Work in Progress

Angry Calvin

Here are the first few pages of a first rough draft about a boy who gets angry all the time and doesn't know what to do about it. Calvin's life is full of problems, and he is powerless to solve most of them. This is an unusual new story for me, because I haven't planned the who plot in advance, as I usually do. I have the characters, and I'm going to see where they take me. I'm also going to workshop the story in my school visits next year. So if you know where you would like this story to go, e mail me and I might use your ideas!

Count to ten, breathe twice, clench your fists. That's what Miss Jones told him. Dig your nails into the palm of your hand until it hurts. Remember, anger gets you nowhere. You'll end up in trouble. It's not worth it.

Calvin said all this to himself. He really tried. Then he hit Martin Barnes in the face. He hit him so hard that Martin's nose started to bleed.

'Martin, are you all right? Let me see.' Miss Jones immediately fussed around Martin, who was howling with pain. 'Has anyone got a hanky? No, don't touch. It might be broken...'

She turned to Calvin. 'Right, that's it! Calvin Kelly, get out of this classroom. Go to the Head's office and tell him I'll be there in a minute.'

Calvin hesitated. He hadn't meant to hurt Martin badly, just to shut him up.

'Get out, Calvin!'

The anger welled up again. 'Don't worry, I'm going!' Calvin shouted. 'Just tell that creep to stay out of my way, or he's dead.'

The whole class was looking at Calvin as if he was the thug and the bully. No-one seemed to care that Martin had gone on and on at him, day after day.

'You're thick, you are. Your mum's a slapper, she'll sleep with anyone. Is that why your dad walked out? That sister of yours ought to be in a home....' It went on and on. Calvin got tired of it. He lost his temper. Now he was the one in trouble, and Martin had everyone on his side.

When he thought about the injustice of it, Calvin couldn't stop the rage from overpowering him. He started to shake. He scared himself when he was like this, because he knew he was out of control and worried that he could even kill someone.

Calvin had to let some of the anger out. He shoved a table onto its side. Then he picked up a chair and threw it across the room. It bounced on Miss Jones' desk and hit the window. There was a loud crack, but it didn't shatter. Calvin ran out of the classroom and kept on running.

Calvin wasn't going to go to the Head's office to get another load of rubbish about learning to control his temper. He had heard it all before. Inside, he was tied up in knots all the time. His head banged like a drum, and he had to work really hard to stop himself bursting into tears like a baby. Did they think he wanted to be like this?

Calvin headed out of the school gates and towards the town centre. Sure enough, Mal and Saf were on their usual bench in the market square. They bunked off school most days. Sometimes they were caught, but school had just about given up now. The police and truant people rounded up all the kids bunking off from time to time, but nothing had happened for ages. Mal and Saf would be leaving in a couple of months anyway. Calvin envied them. He had to stay for a whole year more.

'All right, Cal?' said Saf. He had a bottle of cider. He held it out. Calvin shook his head. He had to look after Sammy later. She would be waiting at her special school for him to pick her up.

'What are you doing here?' asked Mal. 'I thought you weren't going to skive any more? Thought that social worker was on your back?'

Calvin swore under his breath. He had forgotten about Neil. Social Care had their eye on the family. Neil, their assigned social worker, said Mum wasn't coping.

'We are worried,' Neil told Calvin. 'Your mother is very unwell.' That was social worker code for being completely nuts and useless. 'Calvin, you never seem to be at school these days, do you? Things are getting out of control. Sammy's a vulnerable little girl, she needs a lot of looking after. We have to think of the risks...'

In other words, Sammy would be taken away from them if things didn't get better. Calvin couldn't bear that. His dad had already gone. Mum may just as well not be there, most of the time, so Sammy was the only family Calvin had. He was the man of the house now, it was up to him to sort his family out. So Calvin promised Neil he would get to school on time, and make sure his little sister was looked after properly.

Now he'd blown it. Why couldn't anything, ever, go right for a change?

'The social worker can take a running jump,' Calvin said to his friends, and they laughed. But Calvin felt terrible. He had let Sammy down. His only hope was that the school would only tell Mum, and not Neil. Mum would be too spaced out to bother. Calvin could forge a letter from her, saying she was sorry her son had caused trouble, and she would promise to punish him at home. Then she'd get drunk, or stones, and it would all be forgotten.

Calvin hung around with Mal and Saf as they got more and more drunk and Mal started to shout things at people. When a cruising police car came into view, the three of them ran into the market hall and split up. Calvin wandered around the shops, stole a few chocolate bars and watched a football match through the window of the television shop until it was time to get his little sister.

Sammy gave him a great, big beaming smile when she saw him at the door, just like always. Funny, Calvin was never angry with Sammy - who could be?

'Calbin! Calbin!' she squealed. Her arms and legs went everywhere. She lost her hold on the walking frame and nearly fell down. Calvin bent down and hugged her. She smelled of peanut butter, Sudocrem ointment and baby shampoo. He breathed her in, this one constant person in a life of chaos.

'Watcha, Princess. Had a good day?'

Sammy nodded and gave him a kiss that left drool on his cheek, but Calvin was used to it. He grinned and wiped his face on his sleeve. 'Come on then, let's go home.' He picked up Sammy's bag and a folder full of paintings she was bringing home. Miss Parker, Sammy's teacher, smiled at him. She was the only person that ever did, apart from Sammy.

'Calvin, can I ask you something?' Miss Parker said.

Calvin nodded.

'We need someone to help out at the school concert next week. Backstage, helping to keep the children quiet, making sure they get onto the stage at the right time, that sort of thing. Would you be interested?'

'What, me?' Calvin's surprise showed on his face.

'Well, you're so good with the kids - not just Sammy, I've seen you with the others in the playground. They all like you. Will you think about it, and let me know tomorrow?'

'Um, yeah, all right,' said Calvin.

That was a turn up for the book. Nobody at his own school would ever ask Calvin to do something like that. He wondered why Miss Parker had asked him. It couldn't really be because she thought he was good with kids. Was she part of the Social Care master plan to supervise him every minute of the day? The anger tried to burn again, but Calvin had Sammy to look after, and he refused to give in.

They lived close to the school, but Sammy went very slowly with her frame. It was twenty minutes before Calvin opened their front door.

Neil was sitting in the kitchen. Calvin's heart sank.

'See? I told you, he would never let Sammy down,' said Mum. She was doing her best to look sober, but her cheeks were red. Neil wasn't fooled any more than Calvin was. 'Sammy, darlin', come and give Mummy a big kiss.'

Sammy looked uncertain. She didn't move. Sometimes Mummy was warm and cuddly but mostly she smelled funny and held Sammy so tight it hurt. And sometimes, when Calvin wasn't there, Sammy got smacked, and she didn't understand why. She looked at Calvin. He smiled and nodded, and Sammy slowly made her way over to her mother.

Calvin knew that Neil had seen all this, and knew he would clearly see that Sammy was a bit scared of Mum. It was only because she was so unpredictable, depending on whether she was drunk, stoned, or sober. Sammy didn't do unpredictable. Calvin was sure his mum would never actually hurt Sammy, but Neil didn't understand. He was paid to make all sorts of judgements about Calvin's family without knowing anything about them. It made Calvin so angry...

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