Living With Leanne (12 page)

‘You related to a boy called Ty?’ she asks.

‘Get stuffed.’

It’s looking very, very suss.

‘Where’s my purse with the hundred in it, you little weasel?’ goes Mum.

‘Wasn’t a hundred.’

The kid’s quite indignant.

‘It was ninety nine and twenty cents!’

‘You’ve had it, man,’ says the cop.

Then Steve, Danny and Ty turn up and the place really starts getting crowded. Steve, who’s senior to the other cops, says he’ll handle it, and we all go into this other room. Steve says he’ll take the statement. Ty grabs his little brother’s arm and gives it a jerk.

‘What the hell …’

‘He set me up,’ whines the little creep, pointing at Ty, his own brother. ‘He invited us round so we could suss out the place. Then he left the back door open …’

‘So much for clan,’ I go before I can stop the words.

‘You don’t think I’m part of this, do you?’

Ty looks shattered.

‘I phoned the folks to tell them where I was then Tommy here rolled up off the train with two mates and landed on the doorstep. I didn’t think …’

He looks at Mum bitterly.

‘So you reckon I’m behind it, I suppose.’

‘I know you’re not,’ says Mum firmly, and I feel ashamed. ‘But as far as this one’s concerned …,’ she waggles her finger at the culprit, ‘I won’t press charges but he can come back and clean up the mess.’

‘And his mates, too,’ says Danny.

‘One thing we’ve forgotten,’ goes Leanne. ‘Where’s the hundred?’

‘Not a hundred, told ya. Ninety nine …’

‘Yeah. And twenty cents, we know, we know, ya told us.’

‘I reckon sixty of it’s gone on lollies already. But I can’t understand why the other kid came racing up with the video when this lot were in the supermarket spending the money.’

‘That’s for you to figure, ya sucks,’ says this mini crim called Tommy.

Eventually it’s all sorted out. The supermarket won’t press charges if the kids give back the stuff. Mum won’t press charges if they clean up the mess and pay back the sixty. This Tommy dude seems tough but when the blond-haired kid with the freckles and the red-haired kid and the skinny kid who had the video all roll up to do clean-up duty, they are
all
scared stiff of Mum. Steve’s there as backup but Mum supervises. And is she tough!

‘Hey, we didn’t even make all
this
mess,’ says Tommy when he has to clean up Leanne’s room.

That I
can
believe. She chucks stuff everywhere. But Tommy still has to clean it up. Then the kids’ parents roll up to collect them except for Tommy’s … one of the elders comes to get him. He doesn’t say much but I see Danny and Ty talking to him outside by the garage and I don’t know what they say, but Tommy hangs his head and looks miserable.

‘You know?’ I say to Mum later, when Leanne’s gone over to Steve’s to pass spanners to Danny or whatever, and Ty’s packed his stuff and gone back to the reserve and there’s only Mum and me sitting at the kitchen table eating fish and chips, ‘life’s got quite hectic since Leanne came back!’

Life is certainly tame here since I got back. It was exciting on the run. Nothing happens at all except I go to school, come home, and go over to watch Danny’s feet poking out from under our Falcon. He’s just about finished it, though. New engine dropped in. Had to get some help from Steve and two copper mates. Anyway it’s nearly finished and Steve’s got someone lined up to do a paint job.

I’ve persuaded Mum and Steve to take off for a sexy weekend in Melbourne. Steve doesn’t seem to get near Mum at all lately what with Danny, the car, and shift work.

‘Get some sexy undies,’ I say to Mum as she’s getting ready to go to the hot bread shop at daybreak.

‘What?’

‘Black lacy stuff. A teddy. Or belt with suspenders,’ I go. ‘Give Steve a treat!’

‘
Leanne
!’

Mum’s shocked out of her shoes.

‘Ya don’t want him whizzin off with someone else, do ya? It says in
Molly
that you have to keep your man interested, Mum. Sexy underwear. Red’s nice, too. Or peach … and silk stockings.’

‘Hey, Leanne, Mum wants to keep him not kill him,’ says Sam who’s got up early too.

‘This is disgusting,’ says Mum. ‘And you can both stop it. Now.’

But there’s a twinkle in her eye and she’s humming as she gets ready for work.

‘I think there might be wedding bells in the air,’ I say, as Mum heads off to the bus stop. ‘How’d you like Steve for a father, Sam?’

‘Cool.’

‘Yeah. He’s okay for a cop. He’s organising a job for Danny: apprentice in a mate’s garage, even though Danny’s going to have to be paid an adult rate in a few months’ time. Danny reckons he’ll put in extra time. And he’s arranging for Ty to go to a special alternative school. Did you know that Ty wants to be a cop?’

‘A cop. Ty?’

