Free CHERUB: People's Republic by Robert Muchamore Page A

Ryan hoped, he noticed that his phone was missing when he dropped the keys back into the pocket of his shorts.
    Loads of kids were shouting and locker doors slammed, but everyone heard Guillermo’s high-pitched shout.
    ‘Which one of you dick wads took my phone?’
    Nobody took much notice. Guillermo took everything out of his locker to make sure it hadn’t dropped down at the back, then did a three-sixty look around, before crouching down and peering under the slatted changing bench.
    ‘Have you checked inside your bag?’ a skinny kid asked.
    Guillermo got right up in his face and spoke aggressively. ‘I don’t keep my phone in my bag. It goes in my pocket with my keys.’
    The kid was half Guillermo’s size and he held up his hands as he backed off. ‘Just trying to help, man.’
    ‘If someone’s messin’ they better give it up now,’ Guillermo shouted.
    Despite saying the phone couldn’t be in his backpack, Guillermo unzipped all the pockets and pulled everything out to be sure. By the time he’d finished, his face had gone bright red and his movements were all jerky like he was about to explode.
    ‘If one of you is tricking me, man,’ Guillermo said angrily. Then he shouted again. ‘Who took my bastard phone?’
    Ryan was dressed now, and getting tense. The lunch bell wasn’t far off. Kids who’d changed were crowding around the exit and the plan would come to nothing if Ethan carried Guillermo’s phone out of the locker room before someone tried to call it.
    It would seem suspicious if Ryan suggested someone call Guillermo’s phone to see if it rang, but he was almost that desperate when a boy called Sal approached Guillermo holding his own phone.
    ‘Don’t fret, bro,’ Sal told Guillermo. ‘What’s your number? I’ll call it.’
    Guillermo looked madder than ever, but Sal was one of the biggest kids in the seventh grade so Guillermo didn’t snap at him.
    ‘It’s on vibrate,’ Guillermo said.
    ‘Still might hear it moving,’ Sal said. ‘Ain’t gonna do no harm. What’s your number?’
    The ringing sound struggled to be heard over forty hyped-up kids, but it was enough to send Guillermo and Sal on a charge.
    Ryan feigned disinterest as the pair barged through the crowd around the door and steamed across the room. They found a mystified Ethan digging down his bag for the ringing phone.
    Guillermo grabbed Ethan by the scruff of his hoodie and bounced him hard against a locker. ‘What you doing with my phone, bitch?’ Guillermo roared. ‘You don’t like having teeth in your head?’
    Everyone had turned towards the action, and Ryan made sure he was close enough to dive in. Ethan was absolutely crapping himself, while Yannis had shrivelled into a corner, acting like he didn’t even know who Ethan was.
    ‘I didn’t steal your phone,’ Ethan said, as he rummaged desperately in his bag.
    ‘Then how come you got it, you skinny piece of shit?’
    Guillermo banged Ethan against the locker again as he held out the grafittied Nokia. Ryan stepped forward to make his move, but Sal grabbed Guillermo’s arm before he got there.
    ‘That weedy bitch didn’t steal your phone,’ Sal said.
    Guillermo gave Sal a mean stare. ‘Then why’s it in his hand?’
    ‘You said it was on silent,’ Sal said. ‘But that thing went off like a car horn. Someone else put that phone in his bag. Someone trying to stir up trouble.’
    Guillermo’s none too massive brain mulled this over for a couple of seconds, before deciding that Sal made sense. The tension dropped out of the room, but Ryan felt sick because his plan was down the toilet.
    Now the threat of violence had receded, Yannis reverted to being gobby. ‘Who’d steal a shit phone like that anyway?’ he said. ‘I had a better one than that when I was eight.’
    Yannis had misjudged badly. Guillermo might have his phone back, but he was still angry and suspicious about being tricked.
    ‘What you say?’ Guillermo shouted. ‘You wanna see if