Page 11 of The Freshman

It sounded like the boom of a bomb,over and over. The concrete floor even tremored with the war drums.The twins inside G-wing moved into the communal lobby and gesturedfor Alfie and Marie to get over to their side of the gate. Glenbounded down the stairs, and the three of them rushed into thelobby, securing the gate behind them.

The thump woke Henry from his slumber,and he stumbled out the office. “What the hell is that?”

Glen gestured to the terrifyingspeaker of noise. “I asked for his name. He gave me it, then hestarted hitting the door. They all joined in.”

“Who?” Henrygrumbled.

“Nate, NateMathews.”

Henry shook his head, then rubbed histhumb on his temple. “Well we won’t get anything done with thisracket.”

By ‘anything done’, Alfie could onlyassume Henry meant sleep. Henry dusted his hands together, thenunlocked the gate. The rest of them watched for an agonizing tenminutes as Henry wheezed and spluttered up the stairs. The boomdidn’t stop, it continued. A strike, followed by a two secondsilence, then another strike. If nothing else, they wereconsistent.

The door drumming didn’t stop, andHenry returned shaking his head and muttering.

“Bunch of hooligans, toldthem breakfast will be delayed, and they continued to drum. Ifthere not gonna stop for food, there not gonna stop.”

Glen ran his hands into his hair witha whine. “The boss will be angry if we can’t get them undercontrol.”

Henry craned his neck back. “They areunder control. They’re just being a nuisance.”

Marie turned to the twins and liftedher shoulders. “Why they doing that?”

They glanced at each other, then theone Alfie thought was Dan stepped forward. “Something or someone’spissed them off.”

Henry nodded, then wagged his fingerat Glen. “What did you say to Nate? He started this.”

Glen shook his head. “Nothing, Iswear. I just asked for his name. He even gave it to me with noaggro.”

Alfie sighed through his nose andpressed his face into the bars. “I’ll go, see if I can get them toshut it.”

“Fish,” Henry scoffed.“You don’t stand a chance.”

Alfie shrugged, then tugged his keysup to unlock the gate. The metal walkways shook ten times worsethan the floor. Alfie slid his hand along the rail to steadyhimself, and when he finally got to Nate’s door, he pushed hismouth against the gap around the door.

“Okay, stopthis.”

Nate struck the door fast twice, andthe prison fell silent.

Alfie cursed under his breath andshook his head. “What was that all about?” he asked.

“I told you. I like ourconversations—”

“I ask for your name, yousay freshman and I walk off. Not much of aconversation.”

Nate laughed lightly. “No matter howbrief they may be, I enjoy them, and you tried to take themaway.”

“You were actinginappropriate.”

Nate clacked his tongue, then hummed.“I haven’t acted inappropriate. All I’ve done is called you pretty.Is that really so bad?”

“Yes, it is.”

“So, if I stop calling youpretty will you do my roll call again?”

Alfie huffed and narrowed his eyes atthe hinge. “Fine.”

“Good night,Freshman.”

---