Nowhere Boys by Elise Mccredie Read Free Book Online

ever understand a word you say?’ Jake interrupted Andy.
    ‘My family do. Or did,’ Andy corrected himself.
    ‘Yeah well, sad story guys, but I’ve got to find my mum.’
    ‘When you do find her I’d say there’s a seventy to eighty per cent chance she’ll have no idea who you are,’ said Andy. But Jake wasn’t listening. He was staring at a woman walking down the footpath on the other side of the street.
    Sam followed his gaze. The woman was wearing a smart suit and high heels. She zapped open a black BMW as she walked towards it.
    ‘Mum!’ called Jake.
    Sam did a double take. That was Jake’s mum? Sam had only ever seen her driving a beaten-up Nissan and wearing a tracksuit or her fish-and-chip shop uniform.
    The woman opened her car door and got in.
    Jake pedalled across the street to reach her car. ‘Mum! Wait!’
    The woman ignored him.
    The BMW pulled out onto the road and Jake set off after it.
    Andy shook his head. ‘That’s not going to end well.’
    Sam felt ill. Jake’s mum clearly didn’t recognise him. So that was three of them.
    He turned to Andy. ‘We need to find Felix.’

felix: it’s a miracle right?
    Felix’s mum came out of the house, the screen door banging behind her. She was carrying a tray of fairy bread. ‘Here you are, boys.’ She placed the tray in front of Felix. ‘Would you like something to drink? Fergus, wasn’t it?’
    Felix smiled uncertainly. ‘Felix, actually.’
    ‘It’s so nice for Oscar to have a friend over for a play date.’
    ‘Mum,’ Oscar growled. ‘Play dates are for two-year-olds. And we don’t even know each other.’
    ‘I didn’t think I’d seen you before,’ said Felix’s mum. ‘Are you at Bremin High?’
    Felix took a deep breath. As soon as his mum had seen him in the driveway she’d demanded he come and ‘play’ with Oscar. That was weird enough, but it was even weirder when she introduced herself as Mrs Ferne. And now here she was, feeding him and smiling at him. Clearly, she had absolutely no idea who he was, which was seriously freaky. But it was better than her hating him, right?
    Felix figured the safest route for now was just to play along. ‘Not yet. We’ve just moved here.’
    ‘Oh really? Where fro–’ She suddenly sneezed. ‘Goodness me, my hayfever’s starting early!’ She held a hand up to her nose. ‘Excuse me a mo’.’ She opened the screen door and disappeared inside.
    ‘Mum’s a bit intense,’ Oscar said apologetically. He looked at Felix for a moment, as if trying to work him out. ‘So, what’s your story? Do you normally just appear in people’s front yards wanting to hang out with kids you don’t know?’
    Man, Oscar was defensive. Felix picked up a piece of fairy bread. He suddenly realised how starving he was. ‘I only do it for the food.’ He shoved the fairy bread in his mouth. It tasted delicious.
    Oscar picked up a piece and looked at it with disdain. ‘How old does she think I am?’
    ‘Yeah, well, she does like to baby you,’ said Felix, shoving a second piece in his mouth.
    Oscar looked at him strangely. ‘How would you know that?’
    Felix stopped himself. He had to be careful. If he said too much, Oscar would think he was utterly nuts and his mum would probably throw him out on the street. ‘Oh. I don’t. It’s just, that’s what mums do with the youngest. I mean … with kids.’
    ‘I guess.’ Oscar shrugged and stood up. ‘Well, if you’re not gonna tell me anything, do you at least know how to play chess?’
    ‘Sure,’ said Felix, taking a third piece of fairy bread.
    He watched Oscar walk across the porch. A warm feeling went through him. His brother wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life trapped in a metal chair with two wheels. He was going to walk to school and play sport and get a girlfriend like everybody else. He wasn’t going to have to wear the ‘disabled’ tag, and his parents weren’t going to have to spend their rest of their lives stressed about