'You don't want to hang around out here, there's too many arseholes about.'
It was a trick. He was trying to get rid of us before he gave the game away. He lit a cigarette: another telltale sign!
Me: 'Did you know the boy who died?'
Suspect: 'Do what?'
Dean: 'The one who got stabbed. He was his cousin.'
Suspect: 'No, I didn't know him.'
Me: 'Do you know who did it?'
Suspect: 'I wish I did. These fâing kids, they need drowning at birth.'
Dean: 'How do you know it was a kid who did it?'
Suspect: 'It's always kids, innit. You wanna stay away from all that shit, boys, it only ends one way. Be smart, yeah?'
Me: 'We are.'
His smoke was going in our eyes. It was another trick to make us blind so we couldn't pick any clues up. I'm telling you, they're very clever. In the end we just had to give up.
Dean: 'They're never gonna tell us nothing. As soon as they know they're being interviewed they just mug us off. We're not gonna get anywhere by asking, we have to find out for ourselves.'
Me: 'How?'
Dean: 'Surveillance and evidence, it's the only way. CSI-style, fingerprints, DNA. That shit don't lie.'
I made a thinking face like I knew what he was talking about. Dean's the brains because he's seen all the shows. I washed all the beer smell off before Mamma got home from work. She says a man who smells of beer is a mess waiting to happen.
Violence always came too easy to you, that's the problem. It always felt too good. Remember the first time you trod on an ant, and with an infant stamp made the moving still, the present past? Wasn't that a sickly sweet epiphany? Such power in your feet and at your fingertips such temptation! It would take some act of charity to give all that good stuff away. You'd need to be something greater than just another invention of a spiteful god.
Kyle Barnes stuck his compass in Manik's leg. Manik screamed like a girl even if there was no blood. Everybody laughed.
Manik: 'What did you do that for?'
Kyle Barnes: 'So you'd do that.'
Kyle Barnes chooked him again. Manik screamed again. He was like a squeaky pig. It was like the compass was a fork and Kyle Barnes was testing to see if he was done yet. Asweh, it was very funny. Kyle Barnes loves it when we have a supply teacher. Most of the time they don't even do the lesson, they just read the newspaper. That's when Kyle Barnes comes after you with the compass. You have to not get chooked but you're not allowed to get off your chair. It's proper hard. I've been chooked about three times. It doesn't really hurt, it just gives you a crazy surprise. There's never any blood.
The best weapon would be an umbrella that's really a poison gun. You think it's just an umbrella but actually it shoots poison bullets out the end. We were talking about what the best weapons are.
Kyle Barnes thinks the best weapon is an AK-47.
Dean thinks it's a knuckleduster with extra long spikes.
Chevon Brown thinks the best weapon is a crossbow. But you have to be very strong to shoot it because it's proper heavy. The arrows are called bolts. They're longer than you.
Brayden Campbell: 'You couldn't shoot a crossbow. You couldn't even pick it up.'
Chevon Brown: 'Fâoff, man. You couldn't even shoot an AK-47, the recoil would knock your head off.'
Brayden Campbell: 'Bullshit. I could do it one-handed.'
Me and Dean: 'My arse.'
Me and Dean: 'Jinx!'
We said jinx straight away. The curse can't even touch us.
I know nearly all the rules now. There's over one hundred. Some of them are to keep you out of danger. Some of them are just so the teachers can control you.
Some of them are so your friends know what side you're on. If you follow those rules, they'll know they can trust you and then you can roam with them. One rule is, if you and your friend say the same thing at the same time you have to say jinx or you'll be cursed. If you don't say jinx you'll shit yourself for one day after.
Some rules I have learned from my new school
No running on the stairs.
No
It was a trick. He was trying to get rid of us before he gave the game away. He lit a cigarette: another telltale sign!
Me: 'Did you know the boy who died?'
Suspect: 'Do what?'
Dean: 'The one who got stabbed. He was his cousin.'
Suspect: 'No, I didn't know him.'
Me: 'Do you know who did it?'
Suspect: 'I wish I did. These fâing kids, they need drowning at birth.'
Dean: 'How do you know it was a kid who did it?'
Suspect: 'It's always kids, innit. You wanna stay away from all that shit, boys, it only ends one way. Be smart, yeah?'
Me: 'We are.'
His smoke was going in our eyes. It was another trick to make us blind so we couldn't pick any clues up. I'm telling you, they're very clever. In the end we just had to give up.
Dean: 'They're never gonna tell us nothing. As soon as they know they're being interviewed they just mug us off. We're not gonna get anywhere by asking, we have to find out for ourselves.'
Me: 'How?'
Dean: 'Surveillance and evidence, it's the only way. CSI-style, fingerprints, DNA. That shit don't lie.'
I made a thinking face like I knew what he was talking about. Dean's the brains because he's seen all the shows. I washed all the beer smell off before Mamma got home from work. She says a man who smells of beer is a mess waiting to happen.
Violence always came too easy to you, that's the problem. It always felt too good. Remember the first time you trod on an ant, and with an infant stamp made the moving still, the present past? Wasn't that a sickly sweet epiphany? Such power in your feet and at your fingertips such temptation! It would take some act of charity to give all that good stuff away. You'd need to be something greater than just another invention of a spiteful god.
Kyle Barnes stuck his compass in Manik's leg. Manik screamed like a girl even if there was no blood. Everybody laughed.
Manik: 'What did you do that for?'
Kyle Barnes: 'So you'd do that.'
Kyle Barnes chooked him again. Manik screamed again. He was like a squeaky pig. It was like the compass was a fork and Kyle Barnes was testing to see if he was done yet. Asweh, it was very funny. Kyle Barnes loves it when we have a supply teacher. Most of the time they don't even do the lesson, they just read the newspaper. That's when Kyle Barnes comes after you with the compass. You have to not get chooked but you're not allowed to get off your chair. It's proper hard. I've been chooked about three times. It doesn't really hurt, it just gives you a crazy surprise. There's never any blood.
The best weapon would be an umbrella that's really a poison gun. You think it's just an umbrella but actually it shoots poison bullets out the end. We were talking about what the best weapons are.
Kyle Barnes thinks the best weapon is an AK-47.
Dean thinks it's a knuckleduster with extra long spikes.
Chevon Brown thinks the best weapon is a crossbow. But you have to be very strong to shoot it because it's proper heavy. The arrows are called bolts. They're longer than you.
Brayden Campbell: 'You couldn't shoot a crossbow. You couldn't even pick it up.'
Chevon Brown: 'Fâoff, man. You couldn't even shoot an AK-47, the recoil would knock your head off.'
Brayden Campbell: 'Bullshit. I could do it one-handed.'
Me and Dean: 'My arse.'
Me and Dean: 'Jinx!'
We said jinx straight away. The curse can't even touch us.
I know nearly all the rules now. There's over one hundred. Some of them are to keep you out of danger. Some of them are just so the teachers can control you.
Some of them are so your friends know what side you're on. If you follow those rules, they'll know they can trust you and then you can roam with them. One rule is, if you and your friend say the same thing at the same time you have to say jinx or you'll be cursed. If you don't say jinx you'll shit yourself for one day after.
Some rules I have learned from my new school
No running on the stairs.
No
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