Free The Territory by Sarah Govett Page A

was better than normal, but still not safe, and her mum always goes super-stressy at anything under 75 per cent. Raf got 83 per cent which was amazingly about what he’d got in the last Geography test that he uploaded for. Jack got really moody and said that Raf would just have uploaded after I left. I wish he’d give Raf a chance.
    Hugo got 89 per cent and was looking pretty smug (normal freakoid facial expression) until Mr Hanson read out my result. 92 per cent – in your face, Hugo Barnes!! Apparently Hugo (along with nearly every other freakoid) had done better than me in the recall fact section, but I’d whooped him in the ‘apply your knowledge’ part.
    You could tell immediately that Hugo was NOT HAPPY. His mean, ice-blue eyes narrowed and a muscle under his left cheekbone started to twitch. Amanda couldn’t help herself and reached over to stroke his arm, but Hugo shoved her away.
    Mr Hanson chose that moment to leave the room to photocopy some sheets.
    Hugo walked up to my bench, pushed my stuff onto the floor and called me a stupid, cheating Norm. This I could handle and I just laughed at him. I’d worked really hard for that test and had beaten him fair and square. This seemed to wind him up even more and that’s when it all went wrong. Hugo said I didn’t deserve to be at Hollets, that all Norms should be shipped off to the Wetlands at birth as they were like a sub-species. He said the Laboratory should never have employed my mum and that her decision to carry me, ‘like a fat whale’, and not to use a WombPod like every other government employee made her an embarrassment to the Territory. He said that he’d personally pay to have me and my ‘saggy’ mum shipped off to the Wetlands today.
    When he started on about my mum, that’s when I saw red. My mum’s one of the good guys. One of the very few properly, truly, good guys. Through her research she saves lives every day. I wanted to scream at him and hit him but I knew he’d like that, so I pretended like I wasn’t fazed and then did what I knew would provoke him most. I stood up slowly and jerked my arms around chanting, ‘My-name-is Hugo-Barnes-and-I-am-a-freakoid-robot-with-no-natural-intelligence.’
    Suddenly I noticed that the room had gone really quiet. I turned around to see Mr Daniels standing in the doorway. I could tell by his expression that he’d seen everything. I’ve got to go and see him in his office on Monday.
    He said nothing to Hugo of course.
    I hate Hugo Barnes.

    I guess we should have known that they’d find out about Daisy’s party. We’d been inviting other Norms (and the occasional OK freakoid such as Barnaby) in the lunch hall and they must have overheard or something.
    I find it hard to believe that I was ever friends with Amanda or that Jack and Hugo used to be pretty close at junior school. Hugo used to play football with Jack basically every Sunday morning and Amanda even came to my first sleepover. My friendship with Amanda, and Jack’s with Hugo, all changed when we got to ten. They suddenly stopped wanting anything to do with us and we didn’t exactly want to hang out with them either as they became super annoying. Mum said Amanda just hit puberty early. And I know she became absurdly guy-orientated, but it was more than that. She only liked freakoids; started to listen in class; blanked me. Now they’re so bloody superior and they just have to wreck everything.
    Anyway, about 9pm the party was starting to get fun and people were actually dancing in the lounge. We’d moved the sofas to the edge of the room so there was a kind of dance floor and Daisy had put little tealights all along the mantelpiece to create a ‘romantic’ atmosphere. I think she thought it might help me to get it properly together with Raf! Jack was in a really good mood and he’s hilarious when he dances as he’s so big. A dance move that you might not notice in anyone else is magnified by his massive body into something