SOMEONE DIFFERENT Read Online Free Page A

off.
    I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen and caught sight of myself in the mirror on the windowsill. Jeez, Kira really had gone for it – the shag-bites on my neck looked like two splattered blackberries. How could she’ve run out on me after that?
    Martin knocked on the front door then, and I walked back into the hall to open it.
    ‘Sorry I’m a bit late,’ he said. ‘I took the wrong turning after the Spar. Are you all ready?’
    I looked at my dad again and thought about waking him up.
    But I didn’t.
    The courtroom was tons emptier than it’d been before. There was no jury and not as many people in suits. Billy looked up at the public gallery as we walked in, but his dad must’ve changed his mind cos the only person there was that guy I’d seen leaving the day before. He had his cap pulled down to cover his face, but you could just see the bits of ginger hair poking out.
    The solicitor called us over. He talked to Martin for a minute, but made sure I couldn’t hear him, then he sat down and wrote some stuff in some files. We sat there for ages but nothing happened. Billy tapped his foot against the wooden panel in front of us, and I realised I was messing around with the zip on my jacket again.
    Then, after about half an hour, the usher got the nod. My empty stomach churned as we all stood up and the judge walked in.
    ‘Right,’ he said to me and Billy when everybody else’d sat down again. ‘I’ve given this case considerable thought. I’ve read the reports, and taken into account your positive engagement with the Youth Offending Service and your adherence to the conditions of your bail. I’m also mindful of the difficult situations you’ve experienced during your childhoods, and how these might have impacted on your behaviour. However, as I have stated previously, your crime was a serious one. You caused significant injury to another person, as well as extensive damage to private property. This kind of reckless and criminal conduct cannot of course go unpunished, but I have decided that your sentence, at this stage, will not be a custodial one.’
    Every mouth in that courtroom dropped open. Me and Billy looked at each other. The two solicitors looked at each other. Martin looked round for somebody to look at.
    The judge coughed, then carried on. ‘Instead, I’m sentencing you both to a twenty-four month Youth Rehabilitation Order, with requirements relating to education, unpaid work, and a six month curfew with electronic monitoring. If, during this period, you breach any of the conditions or commit any further crimes, the courts will look upon it most severely, and the likelihood is that it will result in a substantial custodial sentence.’
    Me and Billy just about held it together ’til we got outside, then we exploded.
    ‘How the fuck did that happen?’ Billy’s voice was so loud everybody looked at him as he jumped down the last few steps and landed on the pavement underneath the sign that said Sheffield Law Courts. ‘Can you believe that?’
    I laughed. ‘He must’ve got well lucky last night, mate; he were in a right good mood.’
    ‘Four years they all said. Go guilty they said; it’ll be better in the long run.’ He got his hat out of his pocket and put it on. ‘If we’d have gone guilty to that first charge, they’d have never reduced it. Shows ya what they know, dun’t it?’ Billy put a fag in his mouth and passed one to me. I couldn’t even light it for a few seconds though, because my mouth wouldn’t stop grinning and I couldn’t hold it in properly. It was just mad. How could we have ended up with that?
    We stood there for about ten minutes smoking, and neither of us said another word. Every so often Billy shook his head, and I started to laugh. It was so hard to take in; this was like the most luck we’d ever had in our lives.
     
    ***
     
    Later that afternoon, we had to go down to the offices at Youth Offending. Billy’s worker was off or something,