Read Online Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel - Free Book Online Page B

big deal, apparently) and a dining hall and residences for the boarders. About half the kids were boarders, and the other half were day students like me. When Mom had first seen the school she’d called some of the buildings fake Tudor. It made me smile now, as I got out of the car.
    “Hey,” said Dad from the driver’s seat. “You’re going to love it here.”
    “Yep,” I said, and slammed the door, shouldering my knapsack.
    I knew where I was going at least. I headed across the quad towards the main classroom block, keeping my eyes open for the Godwins, or Hugh or Evan, but I didn’t see them.
    The school smelled like my old school. Floor wax and chalk dust and shoes. I thought I looked like a goof in my uniform, even though Mom and Dad had said I looked fine. Handsome, Mom said. I hated how the shirt and tie felt all tight around my neck.
    I found my homeroom, and Mr. Davies was already there.
    “Welcome, Mr. Tomlin,” he said, shaking my hand. Like a lot of teachers at the school, he had an English accent.
    “Good morning, sir,” I said. You were supposed to call everyone sir and ma’am here.
    “This is Henry Gardner,” Mr. Davies said, introducing me to another grade eight boy. He was short and sandy-haired, with glasses. “He’s going to be your guide today, just to make sure you know where to find everything. We don’t want you wandering off into the bog.”
    “Okay, great, hi,” I said, shaking Henry’s hand. I took a seat beside him and some of his friends. Back behind a desk, running my fingers over the gouged pen marks, feeling the same vague panic I always felt before a test.
    “So, do you know David Godwin?” I asked Henry.
    “He’s grade nine,” he replied, like there wasn’t much else to say. “Why, do you know him?”
    “Sort of. Our dads work together at the university. He seems like a nice guy.”
    Henry looked at me doubtfully and shrugged. “I stay away from those guys. Their idea of fun is shoving people in lockersand throwing their clothes into the swimming pool.”
    “There’s a swimming pool here?” I said.
    “Yeah, but I wouldn’t advise swimming in it,” Henry said, and laughed a bit.
    I laughed politely. I’d already decided Henry and I would not be spending much time together. As more and more kids filed into homeroom, I could tell that Henry and his pals were definitely low-ranking. I knew, because in my last school,
I
was a class nerd, and I wasn’t planning on being one again.
    I had it all figured out for this year.
    New city.
    New school.
    New Ben.
    I could be whatever I wanted here. And what I wanted was to be a dominant male. No one messed around with the dominant male. He submitted to no one. Everyone submitted to
him.
    This was my plan, and I kept repeating it in my head like a mantra, as the room filled.
    Just before the bell rang, Jennifer Godwin walked in, talking excitedly with two other girls. The blonde one was almost as good-looking as Jennifer; the other one was kind of plain, and she was doing most of the talking. Before Jennifer sat down near the front, she saw me, and I said hi, and she gave a little smile and a nod and then she was back into conversation with her friends. I’d been hoping she’d come sit near me, but that was expecting too much, I guess.
    She looked younger in her uniform than she had in herbathing suit. I thought about lotioning her back, and my face felt hot.
    Mr. Davies took attendance and handed out our timetables. After that there were some announcements and the bell went again and we were off, Henry at my side, talking to me really fast and explaining everything. He was like that pesky little dog in the Looney Tunes cartoon—the one the bigger dog is always swatting and telling to shut up. I’d spend the day with him, let him show me around—and then ditch him. I didn’t want people to think we were friends. I figured that would pretty much finish me off at Windermere.
    I guess one of the reasons Henry had been