Chapter Nine

At break the following day, Lincoln was putting his new books into his new locker.  His uniform felt restrictive.  He had given up with his tie after half an hour and it was stuffed in his pocket.

"Lincoln Taylor" He heard a voice behind him.

He turned to see a tall man with a severe haircut standing in front of him with his arms crossed.

"Yeah" said Lincoln.

"I am Mr Adams, Assistant Head.  I didn't get a chance to catch up with you.  I believe we need to have a chat."

"Save it" said Lincoln, instantly irritated.  "All the other teachers have already been on at me.  I don't need another lecture."

Lincoln slammed his locker and picked his bag up.

Mr Adams looked angry.

"Don't talk to me like that!" he boomed. 

"Whatever" said Lincoln, moving to go.

"I am talking to you, young man" said Adams, stepping in front of him. "Unless you prefer to finish this chat in detention?"

Lincoln shrugged.

"Have it your way, after school detention for 15minutes tonight".   Mr Adams looked smug.

 "Like I care" snapped Lincoln.

 "Maybe you will care about 30 minutes!"

Lincoln snorted and began to walk away.

"Don't walk away from me" snapped Adams.

"Watch me" shouted Lincoln without turning around.

"45 minutes" shouted Adams, his face red as a phone box.

"Big deal" Lincoln turned and scowled at him.  "Why not make it an hour? I'm not busy."

Lincoln began to walk away.

"An hour it is" he heard Mr Adams say as he walked down the hallway.

After school, Kat called his name as he came down the corridor.

"Walking home now?" she asked.

"Nah, I've got a detention." He said.

 "It is only your second day."  She looked shocked.  "Who is it with?"

"Adams"

"Why?"

"Oh he pissed me off, giving me a lecture.  I better go.  He'll love it if I am late."

Lincoln came to the door just as Mr Adams was closing it.

"I didn't think you were going to turn up."

"Wouldn't miss this for the world" smirked Lincoln.

Adams scowled.  "Take a seat."

There were seven other kids in detention with him.  Lincoln made his way to the back of the room, as far from Adams as possible.

Mr Adams addressed them in his monotone voice as he walked around the desks, putting down lined paper.

"Right.  Get on with your homework.  If you have none to do, then use this paper to write about why you are here and how you might avoid detention in the future."

He put the paper pointedly in front of Lincoln and walked back to the front.

"If you do this quietly, our time will go quickly together.  Any questions?"

Lincoln put his hand up.

"Are you able to speak in more than one tone?" he asked.

A few stifled laughs were heard around the room.

"I will give you the answer to that question Lincoln, in detention tomorrow" said Mr Adams swiftly.

"Another hour with you would be an honour sir" retorted Lincoln.

Mr Adams came towards Lincoln, ready to shout, when the sound of barely muffled laughter became audible.  The sound was coming from the boy sitting at the desk next to Lincoln.

"James Armstrong.  You think he is funny?" snapped Mr Adams, pointing at Lincoln, "Perhaps you'd like to join him in detention tomorrow?"

The boy composed himself.  "No sir, sorry"

Adams turned his back on James and spoke to Lincoln in a low voice.  "Watch yourself."

Lincoln had been doodling for about ten minutes when Mr Adams got up and announced he would be back in a few minutes.

"Stay in your seats and no trouble" he said, pointing his finger at Lincoln.

Lincoln waited for him to leave the room before shoving two fingers up in the air at him.

He heard laughter behind him, and turned to see the boy James laughing again.

"You laughing at me?" said Lincoln, a serious expression on his face.

"Er no, no" stammered James. 

Lincoln beamed.  "Only joking"

"Phew" laughed the boy.

"I'm Lincoln."

"James"

"What are you in for?" asked Lincoln..

"Being late too many times.  Nothing very interesting" said James, "I saw how you got here though.  Heard every word.  I thought Adams was going to explode."

"Pretty stupid of me really" admitted Lincoln, "But he pissed me off."

"You are Kat and Connor's brother, right?" asked James.

"Yeah.  Everyone seems to know them."

"Smalltown-itis"

"Do you live in town?"

"Yeah, just outside.  You are from London?"

"Yeah.  North London."

"Do you miss it?"

"Yeah.  Can't beat a bit of smog" grinned Lincoln, "Do you like it around here?"

"It's ok.  My Dad was in the army so we moved around a lot when I was little; Canada, Germany, and all round the UK.  But we are settled here now for good."

"Cool"

There was silence for a moment.

"So what are you writing?" asked James, indicating to his paper.

"Oh, just doodling.  You?"

"I started a cartoon of Adams but then he moved."

"Let me see" said Lincoln.

"Nah I will show you when it is finished."

They were interrupted by the return of Mr Adams and a mug of tea.

He surveyed the group and then sat down.

Lincoln sat back in the seat and closed his eyes.  He had been sitting there for twenty minutes when he heard Mr Adams dismiss those kids that only had half hour detentions.

"It is not nap time Lincoln" said Mr Adams.

Lincoln pulled his head up and opened his eyes.

Lincoln scribbled on his paper for the next ten minutes.  There was a light tap on his shoulder; it was James.  Lincoln looked up; Adams was engrossed in his novel. 

"What?" he whispered.

James handed him his paper.  Lincoln was impressed.  The drawing was brilliant and the caricature of Adams face was spot on.

"This is brilliant!" said Lincoln as he handed it back.

James smiled.

"You two better not be talking" said Adams.  As he got up so quickly, he knocked some papers on the floor.  As he bent down to pick them up, Lincoln switched papers with James.

