Kai's Story Read online

  “Hey, come on,” said Kai.

  “No, I want to finish,” said Lena. “I want to tell you that you must get everything you can out of this chance. I’m lucky to have you as a mate. I couldn’t bear it if anything came between us.”

  “I won’t let it.” Kai put his arm around her and hugged her again, but his mind was racing. Now she was OK with it, he could reply to journo-jon.

  He checked his phone.

  There were no more journo-jon comments, but loads from cute girls. “Check these out,” he handed the phone to Lena.

  “Awesome. There are hundreds. What you need now is someone famous to support you. That’s what makes things get massive. But…”

  “But what?” asked Kai.

  “All these girls. I’m a bit jealous,” said Lena.

  “Don’t be. They might not be real. They could be fifty-year-old guys with bald heads.”

  “Lucky you!” said Lena as she kept scanning the comments.

  Kai looked back across the park towards the swings. The children had gone, and there was just one person there. Kai frowned. No wonder the children had run off. It was Archie Jenkins. Ginger hair. Pale skin. Thin as a stick-insect.

  He was four years older than Kai, but Kai remembered he’d been kicked out of school before his final exams. Archie was bad news. Not just him either. His whole family seemed to have backhand deals going on in just about everything. They controlled people in the area. They messed with people’s lives if anyone upset them. Dad said it was safest just to keep away.

  Archie lit a cigarette. He kept checking his phone. As Kai watched, Archie looked up. He was a distance away, but Kai could still feel the burn of his eyes.

  “Look at this one…” Lena nudged Kai, and he turned away from Archie. She held the phone up for him to see.

  Prettykitty16: you look prrrrrrrrrfect

  “I can’t believe that’s a fifty-year-old bald guy,” Lena grinned.

  Kai took the phone off her. “Hard to tell when she’s got a cartoon cat for her profile pic.”

  Robbie bounded over, dropping a stick for Lena to throw.

  Kai glanced towards Archie. He’d gone back to checking his phone, which was a good thing.

  Kai hadn’t liked being looked at by Archie Jenkins.

  Chapter Seven

  Message Me

  Kai sat in his room.

  “How many ‘views’ you got now?” Toby stood in the doorway. Mum wouldn’t let him have his own phone yet. She said he could look at the internet on the family computer, where she could keep an eye on him.

  Kai looked at the numbers. “More than eleven hundred.”

  “Eleven hundred?” Toby whooped, then added, “Is that a lot?”

  Kai shrugged. “Nah. Not really. Seems everyone’s losing interest.” He was trying not to feel gutted. He was also trying not to feel angry with Lena again. He’d gone to see Sanjay when he left the park, and they’d looked up the whole ‘viral’ thing.

  It seemed you had to act fast for those fifteen minutes of fame. If he’d got on it that morning, when the comments were new, he could have kept it all buzzing. “There was a journalist guy, but I can’t find him now.”

  The endless cute girls were still there, but journo-jon had disappeared.

  Kai stared moodily at his phone, willing new comments to pop up.

  “Maybe Sanjay could film you doing something else,” Toby said.

  “Doesn’t work like that,” said Kai. “I don’t think you get to choose what goes viral. It’s just got to happen on its own.”

  Toby thought for a moment. “Cats do well.”

  “What at?” said Kai.

  “Viral stuff on the internet. Maybe Sanjay could film you singing to a kitten?”

  “Yeah. Right. Helpful,” said Kai. He rolled his eyes.

  Toby was already backing out of the room. Kai could see he was bored. Kai had missed his one glittering moment when he could have changed his brother’s life. His own life. His whole family’s lives. He could have got rich.

  It was early evening and he ought to go out, but he didn’t want to risk seeing Lena. He’d been right when he said it was always all about her. It had been about her that morning, when she flipped out in his kitchen. It had been about her again in the park, when she decided to let him chase the dream after all. He glanced at his phone again.

  A new comment. More than a comment, a message – and it involved a kitten. Sort of.

  Prettykitty16: Hey Kai, how are you doing?

