by Rashad Salim
Thom sniggered. “If you hang about, you might run into him.”
I had half turned away when he spoke. “Why?”
“He comes around all the time.”
“He does?” I tried not to look so shocked.
“Sure,” Thom said.
“Chantelle does his hair for him when his cornrows need doing.”
I felt my heartbeat race and clenched my jaw.
“Why doesn’t he just get his appointment at the hairdressers?”
“You mad? Think a man in his position is gonna go to the hairdressers?”
I nodded. “How long has he known Chantelle?”
“Not long,” he said. “I introduced him to her.”
I was fuming at the thought of something going on between Chantelle and Tyrone and tried to get it out of mind.
When we parted I tried to push the thought of Chantelle mingling with gangsters out of my mind.
17
A few hours before I was to meet with Sajid I received a text message from Thom. He was with Tyrone and was inviting me to meet him then.
I had been eager to speak to Tyrone but I now felt talking to a local gang wouldn’t be worth the risk and simply pointless.
Apparently, they were in Tyrone’s car which was parked up in a rough part of town that I hadn’t been to since my school days.
The Knutsbury housing estate.
It had been one of the most dangerous places I had ever been in my life. There had been many notorious rumours about certain crimes having occurred there and then there had been undeniable incidents too. Back in the day people got mugged, raped or murdered – or all three – with such regularity that it was said to be more dangerous than war torn parts of the world. If you dared to go there, you had to expect to return a different person - if you returned at all.
I stopped walking and mulled it over. I could try to watch a film at the local cinema and take my mind off all this madness before my reunion with Sajid or I could dive into the deep end and meet an alleged gang leader.
I caught a bus towards the housing state where Thom and Tyrone were parked up.
I wasn’t completely stupid. I knew the risk I was taking. And I kept telling myself it was going to be worth it. No matter how it turned out. If Tyrone refused to talk to me, I would gladly fuck off out of there. And if these boys were setting me up I had accepted that possibility too.
When I got off the bus at the nearest stop to the housing estate, I braced myself for whatever would happen next. I walked steadily as I approached the estate, careful not to walk too fast in fear of appearing scared and careful to not stroll either, I didn’t want to be alone in one part of the estate any longer than necessary.
It wasn’t as grimy as I remembered it being but it was no doubt a ghetto and menace was in the air. While I couldn’t see anyone paying me any attention, I had a feeling I was being watched, probably by some residents but it was also likely I had the eyes of criminals on me as I walked past abandoned cars and large dumpsters scattered all over the area.
I spotted the car Thom and Tyrone were in when I was about fifty feet away and pulled out my phone to call Thom. I hadn’t even managed to pull my hand out of my pocket before a bunch of rough looking boys appeared out of nowhere and blocked my path. Two of them emerged from behind a dumpster on my left and another two stepped out from behind a van on my right. I stopped in my tracks and my mind froze as to what to do.
All four of them were black and in their late teens, roughly the same size as me and wore serious expressions. They stood in total silence roughly ten feet in front of me. They looked serious but calm. I wondered how often they ambushed people on the estate grounds like this and what became of those unlucky people.
For a split second I thought about running but instantly dismissed the idea as foolish, they would simply outrun me and there was no way I would escape them. I stood still and held their gaze.
Then I noticed one of them held a knife. And then two of them had knives.
“What you doing here?” one of them asked, a boy in a flat cap.
“I came to see someone. I had an invitation.” I wondered if that made a difference.
In the distance I saw Thom step out of the car, followed by two other boys: one of them a white boy of similar age as Thom and the other a tall black man who wore a bandana. I assumed this was Tyrone.
Thom stood behind Tyrone, who folded his arms across his chest and looked in my direction. Neither of them moved.
“I came to see him,” I said and pointed in Tyrone’s direction.
The boy in the flat cap gripped his knife tighter and it crossed my mind right then that I had probably been tricked and had walked into a trap.
Flat Cap looked back in Tyrone’s direction. I saw Tyrone gesture at him to come to him.
Had Thom told Tyrone everything I had said as agreed but with the intention of having me silenced? Or had he honestly tried helping me but had been coerced by Tyrone to send me a false invitation in order to trap me?
“Put your hands on your head and don’t move,” Flat cap said.
I did as he said and slowly placed my hands on my head as two of the other boys pat me down, checking all over.
One of them took my phone from the front pocket of my jeans and my wallet from the back pocket.
I cursed myself for being so stupid and taking such a big gamble that wasn’t going to pay off.
The only question was what price I was about to pay now – and that caused memories of my violent Binford past flash through my mind...
...My face was bruised and my ribs ached.
I sat in the chair and rubbed the knuckles of my right hand. I remember feeling a calm that had eluded me throughout the previous days at school that week. My phone had been confiscated earlier on that day and so I had no way to get in touch with Sajid or anyone else for that matter.
It was after school and I was sitting outside the Headmaster’s office, waiting for him to see me.
