Fighting Back Read Online Free

wrapped it round her neck and took her hand in his to warm it.
    They were only a few metres from Amita’s house when her father appeared. He must have been looking for her out of the window.
    â€˜Get away from my daughter! Thug!Lout! Hooligan!’
    Rob was taken aback.
    â€˜Hang on, mate …’
    â€˜Go, Rob, leave him to me.’ Amita pushed Rob towards his house and turned to her father.
    â€˜Dad, he’s Cath’s brother. He’s my friend, too.’
    Gayan turned on Amita and snatched the football scarf from her neck.
    â€˜What do you think you’re doing? Wearing this thing!’
    He flung the scarf into the gutter and for a moment Amita thought he was going to stamp on it.
    â€˜You know what they are like. He’s one of them. They never stop.’
    Rajeeb arrived at that moment.
    â€˜What’s up now?’
    â€˜Your sister. She’s got a boyfriend. Awhite thug. Why weren’t you there to see her home?’
    â€˜I do have a job to do, you know. Why don’t you go?’
    Rajeeb looked at Amita. She pulled a face at him.
    â€˜It was Rob,’ she said. ‘I met him on the way home.’
    Her face warned Rajeeb not to say anything to upset their father any more.
    â€˜Come on Dad, come inside. We can talk about it then. Let’s hear what Amita has to say.’
    Gayan looked at them helplessly. He moved slowly back towards the door. Amita thought that he was beginning to look like an old man.
    Rajeeb stooped and picked up Rob’s scarf. He stuffed it out of sight into his pocket.
    Inside, Gayan rounded on Amita again.
    â€˜How can you shame me in this way?’
    â€˜Dad, he’s not a thug, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s nice and he’s a friend. I told you, he was just seeing me home.’
    But her father wouldn’t listen. All the bitterness he had been keeping hidden came out now. How he hated it here, how he hated the people, and how his brother was preventing him from being a success.
    Rajeeb and Amita tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen. Shocked, they saw he had tears in his eyes. Deep down he knew he was in the wrong again, but he couldn’t admit it. In the end he refused to talk any more and stamped off to his own room.
    â€˜Why don’t you explain about the bullying at school?’ Rajeeb asked.
    â€˜Because he will just make it worse.Anyway, it’s better now. They’ve stopped following us.’

    The following afternoon it was raining. Amita looked hopefully for her brother at the school gate. After what had happened yesterday, maybe he would show up. But there was no one waiting for her, and she set off for home by herself. She was holding her umbrella well down over her head. She had barely gone two hundred metres before she realised Tony and Luke were behind her.
    â€˜Gotcha now! No one around to look after you today.’ Tony’s voice sounded very loud in her ear.
    Running sounds. Maddy and Brian appeared in front of her, blocking her way.
    â€˜No one to help you now.’ Maddy thrust her face close to Amita. Too close.
    Amita lashed out with her umbrella.
    â€˜Go away! Leave me alone!’
    Suddenly there was a ripping sound. Tony had grabbed her umbrella from her and was ripping at it with a knife.
    He waved the knife at her. ‘Oh yes. We’ll leave you alone all right. But not until we’ve finished with you.’
    Luke had grabbed her arms. Brian was looming over her. Maddy was swinging her bag. Round and round, nearer and nearer.
    Amita screamed. Louder than she had ever screamed before. More running footsteps. Amita tried to pull her arms free. What now?
    Suddenly a large figure in a football scarf loomed up behind Brian and Tony. Crack! Tony and Brian’s head made sudden, violent contact. Tony dropped the knife. Maddy dropped her bag and startedrunning. Tony and Brian tried to follow her, but Rob was hanging on to both of them by the collar.