Free Saving Silence by Gina Blaxill Page A

really good at this now.’ I said. ‘Maybe you could try reading to your parents sometime. I bet they’ll be impressed.’
    I was a bit taken aback by his scowl. ‘They wouldn’t care. They don’t even know I do this club.’
    I asked him what he meant. And that was when I clocked he was Imogen’s brother, because out it all came – resentment about how uncared for he felt and how his parents were never
around. When I asked if he’d spoken to his sister, Benno said, ‘She’s a robot. She doesn’t feel anything. No one would ever pick on her.’
    ‘I think we’d all know if your sis really was a robot.’ I grinned. Then, ‘Hang on. Benno, are you being picked on?’
    That was how I found out that Benno was being bullied. I don’t really know what it was that made him feel he could confide in me. Perhaps I’ve just got one of those faces.
    ‘I really think you should tell your sister,’ I said. ‘She used to be head prefect here – if anyone knows how to deal with this, it’s definitely her.’
    Benno went quiet. ‘She’s busy. She’ll think this is silly.’
    ‘You’re a tough one, aren’t you?’ I said. ‘You’re wrong. Definitely. Just because she isn’t all fluffy and cuddly doesn’t mean she doesn’t
care. As a matter of fact, I know that your sister hates bullies.’
    Benno looked interested for the first time.
    ‘Let me tell you a story about your sis.’ I said. ‘When I came to this school, I was in a bit of a bad place. For lots of reasons I didn’t want to make friends or join in
with stuff, and people got the idea I thought I was too good for them. I got Facebooked by people saying I should “go back home”.’ And nastier stuff, I thought, remembering the
post from HotGirl1998:
    Y don’t u just go and kill urself now, world will b beta without u
.
    ‘It was cyber-bullying, basically. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t think anyone could help. It went on for months. I don’t know how your sister found out but she
gave the people doing it hell. She even told the head teacher. A couple of kids got suspended, and one girl who was on a warning already even got expelled. Takes real guts to go to the teachers. It
doesn’t exactly make you popular. Imogen risked a lot doing that – for me, and I’d not been very nice to her.’
    ‘What did she say about it?’
    ‘To me? Nothing. She’s not even aware I know what she did. Maybe she just saw it as a head prefect’s duty. But that’s how I know she’s kind, or at least fair. Even
if she seems a bit of an ice queen.’
    Benno fingered the spine of the book we’d been reading. ‘So why doesn’t she notice me?’
    ‘It’s easy to ignore the people who are right under your nose. Trust her. What’ve you got to lose, hey?’
    Benno gave me a look that said he didn’t believe me. He made me swear I’d keep everything secret. I promised, knowing full well I was going to break it.
    I really hoped Imogen had sorted things out for him. Maybe I’d find out when I went home. When – if – this nightmare was all over.

IMOGEN
    FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER
    My mood that morning must have been obvious, because when I came down to breakfast Benno, who was sitting at the table with a bowl of Shreddies, stared at me.
    ‘You look like you want to kill someone,’ he said. ‘Like a superhero. It’s cool.’
    ‘I don’t know about cool,’ I said, ‘but believe me, I feel pretty bloodthirsty.’ I skirted a look at Dad, who was reading the paper. He was never normally around at
this time. I asked him if he had the day off. He nodded.
    ‘Nice of you to mention it to us,’ I said.
    Dad frowned. ‘Should I have done? You’ve your own things going on.’
    My own things, which you have absolutely no idea about, I thought. Dad never asked what I was up to, and I doubted Mum filled him in. He probably didn’t even know which A levels I was
taking. Or maybe I was just getting at Dad because I was in a bad mood and he was an