"The Knock 'em Down Boys" Chapter 2 of my young adult novel with a toxic twist
Find out what Rat really thinks about school, some background to their friendship and how Rat and Sparky intend to get noticed for what they do...
Chapter 2
Freshbrook Academy
Me and Sparky go to the same school – Freshbrook Academy.
All you need to know about this place is that it’s not Fresh. The place has all the same stinks that you know from your school: stale sweat and old trainers, dinner ladies heating up already overcooked slop, and the stench of layer upon layer of piss seeping out of the cracked and battered urinals of the boys’ bogs.
Oh, and the brook in freshbrook is hardly fresh either. It reeks of piss too.
I need to get something straight with you before I go on. If you’re looking for a thick lad who likes stoving people’s heads in at a weekend because he can’t think of anything else to do, then my story is not what you’re after. And if you’re looking for me to tell you that school is shit, well this is not gonna be your cup of tea either.
I mean, the fact is, school is shit. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? But the point of school is not shit. Doing what I do costs money and I’m gonna need a good University for a good job. So I need school.
I’ve got a brain and I’m gonna use it.
The area of town where I live is called Hyde. It’s a big estate in a nice part of town, full of identical houses with quite large gardens. We’ve lived here for as long as I can remember. Dad’s a boss in a car factory and Mum works at a supermarket. I like them both. They don’t get on my back because I’m not in trouble at school and my grades are good.
So everything’s sweet.
Sparky’s different. His family live on an estate called The Chilterns. It’s not far from where I live, but it might as well be. The police aren’t keen on the place, so they try not to go there very often – regardless of what’s happening. I’ve known Sparky for about as long as I can be bothered to remember. He’s a little shorter than I am, though not so much that you’d notice unless you were really looking. He doesn’t carry any fat, and I mean any at all. Sparky’s in training – real training. So everything is stretched tight and taut in perfect operational order.
Sparky’s a boxer, and a good one too, at one of the best gym’s in town. He’s a prospect his trainer Paddy says: intelligent, strong and quick, and he works hard at it. He eats right, trains without complaint and keeps himself fit. When he fights, it’s at Lightweight, weighing just over 9 stone.
If ever you met Sparky, what you would notice the most are his eyes. One minute his eyes might seem cold and emotionless, and the next, they burn with an intensity that makes you think he might just explode on you in the next few seconds unless you look away.
Me and Sparky weren’t in our third class of Monday morning together, when I had History, so we planned to meet up at lunchtime.
When we met, we sat on one of the walls surrounding what would have been a nice place if the students hadn’t decided that the flowers and bushes looked better dumped randomly around the school site.
When I got there, Sparky looked serious.
“Alright Rat. You got the video of last week?”
I took out my phone and showed Sparky the highlights I’d edited together the night before with a running commentary pointing out where we’d done well.
“You gonna put this on youtube?”
“Already done it. And it’s edited so that you never see any of our faces clear enough to make out who we are. Or that lot from Wycombe either. Sparky nodded, “Any hits?”
I looked at the recorded number. “Yeah, quite a few. No comments though – yet.”
“What time’s the draw for the next round of the cup?”
While the league obviously mattered, progressing in the cup opened up a whole host of more interesting opportunities for people like us. Most importantly of these was the fact that we might draw one of the big boys and test our own skills against larger and more famous opposition.
“Cup draw should be done now,” I said. “I’ll have a look.”
The list of ties for the 3rd round of the Cup came up and we scanned down the list hopeful of one of the Big Boys coming to our place: Chelsea V Birmingham, Man United V Burnley, Sheffield United V Liverpool and then we saw what we were looking for: Southend V Swindon.
“Not exactly a glamour tie that,” I said shaking my head.
Sparky stood up, “Maybe not. But we’ll go there and show them a good time. You’ve got a bit of research to do then. Find out everything we can about their place, the train station, surrounding area and contacts for their boys, if they like to make appointments.”
I was starting to look at ways to get to the away end at Roots Hall when Sparky’s phone registered a text. I saw him smile and nod with satisfaction.
“Who’s that?”
“Ghandi and Scratch.”
Ghandi and Scratch were the top boys in the adult Firm.
“They say that they’ve seen that video you put on last night and they’re impressed. We’re getting noticed by all the right people. Scratch says that if were up for it at Southend, then we need to meet them to talk about it at our next match.”
“What do you think?”
“What do you mean what do I think? Let’s meet them.”
I nodded in agreement.
“It’s time to graduate to the real Firm Rat, and I reckon Southend’s gonna be our first test.”
If you want to know more about Rat and Sparky, and see how their story develops when they meet a girl in care called Robin - then leave a comment below, message me, “like” my post or subscribe!