Joyride

Copyright 2012 Gareth Parker

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  Joyride

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  Chapter 1

  It’s Saturday morning and my little sister Polly is already waking me up to make her breakfast. Polly is only six with the annoying habit of running into my room at seven o’clock on a Saturday morning, pulling the covers off me and running out of my room giggling like the little girl she is.

  ‘Get back here!’ I shout feeling infuriated with her. I leap out of bed, put on my dressing gown and chase her down the stairs. By the time I catch up with her I'm fully awake, feeling less agitated I lay her on the cold kitchen floor and blow raspberries on her belly causing her to go into a giggling fit.

  ‘That’s for waking up your big brother,’ I look down at her still giggling with the cutest look on her face. Her long blonde hair is all over the place and her big blue eyes tell everyone she’s a happy child. She stands up and pulls me over to the cupboard where mum keeps all the biscuits.

  ‘Can I have something from in there?’ She says pointing at the cupboard with a cheeky look on her face.

  ‘Polly, you know you're not supposed have sweets for breakfast,’ she looks at me with puppy dog eyes. ‘Ok, but don’t tell mum.’ She nods to me and I hand her some Jaffa Cakes that she loves. Snatching them from my hand she darts off into the lounge where I assume she will watch cartoons until mum gets up.

  I make myself a coffee and get back into bed. I look at my phone to see I have a text message from Karl. Karl is my best mate, he’s also sixteen and we’ve known each other since we were five. The text reads - tonight is the night, pls don’t bottle it mate. I suddenly remembered, I agreed to help him steal a car tonight but I have a niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach that it’s not a good idea. At the same time I don’t want to let Karl down so I text him back - don’t worry mate it’s on!

  Sometimes the sound of my mum's voice goes through me. I can hear her asking Polly how she got Jaffa Cakes and Polly being only six drops me in it straight away. I make my way down stairs to be confronted by my mum.

  ‘James Young have you been giving Polly Jaffa Cakes again?’ her voice is stern but in a joke kind of way.

  ‘Yes mum sorry.’ My mum is a big woman, short brown wired hair but my god she has a heart of gold. As a single mum she managed to bring Polly and me up all by herself but is very secretive about her job so I never ask any questions. My dad disappeared when I was born and I’ve never met the guy.

  I promised after breakfast I’d take Polly to the park so mum can give the house a good clean. Being the summer I didn’t mind, Polly came up with the idea we have to skip all the way there. A mile of skipping isn’t easy but somehow the six year old managed it with ease. Where do they get their energy?

  At the park I let Polly run off and do her own thing, I just sit there and keep an eye on her. She loves the park, if she had her own way we would be there all day. The sun is warm with a slight breeze and the day has a good feeling to it. I spot Karl walking across the green towards the park smoking a cigarette. I really hope Polly doesn’t see him smoking, she will blab to mum and will rightly assume I smoke too.

  ‘You still game yeah, for tonight?’ said Karl in his “hard man” tone.

  ‘Yes I’m game.’

  ‘You know what you’re doing right?’ asks Karl.

  ‘Yes I know exactly how to do it don’t worry.’ He grabs my face firm all excited.

  ‘It’s going to be so cool, driving around. One arm out the window, tunes blearing, can't wait!’ The sound of all that does excite me and have that feeling of adrenaline mixed with excitement.

  Once we’d been at the park for an hour I decide it’s time to go. Karl shoots off and I call Polly over.

  ‘He was smoking,’ says Polly in her sweet innocent voice.

  ‘No that was a lolly he had.’

  ‘I want a lolly.’

  ‘We don’t have any darling so I’ll pick you up one on the way home yeah?’

  ‘Yay!’

  ‘But only if we don’t skip?’

  ‘Hmm ok.’ My phone goes off, I have another text from Karl explaining how excited he is about stealing this car tonight.

  We walk into the corner shop, as promised I buy Polly a lolly and other sweets due to the fact she couldn’t decide on what she wanted. The walk home is quite, Polly is stuffing her face whilst holding my hand, which gives me a little time to reflect on the events that will be happening tonight. I think things over and over in my head. Stealing a car is immoral however, being only sixteen years old, what's the worst that could happen?

  We get home to find our hard working mum has done a fantastic job cleaning the house, everything is spotless. Polly and I walk into the kitchen to find a fine display of sandwiches. My mum makes the best tuna and cucumber sandwiches and manages to get the perfect amount of mayo. She's sat at the kitchen table bright eyed excited for our return.

  ‘Lunch is ready,’ speaking with her mouth full and trying to smile at the same time as hiding the food in her mouth.

  ‘Thanks mum you’re the best!’ We all dig into our lunch, with only the sound of chewing to be heard.

  Once finished I pull out my mobile to find another text from Karl - meet me at the park at 1000. A feeling of dread strikes through me at the reality of all this, the guilty feeling of letting my mum down and the example I’d be setting for Polly? ‘Thanks mum, for the lunch it was fabulous as always, going to chill in my room for a bit and play my computer.’

  ‘Ok love.’

  My room is always untidy but my mum says my room is my space so I can do what I want with it. She hardly ever comes in here and respects my privacy. I take a look at myself in the mirror. I’m the average height for a sixteen year old, I shave my head because I can never be bothered to waste a Sat morning queuing for hours in the barbers, plus it suits me. I wear the typical 16-year-old clothes, baggy jeans, hoody and an NYC baseball cap. I have a pathetic attempt to grow a beard, with approx eight hairs on my chin - the rest is just bum fluff.

  I pick up my mobile and text Karl back – are you sure this is a good idea? Knowing whatever I say he will change my mind into going through with it. I load up my PC and Google – how to hotwire cars. The list of sites is endless so I click on the first one and go through what I need to do. The information is descriptive, giving me the exact process of things to do, making it look easy. Once I’ve gone through it all and got my head round it my mobile goes off – come on, don’t let me down, just think how cool it will be, we’ll be so popular in school. The thought of all the kids looking up to us for stealing a car is appealing. I feel like I have a devil sitting on my left shoulder telling me – ‘do it James you have to’ and an angel on my other shoulder saying – ‘think about your mum and sister, something bad will happen’. I feel torn between the two but my young mind and the thought of being popular in school outweighs all.

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