C H A P T E R T H R E E
STEVE PERSUADED Mr Dalton to let him keep the flyer. He said he wanted it for his bedroom wall. Mr Dalton wasn't going to give it to him but then changed his mind. He cut off the address at the bottom before handing it over.
After school, the five of us – Me, Steve Leonard, Alan Morris, Tommy Jones and Darren Shan – gathered in the yard and studied the glossy flyer.
"It's got to be a fake," Darren said.
"Why?" Alan asked.
"They don't allow freak shows any more," Darren told him. "Wolf-men and Snake-boys were outlawed years ago. Mr Dalton said so."
"It's not a fake!" Alan insisted.
"Where'd you get it?" Tommy asked.
"I stole it," Alan said softly. "It belongs to my big brother." Alan's big brother was Tony Morris, who used to be the school's biggest bully until he got thrown out. He's huge and mean and ugly.
"You stole from Tony?" Darren gasped. "Have you got a death wish?"
"He won't know it was me," Alan said. "He had it in a pair of trousers that Mum threw in the washing machine. I stuck a blank piece of paper in when I took this out. He'll think the ink got washed off."
"Smart," Steve nodded.
"Where did Tony get it?" Darren asked.
"There was a guy passing them out in an alley," Alan said. "One of the circus performers, a Mr Crepsley."
"The one with the spider?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah," Alan answered, "only he didn't have the spider with him. It was night and Tony was on his way back from the pub." Tony's not old enough to get served in a pub, but hangs around with older guys who buy drinks for him. "Mr Crepsley handed the paper to Tony and told him they're a travelling freak show who put on secret performances in towns and cities across the world. He said you had to have a flyer to buy tickets and they only give them to people they trust. You're not supposed to tell anyone else about the show. I only found out because Tony was in high spirits – the way he gets when he drinks – and couldn't keep his mouth shut."
"How much are the tickets?" Steve asked.
"Fifteen pounds each," Alan said.
"Fifteen pounds!" They all shouted, whilst I choked slightly on the can of coke I had been drinking during the discussion.
"Nobody's going to pay fifteen pounds to see a bunch of freaks!" Steve snorted.
"I would," Darren said.
"Me too," Tommy agreed.
"And me," Alan added, I gulped down my drink and added my agreement to the trio.
"Sure," Steve said, "but we don't have fifteen pounds to throw away. So it's academic, isn't it?"
"What does academic mean?" Alan asked.
"It means we can't afford the tickets, so it doesn't matter if we would buy them or not," Steve explained. "It's easy to say you would buy something if you know you can't."
"How much do we have?" Alan asked.
"Tuppence ha'penny," Darren laughed.
"I'd love to go," Tommy said sadly. "It sounds great." He studied the picture again.
"Mr Dalton didn't think too much of it," Alan said.
"That's what I mean," Tommy said. "If Sir doesn't like it, it must be super. Anything that adults hate it normally brilliant."
"Are we sure we don't have enough?" Darren asked. "Maybe they have discounts for children."
"I don't think children are allowed in," Alan said, but he told us how much he had anyway. "Five pounds seventy."
"I've got twelve pounds exactly," Steve said.
"I have six pounds eighty-five pence," Tommy said.
"And I have eight pounds twenty-five," Darren told us.
"Well, I've only got three pounds fifty-six," I said.
"That's more than thirty pounds in all," Darren informed us after he had added it up in his head. "We get our pocket money tomorrow. If we pool our–"
"But the tickets are nearly sold out," Alan interrupted. "The first show was yesterday. It finishes Tuesday. If we go, it'll have to be tomorrow night or Saturday, because our parents won't let us out any other night. The guy who gave Tony the flyer said the tickets for both nights were almost gone. We'd have to buy them tonight."
"Well, so much for that," I said, putting on a brave face.
"Maybe not," Steve said. "My Mum keeps a wad of money in a jar at home. I could borrow some and put it back when we get our pocket money."
"You mean steal?" Darren asked.
"I mean borrow," he snapped. "It's only stealing if you don't put it back. What do you say?"
"How would we get the tickets?" Tommy asked. "It's a school night. We wouldn't be let out."
"I can sneak out," Steve said. "I'll buy them."
"But Mr Dalton snipped off the address," Darren reminded us.
"How will you know where to go?" I added,
"I memorized it," Steve grinned, then winked at me. "Now, are we gonna stand here all night making excuses, or are we gonna go for it?"
We all looked at each other, then – one by one – nodded silently.
"Right," Steve said. "We hurry home, grab our money, and meet back her. Tell your parents you forgot a book or something. We'll lump the money together and I'll add the rest from the pot at home."
"What if you can't steal – I mean, borrow the money?" Darren asked.
He shrugged. "Then then deals off. But we won't know unless we try. Now: hurry!"