  Kai replied:

  Kool4Kai: Surviving. You?

  Prettykitty16: You don’t sound good for a boy who’s just about to make it massive.

  Kool4Kai: I wish…

  And suddenly Kai was messaging her about everything. The buzz of the morning. The dreams for his family. How he’d missed his moment.

  There was a long gap before she replied to his last message, and he thought perhaps he’d scared her off. Perhaps now the dream wasn’t happening, she’d lost interest.

  Then a message pinged back.

  Prettykitty16: You might find this weird, but I think I know you. In real life, I mean.

  Kool4Kai: How?

  Prettykitty16: You live in East Swatton? Somewhere near that Street-Level music place?

  Kool4Kai: Yeah. On that same street.

  Prettykitty16: I’m really close to there right now. Awesome!

  Kool4Kai: That’s unreal!

  Prettykitty16: We could meet up. I know someone who deals with music. You could still be massive.

  Kai was buzzing again. Prettykitty16 was somewhere near. She wanted to meet him. She knew someone who could turn things around. This was a cute girl who cared enough to try, and Kai wasn’t going to waste any more chances.

  Chapter Eight

  The Waiting Game

  Street-Level had just been done up. The new owner, Matthew Allsop, was building a new recording studio out the back but it wasn’t ready yet. Instead, he was letting musicians practise and record in a long wooden shed. It was going to be pulled down soon. Kitty’s message had told Kai to wait for her in the yard outside.

  A van drove in through the yard gateway. Four guys started to unload their gear. A drum kit. Guitars. Amps. Kai watched them as they disappeared through the back door into Street-Level. He would bet they had endless cute girls hanging round them. He checked his phone, wondering where Kitty had got to.

  She had said this ‘someone’ she knew had booked the shed. They could work on his video. This ‘someone’ would make sure the right people saw it. Kai thought about that Porsche again. The one he’d buy for Dad. He’d pay for holidays for the whole family. Maybe he’d even buy a house in Jamaica, and they’d spend their summers there.

  “All right, mate?” said a voice.

  The voice jolted Kai out of his daydreams. Someone was coming out of Street-Level. Kai stared at the pale teenager with ginger hair. “Archie Jenkins?”

  “You got it in one.” Archie lit a cigarette, looking Kai up and down as if he might be a car he was thinking of buying.

  “Shall we go in?” Archie dragged on his cigarette, his eyes narrowing.

  Kai shook his head. “I’m not here to see the band.”

  “Nor me.” Archie took another drag. “I’m here for you. To talk business.”

  “I’m meeting a girl. Kitty,” said Kai.

  Archie laughed, a short burst of sound, like a gun firing. “Yeah, I know. She’s already here.” Archie pointed towards the shed. “Look.”

  A girl stood watching from the shed doorway. Not just watching – staring. She had spiked hair. Red. Like flames. “Hi Kai,” she called. “I’m Kitty.”

  “You?” Kai frowned. “I saw you yesterday.”

  “Meet my half-sister. She’s just moved here to live with us,” said Archie.

  Kitty stepped towards Kai. “Great to see you again.” Her voice was kitten-soft.

  Kai let her lead him into the shed. It would be OK if she was there. He�
��d met her before, sort of. He’d trusted her with his secret dreams. She wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him.

  Chapter Nine

  Tech-Queen

  “There’s nothing in here.” Kai looked around the murky shed. There weren’t even any windows. “I thought there’d be a mixing desk. Lights. A mic. Stuff like that.”

  “I’ve got my laptop on the table along the back there. It’s all we need,” said Kitty, and she led Kai over to it.

  Without the glow from the laptop, the shed would have been pitch black.

  “Bands bring their own gear.” Archie shut the door. “Matthew lets anyone book the space. He often leaves a key in the lock. He did that for me, this evening. He knew he’d be busy with the band.”

  Kitty tapped the keyboard. “We’ll watch your video again.”

  Kai shook his head. “This isn’t what I came here for.”

  “You came for success. A new future.” Archie said. “We can do that.”

