Boy Like Me: A Searing YA Novel About Two Boys Finding Love in the Shadow of Section 28 by Simon James Green

Author:Simon James Green [Green, Simon James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0BKLTLMWL
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2023-03-01T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

* What I didn’t appreciate then, of course, was that Mrs C knew damn well that one of the best solutions is giving something (or someone) time.

* And bear in mind, this is all relative. Breaking bad for a nerdy sixteen-year-old in Lincolnshire looks very different to the hit Netflix show about a terminally ill family man in New Mexico, so relax, this story isn’t about to take a dark turn, and I’m not going to set up a crystal meth lab.

Chapter 24

I received the summons to Mrs Prenton’s office at afternoon registration. Rob was already there when I arrived and didn’t look at me when I walked in. That was probably for the best – didn’t want to give the impression we were in any way a unit, I suppose.

I stood next to him, both of us facing Mrs Prenton as she sat behind her huge wooden desk. Everything about her was just so. The coiffed hair. The two-piece suit. Blue, of course. Maggie Thatcher would be proud. The copy of Wildflowers was placed in the middle of the desk. Our handiwork was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

“I must be going mad,” she said.

We both stared forwards.

“Or else you think I’m stupid.”

I made sure to keep my face neutral. It was killing me; I craved approval, especially from anyone in authority, but I had to keep a poker face.

She flipped through the book. “This is a copy of 1984 by George Orwell.”

“Like I said, I’ve never seen it before in my life,” Rob replied.

She turned to me. “Jamie?”

“I didn’t read it.”

“Well, I know it wasn’t this yesterday. So what do you think happened?”

We both shrugged in unison.

She gave an annoyed sigh. I could tell she wasn’t buying this, but she was out of options. “OK, let’s pretend for a moment that there were no shenanigans with this book since we last spoke. What seems odd to me, then, is that anyone would put a fake cover on this book, and that a parent would feel the need to contact the school because of the obscene content. That’s quite the mystery, don’t you think?”

Rob sniffed. “Is it a mystery? Isn’t 1984 about totalitarianism, mass surveillance and censorship? I feel like a lot of people would hate those themes being laid bare, especially when there are so many parallels with where our world is heading at the moment.”

“I’m not following, Robert.” Mrs Prenton smiled – a dangerous sort of smile, like she was hoping he’d say too much and incriminate himself. I sort of hoped he’d shut up – we’d gotten away with it – for now. This wasn’t the time to mess it up.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a scene in the book where Winston has to remove references the Party don’t approve of from a newspaper?”

“I believe there is,” Mrs Prenton said.

Rob nodded. “Right. And in the context of the whole book, that’s obviously portrayed as a bad thing.”

“Yes, of course,” she agreed, her smile still fixed in place.

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