Page 11 - Cyber Nightmare

ever.’ Neil paused and looked his friend in the eye. ‘Do
you think I should have said something to him?’
‘Yeah, I do, but not in the group of course. After-
wards.’
5 Neil hesitated. ‘What about me?’ he finally said.
‘What about you?’
‘If I had body odor you’d tell me, too, wouldn’t you?’
Neil gave a nervous little laugh.
‘Of course I would.’

10 ‘Well? Do I?’
‘Do you – what?’
‘Do I have body odor?’
‘You?’ Darby laughed. ‘No way!’
‘Are you sure?’
15 ‘Sure I’m sure. What has made you so unsure?’ Darby
studied Neil’s eyes.
A group of giggling girls came up behind them. Neil
waited until they passed by. ‘I – I got a text message the
other day. It said I’ve got a bad case of body odor.’
20 Darby shook his head in disbelief. ‘So that’s why you’ve
been using so much aftershave lately. I get it. But hey!
You don’t need to. You and body odor? That’s just a big
lie. Someone is trying to hurt you.’
‘Well, they did.’
25 ‘Come on, dude. You can’t let a little thing like that get
you down.’
‘A little thing? Getting that message was a shock, man.
Just imagine you had got it.’
Darby slowed down and let two other boys pass them.
30 ‘Listen, friend,’ he said slowly, ‘my motto has always

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