  “How?” asked Kai.

  Archie walked over to them. “Kitty, you’re the tech-queen. Explain.”

  And Kitty explained. It would be easy, she said. No risk to Kai. He just had to set up a new online account to run the video from. “We need your name on the account and everything. The internet people check stuff like that. It has to look legit, or it will get taken down, and we might even get done for fraud. But as long as the original links are traced to you then it’ll be OK. But the truth is, we’ll control it all for you. Think of us as being behind the scenes. Pulling the strings for you.”

  Kai frowned. “That makes me sound like a puppet. Why do you want this secret control? What will you actually be doing?”

  “We’ll be getting you all the ‘views’ you need.” Archie smiled, but his eyes had that burn in them again.

  Kitty squinted at the screen. “Your video massed a ton of ‘views’ but you need more. You need to get the internet traffic flowing.” Kitty hit ‘ENTER’. “I’ve developed some software. I can make up ‘views’ and put them against your video.”

  “How will that help?” asked Kai.

  “When you get more than five million ‘views’ in under three days, advertisers get interested,” said Kitty.

  Kai thought about his eleven hundred views. They suddenly seemed pathetic.

  “We can get big names to support you, too. Ritchie Ranx, for instance. You told me earlier he was your hero.”

  Kai thought about being linked to Ritchie Ranx. Awesome! “What’s in it for you?” he said suddenly.

  “We’ll be your agents.” Kitty pointed at the screen. Kai was singing ‘Sweet Street-Busker’. The video still had only eleven hundred and thirty ‘views’. “We get a cut of everything you earn.”

  “Trust us.” Archie’s voice was suddenly as soft as Kitty’s. “We’ll all get rich.”

  Kai frowned again. “Is it legal to make up ‘views’?”

  Archie laughed. That gunshot sound.

  Kitty had her soft voice again. “Even the big companies fake their figures.”

  Kai imagined himself handing Dad the keys to a Porsche. Then he imagined Mum crying as the police dragged him away. “I’m not sure...”

  “We got sent the link to your video from an old school-mate, and Kitty recognised you. We’ve – er – helped you already. Remember dantheman? Or journo-jon? They were both really us.” Archie stepped closer.

  “The tech-queen has already hacked your account so it looks like you’ve been up to bad stuff.

  Most of your ‘views’ are already illegal. Do you want to leave school with a criminal record?” Kai could smell Archie’s disgusting bad breath, and the tang of cigarette smoke on his clothes.

  Kitty touched Kai’s shoulder. “Do it our way, and all your dreams will come true,” she said.

  Kai wanted to run for the door. He edged forward.

  Archie gripped Kai’s arm. “Going somewhere?”

  “I just need space to think,” said Kai.

  He knew he was strong enough to shake Archie off, but it was a risk. Archie might have a knife.

  “You don’t have time. It’s like the tech-queen said… you have to get more than five million ‘views’ in three days. And you’ve already wasted one.”

  Kitty walked round the edge of the table so she was facing Kai. The laptop glow lit her face. Kai saw that her eyes were like Archie’s. Fierce. Burning. “Let’s get this job finished,” she said softly.

  Kai wasn’t sure if she meant the viral stuff or him – but he wasn’t going to wait to find out. Wrenching his arm away from Archie, he dodged round Kitty. Archie grabbed him round the neck, wrestling him in a throat lock. Kai twisted forward. Kitty kicked out at him. A stinging pain shot through his knee. Kai fell. His head hit the corner of the table. He heard a crack of sound then there was a roaring in his ears.

  “Think he’s passed out,” he heard Kitty say.

  “Perfect,” Archie replied. “We’ll give him some time alone. When we come back we’ll make him change his mind.”

  Kai heard the laptop lid snap shut. He heard the tread of footsteps moving away.

  He heard the final click of the door being locked.

  Chapter Ten

  Angry Dragons

  Kai tried to stand, but he was dizzy. Smoke stung his eyes and throat. He coughed. A curl of gold licked its way along the edge of the ceiling. The shed was on fire!

