Rising Star Read online

  Eleven-year-old Dylan has to move from Mt Isa to Brisbane and he’s not happy. But as soon as he gets to Flatwater State School he finds a former Mount Isa Miner’s footy supporter in his principal and a ‘Broncos tragic’ as a teacher. He also makes a friend in Justice Jones and an enemy in Jared Knutz. Dylan is cursed with an abnormality transforming him into a fully-grown man whenever he gets angry. Always a worry, the ‘curse’ proves to be a blessing in the city when his alter ego attracts the interest of the Broncos during a class excursion to watch the team train. Dylan becomes ‘Deadly D’ – a star player with the fire to rival even the great Prince! But how will he continue to keep the ‘curse’ a secret?

  FOREWORD

  When I was a kid growing up in Mount Isa, I found it hard to pick up a book and start reading. It wasn’t because I didn’t know how to read — it was because there wasn’t a great deal of reading material that grabbed my attention. After a while, I started to notice NBA basketball magazines. This is how I developed a need to read. It’s also how I learnt about my hero at the time, Michael Jordan.

  There are still kids who are reluctant readers, just like I was. You might have one, two or more in your home or classroom! That’s ok, because just like you, we want to encourage our young generation to read good books. The best part about writing the Deadly D series with Dave is hearing parents and teachers tell us stories about how their child or student got hooked on our first book or read it from cover to cover in one sitting. This is the whole reason we started writing this series – to engage reluctant readers using rugby league as the ‘hook’.

  Teachers, you can find the Deadly D teaching notes on the Magabala Books’ website. Parents you can have fun reading to or with your child or children at home! Please keep the feedback coming. It helps Dave and I plan future stories but most importantly, it helps us understand what works for our kids.

  I would also like to thank you for buying our book. We hope everyone has as much fun reading it as we did writing it!

  Scott Prince, 2014

  Aunty Robyn, for your tireless work, inspiring and educating indigenous children to complete their schooling and for always being there for my family and I every step of the way. You mean the world to us. Love you Aunty xo

  Scott

  Mum, thanks for teaching me the importance of hard work, sacrifice and resilience. There were some tough times but you were the best teacher that I could have. Thanks for also looking after my little family. We love you.

  Dave

  First published 2014

  Magabala Books Aboriginal Corporation, Broome, Western Australia

  Website: www.magabala.com

  Email: [email protected]

  Magabala Books receives financial assistance from the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts advisory body. The State of Western Australia has made an investment in this project through the Department of Culture and the Arts in association with Lotterywest.

  Copyright © Text Scott Prince and David Hartley 2014

  Copyright © Illustrations David Hartley 2014

  The authors have asserted their moral rights.

  The illustrator has asserted his moral rights.

  All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.

  Design Tracey Gibbs

  National Library of Australia

  Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

  Prince, Scott, author.

  Deadly D and Justice Jones : rising star/Scott Prince, David Hartley.

  9781922142504 (Paperback)

  9781922142511 (ePDF)

  9781922142528 (ePUB)

  For primary school age

  Subjects: Rugby League football--Juvenile fiction. Children’s stories. Other Authors/Contributors: Hartley, David, 1979- author.

  A823.4

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1 TIME TO CONCENTRATE

  CHAPTER 2 HEARTBREAK

  CHAPTER 3 BRUCE SHARP

  CHAPTER 4 TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE?

  CHAPTER 5 DEEP DARK SECRETS

  CHAPTER 6 LAKE MOONDARRA

  CHAPTER 7 THE RED ROCK

  CHAPTER 8 SONNY BILL GOLDFISH

  CHAPTER 9 SONNY BILL GETS A BIG FRIGHT

  CHAPTER 10 THE ASSIGNMENT

  CHAPTER 11 BUT NOTHING

  CHAPTER 12 BAG UNDER THE BRIDGE

  CHAPTER 13 HERE, KITTY KITTY

  CHAPTER 14 KISSY CAT

  CHAPTER 15 THE WARNING

  CHAPTER 16 DON’T LOOK IN THE BAG

  CHAPTER 17 SICK AS, BRO

  CHAPTER 18 BOMB-DIVE BREAKFAST

  CHAPTER 19 BE AT SCHOOL EVERY DAY

  CHAPTER 20 THREE’S A CROWD

  CHAPTER 21 SMOOTH RIDE

  CHAPTER 22 QUEENSLANDER!

