The Upper World by Femi Fadugba

Author:Femi Fadugba [Fadugba, Femi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241505625
Google: fewJEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B08NWRTPSB
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2021-08-18T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Esso · Now

The teachers knew the scraps and all-round ghetto behaviour usually happened at lunch. That’s why Mr Sweeney and Ms Russel sat on high chairs at opposite sides of the hall, sniffing for the slightest scent of beef.

From the corner of my eye, I watched D walking into the dining hall. He was with his boy Marcus, the one who looked just like the season-three fugitive-version of Dushane (to me, but no one else). Marcus was one of those very rigorous guys: a straight-A student who only bopped with people who gave no Fs.

He split away from D and walked to the end of the dining hall where Mr Sweeney was now patrolling. After glancing side to side with a devilish smile, Marcus dipped his hand in his pocket and yelled at the top of his lungs: ‘Scrammmmmmm-bllllllle!’

For the uninitiated, scramble was a stupid, stupid game played at school. It started with the scrambler – and anyone could be the scrambler – throwing a one-pound coin on the floor, then shouting, ‘Scramble!’ as loud as they could. A horde of kids then dived, skull first, after it – using their fists, elbows, legs, everything they had to win the coin. On a bad day, you might smash your nose up or catch your finger under someone’s foot. On a good day, the game ended with a few minor scratches, plenty of jokes and a modest transfer of wealth.

But where Marcus had taken the piss was by throwing in a two-pound coin. It was like driving a truck full of live goats past fasting lions. A heap of kids piled up in front of Marcus, while the rest of the hall jumped out of their seats to see who’d float to the top, money in hand. Even Ms Russel and Mr Sweeney were part of the stampede.

The room’s centre of gravity shifted to the far end, and in the commotion I lost sight of D. I looked down at the rough sides of my arms and saw the hairs standing up, something I’d always assumed only happened to people in films. Something was clearly setting me off. And, even though I was sitting thirty metres away from the danger, I still felt like I was drifting into a trap.

Before I could think to call him back, Kato was already at the far end of the dining hall, hustling like everyone else to see the action before the scramble mountain crumbled.

‘Prick,’ I muttered under my breath. Sure, Kato couldn’t see how fast my heart was racing, or my knees knocking under the table, but he knew my situation with Bloodshed and how scared I was. And yet he still left me to watch some kids fight over a two-quid coin. The exact same way he’d bumped me every other time I made the mistake of trusting him.

I reached for my tray, and a dark shadow fell over it.

It was D, his gold tooth glistening like the necklace draped over his school jumper.

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