My Brilliant Idea (And How It Caused My Downfall) by Stuart David Read Free Book Online Page B

anything more. Instead, at the next assembly, he uploaded an ultimatum to our whole year.
    â€œIf the boy who was involved in this incident does not come forward of his own volition, this year’s school trip will be canceled. I will give the boy in question three days to present himself. If he does not, then the rest of the school will be at liberty to inform me of the culprit in order to save the school trip. If I have to find out who the culprit was in this way, the boy in question will be immediately expelled.”
    Yatesy didn’t come forward. In his defense, he had no choice. He was already on a final warning because of various past activities, which meant he’d get expelled if he did. His friends have taken on a rotation schedule to make sure one of them is always standing near the door of Bailey’s office, and word went round the school that if Bailey found out it was Yatesy who had been in the fight, anyone who had visited his office in the previous week would have Yatesy’s crew to answer to. So far everyone appears to care more about the threat than they do about the school trip, and Yatesy is still going about his daily business. But everyone knows that the nearer the trip gets, the more certain it is that somebody will cave.
    Now I’ve realized I can help him, though. I’ve come up with a blinder. And as I stand on his doorstep, waiting for someone to answer the bell, I run through what I’ll be requesting from him in return, and try to make it sound less insane.
    Â 
    Yatesy’s room isn’t like my room. I’ve never really thought much about my own room before, but after seeing Yatesy’s I realize mine is really still just a kid’s room. I still have a kid bed, kid shelves, a kid desk. Up on the walls I’ve got one big poster of a jackdaw eating a coconut, and one of a map of all the different areas of the brain. But that’s all I’ve really done in the way of decoration. My computer sits on my kid desk, and my TV sits on my kid chest of drawers. Piles of clean clothes Mum has brought into my room sit on chairs and things. A lot of junk lies about on the floor. Yatesy’s room makes it look more as if he’s doing a house share with his parents, rather than just living in
their
house. His bed is down low on the floor, with a sort of rug thing on top of it for a blanket, and it’s a big wide bed. There’s one area where he’s set up his television on a stand, with two proper armchairs and a low table, as if it’s a tiny living room. He’s even got lamps in there. He’s got a sink on one wall, and the rest of the room is arranged like an artist’s studio, with all kinds of things that look as if they’re set out properly. He doesn’t have any posters on his walls. He has proper pictures in proper frames.
    â€œThis is a bit like my room,” I tell him as he shows me inside. He doesn’t respond much. I think of saying it again, but then I don’t bother.
    It wasn’t all that easy to get in there in the first place. His mum answered the door at the beginning, and she looked like she’d have been happier if I wasn’t there. She didn’t really look much like a mum. She looked more like she was Yatesy’s art teacher or something. She asked what I wanted, and I told her I’d come to see Yatesy.
    She kind of sighed.
    â€œWhat’s your name?” she asked.
    â€œJackdaw,” I said.
    â€œJack who?” she asked me.
    â€œJack Dawson,” I told her.
    She wandered off without saying where she was going or anything, but it was quite clear I wasn’t supposed to come inside, so I stayed on the step. She was gone for quite a while, and I didn’t hear any talking. Then she came back.
    â€œWhat do you want to see him about?” she asked.
    â€œWell . . . he’s about to be expelled from school, for kicking this guy’s head in, and I think