The Territory (9 page)

So, big news of the day – Raf invited me back to his after school.

I was sitting on one of the benches by the main gate, chatting with Daisy and Jack, when he walked or rather strolled up and asked if I fancied studying at his. We’ve got this big Biology test tomorrow. Apparently his mum is ‘totally cool’ about him having friends over whenever. Yes – he said ‘friends’. I am now officially friends with the cool blue/green-eyed boy.

Obviously I wanted to say yes, but was worried about the test. I mean how much studying could I really get done if the guy I was hanging out with just needed to upload for two minutes? And he’d think I was just some boring, slow denser if I’m there with my flashcards like the special kid.

I tried to explain this to Raf, thinking he’d laugh in my face, but he just looked embarrassed, like he’d been somehow caught out or something. I hadn’t even realised he could get embarrassed as he always seems so cool. But then said he’d do the test my way – study and not upload and that way we’d be even.

A freakoid not upload! Daisy’s jaw literally hit the ground and Jack nearly choked on his crisps.

Stunned, I mumbled some sort of lame acceptance and as we headed off, Daisy kept on making really embarrassing kissing sounds. I looked back at Jack and he was just staring off in a different direction, with a weird, blank look on his face.

Raf’s flat is big! Raf’s mum was cooking and she seemed genuinely nice and pleased to meet me. Said she’d heard all about me, at which I turned the colour of Amanda’s lipstick and I swear Raf even blushed a bit too. His dad was still at work. Even when I left at 9:30pm. Raf didn’t look phased by this so I guess it must be normal. I don’t get the impression that they’re particularly close or anything.

We spent ages revising. Cramming, testing each other and just chatting. Even his room is cool. There’s a bookshelf crammed full of novels, and books on science, art and music. Not like any freakoid room I’ve ever seen. Logan’s room is OCD neat with no personality (just like Logan!) and Charles’ room had a TV, a spotless desk and, pride of place, his Port. But Raf’s desk was probably more chaotic than mine, if possible, and his Port was hidden from view behind a gravity-defying pile of books.

There were also loads of photos on the wall. There was one of Raf aged about six hugging this really pretty older girl. I felt a weird pang of jealously until I realised (1) it’s perverted to think that way about a six year old and (2) the girl had an identical smile to Raf so had to be related to him. Raf must have seen what I was looking at as he nodded at the photo and said, ‘That’s Chloe. My sister.’

Chloe’s four years older than Raf and passed her TAA with flying colours. She’s now at an elite boarding school in the Second City. Raf said she’s doing pretty well there. I asked him if he saw a lot of her but then he seemed to get a bit defensive. He said she’d changed a lot since he was six and made it clear he wanted to talk about something else.

I can’t quite make Raf out. Tonight he seemed like he was actually pretty clever. He knew stuff way beyond the syllabus. Like that energy can be both a particle and a wave, which makes no sense to me whatsoever but is clearly quite amazing. And he knew all these really useful ways to revise. He seemed a bit weirded out when I asked him about it. I mean, what’s the point when you can just upload? But he said his last school taught revision skills so I guess that explains things. I can’t imagine Hollets doing anything like that, but I guess it’s 85 per cent freakoid so everything is structured around their needs. Us Norms have just got to try and keep up.

After studying, Raf actually walked me home. Like an old-fashioned gentleman. I don’t think even Jack would do something like that. I mean it’s not like it’s dangerous around here at all, in the sense of being stabbed or raped or anything. That’s the one upside of a massive police presence.

When we reached my road I decided to do it. I told Raf about Daisy’s party at the weekend and asked if he wanted to come. I tried to sound casual. I failed dismally. There was what seemed like the world’s longest silence and I could feel this massive blush creeping up my face. I felt like crawling into the drain by the edge of the pavement I was so embarrassed.

Then Raf started laughing.

‘Look at me,’ he said. ‘Look into my eyes,’ he continued in this fake magician’s voice waving his hands around in an intentionally malc way. I did, and drowned in pools of blue and green. ‘I would love to come to Daisy’s party with you.’

‘Not with me.’ I floundered. ‘I wasn’t asking you out or anything.’

‘Well, then I’d love to go to Daisy’s party without you.’

And then he laughed again, hugged me and walked off. He didn’t look back. Which was lucky as I had this really malc grin on my face and must have looked like a right denser staring after him.

Call-me-Marcus was on duty outside my apartment block. He smiled as he recognised me walking up the steps. ‘Good night then, love?’ he asked.

‘The best,’ I replied with a stupid smile on my face. ‘Just the best.’

I wanted to call Daisy as soon as I got home to tell her all about it, but Mum and Dad were in the living room so I’d have had to practically sit next to them and they’d have heard EVERY word. It’s malc sharing a phone. Mum has a mobile for emergencies, but as a mere mortal without a special Ministry licence, I don’t get to touch one. And they’re bound to monitor calls so they’d know if I borrowed hers. I’ll tell Daisy first thing tomorrow.

I’ve just realised why Jack was mad at me. I was supposed to be helping him revise Biology, the last of the three big science tests. He always does better if I study with him and explain it again. I hope he forgives me by tomorrow.

