We Can Be Heroes by Catherine Bruton Page A

when Priti was a baby. Jed laughs at it and even I can see that the artist wasn’t very good because it doesn’t really look that much like any of them. Priti just gives me a look like everything Jed does is my fault because I brought him along.
    â€˜Where are your mum and dad anyway?’ asks Jed.
    â€˜At work,’ says Priti.
    â€˜So your brothers and sister have to look after you? That’s pretty lame.’
    â€˜No lamer than your grandparents looking after you,’ says Priti, raising an eyebrow.
    â€˜My dad’s job is pretty dangerous. There could be people after him – or me – so it’s not safe for me to be home alone.’
    â€˜Yeah?’ says Priti, who doesn’t look like she believes him for a minute. ‘What does he do then?’
    â€˜Can’t tell you,’ says Jed. ‘Don’t want to compromise his security.’
    â€˜If you say so,’ says Priti, rolling her eyes. ‘Anyway, I basically get to do what I want. My siblings are
not
happy about the babysitting so they’re pretty hands-off. Zara’s the worst, she’s well mad about it, so she basically ignores me all day, but it’s Shakeel’s turn today and he’s cool. Well, he’s not – he’s a total geek, worse than you, Ben – but he lets me do cool stuff.’
    â€˜What like?’ says Jed. ‘I thought you said we were building a tree house or something.’
    â€˜We’ve got to wait till Shakeel’s finished tinkering around with his radios, or whatever he’s doing,’ says Priti.
    â€˜How long will that be?’ says Jed, picking up a china dolphin and throwing it from hand to hand.
    â€˜Impatient, isn’t he, your cousin?’ says Priti, looking at me.
    â€˜Why don’t we hang out in the garden while we wait for him?’ I say, watching Jed pick up a crystal mermaid that looks as if it might be worth a lot of money.
    So we go outside and Jed starts kicking the grass and making loads of bits of mud fly up in the air and Priti starts making little holes by digging her wheelies into the turf, like it’s a competition as to who canmake the biggest mess of the lawn (my grandad would HATE this!) and I just stand there feeling awkward. In the end, to break the silence, I say to Priti, ‘Tell Jed about the honour killing.’
    As soon as it comes out of my mouth, I regret it. Priti glares at me.
    â€˜What honour killing?’ says Jed, kicking a lump of turf up into the air. I can tell he’s trying hard not to look like he’s interested.
    â€˜Do you really want to know?’ Priti asks. She looks at him with a hint of challenge in her voice and he looks right back. He’s all dressed in khaki and military fatigues and she’s in pink, but they both look pretty fierce.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ he says. ‘Do I?’
    â€˜Go on. Tell him,’ I say, although I don’t really know why I’m pushing it.
    So Priti tells Jed all about forced marriages and Zara’s boyfriend and the honour killing and, by the end, I can tell Jed is into it even though he pretends he’s heard it all before.
    â€˜That’s why we need the tree house,’ says Priti,getting excited now and jumping from foot to foot in a little dance as she talks. ‘It’s going to be a lookout. From up here you can see the park and the house and who’s coming down the alleyway. We’ll have a secret signal or something.’
    Jed is already scaling the tree trunk to the makeshift platform that’s been erected there. ‘We can be lookouts,’ he says.
    â€˜Yeah, that’s the idea.’
    â€˜Does that mean we get to see your sister, like, making out?’ he asks, grinning.
    â€˜I hope not,’ says Priti.
    â€˜Is she fit?’ he says, looking at me.
    I don’t answer.
    â€˜No,’ says Priti putting her fingers in her mouth and pretending to