  He gripped the edge of the table, making himself focus. Flames flickered down the walls like angry dragons.

  Kai jumped sideways as burning embers rained onto his neck. It was dark. Smoky. He wasn’t sure where the door was. “Help!” He coughed again. “Help! Someone! Anyone!” But there was a band playing inside Street-Level. No one would be outside in the yard. And even if someone saw the shed burning, no one knew he was inside.

  Fire ripped along one wall. The ceiling dripped something sticky. The roof was melting. Kai pictured himself melting with it. He pictured flames like dragons, eating his flesh.

  He remembered a film at school about burning buildings. You had to stay below the smoke. Victims died of breathing in smoke before the flames got them.

  Kai crawled, more sparks spitting into his hair. The second wall was on fire, the wooden planks caving inwards. Soon, the whole building would collapse into a mass of smoke and flames. There was no way he’d find the door in time. “I’m burning up.” His voice was a croaked scream. “Help me. Please. PLEASE!”

  And then someone was yelling his name. Pulling at him. He was dragged, wrenched, and rolled out through the open door. Everything around him was still burning. He opened his eyes, and saw an angel. Blonde hair. Long, curled eyelashes. A sprinkling of freckles on her soot-smudged nose and cheeks.

  Chapter Eleven

  Believe in Miracles

  “What were you doing in there?” Lena was crying. Matthew Allsop hosed sprays of water at the shed. Someone from the band had sat Kai and Lena in the back of their van.

  Kai could hear the screech of sirens further along the street.

  “Just, I dunno. Being stupid.” Kai’s lips hurt and his throat burned, but something stopped him telling the truth. In his fogged brain, he thought if he told on Archie and Kitty, their family might cause trouble for his family. Or they might tell on him. They might tell people about the illegal fake ‘likes’. “How did you know I was in there?” he asked Lena in a husky voice.

  Lena sniffed. “I didn’t. I just came to change my audition song, and when I saw there was a band on I thought I’d hang about by their van. I wanted to get a selfie with them.”

  The fire sirens screeched louder. Flashing blue lights lit the yard.

  “… then I smelled smoke. It was curling up from the shed roof. I was going to run back into Street-Level and get help, but I thought I heard someone calling. I knew there wasn’t much time, but it was like a miracle. There was a key in the door.”

  “So you were going to rescue a stranger?” Kai wasn’t sure if he should hug her
for being so brave, or yell at her for being so stupid.

  “I don’t know what I was planning, but when I got the door open, you were just an arm’s stretch away. The back of the shed was a wall of flame, but I thought I could reach you. I took a chance.”

  “Can you tell me your names?” A young woman in a uniform stood looking in at them. “I’m a paramedic. We need to get you both into the ambulance.”

  Kai looked at Lena. “She took a chance,” he thought. All day he’d been angry that Lena had taken his chances away, but she’d taken the only chance that mattered. The chance that had saved his life.

  Chapter Twelve

  Winners and Losers

  Kai left the stage with Lena. They’d just finished their audition duet, ‘Sweet Street-Busker’.

  “Do you think we were OK?” said Lena. “I thought that girl who sang and played guitar was way better.”

  Kai shrugged. “I rated that guy who sounded more like Ritchie Ranx than Ritchie Ranx!”

  He wasn’t bothered about getting through to the final. It had just been a laugh, having a go.

  Chelsea came over. “You looked so cool together. I loved the way you took turns and mixed it up,” she said.

  Sanjay bounced up, waving Kai’s phone. “I filmed it all. We can upload it onto the internet back at Lena’s.”

  Kai remembered the horror of the shed. The fire investigators said the blaze had begun with a cigarette-butt tossed onto the roof. Had Archie done that on purpose? Kai didn’t think so – but anyway, Archie had been picked up by the police for some other scam. Dad heard about it in The Crown. Kai wondered if Kitty had been involved. He still remembered the buzz he’d felt when she’d first messaged him. He missed it. Sometimes he hoped she might message him again, but what would she say? And what would he do?