Free My Brilliant Idea (And How It Caused My Downfall) by Stuart David Page A

Where’s the misunderstanding?”
    â€œI didn’t sell it,” I say. “How many times do I have to tell you that? I lost it in a bet. And the misunderstanding is, I thought you’d given me it to keep.”
    â€œNo you didn’t,” Harry shouts. “You asked me if you could borrow it, and I told you not to break it. How can that possibly imply I was giving you it to keep?”
    â€œThat’s not what happened,” I tell him. “You know it’s not.”
    He sighs very loudly and then slams his books about on the desk, making out as if this is him finally settling down to work. I walk toward the door and open it a bit.
    â€œI’ll see you later,” I say. “I had the perfect plan to get you to university, but if you’d rather have the iPad, it’s your loss.”
    I open the door a little more, but I can already hear him stirring behind me. The chair creaks as it turns, even though he’s trying his best to keep it quiet. I open the door a bit farther and step out into the hall, then start closing the door behind me.
    â€œHang on,” Harry says quietly. “Come back a minute. Maybe I am interested.”
    â€œMake your mind up,” I say.
    â€œLet’s hear it,” he says. “I’m listening. The iPad can wait. Come back in and tell me the scheme.”
    I hover with the doorknob in my hand for a while, just to keep him in suspense, and then I pretend I’m quite exasperated by the whole business, and I come back into the room.
    Harry doesn’t know anything about the trouble Yatesy is in. He remembers the fight, particularly the part where Yatesy jumped up and down asking what was happening, but he doesn’t know anything about the threat to the school trip or about Bailey’s ultimatum. His year isn’t affected by it, and Harry isn’t the most in-touch person anyway, so I have to fill him in a bit.
    â€œWhat’s any of this got to do with me, though?” he says, quite early on. “This is starting to look like a scam to make me forget about the iPad.”
    â€œRelax,” I say. “I’m giving you a gift. I thought all that mattered to you was getting to university?”
    He shakes his head. “That’s finished,” he says. “Ray says I can forget it. He says I’m already enough of an embarrassment as it is, and there’s no way he’s letting me study catering. He says he wants to see proof I’m a man. He’s trying to force me to finish with school right now and start working on the taxis.”
    â€œThat’s why this is perfect for you,” I say. “This is exactly what you’re looking for. Yatesy’s about to be expelled. If he doesn’t step up and admit he was in that fight, somebody else will spill the beans to save the school trip. The only thing that can keep both sides happy is a stand-in. Now, if you were to come forward . . .”
    â€œI’d get expelled.”
    I shake my head. “Yatesy’s on a final warning,” I say. “That’s the only reason he’d get expelled. How many warnings have you ever had? Apart from being warned you might burst your brains from studying too much? You’d only get suspended.”
    At first he doesn’t respond. He gets up out of his chair and paces round the room a bit.
    â€œJust imagine how proud your dad will be,” I say. “Not only have you been in a proper fight for the first time in your life, you’ve been suspended from school for it as well. Imagine him being able to tell his taxi pals about that. Imagine him being able to hammer on about it down at the bowling club. Suddenly you’re a man. He’ll be all over you. And then you can talk him into letting you do whatever you want at university.”
    He keeps pacing.
    â€œBesides—” I say, and he tells me to shut up.
    â€œLet me think for a minute,” he says.