Читать книгу Fuse - Sally Partridge - Страница 13

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 never cut deep enough. Want to see the scar?”

“Sure.”

Craig rolled back his shirtsleeve to reveal the most scar-riddled arm Kendall had ever seen. Some of the scars were red and inflamed, as if they had been inflicted recently.

Kendall looked away quickly.

Craig was smiling. Whether it was because he was thinking about the day he had tried to kill himself or that he had succeeded in shocking his friend, Kendall didn’t know, but they sat in silence for a few minutes.

“I know how to make a noose,” Kendall said after a while.

“Really? Cool. You must show me sometime.”

Kendall had noticed the change in his friend since the incident with the collar. He had become more bitter. Kendall had no idea how to ask Craig if he was okay, since this friendship deal was a whole new ballgame to him.

Kendall leaned back against the wall and thought hard what to say next. “You have any plans for this weekend?” he asked.

“Nothing concrete,” Craig shrugged.

“We could do something if you want?”

Craig’s face lit up. “That would be great.”