Page 165 of Good Losers (Lochkelvin Academy)

“School. Boring school. Imagine that? Imagine looking forward tothat?” Luke flashes a sunny grin at me, looking absurdly upbeat for the first time in months.

And I don’t blame him. I reach out my hand, which he accepts, over the expanse of Finlay’s broad naked back.

I’m excited about Lochkelvin, too. It’s the best school, after all, the one I’d been accepted into, the one I really, really wanted to study at and excel in. And perhaps this new term will finally allow that to happen.

No enemies. No hostages.

No outside interference.

No parents.

No politics.

Just school. Plain ordinary boring school.

And this time, it’s not just me and it’s not just Danny. We aren’t clinging together in friendship born out of shared victimhood any longer. This year is going to be all of us united. Me, Danny and the chiefs. All of us ruling the school.

I tighten my grip around Luke’s hand, watching his slow-spreading grin. Neither of us geeks can wait to walk through those large wooden doors and take our places in our final year.

Bring it on.

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