Zom-B by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online

squaring up to Tyler’s old man, me feeling proud and mortified at the same time, all of it brought on by Tyler not keeping his mouth shut and putting up with the theft as any good victim should.
    “Hey, Tyler,” I shout. “Why didn’t you come play with us the other night?”
    Tyler looks at me and forces a laugh. Turns back to the game, hoping I’ll let it drop. But I’m not in the dropping mood.
    “Oi! Don’t ignore me.”
    “I’m not ignoring you, B,” he sighs.
    “You bloody are.”
    The kids around him back away and focus on the game. None of them wants to get sucked into this.
    Tyler gulps and faces me. “I was looking for a mate. He wasn’t there. So I left.”
    “But you didn’t even stop to say hello,” I remind him.
    “That was rude,” Kray chuckles, giving me a dig in the ribs, egging me on.
    “I know your kind aren’t the most civilized in the world,” I continue, taking a few steps towards the small, nervous kid, “but I thought you’d have the good manners to–”
    “What do you mean, your kind ?” someone snaps.
    I halt and blink. A tall black girl has stepped forward. She’s glaring at me. She’s from the year above mine, Nancy something-or-other.
    “You got a problem?” I snarl.
    “Yeah,” she says, stepping in front of Tyler, who can’t believe his luck. “You just said that blacks are uncivilized.”
    “Not me,” I grin.
    “Yes you did,” she huffs. “I heard what you said. Your kind. ”
    “Maybe I was talking about his family,” I chuckle. “Or the fans of the team he supports.”
    “No,” Nancy says. “I know exactly what you meant.”
    I shrug and fake a yawn. Nancy’s got me dead to rights, but I can’t admit that in front of the others. It’s not in my nature to backdown. You can never show weakness. You have to fight every fight that comes your way. Otherwise you end up being picked on, like Tyler.
    “Let’s say you’re right,” I drawl. “So what?”
    “I won’t stand for racism,” Nancy says. “Apologize or I’ll report you.”
    “Me?” I gasp. “Racist? You’re nuts. Isn’t she, Kray?”
    Kray chuckles weakly but says nothing. He doesn’t want the hassle.
    “Tell her I’m not a racist, Tyler. Tell her you and me are good friends and were just having a laugh.”
    “Leave him alone,” Nancy says. “Pick on me if you want to pick on someone.”
    I grin tightly. “All right.” I move closer and get in her face, even though I have to go right up on my toes. “I was talking about blacks,” I murmur. I know it’s madness, that I won’t be able to justify this if she grasses me up. But I’ve only two choices here—apologize or push through with the hard-nosed, racist routine. And I wasn’t brought up to apologize. Certainly not to the likes of her.
    Nancy pushes me away. “You’re scum,” she sneers.
    “At least I’m white scum,” I toss back at her, slipping into hateful character with alarming ease.
    “You’ll be suspended scum once I tell a teacher what you said.”
    “Is that how you deal with people who wind you up?” I jeer. “You run to the teachers?”
    “Yeah.”
    I shrug. “Go on then. It’s my word against yours. But while you’re complaining about me, I’ll complain too. You pushed me. That’s physical assault and everyone saw it.”
    “Rubbish,” she snorts.
    “You raised your hands and pushed me. That’s a direct attack.” I step up close to Nancy and smile. “If you’re gonna get done just for pushing me, you might as well go the whole hog. Go on, knock my block off, you know you want to. You lot love to fight, don’t you? It’s what you were born for. Well, that and basketball.”
    Nancy’s fingers bunch into fists. She’s trembling. She wants to hit me but she’ll lose the moral high ground if she does. If she strikes the first blow, she won’t be able to turn me in. It doesn’t matter if you’re provoked—school policy is that you should never react.
    “Go on,” I whisper,