Read Online Nowhere Boys by Elise Mccredie - Free Book Online Page B

captain, their hero.
    He caught sight of Trent grinning from a photo on the wall. BASKETBALL CAPTAIN: TRENT LONG.
    Jake picked up the ball and threw it hard at the picture. It fell to the ground, the glass smashing into shards. The ball bounced back and he picked it up again. He aimed it at the next picture of Trent and –
    Crash!
    It fell to the floor.
    Sam, Andy and Felix burst through the doors as Jake picked up the ball again. He aimed it for the third time at Trent’s smug face.
    Smash!
    To the floor.
    ‘Jake, stop!’ yelled Sam.
    Jake picked up the ball again and was about to throw it when Sam wrestled him to the ground.
    ‘Come on, man. You can’t do that.’
    Jake fought him back hard. ‘Why not?’
    ‘Yeah, why not?’ Felix said from the doorway. ‘Who’s going to get us in trouble? Our parents don’t even know who we are.’ He opened a cage full of basketballs and they rolled across the gym floor.
    ‘This is a real X-factor in my theory,’ said Andy. ‘It can’t be amnesia if there’s no record of us.’ He clicked his fingers. ‘I know. It’s identity theft.’
    Jake threw a ball at his head. ‘Why would anyone want to steal your identity?’
    Andy threw the ball back, hard. ‘I object to that.’ He launched himself at Jake and they wrestled.
    Andy fought like he’d never done it before. Jake quickly pinned him to the floor.
    Felix threw a volleyball net over them.
    Sam grabbed the cleaner’s trolley from the hallway and rolled into the gym. He jumped up on it like it was a huge skateboard. Then Jake and Andy freed themselves from the net and they took turns riding it around, yelling and whooping at the top of their voices, while Felix let off the fire extinguishers. Soon the whole gym was covered in a sheer white mist.
    Jake perched himself on top of the gym wall ladder and looked down through the haze at the chaos below. Andy was being swung around in the cleaning trolley by Sam. Felix was throwing rolls of toilet paper around. The whole gym had been totally ransacked. What had once been Jake’s inner sanctum, the place he trained every day, now meant nothing.
    Jake felt glad it was trashed, glad that Trent wouldn’t be able to train there on Monday, wouldn’t be able to win a game. If he didn’t have his life anymore then it sure as hell wasn’t fair that everyone else could keep theirs.
    He was about to swing down onto a pile of gym mats when something caught his eye. A security camera bolted into the corner of the ceiling. He stared at its insistent flashing light. It was recording everything. He felt an instinctive wave of fear, but brushed it aside and, with a huge roar, he leapt off the ladder. Felix was right. Who would the school report it to, anyway?
    You can’t get in trouble if you don’t exist, right?

sam: mg 4 sc
    Sam’s dad sat at the head of the table, a lopsided party hat on his head and a big grin on his face. In front of him was a table laden with food. Barbequed lamb. Italian pork sausages, a fattoush salad. There were homemade dips, batata harra , pita bread, and Sam’s mum’s kibbeh . Vince and Pete were shoving food in their mouths while simultaneously yelling at the World Cup on the TV. Sam wasn’t watching. He was savouring every mouthful. He dipped his kibbeh in yoghurt sauce and felt the creamy garlicky taste spread across his tongue, followed by the moist tenderness of the spicy meat. He bit into a tomato drenched in olive oil, the sweetness exploding in his mouth. His brother Pete was yelling at him, ‘Sam, Italy scored a goal, Sam!’ But Sam didn’t care. He took another bite of the tomato.
    ‘Sam!’
    Sam opened one eye. Andy was sitting beside him waving a bunch of weeds in his face. ‘Sam, wake up. I’ve got breakfast.’
    Sam rubbed his eyes and sat up.
    Andy grinned at him triumphantly. ‘I found these dandelions, which are very high in potassium, and I got some pigweed as well.’ He held up a handful of dirty, fleshy-looking leaves.