iBoy by Kevin Brooks Read Free Book Online Page B

me a baffled look. “Why’s it doing that?”
    “Doing what?” I said, suddenly embarrassed.
    “I don’t know . . .” She was frowning at me, her eyes wrinkled with puzzlement. “It’s stopped now. It was kind of . . .” She put her hand to the side of her head, just where my scar was, and waggled her fingers. “It was glowing, you know . . . like, it was all shimmery . . .” She looked at me. “Honestly, Tom . . . it was really weird.”
    I shrugged. “It was probably just a trick of the light or something.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
    “Well, it feels perfectly all right,” I said, carelessly rubbing the wound, as if somehow that proved there was nothing wrong with it. “So, uhh . . .” I started to say, trying to think of a way to change the subject, but I couldn’t think of anything that seemed OK to talk about.
    “So . . . what?” Lucy asked me.
    “Nothing . . .” I smiled awkwardly at her. “I was going to ask you when you’re going back to school . . . but, you know . . . it’s a pretty stupid thing to ask.”
    “Yeah, I don’t know . . .” she said distantly. “I haven’t really thought about it. I suppose I’ll have to go back at some point . . . maybe after the Easter break . . . but at the moment, I just can’t face it. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to face it, to tell you the truth. I just . . . it’s like, I don’t want to do any thing. I don’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone or think about anything. All I want to do is stay in here, with the curtains closed . . . no, I don’t even want to do that.” Her voice was a broken whisper. “They ruined me, Tom. They totally fucking ruined me.”
    “Yeah . . .”
    “Look, you’d better go . . . I’m sorry, I just . . .”
    “It’s OK,” I said quietly, getting to my feet.
    “Maybe another time . . .”
    “Yeah, yeah, of course . . .” I looked at her. “I could come round tomorrow, if you want . . . or not. I mean, whatever you want . . .”
    “Yeah,” she muttered. “Tomorrow. I’d like that . . . I just need to be on my own for a bit now.”
    I nodded at her, then turned and headed for the door.
    “Thanks, Tom,” I heard her whisper.
    I turned back and looked at her.
    She smiled sadly at me. “I mean, thanks for . . . I don’t know. For just listening and everything. It was . . . it was . . . well, you know. Thanks.”
    “No problem,” I said. “See you later, Luce.”
    “Yeah . . .”

There are men so godlike, so exceptional, that they naturally, by right of their extraordinary gifts, transcend all moral judgement or constitutional control. There is no law which embraces men of that caliber. They are themselves law.
    Aristotle

     
    When I went back into the sitting room, Ben was still slumped on the settee, watching TV, and I could hear his mum in the kitchen doing the washing up. I went over and sat down next to him.
    “All right?” he grunted, without taking his eyes off the TV.
    “No, not really,” I said.
    He shrugged and carried on staring at the TV screen. I sat there in silence for a while, trying to ignore the fragments of online TV listings in my head that I’m sure could have told me what he was watching, if I’d really wanted to know. But I didn’t want to know.
    “I’ll tell you what,” I said quietly to Ben. “If you tell me what you did to piss off the Crows, I won’t tell anyone about the iPhone.”
    “What?” he snapped, suddenly tearing his eyes from the TV.
    “You heard me.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “Yeah, you do,” I said. “All I want to know is why the Crows came round here to beat the shit out of you.” I stared at him. “You tell me that, and I’ll keep quiet about you nicking the iPhone.”
    Just then, his mum called out from the kitchen. “Is everything all right in there, Ben?”
    “Yeah, Mum,” he called back. “I’m just talking to Tom. Everything’s OK.” He turned back to me, lowering