‘That’s what you want me to say, isn’t it?’ I replied. The football was back in my throat, choking, and my eyes were stinging the life out of me. ‘Your dad is going to be all right now and your mum can stop worrying about him. You must be pleased.’
‘They’re your mum and dad too,’ Gib said.
I glared at him. ‘No they aren’t. My mum and dad are dead. They drowned to get away from me – remember?’
Gib looked down at his hands on the table. ‘I’m sorry I said that. I didn’t mean it. I just wanted … I’m sorry.’
I stared at him. He’d never said sorry to me in his life.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ I lied with a shrug.
‘Yes, it does. I’ve tried to say sorry lots of times. Saturday in the garden … I even changed into the T-shirt you bought me to show you I was sorry … This morning … I was sorry the moment I’d said all that rubbish. I didn’t mean it, Victoria.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’ I shrugged again. ‘Anyway, you and Chaucy can go home but I’m not coming with you. I’m going to stay here. Or maybe go to a foster home.’
‘Why would you want to do a stupid thing like that?’ Gib scowled.
‘It’s not stupid. I won’t stay where I’m not wanted. You should be overjoyed. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’
‘Of course not,’ Gib said, looking straight at me. ‘What would I do without my big sister.’
The room went very quiet after he said that. I couldn’t move, couldn’t blink, couldn’t breathe. And I couldn’t believe it! Gib had never, ever called me his sister – big or otherwise.
Gib grimaced at me, the tips of his ears red, his expression embarrassed. That did it! The snot-rag made me do something I swore I’d never do again in front of him. I burst into tears.
‘Oh, come on,’ Gib said, even more embarrassed now. ‘Don’t cry. We’re going home soon. And we proved our dad didn’t take that money.’
I wiped my face but I couldn’t stop crying. I nodded.
‘I guess so,’ I sniffed.
‘Besides, who would Chaucy witter on about all the time if you didn’t come home?’ Gib smiled.
That’s my brother. Sometimes he can be a right snot-rag and a half!
About the Author
MALORIE BLACKMAN is acknowledged as one of today’s most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers. Noughts & Crosses has won several prizes, including the Children’s Book Award. Malorie is also the only author to have won the Young Telegraph/ Gimme 5 Award twice with Hacker and Thief! Her work has appeared on screen, with Pig-Heart Boy, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, being adapted into a BAFTA-award-winning TV serial. Malorie has also written a number of titles for younger readers.
In 2005, Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books.
In 2008, she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature.
www.malorieblackman.co.uk
By Malorie Blackman and published by Doubleday/Corgi Books:
The Noughts & Crosses sequence
Noughts & Crosses
Knife Edge
Checkmate
Double Cross
The Stuff of Nightmares
Boys Don’t Cry
A. N. T. I. D. O. T. E.
Dangerous Reality
Dead Gorgeous
Hacker
Pig-Heart Boy
The Deadly Dare Mysteries
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
Praise for Malorie Blackman:
Noughts & Crosses
‘A book which will linger in the mind long after it has been read’ 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
Boys Don’t Cry
‘Shows her writing at its best, creating characters and a story which, once read, will not easily go away’ Independent
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 won’t be able to resist the suspense’ Sunday Times
www.malorieblackman.co.uk
HACKER
AN RHCB DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 446 45351 3
Published in Great Britain by RHCB Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2011
Copyright © Oneta Malorie Blackman, 1992
First Published in Great Britain
Doubleday 1992
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.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Malorie Blackman, Hacker
(Series: # )
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