A Difficult Age: Moving On

By Margot Bish

Joe gets into deep trouble just trying to make friends and join a gang at his new school. Before he knows it, he is up to his ears in murder, and smuggling. Is there a way out that keeps him and his new friends safe? or will death be the end result?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jun 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496982155

Margot Bish

I wanted to be an author when I was seven, but was told you can't live on writing books. You'll have to be a journalist. Living off people's unhappiness? NO THANKS. So I became a surveyor, - too greedy for me, a production controller, yes OK but then the factory got rearranged and I was put in charge of dispatch - too boring for 28 days of every month, chaos for four. I tried accounts work which was rather repetitive and then setting up computer production systems which seemed like an awful lot of paperwork generated for no gain. So now I am doing an Alan Titchmarsh and gaining a lot of satisfaction from gardening for (mostly) the elderly and writing books - there are two published - Through The Storm for 9-12 year old adventurers and A Difficult Age for teenagers who are not into "heavy" books. I've now added 3 picture story books although I think I can learn and improve these now I've seen them published. My hobbies include sailing (hence the Through The Storm book), cycling, walking in beautiful scenery and spending time with my cat. . I have two more books in mind but these will have to next Winter....

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© 2014 Margot Bish. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/03/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8214-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8215-5 (e)

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

CHAPTER 1

I DID SOMETHING totally idiotic the other day. Now I can’t see what I should do. You see, I shouldn’t have been where I was, and I shouldn’t have seen what I saw. It’s more than I can handle but what do I do about it? It’s giving me a right headache thinking about it. Maybe if I write it down, it’ll stop going round and round in my head but where do I start?

I’ll have to go back a bit to find a beginning.

We moved house a couple of weeks back.

You’ll love the new house, Mum said.

Loads of new friends, Dad said.

Yeah right!

It’s amazing how often parents get it wrong. I hate this house. Miles from anywhere. Mega busy road I have to cycle along to get, well, ANYWHERE. It stinks of pollution and there are loads of ants in the garden. Yeah, well, I’m not a wuss, but I hate ants. As for friends… . Well that’s where the problems really start. Like I said. This house is miles from everywhere. The nearest houses all seem to be filled with grandmas or great uncles. There’s no people my age for miles, so the only place I can meet new friends is at school and if I want to meet them out of school I have to waste hours just getting to them. I’m fourteen. What a lousy age to change schools. Everyone else already has friends, and they’re kind of cliquey. There’s the bright guys who talk work and exams and I guess they’d link up with a genius, but that’s not me. There’s the workers who know where they want to get but they don’t have time to chat and there’s the guys who know messing around is more fun than work. I guess I’m a worker but I still want to chat and the only guys who’ll do that are the fun guys. I went for the gang.

I’m going to write things as if they’re happening ’cos that’s how I remember it. It started with Greg.

Hey. Joe. Let’s borrow your homework.

What for? I ask as he grabs me from behind.

I need to copy your history, and Graham wants your Geography. Dad’s going to thrash me if he gets called to the school again and he will be if I don’t hand in on time and get more than an E, and Graham needs to not get detention so’s he can watch the footie tonight

Well this is my chance to make a few friends.

Sure, I said, but in return I get to be a member of your gang. Yeah? And you don’t copy me exactly. I don’t need hassle form teachers who don’t know who copied who. Right?

Greg scuffed his feet. I won’t copy exactly, but I don’t know about the gang until I ask the others. There’s rules, see?

I’d thought Greg was the gang leader, but now it turned out he wasn’t as tough as I thought.

Well no gang membership, no homework. Tell you what, I’ll give you the Geography as that’s like nearly next lesson. Then you talk with the others and I give you the history if they agree

You’re on he said after a couple of minutes thought. See you by the lockers at break

Papers changed hands and… . come lunchtime I was a probationary gang member. It was so great having lunch with people. I mean knowing I’d have someone to sit with instead of slinking into the nearest empty seat, and it was funny when Rory flicked his bread roll off his spoon, over our heads and into some girl’s soup on the next table. The look she gave us was really something and trying to look totally clean and innocent when we were cracking up inside was a real snort. Greg’s gang are pretty keen on football, which is great, ’cos so am I. We had a great kick around while Greg got his homework done.

The next day, at break, the gang went over the rules. There was all the stuff about sticking together, helping each other