Two days later, we were at the food bank when I saw Jacob’s mum come in and start chatting with my mum. Jacob pulled a face and went back outside.
Martin could see that I was nervous. “What’s up, kid?” he asked.
“That angry lad,” I said. “I want to talk to him.”
“So why don’t you?”
“I don’t know how to without upsetting him,” I said.
Martin smiled and I spotted his crooked teeth again.
“Sometimes you have to confront hard stuff,” he told me. “It’s the only way.”
“OK,” I said. I still wasn’t convinced, but I took a deep breath and went outside.
Jacob was sitting on the low wall of the church car park.
“Hey …” I said.
He spun round, shocked. “What you doin’ here?” he asked.
I felt nervous and silly, and a bit scared. Jacob was a lot tougher than me.
“I help out sometimes,” I said.
“Help out?”
I nodded.
“I saw you last week,” I admitted.
“S’pose you think I’m a scumbag, then?” he said in a low voice.
“No,” I said. “Why would I think that?”
Jacob scratched his left cheek but he didn’t look at me. I saw that his nose and ears were pink with cold.
“Cos I’m one of them scroungers,” he said, and he looked kind of sad. “Me and me mum. Bet you had a right good laugh.”
“No way,” I told him. “I just come here with my mum. She wants to give something back.”
Jacob looked up at me. “What, like help the poor and all that?”
“Kind of,” I said.
“So, you’re like those other rich kids at school? Thought so …”
“Not really,” I told him. “We’re not rich. Not like Anu and –”
“She’s a cow,” Jacob said. “A right bitch. You should hear what she calls me.”
“But she’s wrong,” I pointed out. “You don’t have to listen to her. You’re not a bad person.”
“You sound like the teachers,” Jacob said as he stood up. “I don’t care if I’m a bad person. Everything’s bad in my world.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed silent.
“Have you told anyone about seeing me here?” Jacob asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“Make sure you don’t, either,” Jacob said, and the menace was back in his voice.
“I won’t,” I told him. “I don’t want trouble. I thought we could be friends …”
Jacob laughed in my face.
“I don’t need no one,” he said. “Friends let you down. I’m better off on my own – thanks.”
I was about to reply when Jacob’s mum came out.
“Come on, love,” she said. “It’s cold out here.”
Jacob took her arm and I saw that he towered over her.
“Remember,” he hissed at me. “Don’t even think about telling anyone.”
*
After dinner, in the park across from my house, I thought how Jacob was wrong – everyone needs friends. Life without friends is rubbish. Not that I had any close friends. Maybe I wasn’t all that different to him really …
“Hello, day-dreamer,” a voice said. It was Freya on her bike, with her curly hair all messy. “Fancy doing something?” she asked.
“Like what?” I said. I felt all hot and cold at the same time, and my legs had gone wobbly.
“You could invite me to your house?” Freya said. “Come on. I can even show you where you live.”
Mum broke into a huge grin when we walked in.
“Freya!” she said. “How lovely to see you!”
“Hi, Mrs Gill-Smith,” Freya said. “I bumped into Cal and he asked me over. Is that OK?”
As they chatted, I wondered what I was supposed to do. Should I get Freya a drink, maybe something to eat? Should we stay in the kitchen, or go into the living room? What if she wanted to see my bedroom?
We ended up in the living room. Freya sat on the sofa, with me on the armchair. She’d taken off her shoes and sat with her legs crossed, holding a glass of apple juice.
“So, why did you come round?” I asked, a bit confused.
“I wanted to see you.” Freya shrugged. “For help with my mission to stop Anu. Plus, I felt bad for you.”
“So you’re here because you feel sorry for me?” I asked.
“No,” Freya said. “I like you, too. I’ve liked you since nursery. But that was different, obvs …”
“Huh?” I said. What did she mean by “like”?
“I like you,” she repeated. “You’re smart and funny – and strange. I adore strange people.”
“But …” I began.
“Look,” she said. “You’re not making this very easy.”
She put her drink down and stood up. Her eyes were wide under her glasses, her nose was red and her hair was messier than ever.
“Well …” she began, as she sat on the arm of my chair.
I felt nervous and sick and excited all at once. Was Freya about to ask me out? Was she about to become my first girlfriend?
“I’m a geek, and you’re a geek, and I think we should, you know, hang out together,” she said.
“Hang out?” My voice went all high-pitched with disappointment.
“Yes,” Freya said. “Like, be friends and do stuff together.”
“Oh …”
“Well?” she said.
“Yes,” I said at last. “Yes, totally …”
Freya smiled. “I thought you might say that,” she said. “Now, are you going to show me your Batman collection or what?”