  CHAPTER 23 THE WEDGIE

  CHAPTER 24 THE WEDGIE PART 2

  CHAPTER 25 THE MYSTERY BEGINS

  CHAPTER 26 MR BARWICK’S LAST RIDE

  CHAPTER 27 FREE LOLLIES

  CHAPTER 28 DON’T FEED THE DINGOS

  CHAPTER 29 THE LADDER

  CHAPTER 30 UNCOVERED!

  CHAPTER 31 MEET THE PARENTS

  CHAPTER 32 WHO’S THAT GIRL?

  CHAPTER 33 TERRANDIA

  CHAPTER 34 ALIEN LIFE FORM

  CHAPTER 35 GOLIATH

  CHAPTER 36 TACOS. YES, TACOS

  CHAPTER 37 OFF WITH THE FAIRIES

  CHAPTER 38 FINAL WARM-UP

  CHAPTER 39 FELIS CATUS

  CHAPTER 40 KICK-OFF

  CHAPTER 41 GIVE. ME. THE. BALL.

  CHAPTER 42 HORSEY RIDE

  CHAPTER 43 FRUIT BATS

  CHAPTER 44 MORE FRUIT BATS

  CHAPTER 45 DROP YOU OFF AT URANUS

  CHAPTER 46 BRIGHTEST STAR

  CHAPTER 47 TODAY’S HEADLINES

  CHAPTER 48 MR BARWICK’S BET

  CHAPTER 49 THE FINISH LINE

  SCOTT AND DAVE

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  A FEW DEADLY NOTES

  CHAPTER 1

  TIME TO CONCENTRATE

  It’s my first full game of footy for the Broncos. We are playing at home against the North Queensland Cowboys. Two of our forwards have already been injured – I won’t get a rest tonight. The coach has even got me playing in the front row. Unfortunately, I’ve dropped two passes and have missed about three tackles. There are only fifteen minutes to go. The score is 20 points to 14 to the Cowboys.

  Just before we pack the scrum, Ben Hannant throws his arm around my shoulders.

  “Deadly, we need you to concentrate, mate,” he says encouragingly. I look at him and nod. I have something else on my mind but I can’t tell Hannant that.

  When I turn my head to see my best friend, Justice Jones, in the stands, I feel shame and guilt. He is standing up, cheering me on and waving a banner. It’s an old bed sheet and he has written on it in black spray paint: “The Deadly D Fan Club”. At the moment, there are only two people in the fan club: Justice and our teacher, Mr Barwick. Justice has helped me to get used to living in Brisbane and he has kept my curse a secret from everyone. The sad thing is, I haven’t told him the entire truth. Tonight I am going to change that. But right now, it’s time to show the coach why he picked me for the team.

  I grit my teeth and get ready for impact. As we pack the scrum, our shoulders collide heavily with the opposition. Sweat and dirt drip from our heads and jerseys. The inside of a scrum isn’t the nicest place to be, but I am still having fun playing footy as Deadly D. If they knew I was really an eleven-year-old kid, I’m sure they would call off the game.

  The Cowboys’ halfback feeds the ba
ll. It bounces through the players’ legs and appears at the back of the scrum. The halfback scoops it up and the ball travels down the Cowboys’ backline. Their centre receives the ball and makes a ten-metre run before he is tackled by our winger, twenty metres out from our line. The Cowboys’ supporters at the end of the stadium are getting louder. They know that if the Cowboys score the next try, they’ll win the game. During the next two tackles, the Cowboys’ forwards make some easy ground. The stadium’s announcer yells into his microphone, “C’mon, Broncos – defence!”

  The crowd starts up the chant: “De-fence! De-fence! De-fence!” When the Cowboys’ dummy half throws the ball out to the waiting back-rower, we pounce off our line. But one of our forwards moves up too quickly. The Cowboys’ player spots a very small gap between the forward and me. The back-rower steps around our player and angles back to the try line. The gap is too large to defend so I dive to make the tackle. I catch the back-rower around the ankles but it is too late. He crashes over the try line, right next to the posts. The Cowboys erupt in celebration. The score is 24 points to 14 with a kick to come.

