Free Dark Sun by Robert Muchamore Page A

dumb-ass sister threw up all over me and then passed out,’ Andy said.
    At this point Sophie came storming in and started grabbing sponges, cloths and a bottle of carpet shampoo from under the sink. ‘You’re helping, George,’ she steamed. ‘None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for your idiot mates.’
    ‘You were drunk,’ Greg shouted. ‘You went crazy. You smashed a vase over my head.’
    ‘Because you groped me,’ Sophie shouted back.
    ‘I didn’t grope you! And we saw you rubbing beer and M&Ms into George’s carpet to get him into trouble.’
    ‘That’s such a lie,’ Sophie shrieked.
    Greg knew he had her. ‘Then why’s the bottom of your foot all green and red?’
    Sophie didn’t move, but George closed in and demanded to look.
    ‘Show me,’ George yelled.
    Sophie refused to lift her foot and when George tried to make her she smacked him around the 97
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    back of the head. George immediately sank his teeth into his sister’s arm and t wo seconds later the t wo siblings were rolling around on the f loor bet ween the washing machine and the dining table, beating the living daylights out of each other.
    ‘STOP IT,’ George’s mum screamed, dragging Sophie off her brother as she stormed into the kitchen. ‘I’m not joking! You’re both cleaning that mess up.’
    Sophie huffed and grabbed the cleaning stuff off the f loor, but George tried a different tack and burst into tears.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ George howled. ‘Please don’t punish us. Please don’t ruin the whole summer holidays.’
    Dr Lydon was having none of that. ‘You’re thirteen years old,’ she sneered. ‘Act like it. You think I’m gonna fall for that little act?’
    To emphasise her point Dr Lydon grabbed a plastic dustpan out of the cupboard and whacked her son across the back of the legs.
    ‘Get upstairs and start helping your sister,’
    she roared.
    It was only about the third time Dr Lydon had ever hit one of her kids and George was so stunned 98
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    that he bolted upstairs like someone had shoved a rocket up his butt.
    With her own kids out of the way, Dr Lydon turned and scowled at Greg, Andy and Zhang, who all sat around the dining table. She was still holding the dustpan and clearly would have been happy to smack t he pores off their faces. Unfortunately for her, parents are only allowed to be horrible to their own kids.
    ‘Call your parents,’ the doctor growled. ‘I want you three out of my house – and don’t ever expect to come back.’
    George’s mum then turned on her heel and
    steamed up the staircase. ‘I don’t hear any scrubbing up there,’ she shouted.
    Once she was out of earshot, Zhang rattled the cereal box on the table. ‘Anyone for Coco Pops?’
    he asked cheerfully, as Andy pulled out his mobile to call John.
    ‘My uncle’s gonna meet us at the bottom of the road in ten minutes,’ Andy said, when the call finished. ‘We might as well go now, before the dragon lady comes back downstairs.’
    ‘Damned good sleepover if you ask me,’ Zhang 99
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    smirked, as he topped up his bowl. ‘Normally I just kick George’s butt on the X-box until I get bored, then I hold him down and fart on his head. But having you guys here, trashing the house and everything, has made a real nice change.’
    ‘Maybe we’ll go to your house next time,’ Greg smiled, as he stretched his fist across the table and touched Zhang knuckle to knuckle.
    ‘Nice meeting you, Zhang,’ Andy said, as he did the same. ‘Have a good month in China.’
    The t wo CHERUB agents grabbed their packs and headed out of the back doorway. Andy was hurting all down his left side and Greg limped on his cut foot as they walked down the gravel driveway and turned on to the street.
    ‘I’ve got a massive egg on my head where Sophie hit me with the vase,’ Greg complained.
    ‘We’re