The Silent Deceivers

Chapter 3

 

New Guy in Town

The first week of my parent’s holiday practically flew by. I was enjoying freedom and not attending school. I spent most evenings at Grace  ’s or Abby ’s house  but still managed to get home before Sam to delete the messages left by the school to tell my parents that once again I had not arrived for class. When my parents rang to check up on me, it was easy to convince them I was telling truth as they couldn’t see my face blushing. The giveaway sign of my lies.  Nobody suspected a thing. On the weekend I met up with Grace, Abby and Abby’s cousin David. It was our normal routine to meet up either in town or at the park every weekend. It was an excuse to not do our homework. David attends Bridgewater Secondary School in the next town over and is one year older than us. He usually hangs around with us in the mornings, because his friends are too busy playing football so he can’t meet up with them. He normally makes an excuse to leave at about three o’clock, when the football training finishes. Although if we mentioned the phrase “let’s go shopping” he always seemed to remember that he had to some piece of homework.

It was quarter to one and I was walking down the high-street towards McDonalds where I had arranged to meet them. I was fifteen minutes late because Sam had been hassling me about doing my homework, before I went out and saw my friends. It took me at least twenty five minutes to convince him that I didn’t have any homework to do, so he could let me go out and report back to my mum that I was doing as told and that I had done my homework and was putting effort in at school. My word obviously wasn’t good enough for him as he insisted that I show him my homework before he would finally stop barricading the door and let me go out. The high street was extremely quiet for a Saturday afternoon, it was normally buzzing with students form our school and Bridgewater. It was almost deserted like a ghost town. I soon found out why. I had just sat down at the table next to Grace when David and Abby arrived with the food.

“Town is super quite today.” I said in between mouthfuls.

“Yea, I noticed that too, where is everybody?” Grace replied.

“I don’t know. Where all the kids from Bridgewater? They normally run this place on a Saturday.” Abby responded looking inquisitively at David.

Bridgewater Secondary is a school in Basingstoke; it is a state school and anyone who doesn’t go there is apparently posh and stuck up. Bridgewater is most known for its poor attendance record and the gangs that rule the school and the estates around it. Bridgewater is also close to Oakley Care Home which is a children’s care home. Some people who go there are like David but the majority are troubled kids that do drugs and are addicted to alcohol. Every Saturday Andover high-street becomes Bridgewater high-street. They walk around in their gangs like they own the place, if they don’t like what you do or say then they chase you out, if you’re lucky if not you get knifed. Bridgewater is no place for the weak. I didn’t know whether to be pleased or not when David said I would fit in perfectly a few weeks before.

“A new shopping centre, just opened in Basingstoke so I think they rule that one now.” David said sipping his drink. “It’s much bigger than this place and there are no empty shops.”

“They used to make my hell every time I take Austin to football practice. If I ever see them again it will be way too soon.” I told them. “But we do have to go to the new centre, just to check it out.”