Beautiful Monster (12 page)
The concrete half pipe had been installed only three weeks earlier by the local council, in an attempt to reduce juvenile crime in the area. Already the concrete face is plastered with tags and multicoloured graffiti. Bobby sits huddled against a metal pole, watching the other boys, the more athletic boys, zip from one side of the pipe to the other, flipping high in the air, clutching their boards with one hand, their heads or crotches with the other.
He rubs at the bruise that's already forming on his arm. âFatboy can't get any air under his wheels,' André had taunted loudly when Bobby had flipped and missed, crashing painfully into the unforgiving concrete surface. He pulls his T-shirt down lower, grimacing at the muffin top. Surely only chicks have muffin tops? That was what his dad said to Mum the day he walked out. That, and how she'd let herself go, whatever that meant. But no one will explain anything to him. They brush past him and pat him, like he is a small dog, murmuring how none of it is his fault and how they all still love him.
He looks at the graze on his knee, small droplets of blood prickling through his flesh.
âHey, whatchya doin?'
Bobby looks up from his wound.
âSaw you stack it big-time back there,' the voice says. âThat must have hurt.'
âNot really,' Bobby says bravely, ânot that much.'
âYeah? So what's going on around here? I'm Ned.'
Ned sounds genuinely interested.
âI'm Bobby.' He shrugs nonchalantly. âNot a lot, just some wannabe skaters showing off.'
But he is suddenly grateful to have someone to talk to, finally.
Kate grew up in Perth's northern suburbs. She has a degree in English and Art and a diploma in Education. She lives in Mariginiup with her partner Jason, their two daughters, dog, cat and rabbit.
Her first novel,
Destroying Avalon
(2006), won the WAYBRA Award for older readers, the Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Young Adults and was a notable book in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book Awards
Her second novel,
In Ecstasy
(2008), won the Australian Family Therapists Children's Literature Awards.
âThe Weekend Australian
âFlourish
âPerth Woman
âThe Reader
(Image I)
Image I
âKate writes with a convincing voice, avoiding a judgemental narrative and giving her vulnerable protagonists heart and soul, even in the depths of despair.'
âScoop Magazine
â...a book that will make teenagers think twice about the consequences of their actions and choices.'
âAustralian Bookseller & Publisher
âan excellent read ... if you want to understand teenage drug use, you should throw away the glossy pamphlets and read this book instead.'
âFlourish
(Image II)
Image II