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    Down
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    Ebook71 pages41 minutes

    Down

    By Norah McClintock

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Remy has just been released from juvenile detention and is back in his old neighborhood. He went away because he severely assaulted a guy who insulted his girlfriend—Asia. As a white boy dating an immigrant, Remy has had to take a lot of the inbred racism that exists in the inner-city—from strangers, his family and even the police. When the white kids and the "outsiders" start scrapping over the local basketball court, Remy is caught between sticking up for his friends and siding with Asia, who is now seeing Marcus—the leader of the other group.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateOct 1, 2007
    ISBN9781554696062
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    Author

    Norah McClintock

    Norah McClintock won the Crime Writers of Canada's Arthur Ellis Award for crime fiction for young people five times. She wrote more than sixty YA novels, including contributions to Seven (the series), the Seven Sequels and the Secrets series.

    Read more from Norah Mc Clintock

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      Book preview

      Down - Norah McClintock

      street.

      Chapter One

      I’m back about three days when I run into Asia. She’s across the street with her friend Lissa. They’re talking. Lissa says something, and Asia laughs. Then she turns her head and sees me.

      I’m just standing there staring at her. She looks even prettier than I remember, which is really something because Asia’s one of those girls who belongs in a magazine, she’s that beautiful. You don’t even notice her hand—at least, I don’t. Her brown eyes meet mine, and her whole face changes. She looks surprised to see me. Well, why not? I only wrote to her twice—once almost as soon as I went away and once more after I got her first letter. After that, she kept writing, but I stopped reading. I didn’t read any letters from anyone, not that many people wrote to me. What was the point of reading letters? They would just tell me about stuff that was happening without me. It would be like no one even missed me or noticed I was gone. Finally the letters from Asia stopped. But they probably wouldn’t have if I’d written back.

      And now there she is, looking across the street at me, surprised, and then—boy, it’s a miracle—she smiles at me. Lissa doesn’t smile, though. Lissa glowers at me and says something to Asia. She shakes her head when Asia runs across the street toward me.

      Remy, she says, breathless. I thought I was seeing things. No one told me you were back. She’s looking me over like she can’t believe I’m really there. It makes me feel pretty good. How are you, Remy? she says.

      I tell her I’m fine. I tell her I’m back living with my mother and my sister. But I don’t tell her how weird they both act around me and how I feel like a stranger in my own house now.

      Then Asia’s expression changes. She gets serious and looks a little worried. She says, You stopped writing to me.

      I don’t know what to say to that, so I just shrug.

      Are you mad at me, Remy? she says.

      Mad at her? How could I ever be mad at her?

      You wrote me two letters. I was so glad to hear from you. But then you stopped. She hesitates and looks back across the street at Lissa, who’s waiting for her. Lissa doesn’t look mad anymore. She looks worried, like she’s afraid maybe I’ll do something to Asia. You stopped writing to me, Asia says again. I’m sorry now that I did. I didn’t think it would be such a big deal to her after the way we left things.

      Asia’s eyes are brown and warm, like melted chocolate. She’s frowning now. I thought you were mad at me, she says. You know, about school. I wanted you to write back to me, Remy. I wanted to know what you were thinking and how you were doing. But when you didn’t... She shakes her head, like she’s shaking out something she doesn’t want to think about. She smiles, but this time it looks like she’s forcing it. Well, she says, I guess it’s like you always said—it’s not like we were going to get married or anything, right?

      Lissa calls to her. Come on. Marcus will be waiting.

      Marcus? I say.

      Asia looks down. I’m sorry, she says. She raises her eyes to meet mine. But you stopped writing. And I really like him, Remy. I’m sorry.

      I tell her it’s okay. I tell her she’s right, it’s not like we were going to get married or anything. I tell her nine months is a long time, people change. Then I tell her I have to go, I have an appointment. It’s not true, but I say it anyway so I have an excuse to walk away. I think maybe if I stop looking into Asia’s warm chocolate eyes, the pain will go away.

      It doesn’t.

      Chapter Two

      It was my own stupid fault that I got sent away. When I told one of the counselors that, he asked if I was sorry for what I did. I said I was, but I didn’t mean it the way he thought I did. He thought I was saying I was sorry for beating up that guy. But I wasn’t. I was just sorry I did it when there were people around who could tell the cops everything. And I was sorry I did it when it was still light out. What I should have done was waited and jumped the guy from behind when it was dark. I should have made sure that neither he nor anyone else got a good look at me.

      But I didn’t. I was too pissed off to wait.

      I’m still not sorry I did it. The guy deserved it. After what he said, he totally deserved it. Asia asked me why I’d beaten the

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