievably tough to find good training instructors. I mean, would you want to spend your working life running around a muddy assault course and making kids’ lives a misery?’

Lauren shook her head. ‘I suppose it takes a certain type of person.’

‘You came out well in Arif’s incident report,’ Zara said brightly. ‘He says that you had