Generation Next by Oli White

Author:Oli White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Coming of Age
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2016-07-05T04:00:00+00:00

THE VERY BAD THING

I came home to find Mum and Dad still up talking in the living room, and as it was after two in the morning, I knew I was in for a grilling about where I’d been and what I’d been up to. OK, so I’d literally had about four mouthfuls of champagne that evening, so they certainly couldn’t have a go at me about being drunk. Then again, I guess I couldn’t blame them for being a little bit pissed off at me. I mean, I’d done my best to avoid them as much as possible since the video debacle; in fact I’d barely seen them for the past week, and aside from a couple of texts I hadn’t even been in contact that much. I sneaked in quietly and was halfway up the stairs, thinking I might just have got away with it, when they came out into the hallway. Dad jumped in first, sternly as he always did—bad cop.

“You’re having a laugh if you think you can start wandering in at this time every night, son. Can you come down here and speak to us, please?”

“Ah, Dad, I’m seriously knackered.”

To be honest, I just wanted to get into bed, go to sleep and forget the whole evening. I was gutted about what had happened with Ella, and the sooner I was unconscious and didn’t have to keep turning it all over in my mind, the better.

“Now, please,” Dad said, in a tone that made it clear there was no argument.

When I faced them in the living room, it was Mum’s turn, this time with the softer approach—good cop.

“Jack, we’ve hardly see you for the last few days; what have you been doing with yourself?”

“I’ve just been staying at Austin’s and hanging out with the GenNext team,” I said, shrugging. “Surely you haven’t waited up this late just to ask me that?”

“No, we were up talking anyway,” Mum said, “but we have been a bit concerned about how fast all this GenNext stuff is moving, and let’s face it, your behavior hasn’t exactly been in character lately, has it? Staying out late, and all that stuff in the video: partying, drinking and running around like a mad thing.”

“I told you about that; my drinks were spiked,” I said, defensively.

“Yes, but the fact is you shouldn’t really have been drinking so much in the first place, should you?” Dad said. “Look, I know it’s normal for blokes your age to be experimenting with drinking—I get that, Jack, I really do. But given that this company of yours has thrust you into the public eye—really quite unexpectedly—you do need to be careful about how you conduct yourself. At the end of the day, you’re still a teenager who has a year of school left to go.”

This was a reasonably calm demeanor for him, and I was quite surprised he wasn’t going nuts at me. As I sat opposite them on the armchair, clocking the deadly serious looks on both their faces, I knew they meant business.

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