‘Yeah. Well, I was telling him about those two cops from hell and he said the best thing is to get more Aboriginal and Maori and Torres Strait Islander and Vietnamese and, you know, other nationalities into the force and that’ll break down the racism and discrimination. He’s pretty cluey for a cop.’

‘Yeah.’

I’m happy that things are working out for Mum. And Steve. And Danny. And Ty. But what about Sam? He’s still looking seriously miserable.

‘Spill it,’ I say. ‘Ya look like someone just carked it or somethin.’

‘Nothin to spill.’

‘Oh yes there is, little bro. I can read you like a book. Let me see, it couldn’t possibly be girl trouble, could it?’

Sam goes bright red.

‘Ah, I see. Now, it’s not Belinda because you’re not on with her any more. Hmmm. Could be Chani, though. I’ve seen her looking at you with stars in her eyes.’

‘Really?’

‘Yep. Moons and stars. Do you like her?’

‘Yeah, well … she’s okay, I guess.’

‘Why don’t you try askin her out? A movie?’

‘Yeah … well, I might.’

I sigh.

‘Out with it. What else?’

I know that when I’m in a nice mood I’m awesome. It always works with Sam. Next minute he’s spilling his guts about Gabby and Eva and Madonna and Cooja. Juvenile stuff, but important to him.

‘I can’t understand why Gabby came over and kissed Cooja in front of half the school,’ he goes. ‘I mean, I’m sure she doesn’t like him.’

‘I don’t suppose it could have anythin to do with her being Chani’s cousin, and Chani wantin to get ya off the hook with Cooja?’ I say, casually swirling a spoon through the sugar basin.

‘Chani? She’s Gabby’s cousin?’

‘Yep.’

‘All right!’

‘So. Does it make sense now, little bro?’

‘Hmmm. Chani’s one cool babe. You reckon a movie?’ he asks.

‘Go for it, Stud.’

I give him a slap on the back that nearly sends him head-first into his bowl of rice crispies.

That’s all the problems solved. Mum’ll marry Steve and live happily ever after. Sam’ll blob through another romance, this time with Chani, and stuff it up for sure. Ty’ll become a super cop and sort out little thugs like Tommy
and co. Danny’ll become a great mechanic and end up doing the tuning in the pit for some world-class racing driver. And me? I’ll go with Danny for a while then a million other guys for a while, go to Bali and bake in the sun (okay, plastered in factor 15+ if Mum’s got any say in it) … catch up with Alicia one day …

Two things I know. One is I’m not going on the run again to look for some dumb excitement or person or follow some stupid dream. Been there, done that.

And the second is that I’ve got to get out of being the Young Achiever of the Year no matter what it takes. It would ruin my reputation forever!

The Big Chocolate Bar

All junk food has been banned from the school camp. So Spoonhead, Amy Yui, Trash, Zits and some of the others think up outrageous ways of getting round the authorities. But their ingenuity results in a thriving black market with drinks going for up to $20 a can!

A novel for kids who are sick and tired of health food.

Famous For Five Minutes

Charmwood High, and Year 8 plans to turn the school play,
Romeo and Juliet
, into a rock musical. Everything’s moving along until someone mentions Equal Opportunity. There aren’t enough roles for girls in this production.

For the narrator, Peter Nutt, Equal Opportunity means more opportunities for teachers like Poxon and girls like Ravolini to get at him. And then there’s Millie Miletic from the Holy Family of the Little Sisters by the Sea: she’s in love!

Fat Chance

Can you become ‘The Face’ when you look like a pregnant rhinocerous? Lisa wants to know.

Can you snatch a modelling contract when you’re fourteen and a social outcast, with a mother who pumps donuts, hot dogs and chilli pancakes into you like there’s no tomorrow? FAT CHANCE!

Hold My Hand—or Else!

What about all that stuff you keep reading about: the moonlit walks, the red roses, waves softly kissing the sandy shore? It doesn’t exist.

Does it
have
to be a problem just because you don’t want to hold your mother’s hand anymore and you’re not ready to hold anyone else’s?

Before you try to give yourself a hickey tonight, read this!

Margaret Clark is one of Australia’s funniest writers for young people. She has worked as a teacher and university lecturer and at the Geelong Centre for Alcohol and Drug Dependence.

Her novels for older readers include
The Big Chocolate Bar, Fat Chance, Hot or What, Kiss & Make Up, Famous for Five Minutes
and a trilogy about the Studleys:
Hold My Hand – Or Else!, Living with Leanne
and
Pulling the Moves. Back on Track: Diary of a Street Kid
and
Care Factor
Zero and
No Standing Zone
, three searing novels for young adults, have become bestsellers.

Margaret lives in Geelong and enjoys reading, sailing and walking with the family dog. She now writes full-time.