Chapter 27

Gavin and Mickey approached Jeremy on foot, having prudently decided to leave their car parked on the street, out of view of the school grounds.

They stood, watching Jeremy mingle with a group of his school friends on the quadrangle in front of the main building, until they caught his attention and he broke away from the group and jogged across the grass toward them. It had been several days since they’d witnessed Jeremy’s act of vandalism on his teacher’s expensive sports car.

When he came to within a few feet of them, Gavin and Mickey abruptly turned their backs to him and began walking.

“Come for a walk,” Gavin instructed out of the corner of his mouth as they did so.

Jeremy blinked and shook his head subtly before falling into a brisk walk behind them.

Making sure they kept out of view of the school buildings, Gavin and Mickey made their way to the car park where most of the teaching staff’s vehicles were parked. Once there, they began strolling leisurely in between each of the cars, as though they were customers checking out a car yard, peering in the windows of some of the vehicles, casually kicking the tyres of others.

Jeremy languished a few feet behind them, watching with a nervous expression.

Gavin came to Baxter’s sleek BMW coupe. He stopped, then slowly rounded the car, running a gentle finger along the polished Duco, admiring it with a malevolent smile. He paused at the still damaged headlight, shaking his head but saying nothing.

Mickey, meanwhile, walked across to a nearby fence and leaned against it, hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

Jeremy shifted his glance between Mickey and Gavin, hesitantly joining Mickey on the fence until Gavin had completed his inspection of the BMW, then he sauntered across to the others, nodding subtly to Mickey.

Rubbing his bottom lip between thumb and fore finger, Gavin tilted his head slightly towards Jeremy.

“Baner has called in a favour,” he began curtly, his eyes narrowing. “And we feel we’re in a position to…facilitate. We also feel, that the time has come to test you. It’s time for you to step up.”

Mickey paused for a moment, allowing his words to sink in. Then he continued.

“Baner is looking for…stock…a particular kind of stock that will attract a high price on the secondary market and we reckon we’ve found just the right piece that will interest him.”

Mickey nodded toward the BMW, then looked at Jeremy with an intense gaze.

Jeremy felt his mouth begin to dry. He felt his heartbeat quicken as the implications of what Mickey was saying struck home.

“He hates you…” Gavin stated unexpectedly. “Doesn’t he?”

Jeremy turned toward Gavin, his expression registering mild surprise. It was one of the few times that Gavin had ever spoken to Jeremy. His heightened anxiety halted momentarily, distracted by Gavin’s enigmatic presence.

“He ridicules you in front of the others, singles you out. I’ll bet he takes the piss out of you in class all the time. Doesn’t he, Jeremy?”

Gavin stepped forward in front of Jeremy, blocking his view of the BMW.

“He treats you like shit because he thinks you’re nothing but a dumb fuck coon, doesn’t he?”

The pejorative stung Jeremy, but he knew that Gavin was right. He was surprised that Gavin could know about all the humiliation Jeremy had endured at the hands of Mr. Baxter, even though he knew he shouldn’t be. Gavin was right about a lot of things. The memory of being humiliated in class and on the sports field the other day returned to Jeremy’s thoughts and he met them with anger that was fuelled by Gavin’s prescient words.

“This is your chance for some payback. Your chance to take from him, what he’s taken from you, over and over again.”

Mickey turned to face Jeremy now.

“We want to hit that prick and take his car from him. If we do, we’re going to be first in line for quite a handy payday—all of us.”

Mickey allowed Jeremy to take in what he was saying, before he continued.

“You know him, know his habits and his movements. We want you to help plan this and carry it out. It’ll be quick, painless, nobody will get hurt—except for Mr. Prickface’s pride and his wallet—and you, Jeremy, will have earned your status as an equal.”

Mickey gently punched Jeremy on the arm, the adrenaline surge returning once more, though this time, it was a surge accompanied by feelings of excitement, of anticipation, the promise of power.

A smile slowly broke across Jeremy’s lips as he thought about the prospects. That was until Gavin stepped right up close to Jeremy and fixed him with a menacing glower that immediately wilted those positive feelings.

He remained there, unmoving, silent for several long moments, his presence alone causing Jeremy to crumble underneath it.

Jeremy tried to meet Gavin’s eyes but he couldn’t. Instead, they involuntarily darted in every direction but Gavin’s.

“This is your chance, right? Your one and only chance,” Gavin rumbled malevolently. “If you fuck this up…there will be consequences. Understand?”

Jeremy stood as still as he could, trying not to cower. He nodded quickly, anxiously, praying that Gavin would back away from him.

Eventually, and in a manner that was sudden, Gavin did stand back. He relaxed and the anger seemed to dissipate from him all at once. He even managed a smile.

