Malorie Blackman - Boys Dont Cry

DOUBLEDAY

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Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781407078366

www.randomhouse.co.uk

BOYS DONT CRY
A DOUBLEDAY BOOK 978 0 385 60479 6
TRADE PAPERBACK 978 0 385 61930 1

Published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an imprint of Random House Childrens Books A Random House Group Company

This edition published 2010

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Copyright Oneta Malorie Blackman, 2010

The right of Malorie Blackman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

For Neil and Lizzy,
with love as always

By Malorie Blackman and
published by Doubleday/Corgi Books:

The Noughts & Crosses sequence
Noughts & Crosses
Knife Edge
Checkmate
Double Cross

A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.
Dangerous Reality
Dead Gorgeous
Hacker
Pig-Heart Boy
The Deadly Dare Mysteries
The Stuff of Nightmares
Thief!

Unheard Voices
(An anthology of short stories and poems,
collected by Malorie Blackman)

For junior readers, published by Corgi Yearling Books:
Cloud Busting
Operation Gadgetman!
Whizziwig and Whizziwig Returns

For beginner readers, published
by Corgi Pups/ Young Corgi Books:
Jack Sweettooth
Snow Dog
Space Race
The Monster Crisp-Guzzler

Audio editions available on CDs
Noughts & Crosses
Knife Edge
Checkmate
Double Cross

www.malorieblackman.co.uk

Praise for Malorie Blackman:

Noughts & Crosses

A book which will linger in the mind long after it has been read and which will challenge children to think again and again about the clichs and stereotypes with which they are presented Observer

Knife Edge

A powerful story of race and prejudice Sunday Times

Checkmate

Another emotional hard-hitter... bluntly told and ingeniously constructed Sunday Times

Double Cross

Blackman gets people... she gets humanity as a whole, too. Most of all, she writes a stonking good story Guardian

Pig-Heart Boy

A powerful story about friendship, loyalty and family Guardian

Hacker

Refreshingly new... Malorie Blackman writes with such winsome vitality Telegraph

A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E.

Strong characterisation and pacy dialogue make this a real winner Independent

Thief!

... impossible to put down Sunday Telegraph

Dangerous Reality

A whodunnit, a cyber-thriller and a family drama: readers of nine or over wont be able to resist the suspense Sunday Times

Unheard Voices

This excellent collection of stories, poems and first-hand accounts is published to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act Carousel

Good luck today. Hope you get what you want and need .

Phone in hand, I smiled at the text my girl Collette had sent me. My smile didnt last long though. I was too wound up. Thursday. A level results day! I must admit, I didnt expect to be quite so nervous. I knew for certain Id done well. What I mean is, I almost knew for certain. But it was the almost that was the killer. Between having my exam papers collected and having them marked, there was a world of possibilities. The person doing the marking mightve pranged their car or had a fight with their partner anything mightve happened to put the test marker in a really bad mood which they would then take out on my exam papers. Hell! A cosmic ray couldve hit my exam papers and changed all the answers and not for the better for all I knew.

Dont be a plank youve passed, I told myself.

It was simple. I had to pass. There was no other choice.

Four good A level grades, that was what I needed. Then it was off to university. Up, up and out of here. And a year earlier than all my friends.

Youve passed...

Positive thinking. I tried to dredge up confidence from somewhere deep inside. Then I felt like even more of a plank and stopped trying. But it was like Dad constantly said: Temptation leans on the doorbell, but opportunity knocks only once. And I knew only too well that my A levels were my best opportunity to not just hit the ground running but to take off and fly. Dad was full of fortune cookie quotes like that. His life lessons as he called them were all tedious homilies that my brother Adam and I had heard at least a thousand times before. But every time we tried to tell that to Dad, he replied, I wasted all the chances that life threw my way. Im damned if Im going to let my sons do the same. In other words, Tough!

Dante, stop worrying. Youve passed...

University was just a means to an end. I mean, yes, I was looking forward to college; meeting new people, learning new things, being somewhere different and being totally independent. But I was looking way beyond that. Once I had a decent job, things would be different or at least they would when Id paid off my student loan. But the point was, my family wouldnt have to scratch for every penny. I couldnt even remember the last time wed had a holiday abroad.