"What are you doing?" whispered James.

"Trust me" said Lincoln.

Adams was upon them. 

"I told you no talking.  What's going on here?"

The picture that Lincoln was discreetly trying to cover caught Mr Adams eye line.

He snatched it out from under Lincoln and stared at it.

"Who drew this?" he said, his voice booming.

Both boys said nothing and stared at the floor.

"Who drew this picture?" Adams said again, his voice raised.

Lincoln stole a look at James.  He looked like he was going to crack any second.

"I did it" said Lincoln, looking directly at Adams and smiling,

James looked at him shocked.

Adams went red.

"Right, get up and go and stand facing the board."

Lincoln slowly got up and stood at the front of the room with his back to everyone.

Mr Adams returned to his seat, the rest of the group's eyes on him.

"Continue with your work" he barked.

The remainder of detention went quickly and Lincoln thought about what Jason and the rest of the gang would be doing now.

Adams set down his book.

"Right Michelle, James, Ian and Carly, your hour is up, off you go."

Lincoln started to move.

"Not you Lincoln" said Adams.

Lincoln sighed but stay put.

"Close the door behind you Michelle."

Once they had gone, Mr Adams walked over to Lincoln.

"Quite the budding artist, I see?"

Lincoln shrugged.

"Quiet all of a sudden?" said Adams, "No one around to impress, is that it?"

"No one worth talking to" said Lincoln.

Mr Adams rubbed his eyes.

"I haven't the time or energy right now.  We'll finish this chat at tomorrow's detention. Go on, get out."

Lincoln slammed the door behind him.

Lincoln could hear Debs and Jenny in the living room when he came in.  He grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge and retreated to his room.  Connor was at his desk, books around him.

"Hey bro" he said taking a slurp of drink.

"Hey, how was detention?"

"It sucked.  Adams is an asshole.  He made me stand in the corner for the last twenty minutes."

"Why?" asked Connor.

Lincoln told him about the cartoon.

"Why did you put yourself in trouble for this guy?"

"I was already in trouble" shrugged Lincoln.

"Again?"

Lincoln told them what had happened earlier.

"So I have another detention tomorrow."

"Dad is going to be mad when he finds out" commented Connor.

"It is none of his business" said Lincoln sharply.

Connor sat back in his chair in thought.

"I'm going out for a little 'fresh air'.  Wanna come?"

"Nah, I need to finish this homework.  Don't you have any?"

"Screw it" said Lincoln.

Lincoln pummelled down the stairs and pulled his jacket on.

Debs saw him by the door.

"Where are you going Lincoln?" asked Debs.

"Just out for a bit" he replied, smiling and walking out the door.

Lincoln walked around and ended up back at the woodland.  His cigarette butts were still there.  As he sat smoking and thinking, he added to the pile.  His thoughts crossed to Luca and he wondered what he was up to.  He had sent off an e-mail to him last night but he knew that Luca was a busy guy so he wasn't expecting a reply any time soon.  That is if he could actually work a computer.  Hunger forced him to glance at his watch.  He realised he had been out much longer than he thought.  It had been almost two hours.  Getting up he slowly trudged home.

The moment he stepped into the house, Sam was on him.

"Lincoln, can you come in here?"

Lincoln followed Sam's voice to the living room and stood in the doorway.

"Yeah?"

Sam was standing by the window.

"Where have you been?"  Sam's voice was sharp.

"Out" said Lincoln plainly.

"Doing what?" pushed Sam.

"Stealing cars" snapped Lincoln.

Sam's eyes widened.

"I'm kidding, Jesus" said Lincoln.

"You shouldn't joke about something like that" said Sam sternly.

Lincoln rolled his eyes.

"Well, where were you?"

"What does it matter to you?"

"It matters a lot.  You went off without telling Debs when you would be home.  You are late for dinner and now I find out that you have been in trouble with the Assistant Head and had detention on only your second day of school!"

Another lecture.

"I don't need this" said Lincoln heading for the stairs.

Sam followed him out of the room.

"I haven't finished with you yet."

"Talk to yourself Sam" said Lincoln as he continued to climb the stairs.

"Lincoln!" said Sam.

His reply was a slam of the bedroom door and silence.  He turned to Debs and frowned.

There was a soft knock on the door and Lincoln looked up from his magazine to see Kat coming into the room.

"Alright?" he said, swinging his legs off the bed.

She nodded awkwardly.

"Are you?" she asked, sitting on the bed where his legs had been, "Dad really shouted at you."

Lincoln shrugged.  "Like I care" he said coldly, "It is none of his business."

"I'm really sorry; I didn't mean to tell him about your detention."  Kat looked at him sheepishly.

"You told him?"  He frowned at her.

"I'm sorry.  It just slipped out.  He wasn't that upset but then when you weren't back by dinner he started to get angry."

Lincoln looked at her worried expression and sighed.

"Don't sweat it.  I've had worse than that." 

He smirked at her and she smiled softly.

"So you aren't mad at me?"                   

"No, just try to keep stuff to yourself, eh Sis?"

She smiled at his choice of words.

"Sure Bro".

"Lincoln!" called the voice, "Wait up!"

Lincoln turned to see James.

"Hey Mate, how's it going?" he said warmly.

"Good.  I wanted to say thanks for taking the rap for me yesterday."

"It was nothing.  I was already in trouble.  No point in you getting done too"

James smiled.

"Fancy hanging out this weekend?"

"Yeah" said Lincoln, "Sounds fun."