Chapter one

‘He’s not a happy man,’ Dave says, reading the letter from my head teacher.

‘Never has been,’ I shrug. ‘He worries too much.’

Dave shoots me a dark look. ‘At least they’re letting you back into school,’ he says. ‘Your letter showed maturity, Mouse. You apologized, took responsibility for your actions. You realized you were wrong.’

I take a bite of Mars bar, and grin.

‘Mouse?’ Dave asks, carefully. ‘You do know you were wrong, don’t you?’

‘C’mon, Dave!’ I say. ‘It was hardly the crime of the century, was it? It was a joke!’

‘A joke?’ he echoes. ‘Mouse, your idea of a joke happens to be most people’s idea of mindless vandalism!’

‘Mindless? C’mon! That wall looked a whole lot better once I’d tagged it – they should have given me a grant for improving the environment or something.’

Dave clenches his teeth, as if he’s in pain. He peers at me over the top of his trendy black specs with sorrowful green eyes. ‘Mouse, don’t you ever learn?’ he asks. ‘It wasn’t easy to persuade Mr Brown to keep the police out of this. You don’t need me to tell you what that would have meant . . . you already have a police record.’

‘Not a bad one!’ I argue. ‘Just for tagging a bus stop!’

Dave shakes his head. ‘I’m not kidding, Mouse – you can’t pull any more stunts like this. Every time things start going well for you, you do something stupid and mess it all up. I’m beginning to think it’s a cry for help!’

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