On the Strawberry Moon - 1. Chapter 1

Kalum noticed the new kid straight away.

He also knew straight away that he would be welcomed warmly into the gang.

The new guy had a grey jacket, black afro hair and he was quite slim too.

‘Give us the scoop, Daz,’ their leader Billy said, nudging their intel, Daz.

Daz, who was the tallest girl in school with thick blonde hair, glanced over.

The new kid was looking around the sea of people with an uneasiness in his eyes, trying to find somewhere to sit down to eat. This cafeteria was loud and messy as it always was.

Kalum was glad that it wasn’t him standing there.

‘Robert moved to the area from Bristol,’ stated Daz, adjusting her glasses.

Impressed murmurs flew around the table.

‘Nice,’ grinned Billy.

‘He’s in my maths class. Spoke to him earlier,’ added Tom.

‘Yo! Dude! Over here!’ yelled Sammy, the favourite dizzy tomboy. She was as loud as her hair was pillar box red, a bright red that could stand out in any room.

Robert looked around and, with his head bowed low, he came over.

Billy and Sammy moved apart to make space for him to sit down.

‘Nice to meet you, again,’ laughed Tom, the coolest guy in the group. He played nearly all the sports; he was naturally gifted. He could put anyone new at ease.

Robert laughed back at Tom as he sat down, putting his tray on the table, ‘Hi, again.’

‘So, I’m Sammy,’ beamed Sammy and she began to point at everyone around the table. ‘That’s Billy, Daz, Ronny, Oscar and these are the Whiteson twins.’

Robert had a brief glance of confusion across his face, ‘I thought Oscar was a, um, ah.’

‘My parents hate me,’ sighed Oscar. ‘They wanted a boy and yet here I am. No Oscarea or Oliva or Olive.’

‘Bet you’ve never met a girl called Oscar before,’ Ronny grinned and Oscar nudged him hard.

Robert then finally turned his attention to Kalum and his brother.

‘Wow, you guys are identical,’ he blushed. ‘Sorry, um, I’ve never met identical twins before.’

‘No worries,’ Kalum’s brother flashed his strong smile. ‘I’m Jasper.’

Kalum didn’t want Robert to feel embarrassed. He was open and that was sweet. Of course, it was strange, Jasper and Kalum wore the same dark clothes and fashioned the same brown fluffy hair and blue eyes. It was rare to see this.

Jasper nipped Kalum hard in the side.

Crap. Kalum was not concentrating. ‘And I’m Kalum.’

‘Jasper and Kalum Whiteson. Do you do everything in sync?’ Robert raised an eyebrow.

Jasper and Kalum both laughed and said, ‘Yup!’

Everyone laughed.

Good. Kalum nailed that one. Jasper would be pleased. That would do for now.

***

It was nearly the end of school. The gang had decided to go on an errand. They were up to something and hadn’t gone into much detail. They briefly left the library and had left Kalum. He was sat at a table by himself. Kalum never really listened to what was going on and was actually happy to be sat on his own.

He found a book on Pigs. The history of pigs, different types of pigs. A book no one had clearly touched before or even opened. He doubted the librarian even knew it existed.

‘Hey.’

Kalum was startled, he looked up and Robert sat next to him.

He realised he was being too quiet and snapped back to reality, ‘Hey. I think the gang are just sorting some locker stuff out with Tom. That’s the last thing I heard them say.’

‘That’s cool, I just came here for a bit.’

‘Ah, okay.’ Kalum paused. ‘How was your first day, then? Bit weird, huh?’

That was good conversation stuff, right? It was normally Jasper who dominated the conversations. Kalum wasn’t normally left on his own like this.

Robert smiled as he leaned back on his chair, ‘Yeah, weird. It’s something, moving from Bristol to Manchester, but you know, good. Like, this school, is really into the sports teams here. I love that you guys have netball mascot and it’s a Peach.’

‘An actual peach,’ Kalum giggled at that. ‘Yeah. We can proudly say we are the only ones with a Peach for a netball mascot. Go mancs.’