I had been summoned by Mr Hardy and told he had been eager to speak to me to get some real answers. I assumed he had interrogated everyone else on his list before it was my turn to be grilled. Apparently this interrogation was going to be a lot easier for us students before the police had their turn with us.
School had shut early that day due to all the damage done on the premises. The teachers thought it was best to send everyone home in an effort to curb the trouble which had been building up for weeks and had finally come to a violent release at lunchtime.
I was lucky I hadn’t been arrested like Sajid. Or rushed to hospital like Elroy.
The office door opened wide and Mr Hardy stood there holding it open. He was a tall, white man in his fifties, with thick wavy hair and wore glasses.
“Come in.” He looked serious but he spoke calmly.
He was tough beyond anyone’s standards and I wasn’t going to take his calm demeanour as relaxed. I could tell there would be no mercy.
I stood and walked into his office. His secretary was busy organising stacks of paper and forms. When I took a closer look at them I noticed the papers had names of boys in my school year at the tops of the pages. I gathered she had been taking notes on Mr Hardy’s behalf, taking the statements of all the boys involved in the riot.
He walked around his desk and sat in his chair before telling me to sit.
I sat and braced myself, glanced sideways at Miss Dale and hoped this would all be over quickly.
“Miss Dale?”
She looked up from the papers. “Yes?”
“Would you mind leaving us alone for a moment please?”
My heart pounded and I don’t think the dread that filled me in that exact moment has ever been surpassed. I wished I was dead because once my parents got sucked into this my life would be over – and that dodging Elroy’s blade had made no difference in the end.
“Certainly,” Miss Dale said and left the office.
I took a deep breath and when the door shut behind me I exha
led as discreetly as possible.
Hardy leaned back in his chair and stared at the middle distance. He rocked back and forth in silence. “You turned my school into a war zone.”
I swallowed hard and sat up in my seat. I looked at him quickly before averting my eyes again. He was still deep in thought and hadn’t started burning holes into me with his eyes.
“Why did this happen?”
I knew there were no right answers for any of the questions he was going to ask me and it made me feel pathetic. I knew he had heard plenty from all the other boys he had questioned before me. It was a confession he was after but I had no intention of giving him one.
“Sir,” I said. “If I could go back in-”
“Oh! Don’t we all?”
“If I could go back in time I’d do everything I could to stop today from happening.”
“It’s a bit late for that.”
I shrugged because it was all I could do with a lump in my throat.
“Your parents have been informed of the situation you’re in – Sajid’s, Jermaine’s and the others’ too.” When I didn’t respond he added, “And of course Elroy’s mother. Do you have anything to say about that?”
The anger inside had begun to rise fast at the mention of Elroy’s name.
“Yes, I do.”
“And?”
“That motherfucker got what he deserved.”
I leaned back in my seat and waited for the inevitable backlash.
“And why is that?” I was expecting him to scream at me but he surprised me.
“Because he was trying to stab me and I was trying to stop him.” I raised a finger to emphasise my next point. “But I wasn’t trying to stab him, okay?”
“How did he end up stabbed?”
“You know the answer to that,” I said, feeling more confident by the second.
“No, I don’t. Now answer the question.”
I said nothing.
“Did you stab him or not?” His voice was still steady as ever.
“I tried to get the knife off him but he was too strong. He couldn’t stab me but he wouldn’t back off. That was when Sajid reached us.”
“Go on.”
“Sajid tried to get the knife off him but Elroy thought Sajid was trying to stab him with his own knife.”
“And was he?”
“No. Of course not. I was trying to calm Elroy down and telling Sajid not to hurt him but Elroy was mad as hell. He wanted to stab us both!”
“That’s not what Jermaine said.”
“What do you mean?”
“Jermaine claims you and Sajid were both trying to stab Elroy.”
“That’s bullshit! It was Elroy’s knife!”
“That may be the case but Jermaine has said you and your friend tried to kill Elroy and that he saw it himself.”
I had had enough of the accusations and jumped up from my seat.
“We never tried to kill anyone.”
Hardy watched me calmly.
“The bottom line is Elroy came at me when Jermaine and his boys made a big distraction. He tried to stab me and I tried to stop him. Sajid tried to stop him too and he would’ve but then everyone was bumping into each other and I couldn’t control what was going on. No one could.”
“And that’s when it happened?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Sajid got pushed from behind, he fell on Elroy and they both fell on the ground with Sajid on top. Someone punched me in the face and the next thing I know Sajid stands up and the knife is sticking inside Elroy on the ground.”
I sat down to let Hardy know I was done with my explanation.
He rocked back and forth in his chair again. “And where does Chantelle come into this?”
“What?”
“You seem shocked?”
I was lost for words. “Sorry, what was that about Chantelle?”
He smiled. “I said: where did Chantelle come into this?”
I suddenly felt embarrassed and could tell I was blushing.
