Meet Carl Robinson, he is a 13-year-old student at St. Mark’s School in North London. He is an only child who lives with his mother and father in a small house near to the school. Carl is a clever student and is seen with a great deal of potential. He is also a popular boy and liked by teachers and many other students. Carl is a very handsome young man as well. He is a tall young man with dark tanned skin and short black hair. Carl also has a 100% attendance record as he enjoys school and likes seeing his friends every day.
It is a Wednesday afternoon and Carl is at home doing his homework in the living room when his father Alan walks in, in rather a good mood, it appears he has news. Carl is very anxious to hear what his father has to say so he rushes towards him and says,
” Why are you in such a good mood dad?”
His dad replied by saying,
” Is your mother in as I have some news which will affect the three of us”
” Yes father, she is in the kitchen, I’ll go and get her” replied Carl.
Carl then raced to the kitchen and called his mother Carol into the living room where his father was. Carl was now starting to worry and feel nervous. Then he looked at his father, who at that point was grinning like a Cheshire cat and said,
” Dad please hurry up and tell us as I am starting to feel tense.”
” OK” he replied with a look of glee, ” I have just been speaking to my manager who as told me that there is a promotion available. Instead of being just a normal insurance consultant there is a managerial position available for me.” Carl and his mother look at each other in excitement, ” The only drawback is that the job is in Leicester.”
In an instant Carl ran straight upstairs to his room.
” Shall I go after him?” said Alan.
” No,” replied Carol with a sigh, “give him a chance to get used to the idea.”
” What’s the matter with you Carol, I thought it’s what you always wanted, a fresh start. I mean just the other day you were moaning about this dump, and now…”
” HOW DARE YOU,” shouted Carol at the top of her voice, ” how dare you say that I called this place a dump. I mean I work every day to keep this house clean and tidy…”
” Hold on Carol, why are we arguing? I mean it is not exactly for definite although it would be a great opportunity for us as a family. I’ve already taken the liberty to look at schools in the area and there is one perfect for Carl, it’s called Leicester Grammar and it does all the subjects Carl does at the moment and it’s really high in the league tables. I have even been on the phone to them and told them about Carl, so if we did move they would accept him.”
” Is it a nice area though and could we afford a house there?”
” It is a beautiful area with low cost of accommodation, it’s a lot cheaper than where we are living now.”
” Well it sounds alright to me, so I’ll have a word with Carl but it looks as though we’re moving.”
” YES, thank you so much, you won’t regret this.”
” I hope not,” replied Carol moving towards the stairs.
Meanwhile Carl is on his bed sobbing his eyes out when he hears his mother’s footsteps, so he quickly wipes away his tears with his index finger.
” Carl, I want to speak to you about the idea of us moving, and we will move no matter how much you protest,” said Carl’s mother.
” But mum, how could you do this to me, I mean I love it here in London. And besides all my friends are here.”
” You’ll make new friends and besides we’ll be in a nicer area so what do you say are we moving.”
” Yes mum, but how soon is the move.”
” I don’t know, lets go downstairs and discuss the details with your father over a nice pot of tea.”
Carl now knew that there is nothing he can do so he might as well just get on with it. So Carl went downstairs and had that cup of tea and found out that the move would be in two weeks time. Two weeks is just enough time for Carl to say goodbye to his friends but he still wasn’t happy.
The two weeks soon passed by and it was now time to leave. It was a long journey but when the Robinson’s reached their destination they were too tired to look around. So they just unloaded everything into the house and they all went to sleep. It was a long morning putting everything just where they wanted it but the decoration could take weeks.
Three days later it was Carl’s first day at school, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy but he was going to try really hard to make the right impression. All Carl wanted to do was make a few friends and not to be known as the lonely new kid.
A week passed and today is Wednesday. Carl still hasn’t made any friends. So Carl walked home alone as he usually does but this time he decided to take a different route, he decided to walk through the park. On his way through the park he recognised three kids from his school playing football. He then heard one of them shout to him,
” Excuse me, you’re the new kid aren’t you, Carl isn’t it?”
” Yes I am,” replied Carl rather nervously.
” Well I’m Tim, that boy over there with the brown hair is Michael and the boy next to him is John. We were wondering whether you would like to come and play with us.”
At this moment Carl was somewhat dazed, it was his first chance to make friends and even though he had dinner in an hour, he wasn’t going to waste it.
” OK then whose team am I on,”
” You can be on my team,” replied Michael.
So Carl played football and he loved it, he knew that this could be the beginning of a wonderful friendship. When they finished playing football Carl’s new friends invited him to go to ‘Burgertown’, which is the local burger bar round the corner.
When Carl got home he ran straight to his mother and told her all about his new friends. Carl’s mother was delighted with the news and whispered to herself, ” Thank God for that.”
It is now Thursday afternoon and Carl and his new friends are having a good time in the burger bar. They are now talking about CD’s,
” So Carl, what CD’s have you bought recently?” asked John.
” Well I haven’t really had any money for CD’s after the move.”
Then out of nowhere Michael said the strangest thing.
” Carl, you don’t need money to buy CD’s when you’ve got these.”
At this point Michael was pointing at his pockets. Everyone on the table began to laugh but Michael couldn’t understand what was so funny.
” What is so funny?” asked Michael, “It’s dead easy. I know why don’t we go next door to ‘CD’s R Us’ and we’ll see how easy it is.”
Everyone on the table was convinced so they got up and walked out of the burger bar. Whilst outside they decided to split into two’s so they wouldn’t draw attention to themselves. Michael and John were paired up and so were Carl and Tim. Carl knew what he was doing was wrong but he wanted to keep his friends so he took a deep breath and followed the others into the CD shop.
When they were in the shop one pair was on one side and the other pair was on the otherside. Michael and John didn’t waste anytime they picked out a couple of CD’s and were straight out of the door not looking backwards. Carl and Tim spotted this so they decided to hurry their theft so they could quickly make it outside. Carl and Tim quickly slipped a CD each under their jackets and walked towards the exit. As they were walking though, they weren’t looking where they were going and on their way out Tim crashed into a security guard and Carl crashed into Tim. Suddenly the CD’s dropped straight from their jackets to the floor. Michael and John spotted what had happened so they decided to run home whilst Carl and Tim stood there frightened of what would happen to them.
Within an hour Carl and Tim were sitting down the local police station with their parents who happened to be furious. Carl and Tim happened to be lucky with the outcome though; they were let of with a caution. Although their names would be on police records for five years they knew they would never steal anything again. That was a first experience they’d rather forget. Carl and Tim were in a lot of trouble with their parents but they were still able to hang around together and they became the best of friends. And as for the two that ran away, Carl and Tim never spoke to them again.
