Black Sheep Read Online Free Page B

After what went down last night, I suggest you get your lazy arse up and out of here before he
comes to get you – personally!”
    I didn’t need telling twice. While Jukkie pulled out his latest toy, a switch-blade that glinted when it caught the light through a gap in the curtains, I yanked on my tracksuit pants and
black hooded top. Damn, I couldn’t even remember where I had put my red bandanna, I was so out of it. Jukkie reached into his pocket and pulled out a spare and threw it at me.
    “Thanks, man,” I muttered as I tied the bandanna over my forehead. “Where d’you get this from, then?”
    Jukkie’s frown disappeared and he flashed a brilliant smile and touched the tip of the switch-blade to his gold tooth. “You know what they say,” he said. “Always be
prepared.”
    The two of us practically ran over my younger brother, Jerome, on our way out. My man, Jay, the best little brother in the world – and the mouthiest too.
    “Where you lot off to?” he called after us.
    “Got some errands to run, bro,” I called back.
    “But you promised to take me bowling, man!”
    “Later, yeah?”
    Trigger was waiting in his bright yellow Lexus Jeep with the tinted windows and alloy wheels, vex’. As much as I would have preferred to go bowling with Jay, he would have to wait.
    Trigger didn’t even look at me when I climbed into the car. I mumbled something about being sorry, having overslept. The others all looked at me, screw-face, and Trigger kissed his teeth
before reversing out of the estate car park, leaving black tyre marks on the asphalt.
    No one spoke for a long time. I looked around the car and noticed that Kofi, the little runner we all called Lightning, wasn’t in the car. I frowned. Kofi was always with us, standard.
Even when his crazy mum locked their front door and threatened to burn his clothes if he tried to go out, Lightning would find a way out, even if it meant jumping from his window on the second
floor.
    I got a weird feeling then, when I saw that Lightning wasn’t there. I was sensing a vibe, a bad vibe. After a long time, Trigger spoke. “So,” he growled, looking at me in the
rear view mirror, “what the hell happened to you last night?”
    “Last night?”
    “Yeah, fool, last night! We was meant to go see dem man on the other side of the Oval estate, down Larkside. Remember?”
    Damn. Only the weekend before, Larkside mans had caused some trouble with Flinthead and Spoonz, two of the youngers in RDS. The story went that one of their boys had grabbed Flinthead’s
new bike and when Flinty challenged him, five or six of them jumped him and started laying into him. Spoonz had stepped in to help Flinty and ended up with a bottle in his face. Friday night, RDS
was meant to have gone over to Larkside, rolling ten man deep, to take care of them.
    Trigger had asked Jukkie to bring his collector’s set of knives. Different lengths, different strengths, multi-purpose knives. “I’m in the mood for carving up mandem,” he
said.
    I remember my insides starting to cramp up when I heard him say that. And I knew straight away that I wasn’t going to be with them.
    I hate knives. I’ve always hated them, y’get me. And from when Trigger said he wanted to carve up those Larkside boys, I knew I wasn’t going to reach, no way. It was just
convenient that Mum and me got into a fight over that dumb phone call and ting.
    Don’t get me wrong, I can fight. I can proper take man down, take down three, four of them at once. I ain’t scared of that. But I proper hate knives.
    Then Trigger spoke again. “Some mans think that dis is a pick’n’choose ting, yeah. But what they don’t understand is that you’re either in or you’re out. When
I say that RDS gonna roll up in a place, I expect everyone to be there.” He was looking right at me. “Or there’ll be consequences.”
    “Ya dun know!” Jukkie glared at me and kissed his teeth. That was Jukkie these days. Ever since Tony