he turned and started running. Within a few seconds the other CHERUB agents had all turned and run away.
‘Dartmouth Park,’ Ryan taunted, as they ran off. ‘Dartmouth Shite, more like.’
By this time, most of the St Thomas’ kids were back on their feet. Abdi, who’d repeatedly blanked Ryan in science class, came up behind and gave him a friendly thump on the back.
‘You see that eye gouge on the big kid?’ Abdi shouted. ‘He’s gonna be feeling that one!’
‘Where’d you learn your skills?’ Andre asked.
Ryan smirked. ‘I’ve been moved around a lot of schools and there’s always someone waiting to take a pop at you.’
‘Righteous,’ another kid said, before offering to bump fists. ‘Reckon we’d have handled it though. It’s just they took us by surprise.’
‘Surprise,’ Abdi agreed.
‘So where you from?’ Andre asked.
Ryan made a circle with his pointing finger. ‘All around. My parents died, so I live with my brother, James. He’s got a job working as a mechanic, so hopefully we’re gonna be here for a while.’
‘Didn’t I see you going in a house on the Pemberton estate?’ Abdi asked.
Ryan nodded. ‘That’s right.’
‘You should come over to The Hangout,’ Abdi said. ‘You must practically be able to see it from your house.’
‘I’ve seen it,’ Ryan said. ‘I wasn’t sure if it was cool, plus it’s not like I know anyone round here.’
‘Come tonight,’ Abdi said. ‘There’s pool, table tennis, girls.’
‘Not that they’ll go near you, Abdi,’ someone said.
Ryan tried to sound nonchalant, even though he was all excited on the inside. ‘Guess I might check it out,’ he said casually.
14. HANGOUT
Ryan got home from school just before five.
‘And?’ James asked.
Ryan smiled as he threw his school bag down in the hallway. ‘Yeah, your plan worked,’ he said. ‘I had double maths after lunch and I sat with Abdi, Youssef and a guy called Warren. We were pissing around so much that we got a detention.’
‘So, am I a genius, or am I a genius?’ James asked.
‘Clearly nothing beats a giant fake street brawl to win new friends,’ Ryan said. ‘Now I’m supposed to be meeting the guys at The Hangout in about an hour, so I’m gonna shower and change. Is there something I can blitz in the microwave?’
‘That’s the only kind of food I buy,’ James said.
After his shower, Ryan felt anxious as he picked out clothes for the evening. He didn’t want to look scruffy, but he might also get laughed at if he ponced himself up too much. In the end he went for a blue and white striped T-shirt, cargo shorts and a pair of Vans slip-ons.
From outside, The Hangout was a grafittied metal shed that could have been a youth club anywhere. The main doors were propped open because of the heat and Ryan stepped into a spacious hall with pool and table tennis tables, a line of vending machines and a lot of severely vandalised foam chairs.
There were about twenty-five kids in the space, and as Ryan walked in it seemed that every eye turned on him. He made about four steps over the sticky tiled floor before Youssef called.
‘Ryan, get over here.’
Youssef was in the middle of a group of about ten lads, most of whom Ryan recognised from his target list. Nobody could be arsed to play ping-pong in the heat, but all the pool tables were busy, while another group of lads played poker. Despite the promise of girls, there were none to be seen, and most mysteriously of all, three sinister-looking heavies sat outside an office.
‘You play pool?’ Youssef asked, as he banged Ryan’s fist. ‘Guys, this is Ryan. He stepped in and saved our asses from those Dartmouth Park slags earlier on.’
Abdi objected to this description. ‘He helped out, he didn’t save us.’
Youssef shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
A bulky Somali lad named Sadad spoke. ‘Those arse swipes are lucky I wasn’t there. I would have mashed them up.’
‘I’d love to go up to Dartmouth Park and find those kids and take ’em down,’ Abdi said. ‘They only beat us because they took us by surprise.’
This wasn’t what Ryan recalled, but he joined the nods around the group. As far as he was concerned, they could remember the fight any way they liked, as long as they were still his mates.
‘So how do I get a game of pool?’ Ryan asked.
Sadad answered. ‘I’m up next, you can play the winner.’
As Sadad spoke a bearded guy in a waistcoat came out of the office and offered Ryan his hand.
‘Hi,’ he said, as