LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

      Kendall managed a smile. “Yeah, okay.”

      Justin grinned and shoved Kendall affectionately. “On the other hand, it’s about time you started speaking to other people. I’ve been telling you that forever.”

      “Yeah, yeah.”

      “Too bad it had to be that guy.”

      Kendall rolled his eyes.

      “Okay, sorry,” Justin grinned.

      In the library

      Craig caught up with Kendall the next day during break as he was making his way towards the library. “Hey, Kendall!” he called, rushing up behind him.

      Kendall spun round, his shoulders automatically tensing up at the mention of his name. He relaxed once he saw that it was Craig.

      The boy was still wearing the dog collar under his shirt and his hair was hanging messily around his face. Kendall thought he looked cool, but a girl nudged her companion and pointed at Craig as he passed. Kendall’s insides burned and he felt instantly protective of his new-found friend.

      “What’s up?” Kendall asked. The words sounded weird coming from him and he twisted his fingers together nervously. He wasn’t sure whether he could trust Craig; after all, they had only met the day before.

      His brother’s words floated through his mind and he felt his throat become dry as he swallowed compulsively. There was something about Craig that Kendall couldn’t quite put his finger on. The new boy had his hands in his pockets and was attempting to act anything but nervous, even though he had rushed to the library to find Kendall.

      “I have the new Hellfire CD with me. Would you like to listen to it?” he asked.

      “Really?”

      “Yeah, you want to?” Craig offered eagerly.

      Kendall wanted to, more than anything. He repressed the smile that was forcing its way to the surface, and tried to remain cool.

      “Sure,” he replied.

      Craig grinned and followed Kendall inside.

      They made their way to the back row of the library, and sat cross-legged on the floor where they were safely hidden from view by the large shelf containing the dusty books on philosophy where no student would be caught dead browsing. Each boy plugged an iPod earpiece into an ear.

      “This is really great,” Kendall said. “I listened to their previous album about a hundred times. I knew about this one, but I don’t really have money of my own.” He blushed and immediately regretted revealing such personal details about himself.

      “I know what you mean,” Craig answered, with a hint of bitterness.

      Kendall glanced at Craig and a million questions hovered. “You just move here?”

      Craig looked pained for a second. “Yeah, my mom and I have just moved to Shortridge.”

      “Shortridge. That’s like a business district, right? I didn’t know they had houses there. What’s it like over there?”

      “They have apartments,” Craig said curtly.

      Kendall instantly regretted the question. “Have you heard Death’s Asylum?” he asked, changing the subject after a lengthy silence.

      “Yeah, totally. Drives my mother crazy.” Craig giggled.

      Kendall laughed. “My folks think I’m a Satanist.”

      “Seriously? How lame,” Craig said, his eyes twinkling.

      “Yup! They think I’m this complete freak. Goes to show how you can live with someone for almost all your life and they still don’t know who you really are.”

      “Are you religious?”

      “Yeah, I am, but nobody seems to believe me, except my brother. He says it’s none of their business anyway.”

      “He’s right. Your brother, I mean. You mustn’t let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn’t believe. Now me, I believe in absolute and utter chaos. Anarchy, you know?”

      Kendall stared down at the floor with a blank expression. “I really hate people sometimes,” he sighed.

      Craig nodded. “You have no idea, dude. No idea.”

      The humiliation of Craig

      In the beginning Kendall was a little bit nervous about his new friendship with Craig.

      The fact that the new boy actually liked spending time with him seemed too good to be true. Craig was everything Kendall was not – self-assured, determined and tough – which made Kendall look up to him even more. Luckily they had the same taste in music, which almost immediately gave them something to talk about.

      Everybody took an instant dislike to Craig. He was odd, as Justin had said, but Kendall didn’t care. All Craig’s talk of anarchy didn’t send up warning bells for him like it did for the other students. For Kendall, Craig had the makings of a best friend, something he had never had, other than his brother.

      There was also something about Craig that was dangerous, and Kendall found himself drawn to the boy like a moth to a flame.

      To Kendall’s delight, Craig was placed with him in most of his classes, and their closeness was apparent from the outset. The other students, raised on a diet of group thinking, seemed to take the friendship as a personal insult: the weirdos were ganging up on them.

      So it wasn’t surprising when Craig became a target of a ruthless humiliation campaign.

      It started with the collar. At first the taunts were isolated to the grade eleven class, but all too soon it spread throughout the school. Craig didn’t give in for a long time, but after the taunts and catcalls began to haunt his every footstep, he stopped wearing it. He never spoke about it; one day it was just gone. Kendall never mentioned it, but he admired Craig for sticking to his resolve for so long. That took guts.

      It was obvious that this treatment was all too familiar to Craig. Perhaps that was why he joined a new school so long after the start of the new term. At least Kendall and Craig knew what the other one was going through.

      If Craig had wanted a new beginning at a new school, his chance was gone. The boys never included him in their conversations, and the chances of girls seeing him as a potential boyfriend were slim to none. It wasn’t just the collar; there was something inherently strange about Craig. It was the repressed giggle after each sentence, the unsure way in which he approached people, the way his eyes lingered too long on an individual. There are some mannerisms that cannot be masked by bravado, and Craig showed his history of past victimisation all too clearly.

      He soon realised that his only sympathetic ear belonged to Kendall Mullins, and it was to Kendall that he began revealing the anger bubbling beneath the surface.

      Kendall didn’t notice anything odd at first. He believed his new friend was opening up to him, and he couldn’t have been happier.

      “Have you ever tried to kill yourself, Kendall?”

      They were sitting against the peeling brick wall at the back of the gymnasium with nothing but a cracked tennis court for a view. Students seldom ventured that far from the school building, and that’s why Craig and Kendall liked to spend time there.

      “No.”

      I did once. I cut myself so badly that the blood was flowing down my arm like a stream. It was the coolest experience ever. I couldn’t stop staring at my arm, thinking how cool it was.”

      Craig’s voice was wistful, as if the memory pleased him.

      “What happened?” Kendall asked, curiosity prompting him.

      “It stopped bleeding after a while. I don’t think I cut deep enough. I could

Скачать книгу