  CHAPTER 2

  HEARTBREAK

  The conversion is successful: the Cowboys extend their lead to 26 to 14. There is less than ten minutes to go but we won’t give up. Suddenly, the Cowboys make a mistake in their own half and we have a chance to score. The ball is played and the dummy half throws it out to Ben Hunt. As he runs across the field, he gives me a wink. I know there’s a play on but I’ll just have to wait and watch where he goes. Hunt shows the opposition the ball and dummies to the left. At this moment, my brain clicks into gear and I know what to do. I sprint forward, running behind Hunt and emerge on his right. The Cowboys’ defence have been fooled by Hunt’s dummy and are standing flat-footed. Hunt senses me next to him and flicks a deadly little pass. He puts me into a gap but I’ll need to keep moving fast if I’m going to score.

  With only fifteen metres to the try line, the Cowboys’ fullback is gaining on me. Do I take the chance and try to score by myself or do I pass to Justin Hodges on the right, who is unmarked? Just as the Cowboys’ fullback launches himself at my legs, I throw a quick pass to Hodges. He catches the ball and sprints ten metres to score easily in the corner. Then he runs over to me and gives me a high five.

  Hunt jumps up on my back. “Nice work, mate!” he hoots. The crowd is alive! They know they have a game on their hands. Justice has gone crazy in the stands, waving his banner like a madman.

  Corey Parker places the ball about twenty metres in from the sideline and concentrates on the kick. The Cowboys’ fans are trying to put him off but he’s used to it. He looks at the posts, then looks at the ball and looks at the posts again. He runs, kicks, and the ball swings left. It looks like it has brushed the left-hand post but has it gone through?

  The touch judges lift their flags: the kick is successful! The score is now 26 to 20; there is only six minutes to go.

  As we run back to get ready for the kick-off, Sam Thaiday claps his hands and encourages us. “C’mon, boys, we can do this! Let’s get up their end one more time!” But our celebrations are short-lived. The Cowboys put in an unexpected short kick instead of a long one. Their winger jumps like an Aussie Rules player taking a mark. Now the Cowboys have the ball inside our own half! Our team is exhausted but we defend the best we can. The Cowboys make a break down the sideline and Hodges comes to the rescue again, wrapping up their winger on the second-last tackle. The Cowboys get the ball out to Jonathan Thurston, who kicks towards the corner. Our players scramble to knock the ball over the try line. There will be a goal-line dropout with only two minutes to go. Both teams know that the game is over. The Cowboys jump for joy but we are shattered. Bronco fans are already leaving the stadium.

  CHAPTER 3

  BRUCE SHARP

  After the game, we shake hands with the Cowboys’ players and then stay on the field, swigging our sports drinks. Reporters arrive. Usually they only talk to the big names, the players everyone knows. But because people are calling me the next NRL superstar, they all want to talk to me. I don’t say much – I just act shy. It’s the safest way to keep my true identity secret.

  And then I spot him. Bruce Sharp is a reporter for a newspaper called the Brisbane Daily. He’s been hanging around our training sessions, asking questions about me. A skinny guy with slick black hair, he’s probably in his forties but, because he smokes, looks at least fifty. I don’t trust him. Once, he wrote an article about Sam Thaiday. He wrote that Sam was quitting footy to become a hairdresser. Everyone who knows Sam knew it was ridiculous but Sharp claimed he had “heard a rumour”. Even I know that you can’t put stuff in the paper that isn’t true.

  Sharp spots a reporter from The Footy Show coming towards me with her microphone, so he steps in front of her, cutting her off.

  “Sorry, darling,” he says sarcastically. “I’ll be interviewing Deadly D on my own, if you don’t mind.” The lady gives him a glare and hops in line to interview Jonathan Thurston instead. Sharp flashes a grin at me and comes closer. His teeth are yellow and he smells of cigarettes.

  “Hi, Mr Deadly, I’m Bruce Sharp from the Brisbane Daily. Can I have a quick chat with you?” Before I can reply, he clicks his voice recorder on. “Disappointed to lose tonight?” he asks, thrusting the recorder in my face. What a silly question. Disappointed to lose? Of course I am. Who is this fella? Does he have goanna poop for brains?

