Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (historical books to read TXT) 📕

‘Sure. But your birthday’s on the twenty-third, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, but I’m having a birthday party at the house on the twenty-seventh. You can come round.’

I’d obviously misheard her. ‘Round to your house?’

‘That’s right.’

‘I see.’

‘See what?’

‘You want me to come round to your house?’

‘That’s what I said, isn’t it?’

‘I see.’

‘Stop saying that.’

What else did she want me to say? Why was she inviting me to her house when her mum would take one look at me and have me carried from the building? What was the point? What was she up to?

‘You’re sure you want me to come over?’ I asked.

‘I’m positive. Will you?’

‘Does your mum know you’re inviting me?’ At first I thought Sephy wasn’t going to answer.

‘No,’ she said at last.

‘But you are going to tell her?’

‘’Course.’

‘Before or after I turn up at your party?’

‘Don’t be so ruddy smart!’ Sephy snapped, which more than answered my question. ‘So are you coming?’

‘If you want me to,’ I said slowly.

‘I do. I’ll give you all the details after school tomorrow. OK?’

‘OK.’

‘Bye, Callum.’

I put down the phone, getting it right first time now that my eyes were accustomed to the dark. Sephy wanted me at her birthday party, knowing it would cause nothing but trouble.

What was she up to? There was only one reason I could think of, but if I was right, it would mean that Sephy didn’t think of me the way I thought of her. If I was right, it would prove that to Sephy I was a nought first and everything else came afterwards.

twenty-nine. Sephy

I couldn’t get to sleep. I turned to the left, then turned to the right, I lay on my stomach, then lay on my back. I’d’ve stood on my head if it would’ve done any good. I just couldn’t get to sleep. What had seemed like a good idea at the time was now growing fungus all over it and beginning to smell. I wanted Callum at my birthday party. Hell, if things were different, he’d be the first on my invite list.

But things weren’t different.

I lay on my stomach and punched my pillow. Why was nothing ever simple?

thirty. Callum

‘The purpose of today’s history lesson is to show you all how famous scientists, inventors, arts and media celebrities and other people of note are all people, just like you and me.’

‘But we already know that, sir,’ Sade said. ‘I mean, what else would they be?’

I’d been wondering that myself.

‘When we think of great explorers or inventors or actors or anything else, it’s sometimes very easy to think of them as “out there” – somewhere above and beyond us. I want all of you to realize that they’re just like you and me, that we too can aspire to greatness. Anyone in this room can be a scientist or an astronaut or anything they want to be if they work hard and are determined.’ Mr Jason looked directly at me when he said that, the familiar look of contempt on his face. What was it about me that rubbed him up the wrong way? Was it just my colour he despised so much? I couldn’t help being white, any more than he could help being black. I mean, he wasn’t even that black anyway. He was more beige than brown, and a very light beige at that, so he had nothing to gloat about. I smiled secretly to myself as I remembered the saying Dad was always spouting: ‘If you’re black, that’s where it’s at. If you’re brown, stick around. If you’re white, say goodnight.’

When you got right down to it, Mr Jason had less cause to look down on me than Mrs Paxton who was dark, dark brown, but she was totally different. She treated me like a real person. She didn’t see me as just a colour – first, last and always. I liked her. She was like an oasis in this scorching hot desert.

‘Now then, can anyone tell me who invented automatic traffic signals which led to the traffic lights we use today, and he also invented a type of gas mask used by soldiers during World War One?’

Everyone sat silent. Slowly, I put my hand up. Mr Jason saw my hand but looked around for someone else to ask. Everyone else’s hands stayed down.

‘Yes, Callum?’ Mr Jason asked reluctantly.

‘Garrett Morgan, sir.’

‘Correct. What about this one, class? Who pioneered blood banks?’

Once again, no hands went up – except mine.

‘Yes, Callum?’ Mr Jason’s voice was now tinged with sarcasm.

‘Dr Charles Drew,’ I replied.

‘And I suppose you also know who was the first person to perform open heart surgery?’

‘Dr Daniel Hale Williams.’

‘The first man to reach the North Pole?’

‘Matthew Henson.’

All eyes were upon me now. Mr Jason gave me one of the filthiest looks I’ve every had in my life.

‘The saying “The Real McCoy” is named after?’

‘Elijah J. McCoy,’ I replied.

Mr Jason drew himself up to his full height. ‘Why don’t I just sit down and you can teach this lesson?’

What did he want from me? He was asking questions that I knew the answers to. Was I supposed to just sit there and pretend to be ignorant?

‘Can anyone tell me what all these scientists and pioneers really had in common?’ Mr Jason asked.

A few more hands went up at that. Mr Jason wasn’t the only one who was relieved – not that I was going to answer any more questions anyway.

‘Yes, Harriet?’ said Mr Jason.

‘They’re all men?’ Harriet replied.

‘Our examples are, but there have been plenty of women pioneers and scientists and achievers as well,’ Mr Jason smiled. ‘So can anyone tell me what else all the people mentioned have in common?’

There were a couple more guesses after that – like, ‘They’re all dead,’ ‘They all won the Nobel prize’, ‘They all made a lot of money from what they did’ – but none of them were right. And it was so obvious. At last, I