“Now…what do we know about your friend Mr. Stephen Baxter?” he asked.

Over by the main building, that looked out onto the lawned area flanking it and across to the car park, Miss Glasson sauntered leisurely on yard monitoring duties, chatting with a group of students whilst eating an apple. As she laughed along with them and surveyed the grounds, her gaze drifted across the lawns towards the car park where she noticed three individuals standing.

Though they were a considerable distance away, Miss Glasson identified Jeremy. The other two looked unfamiliar. Her first thought was that it probably wasn’t unusual since this school had a considerably large student population. However, something in the way they were standing, occasionally looking across and pointing to one of the cars—Baxter’s car—made her stop, lift her hand to shield her eyes and study them more intently.

An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

“He works out,” Jeremy was saying, looking down at the ground. “All the time—at a gym on Main North Road. In fact, he’s like, a part owner of it or something. He’s always bragging about it. He’s there at least four nights a week until late.”

Mickey nodded, impressed.

“Good. We’ll follow him then, for a couple of nights, see what he does, check him out a bit and then we’ll make our move.”

“I’ll word Baner and his crew up,” Gavin added. “Get them into position close by after we hit him so they can take delivery quickly.”

“We should be in and out of there before the dick-head even knows what’s happened to him.”

Gavin and Mickey exchanged satisfied looks with one another, the cogs turning in both their minds. Jeremy examined them both, a worried furrow creasing his brow.

“We aren’t…like…gonna hurt him. Are we?”

Both young men glared incredulously at Jeremy. He shifted awkwardly on the spot, his cheeks flushing crimson.

“You just make sure you’re ready for this,” Mickey retorted warningly. “We start tonight.”

Jeremy immediately felt his stomach drop. He was supposed to be accompanying Ruby to her lesson tonight. He couldn’t go back on his promise to her yet again.

“G-guys…I can’t tonight,” he stammered. “I’ve gotta be s-somewhere.”

Gavin fixed him with that withering glower once again.

“Are you fucking serious?”

Before he could respond, both Gavin and Mickey abruptly turned and walked away from him, heading out through the access gate. Mickey turned in mid-step and pointed his finger at Jeremy.

“No excuses!”

“Jeremy!”

Jeremy stopped in the main hallway at the sound of Miss Glasson’s voice and turned to see her coming toward him.

The cacophony of silent noise that were his conflicted thoughts abruptly stopped and, for just a moment, he was thankful.

She gently touched her hand to his arm, gesturing for him to walk with her.

“I wanted to catch you to see if you’d given any more thought to my program.”

She kept her voice low, so as not to embarrass him in front of anyone who might pass by.

Jeremy rolled his eyes and side stepped, creating a couple of feet of distance between them.

“Oh come on, Jeremy,” she responded in a pleading tone. “Don’t hold out on me. You’re breaking me here.”

Jeremy wasn’t quite sure what to say. As much as he liked Miss Glasson, she really was beginning to be a pain.

“Look Miss…” he began.

Suddenly, Miss Glasson steered him into an empty classroom and stood in front of him.

Her expression coalesced into a worried mask.

“Jeremy…is everything alright?” she ventured cautiously. “I saw you out in the car park.”

Jeremy lifted his head up and away, trying not to meet her eyes. His heart began to thump again, though this time, it was out of fear.

“Miss…” he began.

“Was that this Gavin mate of yours?”

Jeremy’s eyes immediately fell upon hers. He didn’t know what to say.

Miss Glasson let her shoulders relax and met his gaze with empathy rather than anger—something that he did not expect.

“Look…Jeremy. I don’t know what you’re mixed up with but I want you to know this…” she paused, pointing her finger at his chest, over his heart. “You could be anything you want to be. No matter what it is you’re struggling with, there are people in your corner, Jeremy. People who will be there for you and help you—in the right way.”

Jeremy stayed silent and he bowed his head. Try as he might to ignore what she was saying, Jeremy couldn’t stop her words from cutting through. And in the pit of his stomach, churning among all those other emotions he was feeling right then, a new knot had begun to tighten. It was conflict.

“Baxter’s not worth it, Jeremy,” Miss Glasson said softly, knowingly. “He’s in enough shit already without anyone else adding to it.”

How could she know? Jeremy thought anxiously.

His phone beeped in his pocket then and he took advantage of the distraction to break away from her.

“I’ve gotta go, miss.”

With that, he was out the door before Miss Glasson had a chance to speak again.

The feeling of dread returned to her then as she leaned over the empty desk at the front of the classroom.

She knew in her bones that Jeremy was about to go down a path from which he wouldn’t be able to turn back and she felt powerless.

“Shit,” she hissed, pounding the desktop with her fist.