CHERUB: The Recruit - Robert Muchamore Page 0,3

been waiting for you.’

The other guy grabbed Lauren and stuck his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.

James’ opinion of his own intelligence hit an all-time low. While he’d been worrying about getting in trouble with Mum, school and maybe even with the police, he’d forgotten something: Samantha Jennings had a sixteen-year-old brother.

Greg Jennings hung out with a gang of crazies. They were kings of the estate where James lived: smashing up cars, mugging people, getting into fights. If another kid saw them he’d look down at his shoes, cross his fingers and be happy if all he came away with was a slapped face and his money taxed. A good way to upset the gang was to beat up one of their little sisters.

Greg Jennings grazed James’ face along the bricks.

‘It’s your turn now, James.’

He let go of James’ arm. James could feel blood dribbling down his nose and cheek. There was no point struggling: Greg could snap him like a twig.

‘Scared?’ Greg asked. ‘You ought to be.’

James tried to speak, only his voice didn’t work and the way he was trembling seemed to answer anyway.

‘Got money?’ Greg asked.

James took out the rest of the forty pounds.

‘Nice one,’ Greg said.

‘Please don’t hurt my sister,’ James begged.

‘My sister has eight stitches in her face,’ Greg said, pulling a knife out of his pocket. ‘Lucky I don’t go round hurting little girls, or your sister might have ended up with eighty.’

Greg sliced off James’ school tie. Then he cut the chest buttons off his shirt and slashed up his trousers.

‘This is just the start, James,’ Greg said. ‘We’re gonna be seeing a lot of each other.’

A fist smashed into James’ stomach. Ron had hit James a few times, but never that hard. Greg and his henchman walked off. James crumpled up on the ground.

Lauren walked over to James. She didn’t have much sympathy for him.

‘You got in a row with Samantha Jennings?’

James looked up at his sister. He was in a lot of pain and ashamed of himself.

‘She got cut by accident. I only meant to scare her.’

Lauren started walking away.

‘Help me up, Lauren. I can’t walk.’

‘Crawl then.’

Lauren went a few more paces before she realised she couldn’t abandon her brother, even if he was an idiot. James stumbled towards home with his arm round Lauren’s back. It took all her strength to hold him up.

3. WORSE

James stumbled into the hallway, one hand clasped over his stomach. He glanced at the display on his mum’s mobile:

48 MISSED CALLS

4 TEXTS

He turned the phone off and stuck his head in the living room. The light was off, TV on. His mum was asleep in her chair and there was no sign of Ron.

‘He’s gone,’ James said.

‘Thank god for that,’ Lauren said. ‘He always kisses me and his breath’s revolting.’

Lauren pushed the front door shut and picked a handwritten note off the doormat.

‘It’s from your school.’

Lauren read aloud, struggling with the messy handwriting:

‘Dear Mrs Choke, Please contact either the School Secretary or myself urgently on one of the numbers below, con … Con something?’

‘Concerning,’ James guessed.

‘Concerning James’ behaviour at school today,’ Lauren continued. ‘Michael Rook, Deputy Head Teacher.’

Lauren followed James into the kitchen. James ran a glass of tap water and slumped at the table. Lauren sat opposite and kicked off her trainers.

‘Mum will absolutely massacre you,’ Lauren grinned. She was looking forward to seeing James suffer.

‘Can’t you shut up? I’m trying not to think about it.’

*

James locked himself in the bathroom. He was shocked by what the mirror showed him. The left side of his face and the ends of his cropped blond hair were blood red. He emptied his pockets and stuffed his wrecked clothes in a bin-liner. He’d hide them under the other rubbish later so his mum didn’t find them.

Ending up in this mess made James start asking questions about himself. He knew he wasn’t a very good person. He was always getting in fights. He was clever, but he never did any work so he got bad marks. James remembered all the times his teachers had told him he was wasting his potential and that he’d end up in a bad way. He’d sat through billions of lectures with his brain turned off. Now he was beginning to think they were mostly right and that made him hate them even more.

James unscrewed the cap on a tube of antiseptic, but realised it was pointless without washing off the blood first. The hot shower soothed his face and stomach