Give Me Truth by Bill Condon Read Free Book Online Page B

Hard.
    â€˜Dave!’
    â€˜Nothing happens …’ Dad’s always saying that. He’s told me so many times. ‘Nothing happens unless you make it happen.’ Well, I know something I can makehappen. I’ll get Mum and Dad back together. First I’ll call Dad. At recess. I won’t even talk about last night. Just tell him Allie and I are behind him. We have to rebuild. If the three of us can stand together, then Mum will fall into line. She’ll have no choice.
    â€˜Turn around, will ya?’
    In the meantime, I have to forget about what Gran said. She’s crazy. Probably has it in her head that we’re going to live with her. Not a chance. I don’t think Mum’s completely given up on Dad yet. No matter what she says. She’s ticked off, sure she is, but seventeen years together – she won’t walk away from that.
    A note lands on my desk. I see Lanny’s scrawl.
    What’s the matter with you? Why won’t you look at me? I’m sorry all right? You dickhead!
    I screw it up and chuck it back at him.
    Grogan’s radar spots it. His bushy eyebrows spear upwards.
    â€˜You boys passing love letters between you?’
    Perfect. Now our maths teacher’s doing stand-up.
    The audience rolls in the aisles.
    â€˜I’ll have that.’
    Grogan scans the note quickly before waving it at Lanny.
    â€˜Out the front, son.’
    Lanny lurches forward, head in the ostrich position.
    â€˜This a new form of maths, Mr Pringle?’
    â€˜Um … no, sir.’
    I glance around at the class. So many smart-arse grins. Life is cool when someone else is in trouble. Phillip Johnson up near the back sets up a whispered chant: Dingle Dingle Dingle.
    â€˜Keep it down, please, boys.’
    No one but me calls him Lanny. Now, the more he squirms, the funnier it is. He and I are the only ones who aren’t laughing.
    Grogan points to me.
    â€˜You might be able to shed some light on this, Mr Curtis. Up here, please.’
    Cheers and whistles as I join Lanny in front of Grogan’s desk.
    He reads the note again, scratches at his ear to draw out the laughs from his audience.
    â€˜Perhaps it’s some baffling algebraic formula?’
    This one cracks the class up.
    â€˜Come on. Who’d like to answer first?’
    I see my class as I’ve never seen them before. We’re slaves stuck in the middle of the Colosseum and they’re cheering for the lion.
    Lanny runs a hand through his hair. He always does this when he’s about to be eaten alive.
    â€˜Well? I’m waiting. Mr Pringle, please tell me what this note has to do with mathematics.’
    â€˜Nothing, sir.’
    â€˜Very good. I think that may be the first time you’ve answered a question correctly in my class.’
    That earns a round of applause.
    Grogan brushes Lanny away like a pesky fly. ‘Back to your seat. And pay attention.’ His glare shifts to me now. ‘That goes for you too, Mr Curtis. You’ll pay attention from now on, I trust?’
    Decisions, decisions.
    I know Grogan isn’t really all that bad. He’s only having a bit of fun. You can usually talk to the guy and he’ll listen. He’s not a hardhead. And all he wants from me is an easy, ‘Yes, sir’, then I’m on my way and it’s over.
    But I don’t want to make it easy for anyone today. Including me.
    I’m standing right in front of him. There’s nothing to hide behind. Nowhere to run. And he’ll hear the smallest mumble. But I don’t care.
    In my head I’m roaring, ‘Bring on the lion,’ as I tell him big and loud –
    â€˜stuff you. Sir .’
    Â 
    Mrs Flanagan is our Year Coordinator. I’m sitting in her office and she’s searching my eyes for answers to whatshe calls my ‘bizarre behaviour’.
    It really wasn’t so bizarre. I went looking for something to shut Grogan up with and that’s what I