panic.
“Nothing.”
“Nah, come on, man, she must have said something!”
“She doesn’t talk about that stuff with me.”
The older boy sucked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head in mock despair.
“If girls don’t say things, you got to watch what they do! What did she do when you told her?”
“She threw her Bugs Bunny at me,” Femi said sheepishly.
“Yeeess!” James aimed a friendly punch at Femi. “She liked the message, then!”
Femi’s forehead creased with doubt.
“You got a sister and you know nothing about girls, man! What music does she like, then?”
Femi hesitated. It wasn’t a question he had been asked before.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Different sorts. Like girl bands.”
“You say no, no, no, no…,” James mimicked. “I know that girl stuff! Does she go out much?”
“Our dad is too strict.” Femi shook his head.
“Tell me about it, man!” James laughed. “Mine was too! When he was around.” The last words had a bitter edge. Then his voice bounced back. “Your dad’s Nigerian, yeah? My friend says Nigerian dads are the worst for strictness!”
“If we want to go out, our dad must know everything.”
James nodded sympathetically. Femi took the cue.
“I want to see Arsenal play football, but he won’t let me go with my friend. He always says he’ll take me, but he’s always working. Even if I want to buy some Arsenal stuff, my dad wants to check it out, and then he says it’s too expensive.”
“That’s my team too, man!” James beamed. “Here!” He grabbed Femi’s hand and pushed something into it. “Get some Arsenal stuff, little brother. A present, right! I’ll see you around.”
Femi uncurled his fingers and stared at a twenty-pound note. By the time he looked up, James had disappeared.
Inside the toilet Femi folded up the note tightly and pushed it to the bottom of an inside pocket of his back-pack. He would tell no one, not even Gary. Only Uncle Dele gave him money as casually as that and never as much as twenty pounds. James must be rich! But why had he been so generous? The fuss over the teacher’s finger had died down. How could taking a message to Sade be worth so much? James didn’t have to give him anything. Femi felt a twinge of guilt now for complaining about Papa, especially about money. It wasn’t Papa’s fault that they didn’t have enough here. That was why he had two jobs. Maybe it would have been better not to take James’s money. But it happened so quickly and, if he tried to give it back now, James might be offended. It was all so complicated. He should try to stay out of James’s way in the future. In the meantime he needed to make sure that Papa didn’t find out, or there would be awkward questions.
5
A Little Business
The following week, instead of wandering around at break times, Femi and Gary joined a gang of boys playing football. The others were all year sevens and a few year eights, who shouted things like “Hendy will have you for breakfast if you do that!” and “Hendy’s going to mince you up, man!” They put on a Scottish accent, mimicking the sports teacher. Some year eights also joked about the teacher’s outdated Afro. From what Femi had already seen of Mr. Hendy, they weren’t likely to joke anywhere within his hearing.
After their Tuesday session with Mr. Hendy, Femi stood sweating beside Gary.
“All you lads could be good players if you’re prepared to put in the effort.”
The teacher’s black curly hair swept back from his pale brown forehead like the mane of a lion. He stood with hishands on his stocky hips, surveying the small group of boys he had called aside.
“Yes, Sir!”
“Right, Sir!”
“What does that mean? A, you heard me? B, you agree with me? C, you’re prepared to do the work? A and B don’t count in my book. All I’m interested in is C. Think about it, and if C is your answer, come to football practice on Thursday after school. You can