With that, Me and Steve sprinted away. It only made sense to run with him because we lived a few doors away from each other.
After I got my money I sat on my garden wall and waited outside for Steve, 'I wonder what that note was about?' I thought to myself, I had forgotten to ask him at lunch.
A few minutes later Steve was finally outside of his house, walking down the path and, now, on his way up to me. He stopped in front of me and pull something out of his pocket, it was the money!
"Guess what I've got." He said as he waved the money in my face before putting it back into his trouser pocket. I smiled at him, but it soon faded when I realised that I had heard the name Crepsley before, but where? I was thinking about it when Steve had said something.
"What?" I said, half-awake, half-in thought still.
"I said, What's wrong?" He did one of those cute, half-smiles that boys do. Wait did I just say that Steve was cute? Wow, I'm more tired than I thought. I giggled at my previous thought.
"Nothing!" I said during my little giggle.
"Really?" I said, still with a half smile.
"Yes, Really! Now let's go, We've still got to meet the others." I stood up, that's when I had actually noticed how close together we were, our lips were mere inches apart. I felt myself blush slightly, but I turned and started walking in the direction of the school before he noticed. We spent the entire walk back talking about the Cirque Du Freak and what type of freaks would be there. Steve had it stuck in his head that they would all be some sort of – and I quote – 'malformed freaks'.
By the time we got to the schools grounds everyone was already there waiting. We all handed Steve the money, said our good-byes and left, but Steve grabbed my arm.
"Come with me?" He begged as he put on his best puppy dog eyes and pouty lips, I rolled my eyes and smiled.
"Okay, but only if you answer my question?" I bargained,
"Fine, what's the question?" He asked, his face went back to it's usual cocky half smile. I said that I would tell him when we were going to get the tickets. He nodded and we went our separate ways – well, not literally because we live on the same street and all but you know what I mean!
I snook out and met him at the school at 7, where we began walking to where they are selling the tickets, Steve led the way as I had absolutely no idea where we were going.
"What did the note say?" I asked as I put my hands into my pockets.
"Nothing!" He said quickly, mean-while his cheeks were turning a pinkish colour.
"Tell me!" I pleaded with him.
"Tell you what, I'll tell you Saturday no matter what!"
"Promise?" I asked.
"Cross my heart" He said as he drew a cross over his heart with his finger. I pushed him playfully, which ended up with him gently tackling me to the floor. He had me pinned onto the floor of the field we had been walking past, his hands holding down mine. Our faces were as they were earlier, mere inches away. We had been laughing the entire time, but when that had died down he looked straight into my eyes.
"You have blue eyes?" He questioned me, I giggled some more and nodded. He unpinned me and we spent the rest of the time we had left just talking and messing around.
When we got there, rather than a ticket booth, there was just a shed with a small guy being pulled out of it by two policemen and, I squinted my eyes so I could see more clearly – as we were in an alleyway – My eyes widened and my jaw dropped when I saw who it was. It was Mr Dalton!
"Oh sh-!" Steve murmured as he pulled me onto the wall which we had been standing next t- BANG! There was suddenly a huge bang and a cloud of smoke, and when that had disappeared the small guy was gone. Luckily after searching the shed and looking around a few times, Mr Dalton and the police went off looking in a different direction. When we turned around the small guy was standing right behind us. He really WAS small, he was also wearing a very long cloak that had covered him from head to toe. He took the flyer from Steve but only the money for two, when Steve had asked him why he merely pointed to the words "certain reservations" on the flyer, and then handed him a piece of paper which had said that Cirque Du Freak sell only two tickets per flyer. I had decided to offer him more money, but he wouldn't take it, and Steve had been harbouring almost seventy pounds all together, however he still wouldn't accept it.
We were about to go home when I noticed that the hooded guy was limping, so I decided to go over to help him. I took a look at his leg, which was only slightly cut from the policemen's ignorance to his safety will removing him from the shed. I opened the bag which I had been carrying on my back and got my first-aid kit out, I got out one of the larger, flexi-plasters and placed it carefully on the wound, and gently pressed down the edges so it wouldn't just come off when he was walking, I told him to be careful and to walk on it as little as possible.
Steve gave me a funny look, then stood up straight, brushed himself off and began walking off with me when I felt a sudden pull at my trouser leg, I looked down to see the small guy looking up at me, holding something up.
"For me?" I asked him, unsure of what I was supposed to do. He simply nodded, I took it off of him and looked at it, it was a ticket for the Cirque Du Freak show on Saturday. I felt my face light up, I hugged the small guy and thanked him, before waving at him and – finally, for the last time – setting off for home.
Steve gave me a confused look when I had shown him what the guy had given to me,
"It doesn't hurt to be nice, you know?" I said to him, smiling.
"No, but it's a bloody pain in the arse!" We both laughed at his latest sarcastic comment and went home.
