Funnily enough, I think Mum and Dad believed me. At least they weren’t as angry with me as I would have expected.
‘Did you do it, mate?’ Mum asked once, just once.
‘No.’ I shook my head sadly and that was good enough for her.
I was still trying to comprehend the scale of the catastrophe. I was probably going to be kicked out of school, just when I had started to fit in. I’d be in a different school to Ben. And Erica.
This was a disaster beyond imagination.
On Saturday morning, however, I woke up full of determination. I wasn’t going to let other people run my life. I was going to the school fair, suspension or no suspension, and I was going to rob them blind. Serve them right and all. The crime of the century was now an act of revenge.
I listened to the weather forecast. It was for thunderstorms. There was no sign of them yet, though, the morning was hazy and warm. I hoped the storms stayed away. I wanted the school fair to be a good one. A highly profitable one.
Moo-ha-ha-ha.
I showered and dressed then wandered into the kitchen for breakfast. I was the only one up, which suited me fine.
The only one apart from Gumbo, who was lying down staring at the TV.
‘The Warriors aren’t playing until next week,’ I told him.
He looked at me, farted, and went back to watching the blank screen.
‘Crazy dog,’ I muttered, making myself some toast.
Gumbo, the lazy, crazy, sometimes scary, farty, sporty, floppy, sloppy dog. And I loved him.
‘I’ll buy you a present when I’m rich,’ I promised, but he ignored me and continued watching the blank screen.
The fair didn’t start till ten, but I cycled off as soon as I had finished breakfast. I wanted to be out of the house before Mum and Dad got up and started quizzing me about where I was going.
I sent Ben a text to see if he wanted to come out and meet me somewhere, but got no reply, which was unusual.
I cycled all the way down to Manuka Park, just for something to do. It was deserted so I sat there on the kiddies’ playground watching the sun rise slowly behind the trees of the reserve.
It was good. It was calm, and helped me focus my thinking on my big plans for the day. I had my bucket and twenty dollars borrowed from April’s purse, now changed into small change, stashed in my backpack.
Roll on the Spring Fever School Fair.
I finally got there at about eleven. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to go, so I gave any teachers I saw a wide berth.
The first stall was just inside the school gate and run by Fizzer Boyd and his mates, Tupai, Jason, and Daniel the Warrior.
Tupai nodded at me as I sauntered casually past. ‘Sorry to hear about the suspension,’ he said.
I shrugged. ‘What can you do?’
Tupai had his arms folded across his chest and looked quite tough, like a security guard or something. I suppose he was, in a way, because there was a fifty dollar note strung up at the front of their stall.
A sign on the stand announced, ‘The Taste Test’. I wasn’t sure what it was all about. I smiled politely at the other three guys, who all seemed to be genuinely concerned for me, and wandered on.
I passed the hot dog stand, and the huge white elephant stall. I was tempted to go and look through the bookstall but saw Miss Pepperman was helping run it, and I didn’t want her to see me.
I eventually found myself down on bottom field where they were selling rides on farm trikes.
Ben was there with his parents. I had only met his mum and dad once or twice before and they had seemed pleasant enough, if a little over-protective.
They had grounded Ben after he had won that photo competition. Apparently, they had no idea he had been sneaking out to take photos of lightning, and all hell broke loose when they found out.
Ben looked startled when he saw me and dropped his eyes guiltily.
‘Hi, mate,’ I said.
‘Hi,’ he said heavily.
He wasn’t worried about the chisel story, I realised, he had something else on his mind. He asked, ‘Jacob, did you try to do that mind thing on me when you wanted me to run for the student council?’
‘No,’ I said honestly. ‘I wouldn’t do that to a mate.’
At that his mother looked around, then nudged his father.
‘I didn’t think so,’ Ben said with a look of relief. Then his father stepped in front of him.
‘You leave Ben alone from now on,’ he said, stony-faced. ‘Stay right away from him.’
I didn’t have to be a genius to know why. News spreads quickly at Glenfield, and bad news spreads twice as fast as good. I was now Jacob the psychopathic chisel murderer, and good kids like Ben needed to be protected from evil fiends like me.
Ben’s mother grabbed him by the arm and led him off through the throng. Ben looked back at me and mouthed, ‘Sorry,’ just before he disappeared. Ben’s father followed them.
My breath was suddenly short. I wanted to hit somebody. I wanted to scream. Whatever I had done to Blocker, it didn’t deserve this!
I realised I was crying and, without even thinking about where I was going, found myself on the covered walkway that led to the library.
The library. My refuge. My castle, ever since I was little.
There were footsteps across my path before I got there, though, and I looked up to see Erica standing with Stacey and Chelsie.
‘Jacob!’ she said with real concern in her voice. ‘Are you all right?’ She reached out to touch me but I blinked back the tears and pushed past her.
‘Leave me alone,’ I said with an overwhelming emptiness, and headed for the library. Safety.
The library was not part of the school fair and was deserted, which suited me fine. I was happiest alone. I didn’t need Ben and I didn’t need Erica.
Friends hurt you and it wasn’t even their fault.
The library, on the other hand, was a place full of knowledge and excitement. You could learn about schoolboy spies in World War II or text messages that travel through time.
I found something to read and sobbed quietly to myself while I waited for the end of the day.
For my crime time.