  “Yeah, pretty disappointed,” I say, looking down at him. His head comes to my chin. I can see half a tub of hair gel slopped through his hair. He flashes another yellow-toothed smirk at me.

  “So, Deadly, I’ve been doing some research on you,” he sniggers. “No one really knows where you came from. You’re a bit of a mystery!” He’s fishing for information but I’m not going to tell him a thing. I shift uncomfortably from foot to foot.

  “Yes, I like to keep to myself,” I say nervously. Where’s Justice? I wish he could get me out of here. Bruce Sharp still has the voice recorder in my face.

  “And no one really knows who you are or how you became a professional footballer,” he continues. “Where on earth did you come from?” Before I can think of an answer, our captain, Corey Parker, comes and grabs me by the collar.

  “C’mon, Deadly,” he instructs. “Interviews are over. Coach wants to talk to us now.” I walk with Corey, knowing that I’ve narrowly escaped a bullet – for now. Bruce Sharp is still standing there, recorder in hand and arm outstretched, watching me walk into the dress sheds. I don’t trust that fella one little bit.

  CHAPTER 4

  TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE?

  “Get that torch off me, you moron,” I whisper loudly. It’s the school holidays and Justice and I are camping out in my backyard. We’ve been watching Fast and Furious 6 on the iPad, but now I have to pee. I don’t want to wake Mum up, so I stay outside and try to do a sneaky one against the fence. Justice thinks it’s funny to shine the torch on me while I do it. I look like a kangaroo caught in the headlights of a semitrailer. If our neighbour Mrs Muller sees me, she’ll dob on me to Mum. But Justice just sits there, laughing his head off.

  “Hey, man, you trying to put out a fire or something?” he laughs in his Kiwi accent, the beam of the torch jumping up and down with all his giggling.

  “Stop it! Let me pee in peace!” I hiss.

  I finish and wash my hands under the tap. “Man, how much water did you drink?” asks Justice.

  “Heaps,” I reply. “Don’t you hate it when you pee on your hands?” I add as I shake the tap water from my fingers onto his face.

  “Oh, stink bro!” yells Justice, pulling his hood over his face. He is wearing his Warriors hoodie and his Broncos track pants. It’s amazing how much free stuff he gets just by telling NRL players how much he loves them. He only does it to get freebies.

  It’s getting late and I’m tired. As I zip up the tent, I feel grateful that no one is watching me. Unfortunately, I am wrong. In the top window of the house
diagonally across from us, a shadowy figure closes the curtains.

  CHAPTER 5

  DEEP DARK SECRETS

  The night is dark and quiet as we climb into our sleeping bags. A cool breeze blows over the top of the tent but inside we are warm and comfortable. Justice has now put on a Canberra Raiders beanie.

  “Night, brah,” I say.

  “Don’t you want to talk about chicks and secrets and stuff?” he asks hopefully, tapping on the torch. I knew he was going to ask me this. I already know who he wants to talk about. It’s the new girl in our class, Taylor Neila. She keeps to herself and doesn’t really talk to anyone. People reckon that her parents are secret agents or something. She usually gets dropped at the front gate in a flash black car with tinted windows. I’ve only seen her smile once, when there was a food fight between the grade sixes and the grade sevens. Justice ran through the impact zone and a full container of yoghurt exploded on his head. He had a white streak down the middle of his hair, like a mohawk. Then cranky old Mrs Kellogg, who we call Rice Bubble, arrived and growled at us all and the fight was over. On his way to the principal’s office, Justice dipped his finger in his hair and taste-tested his vanilla ‘do. That was when Taylor Neila smiled. I haven’t seen her do it since.

  “So, what do you think of that Taylor chick, bro? She’s pretty fine, eh?” Justice asks. Bingo. I knew it.

  “She’s too stuck up for any of us,” I reply. “Just go to sleep.” I roll over and close my eyes. My body is still exhausted and sore from the game against the Cowboys.

  “Calm your farm, cuz. What’s wrong with you?” says Justice, sounding hurt. I must have sounded rude. It’s just that I have something else on my mind. Maybe this is the right time to tell Justice. If I don’t tell him now, it will only make it harder later on. I take a deep breath.