The next morning, before registration, I told Grace and Hannah most of what had happened, but not everything. I didn’t mention that Justin and Andy had seen me rolling around the floor with Jit. Grace would have loved that. Instead I told them that they had threatened to lie to Imi about me and Jit.
‘What kind of lies?’ asked Grace.
‘They’re gonna tell Imi that they saw me and Jit snogging but that never happened,’ I told her.
‘So, they’re just making it all up, are they?’ she replied.
‘Yes!’
‘Just so that you’ll give them money?’ added Hannah.
‘Exactly. And they actually followed me home too, so they know where I live.’
‘That’s just creepy,’ said Hannah. ‘Can’t you tell a teacher?’
‘And say what? It’s their word against mine – no one else was in the corridor.’
‘And you really haven’t been seeing Jit too?’ asked Grace.
‘Grace . . . I just told you the truth!’
She looked at me, raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. ‘OK – I believe you,’ she said. ‘We’re going to have to tell the lads though.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘Because that way they won’t believe any lies that those two ugly munters come up with,’ Hannah pointed out.
‘Forewarned is forearmed and all that,’ added Grace.
‘But what if they tell my parents?’
‘That’s another problem entirely,’ replied Grace.
‘So, what are we going to do about it,’ I asked.
Both of my friends shrugged.
‘Dean and Jit are always good for coming up with ideas. Let’s have a conference round at Grace’s later,’ suggested Hannah.
‘Yeah!’ agreed Grace. ‘Surely we can come up with something between us? I mean – those two are thicker than pig poo!’
‘Whale poo, even,’ added Hannah.
‘Elephant and whale poo together isn’t as thick as them,’ said Grace.
Mrs Dooher walked in and said hello, as I sat and thought about what we were going to do. I suppose it was my fault for lying to my parents but that still didn’t excuse what Justin and Andy were doing. I wanted to go and kick them in their heads, I was so angry.
‘How did it go with Matt?’ asked Mrs Dooher, disrupting my thoughts.
‘Huh?’
‘Matt . . . the new boy?’ she said.
I’d totally forgotten about him.
‘Er . . . he was OK,’ I told her. ‘We showed him around and then he did his own thing, kind of.’
Mrs Dooher shook her head.
‘You mean you ignored him from then on.’
‘Not exactly,’ I said, trying to remember the last time I had seen him, which was when he’d been talking to Robert and Wesley about those silly books that they all loved.
‘I think he’s hanging around with Robert and Wesley from 8CM, miss.’
‘Yeah, he is,’ added Grace. ‘I saw him this morning. They were talking about science . . . he’s going to fit right in with them.’
‘Oh, good,’ replied Mrs Dooher, genuinely.
‘Do I get an award for integrating him so successfully into our school?’ I asked her.
‘You should get an award for the skinniest legs!’ shouted a lad called Paresh. I turned round and gave him a filthy look.
‘Oooh – I’m scared,’ he said in a girly voice.
I waited until Mrs Dooher was distracted before I made my move. I got up and walked over to Paresh. He smiled at me. I shot out my arm, grabbed his big, long nose and twisted it.
‘OWWWWWWW!!!’
The rest of his mates started laughing, and Mrs Dooher looked up from what she was doing.
‘Are you beating up the boys again?’ she asked.
‘Yes, miss,’ I replied, grinning because I knew what was coming.
‘Oh good,’ said Mrs Dooher. ‘Saves me a job . . .’
I didn’t even make it to lunch time before Justin and Andy lived up to their threats. I was walking into my CDT class when I saw Imi. He was holding Jit by his throat and pushing him up against a wall. Dean was trying to pull them apart. I ran over and grabbed Imi’s arm, shouting at him to let go.
‘What’s going on – stop it!’ I shouted.
‘I know you’ve been seeing my girl!’ spat Imi, right in Jit’s face.
Jit shoved Imi back, and between me and Dean we managed to make him let go, only Imi didn’t calm down. Instead he turned on me.
‘You were seen – kissing Jit,’ he told me angrily.
‘No I wasn’t – it’s a lie!’ I told him.
‘Why would they lie?’ he asked. ‘They saw you!’
‘Who?’ asked Dean, holding Jit back with one hand.
Jit was going mad, swearing and trying to get at Imi.
‘Cool it!’ Dean shouted at him.
‘This is all wrong,’ I said, trying not to cry.
‘Well, what happened then?’ demanded Imi.
‘It was Justin and Andy – they’ve been threatening me. They said that if I didn’t give them money they’d tell you a load of lies.’
Imi thought about it for a moment – just enough time for Jit to jump on him.
‘OI!’ shouted Dean, pulling Jit off.
‘You think I’m scared of you?’ Jit asked Imi.
I grabbed Jit by the hand and told him to stop. ‘It’s not his fault . . . it was Justin!’ I repeated.
‘So?’ replied Jit. ‘He could have asked me first. Instead he jumped me like he’s some bad bwoi . . . ain’t no one grabbing me up like that!’
The rest of the pupils were beginning to come into the classroom and they looked shocked. Apart from Marco, that is. He told Jit to smack Imi.
‘I’m going to stick your head in a vice in a minute,’ Dean warned.
Marco went red and looked at the floor.
‘Just calm down,’ Dean told Imi and Jit. ‘Otherwise I’m gonna bang both of you out!’
‘It isn’t what you think,’ I told Imi, who was beginning to calm down.
‘Then what is it?’ he asked me.
‘A lie – that’s all . . . I was telling Grace and Hannah about it and we were going to tell you all.’
‘What the hell is going on?’ shouted Mr Granger from the doorway.
‘Nothing, sir,’ I lied.
‘Doesn’t look like nothing to me,’ he replied. ‘Imtiaz – why is your tie all over the place?’
Imi looked at me and over at Jit. He turned to Mr Granger and shrugged.
‘We were just messing about,’ he told him.
‘Yeah – practising rugby tackles,’ added Dean. ‘Like we seen the England team doing.’
‘Jit?’ asked Granger.
‘Yeah – that was it,’ snapped Jit, still angry.
I looked at him. ‘Just leave it, Jit,’ I whispered. ‘It was a misunderstanding.’
He nodded at me but his eyes were glazed over and I knew he wasn’t listening. As Grace and Hannah walked in, I sat down with Imi and tried to talk to him. But Mr Granger had started the lesson and Imi was ignoring me. Instead, I wrote a note for Grace, telling her what had happened, and passed it along. She sent one back and then over the rest of the lesson we had a conversation that way. Grace told me that she’d talk to Dean and Jit, and ask them to come to her house after school. I agreed to do the same with Imi. We really had to sort out the mess that I’d created. I didn’t want Imi and Jit to fight. We were all friends and I wanted it to stay that way.