The Biology test was pretty hard and I could see Jack sitting, head in hands, stylus hovering mid-air through the second section.

As Mr Hanson called time and we all filed out of the classroom, I managed to weasel my way to Jack’s side and squeeze his hand. He stiffened and gave me a token nod, the sort of thing you’d do to a kid of a family friend you weren’t massively keen on but couldn’t just blatantly ignore.

‘I’m really sorry about last night,’ I mumbled. ‘I completely forgot and I feel terrible.’

‘Well that’s all OK then, isn’t it,’ Jack shot back. ‘You promise to help me. You don’t. I fail. But you’re
sorry
.’ He literally spat out the last word, like it was a particularly grim piece of mucor stew. ‘Do you want me to be a Fish, is that it?’ he continued, furiously. ‘’Cos that’s sure the way you’re acting. Get me out the way so there are no distractions from freakoid lover-boy?’ Jack’s right hand was now a fist and pulsing.

I saw Raf out the corner of my eye, looking concerned and about to approach, so I desperately signalled him away with my eyes and tried a bit of telepathic channelling too. Raf swerved and kept walking. I got nothing in the way of telepathic reply though so that’s a ‘no’ to my having that particular talent.

Just then Daisy waltzed over and wrapped one arm round each of us, joining us in an awkward sort of triangle.

‘Why are my best friends fighting?’ she demanded. I remained silent.

‘Noa broke her promise,’ Jack muttered.

‘Jack called Raf a freakoid,’ I countered lamely.

Daisy rolled her eyes melodramatically. ‘So we’re in Kindergarten now are we? Jack – grow up. You need to learn to study by yourself. Noa – stop being a crap friend and by the way, Raf is a freakoid. And we’re having a party on Saturday that I’m not going to let you guys ruin. Now hug as if you mean it.’ And Daisy had us hugging again and again in the corridor and repeating, ‘I forgive you,’ until she was truly satisfied and we were all laughing. We got some odd looks and more than a couple of, ‘Uhhhh Fish losers,’ in the process.

Knights don’t all wear shining armour. Some even wear police uniform.

The day started badly. Mum announced that Uncle Pete might be coming to stay. Dad and I immediately let out massive groans. I am so embarrassed to be related to Uncle Pete. He’s supposed to be intelligent and everything, as he has some highish-up job in the Ministry doing something to do with statistics, but he has no social skills and offends absolutely everyone, me included. I mean he once told Jack that they had identified the ‘ginger gene’ and everyone who used a WombPod could choose to exclude it at embryo selection stage. ‘Which of course they all do!’ Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw. Idiot.

I started ranting at Mum and Dad why couldn’t we have any decent relatives other than Ella (and sometimes, depending on mood, Auntie Vicki)? Dad said nothing but started putting on his coat to leave for work even though he didn’t actually have to go for another ten minutes and Mum shot evil looks at me.

‘What?’ I asked. Sometimes I think Mum forgets that I don’t have the same telepathic connection that she and Dad seem to.

Her expression softened. ‘Sorry, love. It’s just that you know Dad’s really sensitive about any talk about relatives because of Uncle Max. It’s hard for him, you know.’

I nodded but I don’t know really. I just know Dad had a brother who died before I was born and I’m not allowed to ask about it and if I ever try to, Dad just seems to go into standby mode.

Anyway, this conversation, if you can call it that, meant I was late leaving for school and would have to run at least some of the way. I hurtled down the steps leading from our block on to the pavement and managed to run slap into the police witch who’d made me search through my garbage before. I mumbled an apology and thought there was no way she’d stop me this time as I had my Hollets uniform on and everything. I was wrong.

‘Please state your name.’ Her voice was ice.

‘Noa Blake,’ I replied, trying to avoid eye contact, trying to appear submissive.

‘Empty your bag,’ came her next command. I couldn’t believe it. Not again. Not when I clearly just had a school bag and was clearly running because I was clearly late for school. It wasn’t as if I was smuggling loads of subversive materials to some top secret Opposition meeting. But then it struck me. At the bottom of my bag was Jack’s scrunched-up picture. The one that could be ‘misinterpreted’. The one I’d forgotten to burn. My heart started to hammer and I was this terrible level of awake. Colours became more intense and all the energy in my body was buzzing around my legs. I opened my mouth but no words came out. It was like the dream in which I find out the TAA is actually a spoken test and I’ve turned mute so I fail. I’m terrible at hiding my feelings and a look of pure panic must have zipped across my face. The witch started to smile, as if she knew she was going to catch me with something terrible and get to ruin my life.

I was just deciding whether it’d be better to try and run or to eat the picture, when I saw the squat figure of Marcus approaching.

‘What’s up here, Officer Hicks?’ Marcus asked, nodding at me.

‘Standard stop and search procedures.’

‘We’ll let this one go, I think. She seems pretty harmless.’ And then he winked at me and tapped me on the shoulder with his baton. ‘Now off with you, love, and hurry. Don’t want you costing your family any rations, now do we.’

And it’s the rare times when something like this happens, or I remember that the police have their share of Marcuses, that I think maybe the Territory isn’t such a bad place to live after all.