Page 4 of Green Light

“Where you running off to?”

“Aw. Are you scared, Mal-ach-kai?”

Blood pounded through my veins as I broke into a sprint. Yes, I was scared. Scared of losing a whole night’s sleep rewriting my essays. But I wasn’t scared of getting a beating. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had enough of them from these twats. The only reason they got away with attacking kids from my estate is that they travelled in packs, waiting until they got one of us alone.

It was only a matter of time before someone stood up to them. That person wouldn’t be me. Knowing them, they’d go home crying to their mummy and daddy about the kid from the council estate.

The last thing my parents needed was the police on their doorstep. Because, let’s be real, whose word would they take? Mine, the boy from the council estate built like a brick shithouse? Or the lanky group of tossers with too-white teeth who smiled like butter wouldn’t fucking melt?

Yeah. I knew how that story would end. It’s why I never fought back. It wasn’t worth the trouble it’d bring down on my family.

They were closer now. My long legs ate up the ground as I sprinted towards the woods on the edge of the field. Once I was in there, I’d be okay. There were always kids from the estate hanging around, and if they saw this lot chasing me, it’d be war.

Say what you like about council-estate kids, but we had each other’s back unquestionably. Especially against fuckers who thought they were better than us because it was their parents’ names on the deeds rather than the government’s.

The tree line was tantalisingly close. My breaths were coming out in gasps as twigs snapped under my feet.

Smack.

Something hit the small of my back, sending me sprawling into the dirt. The wind whooshed out of my chest and I winced as my cheek scraped along the ground.

Shit. Get up, Kai.

Before I could get my breath back, a heavy weight dropped onto my shoulders, pinning me in place. I snarled, twisting my head to see Hugo, Timothy’s favourite sidekick, grinning down at me. “Caught you, Mal-ach-kai.”

“It’s Kai,” I spat, wriggling as I desperately tried to unseat him. “Gerrof. I need to get home.”

Shiny loafers came into my vision, and my heart sank as Timothy crouched in front of me. “Oh yes, you need to go home to babysit. We see you taking your brother to school in the mornings. What’s wrong with your mum? She depressed? Wouldn’t be surprised with the dump you all live in.”

“She has cancer, you prick,” I hissed.

If I’d hoped that might spark some compassion in Timothy, I’d thought wrong. He sneered at me. “Good. Natural selection at its finest.”

His words unlocked something in me, and I started thrashing. Hugo yelled for help while pinning me down, and before I knew it, multiple hands were digging into my arms and legs.

“Poor Mal-ach-kai,” Timothy said mockingly. “Here we are, just trying to be friends, and you’re throwing it back in our faces.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask what about our current situation suggested an attempt at friendship, but I bit it back. The quieter I kept, the faster this would be over with and I could be back home.

“Looks like we need to give you a lesson in manners.” Without warning, Timothy grabbed a handful of my hair, painfully yanking it back so I had no choice but to look at him. “You’re so pathetic. Not that we expect anything else though. After all, we know that chav stands for council houses and victims.”

I gritted my teeth against the pain searing through my scalp. Timothy’s face was so close to mine that I could smell prawn cocktail crisps on his breath. “And you, Mal-ach-kai, will always be a victim.”

He pulled back his fist, and I braced for the impact.

Instead, there was a loud thump and Timothy’s eyes glazed over before rolling back in his head.

I watched in confusion as Timothy’s limp hand fell from my hair as he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

A lanky lad in ripped jeans and an Offspring T-shirt glared at Timothy. In his hands was a thick branch.

Disdain dripped from his voice as he spoke, “Actually, it stands for council houses and violence. Never sure where that came from though, seeing as you fuckers are clearly the more violent ones. But I never did like uneven odds.”

He banged the stick on his open palm twice.

The weight lifted off me as footsteps hurried away. Timothy was already coming to, but his friends weren’t waiting for that. Hugo and another shoved an arm under each of his shoulders, half dragging him through the dirt as they scarpered.

“Chav.” My rescuer rolled the word on his tongue, sneering after them as they disappeared through the trees. “Don’t they teach vocabulary at that fancy school?”

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