Part 50 (2/2)
Hannah and Raj looked at each other.
”What?” said Josh.
”Darling.” Suzanne's eyes were wet. ”They cut you to pieces. Can't you tell?”
He looked down at himself, soaked through with what he had thought was water.
”Oh, G.o.d.”
”Josh, you're going to be all”
Oh, G.o.d.
Blackness grew inside him like a mushroom cloud.
[ THIRTY-TWO ].
Monday, and Richard's first day back at St Michael's. He sat in the back seat for several minutes after the car had stopped outside the gates.
”You sure you're all right?” asked Lexa.
”Yeah. Dad's going to have an interesting day, isn't he?”
”I should think so.”
Shareholders to confront, legal coups to make public, revelations that he had already in secret, via proxies regained control of his corporations, even before the nose-dive in Tyndall shares across the globe. It would be a day of triumph, muted by the general geopolitical shock of the ongoing disaster in North America, none of which seemed real.
Here, as Jags and Bentley Electros pulled up at the school, everything was weirdly normal. Perhaps the sky was greyer than you might expect, but that was all.
”See you later,” said Richard, climbing out.
”Later.” Lexa winked goodbye.
Some of the other boys glanced his way, but no one said anything as he walked through the gates. Ahead were the proud old buildings, and he realised he had missed them.
He thumbed his phone, selecting Opal Opal from his contacts. from his contacts.
”Hey.” A bandaged face smiled at him. ”Are you OK?”
”First day back. I'm just going in.”
”You'll be fine. Call me later?”
”Sure.”
Her image winked out.
Boys jostled him, not deliberately but because he was in a bottleneck. He let himself be carried by the flow, into the old corridors where the parquet floors shone with polish. For some reason, the beeswax smell made him smile. He went through into a quadrangle.
Here, some of the boys were on a bench, comparing notes on homework. Others were moaning about the Knifefighter Challenge being ruined, or talking about the rogue fighter who had done so much before bringing the event to an off-kilter end.
”My father says it's the election that's the important thing.”
”There was no election, dummy. They cancelled it. Nothing happened.”
”That's what I'm talking about.”
Richard thumbed his phone again, selectingSuzanne.”h.e.l.lo, Richard. You must be at school by now. Feeling good?”
”I'm fine. Really fine.”
”I did feel confident on that score.”
”How's?”
”Take a look.” The image swung to another bandaged figure. ”Here's the man himself.”
”Hey, Josh.”
”Hey, Richie.”
Richard grinned at him.”Can I ring you again tonight, and talk for longer? I've got to go cla.s.s now.”
”Sure you can. We'll talk later, pal.”
”Bye.”
He put the phone away, still grinning; and that was when the mood changed. The sky above the open quadrangle seemed to darken, but perhaps that was an illusion, caused by the other boy's bulk, and the hardness of his voice when he spoke.
”Well, f.u.c.k it,” said Zajac. ”Little t.u.r.d's come back, two days after after we was supposed to meet. How about that?” we was supposed to meet. How about that?”
From the far side of the quadrangle, Mal James called: ”Leave the poor b.u.g.g.e.r alone, why don't you?”
Richard no, from now on he was Richie looked at Zajac from beneath his eyebrows, his chin lowered and his shoulders hunched. Zajac was sneering and smiling at the same time.
”Think you can get away with it, do you, little t.u.r.d?”
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