Another Life Read Free

argument. This isn’t totally surprising. Ty’s mum is the most explosive woman in
the world, and his dad is kind of unpredictable.
    ‘That is totally
unfair
.’
    I jump, because for one minute I think that there’s some weird psychic time warp going on, but then I realise that it’s my uncle Danny speaking.
    ‘How come they only let one parent go in? And why does it have to be you?’
    ‘Obviously it’s going to be me,’ says Ty’s mum, and he just shuts right up. Anyone would. Although she looks completely gorgeous, and soft and gentle as well,
there’s something about Nicki (that’s what Ty calls her, so I do too) that means you just don’t argue with her unless it’s totally necessary, e.g. if a gunman is about to
shoot her and she hasn’t noticed and is refusing to move.
    That’s the kind of scenario I think up sometimes, and how I’d have to leap on her to get her out of the way, and how grateful she’d be when she realised what danger I’d
saved her from and. . .
    I know it’s wrong to perv after my aunt. But a) she’s not a blood relation and b) she’s not really like an aunt at all, because I never knew Nicki and Ty at all before last
year. There was some huge family row years ago and they never got in contact with us. I only got to know them because Ty had to stay with our grandparents after some boyfriend of his mum’s
got shot by the people hunting after Ty.
    He’s had a really exciting life compared to me, stuck in a stupid boarding school.
    ‘It’ll be fine,’ I say to Ty, and he rolls his eyes and says, ‘Yeah, right, Archie, I believe you.’
    ‘It will. I’ll send special telepathic messages to the judge and get him to let you off completely. After all, it’s only the two offences, and the one in the park doesn’t
really count, does it, because your friend Arron didn’t make a complaint about you.’
    ‘Yeah, but I admitted that one.’
    ‘And then the other one doesn’t really count either, does it, because you just took the knife after you were mugged on that bus?’
    ‘I don’t know if they believe that.’ His breathing’s a bit jittery. ‘The CCTV wasn’t working on the bus. They say there’s no proof. And when the police
tried to search me, I ran away and they don’t like that either.’
    He’s not only always in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ty also makes some pretty crap decisions.
    ‘Oh well. It’s not much, is it?’
    ‘No, but there’s a third one now.’
    ‘A third one?’
    ‘Ashley – she was my girlfriend. She went to the police and told them I had a knife.’
    ‘What a cow!’
    He shakes his head and I’m going to ask him more – who’s this Ashley, anyway? – when they call his name, his witness protection name. I don’t even realise until
he’s turning away to follow his mum and his lawyer.
    ‘Good luck!’ I call after him, and he glances back over his shoulder and does that half-smile again.
    ‘Bloody hell,’ says Danny, tugging at his tie. I’ve never seen him look so smart. I’m betting the suit is Armani, and the violet tie is awesome. Usually he’s all
ripped jeans and leather jacket, wild hair and stubble, but today he’s smooth, sleek and tidy.
    I never really knew him when I was growing up because he was too busy being a rock star (great music too, better than Muse or Linkin Park, I swear) and taking drugs, avoiding his family and just
generally being the coolest dude ever.
    Ty didn’t even know him, and Ty’s his son.
    He’s stopped being a rock star now and stopped taking drugs. He’s a photographer to the stars, and one of my ambitions is to work for him and entertain his clients with my
banter.
    We go into the court building and sit in a row – Danny and Ty’s gran and Grandpa and me. Ty’s gran is trying to entertain his little baby sister Alyssa by waving toys at her,
but you can see the baby’s not interested and just wants to slobber and cry. In the end, Ty’s gran sticks her in the