“Well,” I said, trying to buy time. “I think you know about her. You know everything else.” I shook my head.
I was reluctant to talk about Chantelle. I never wanted her to be a part of this interrogation but she was at the root cause of it all and leaving her out of it was unavoidable.
“Struck a chord, have I?” He said in disgust.
“Chantelle is a good girl.” That was all I could think to say about her without giving away delicate details. “You can leave her out of this.”
“That depends,” he said. “You see, one of the boys told me about you and Chantelle but I assumed it was just a rumour.”
“Let me guess. Jermaine told you that?”
I was sure it was him. He started all of this and it was all because of his jealousy. We had fought over Chantelle and escalated it Elroy had suffered a stab wound amid all the chaos. It was all Jermaine’s fault I remember telling myself as I sat there in Hardy’s office.
“I won’t say who it was but it wasn’t him.”
I snorted at that. “Whatever.”
“So is there any truth to it? Are you romantically involved with the girl?”
“What does it matter, sir?” I was pleading and I knew he knew it.
“It matters a whole lot, Ali. Think of Elroy’s mother. Think of your own mother.”
He was threatening me. Threatening to tell my mother about Chantelle and there was no way in hell I could ever let that happen. A revelation like my relationship with Chantelle would cause my mother a lot of pain considering how it was illicit.
“You’re not going to tell my parents about her, are you?”
“Not if you co-operate with us and the authorities.”
I looked at him and knew I had to muster up all the balls I had.
“I am co-operating ...but that might change if my parents were to find out about Chantelle.”
“I see.” He didn’t seem to be taking me seriously so I stepped it up a notch or two.
“I mean it. Chantelle is none of anyone else’s business and I don’t want my parents to know about my private life anymore than I want you to know.”
“And if I don’t cater to your request?”
“Well, in that case I’m not gonna be the only one in deep shit for putting a student’s life at risk, am I?”
I let him think that one over and although I was unsure of whether it had worked in my favour it was the only card I had under my sleeve.
He leaned back in his seat and began rocking back and forth again, which was starting to annoy me.
“Cleopatra...” he said softly. “...Helen of Troy... Chantelle of Binford.” He laughed to himself and shook his head.
“Very well,” he said. “I’ll make sure your parents won’t find out about any of your extra-curricular activities and I hope you can stay out of trouble for the rest of the term. It would be a shame to lose you so close to the end of the year, don’t you think?”
I studied his face, trying to gauge how real his threat of expelling me was.
“Yes, sir.”
“There’s just one thing I’m curious about... if Chantelle can cause this much trouble around her, where will it end?”
I said nothing.
“I mean, how do you think it’ll end for you?”
I was growing more and more uncomfortable with him discussing my relationship but had to bite my tongue. I couldn’t afford to get into any more trouble with him.
“You’ve always seemed like a bright lad, Ali. Before all this madness I thought you had a bright future.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll get over this.”
“You think Jermaine will? Or Elroy? Or any of their friends who’ve got it in for you?”
“What do you expect me to do? Run away?” I said, heavy on the sarcasm.
“That’s not actually a bad idea for someone in your shoes.”
“I ain’t running.”
“Chantelle might. After all, she’s going to have
to deal with all these boys too. Wouldn’t surprise me if she doesn’t stick by you for much longer after what’s happened.”
“But that’s none of your business, is it sir?” I wanted to tell myself he was just pushing my buttons and trying to scare me but his comment had made me wonder.
He smiled. “I just don’t want to see you ruined. And wouldn’t it be a shame if she broke up with you after all the stupidity you’ve got yourself into over her?”
I clenched my jaw and tried to remain calm. “We’ll be alright.”
“All I’m saying is it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen all this over a girl end up bad for both sides.” He looked at his watch. “Well, I think that’ll be all for today. I hope you can go home and have a long think about your future and the choices that you’ll make.”
I nodded and headed for the door. I couldn’t wait to get away from him.
“Love can get you killed,” he said as I opened the door.
It felt like he was never going to stop telling me shit – shit I had to admit I needed to give more thought to after the day’s events.
“And despite what you may have heard it’s not always worth fighting for.”
18
“You can put your hands down now,” Flat Cap said. When I did, he said “Start walking.”
They walked me to Tyrone. When I reached him they stopped and waited for his instructions.
“You can never be too careful these days,” Tyrone said. “You never know who might be strapped or wearing a wire.”
“You think I’m a cop?”
“I don’t know who the fuck you are,” he said. “You could be anyone. All I know is you wanted to talk to me.”
I looked around at my surroundings. I wondered if we were being watched by someone legit. Someone who might call the police. I doubted it.
“Thom here says you worked for the Bestco store.”
“That’s right,” I said.
“He says you had a few questions for me.”
“Yeah...”
Tyrone moved forward. “Let’s take a walk,” he said and gestured for me to join him.
The two of us walked away for some privacy while the others watched. When we were out of earshot he stopped.
