New Guard (CHERUB) - Robert Muchamore Page 0,18

Oli sat in the home’s cramped dining area, scoffing Nutella toast.

‘Was it today you’ve got History with Mr Cunningham?’ Oli asked. ‘Tell the old fart that I said hello.’

‘That the guy who got you expelled?’ Daniel asked, as he filled a bowl from a giant box of Asda-brand wheat flakes and topped it off with mixed nuts and milk. ‘Seen my brother?’

‘Saw him disappear with Rhea.’

Leon had spent the previous evening in the TV room making out with Rhea. She was hot stuff, and Daniel was jealous.

‘So, you all set for lunchtime?’ Daniel asked. ‘Bunk off and head over to our cousin’s place?’

‘Course,’ Oli said. ‘I’ve bunked a million times. Anything to get out of Games.’

‘Thought you said you were good at football,’ Daniel noted.

‘I am,’ Oli said defensively. ‘I was top scorer on the school team last year.’

A Year Eight girl called Mel sat across the table, big shoulders and purple streaks in plaited hair. ‘Top scorer,’ she squealed, as she accidentally spat cereal across the table. ‘You so full of it, Oli, with them chunky-monkey legs.’

Oli reared up. ‘What do you know? You’ve never been at my school.’

‘Seen you run,’ Mel said. ‘Give us a football, bet you couldn’t catch me, let alone tackle me.’

‘Am I talking to you?’ Oli blurted. ‘Is this your conversation, hippo?’

Mel looked at Daniel, then pointed a false nail at Oli. ‘He’s full of shit.’

Wes the Weed chimed in from the next table. ‘You know how you can tell when Oli’s lying?’ he asked. ‘He’s lying whenever his lips move.’

Oli’s chair grated backwards as he stood and yelled. His voice hadn’t broken so it was really shrill. ‘I’ll bust your nose if you don’t shut your mouth.’

One of the kitchen staff overheard this and stepped between the boys. ‘Cool heads, the lot of you,’ he shouted.

Rather than sit down, Oli abandoned the last of his toast, grabbed his school pack and stormed out. Daniel had wolfed most of his cereal and ignored the kitchen guy’s order to come back and clean plates.

‘Up yours, losers,’ Oli shouted, giving a backwards flip off.

Daniel followed Oli past the admin office, downstairs and along the corridor to the street. He had a fiver and realised there was time to get a McDonald’s breakfast before school. But he was distracted seeing Leon up against the shutters of the yet-to-open betting shop, snogging Rhea.

‘Get a room you dirty perverts,’ Oli yelled.

Rhea stopped kissing Leon and checked the time on her phone. She went to the same Fresh Start unit as Oli, so she gave Leon a goodbye peck.

‘Laters, Leon,’ she said, before walking off the same way as Oli.

‘I love this mission!’ Leon told his brother as he picked his school pack off the pavement. ‘What a girl!’

Daniel didn’t want Leon knowing he was jealous, but the twins knew one another too well to hide emotions.

‘Don’t worry,’ Leon said, as he pulled his phone out of his school trousers and unlocked it. ‘I had a word with Rhea. She’s gonna fix you up with one of her hot mates. I know your type, she’s perfect.’

Daniel looked excited. ‘Really?’

‘Here’s a picture.’

Daniel looked at his brother’s phone, seeing a police mugshot of a meth addict with sunken eyes and blackened teeth.

‘Oh you’re so funny,’ Daniel said, giving Leon an almighty shove in the back. ‘And it’s pure luck you know. If I’d been sitting by the door when she walked in …’

‘Nah-nuhh-uh-nuh-nuh-nuh,’ Leon mocked, as he wiped lipstick off his cheek. ‘So Captain Bullshit’s all set for lunchtime?’

‘I bet he’s not coming,’ Leon said. ‘Chicken shit.’

He was in a side street with Daniel, sitting on a low wall in front of an abandoned exhaust centre. Both boys had coat hoods up, with rain pelting the outsides.

‘Better text James,’ Daniel said, but Oli came around the corner just as he was about to dial.

‘Howdy, partners,’ Oli said, stuffing his face from a family bag of Walkers Cheese and Onion. ‘Sorry I’m late. Had to wait till lunch was over ’cos they had someone on the back gate today.’

‘No probs,’ Leon said, as he started a slow walk. ‘So our cousin wants this garage cleared out, says he’ll pay us thirty each. Take maybe three or four hours.’

‘Cool,’ Oli said. ‘I don’t even care about the money, because I’ve got three grand in my Nationwide savings account. I just wanna get off Games, you know?’

‘We’ve done odd jobs for him before,’ Leon continued. ‘Sometimes he gives us a bit of weed as well.’

‘I