‘What you reading there, Kalum, pigs?’ he raised an eyebrow.

Kalum looked down at the open book. ‘Yeah.’

‘What made you get that?’

Closing the book over, Kalum shrugged, ‘Don’t know. I like weird things sometimes, ha.’

‘Any interesting facts?’

‘Um, pigs are smart, apparently? Clean, too.’

‘You got all that from page three?’

Kalum couldn’t help but laugh at that. Then he clicked on.

He looked at Robert, ‘How did you know it was Kalum?’

Robert shrugged, ‘Lucky guess.’

Oh.

Smiling, Robert tilted his head, ‘You seemed quieter and Jasper seemed louder, that’s all.’

Hopefully no one else would pick this difference up. Kalum didn’t want this getting back to Jasper.

Kalum blinked, and took in a breath of fake confidence. ‘So, what’s your favourite colour?’

Robert grinned, ‘Twenty questions?’

‘Yup. We’re doing that.’

Robert nodded and replied, ‘Red. Yours?’

Hesitating just slightly, Kalum tried to memorise the scripted lines Jasper made for him, ‘Purple. Favourite film?’

‘Die Hard, you?’

‘Scream 1. Okay, favourite tv show?’

‘The Sopranos.’

Without missing a beat, Kalum said, ‘The Office.’

‘Cool, I like that too. Who’s your favourite character.’

‘Jim.’

‘Why is that?’ he smiled.

That stopped Kalum. Jasper never trained him for that answer. His heart beat too fast for a moment.

Robert noticed Kalum freezing up a bit too, but before he could say anything, Kalum shrugged it off.

Kalum said, ‘Just like him, really. That’s all. He’s okay.’

The gang merged into the library, a joyful happy loud bunch, laughing and shoving. The librarian frowned at this.

They bounced over towards the two guys and descended onto them.

‘What yous talking about?’ Sammy plonked herself next to Kalum, putting her arm around him.

‘Jim, from the Office,’ Robert said.

‘Ugh, I hate that show,’ grimaced Tom, he rested his elbow on Billy’s shoulder, ‘This guy’s dad is the only Jim I’ll tolerate.’

The girls laughed as Jasper and Ronny sat down.

‘Jim’s my favourite character,’ Jasper beamed.

‘How come?’ Robert smiled back.

‘Because he’s the best? Ain’t that right, Kalum?’ Jasper pinned his smiling stare at his brother.

‘Yup,’ Kalum nodded with his head feeling heavy.

He should have said that when Robert asked him. He didn’t get it right.

Robert smiled and nudged Kalum, ‘Kalum thinks he’s okay too.’

They all laughed. Kalum laughed too and stared down hard at his Pigs book.

‘Well, we all came here to gather you, so come on.’ Tom stood up. ‘Games night at Daz’s.’

‘Is your mum making pizza again?’ Ronny put his hands together.

‘Maybe,’ Daz shrugged. ‘I am a growing girl with needs, apparently.’

Everyone gathered their bags and jackets up.

***

As they were all walking home, Kalum walked slightly behind everyone.

Robert walked next to him. He looked over. ‘So, purple, eh?’

Kalum looked up at his brother walking in front of them. Jasper was laughing with Billy and Tom.

Kalum stared ahead hard, ‘I absolutely love it.’

Robert nodded before Sammy and Ronny roped him into a conversation about bears and eagles.

As they were nearer to Daz’s house, Kalum walked next to his brother, making sure his footsteps were in sync with his.

Kalum glanced up at a house on Daz’s Street. Right near the end of the street.

It was the house the gang would often poke fun at. It was bright and big and orange. The worst colour his brother would often declare. Kalum would always say it at the same time with him. Ugly, horrible colour. Bleug, orange. They would then tease Sammy about her hair.

Kalum stared at the big orange house. It was like a cheerful fruit, a passionate fruit sunrise.

Kalum hated purple. He wished he could burn purple to the ground.