Kick-Ass Tyler

‘KICK-ASS’

TYLER

Clancy Tucker

Clancy Tucker Publishing

First published in 2016 by Clancy Tucker Publishing

ABN: 70442136657

Copyright © Clancy Lawson Tucker 2016

Clancy Tucker asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or be transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

SMASHWORDS EDITION

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Illustrations and photography copyright © Clancy Tucker 2016.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP).

Dewey Number: A823.4

‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler by Clancy Tucker ©

ISBN: 9780646940571

1st Edition

Young adult fiction

About the author

Clancy Tucker writes young adult fiction, but has also achieved success as a poet and photographer. He speaks three languages, has lived in four countries and is published in the USA, UK and Australia. His photography has been used for covers in magazines. He’s been published in literary magazines, and has written more than 146 short stories and a collection of bush poems.

Clancy is a fulltime writer, but he has been a speechwriter, senior public servant, farmer and small business operator. He lectures at the University of the Third Age (U3A), mentors young and emerging Aussie writers, has worked with street kids and draws on life’s experiences to write entertaining young adult stories.

Awards:

Short-listed, ‘Commended’ and ‘Highly Commended’ in writing contests: 2006, 2007& 2011 Australian National Literary Awards, Raspberry & Vine (twice), Positive words, Australian Writers On-Line, Shaggy Sheep Tale, The Cancer Council Arts Awards (2005 & 2008), The Dusty Swag Awards (2010), and had twelve short stories published in literary magazines (Page Seventeen, Branching Out, Positive Words and The Australian Writer) and in newspapers (The Standard, Mountain Views & The Advocate). Clancy has written articles for Kid Magazine in the USA, and won a poetry prize to name a life-size statue designed by renowned Belgian sculptor, Bruno Torfs.

To learn more about Clancy:

Website: www.clancytucker.com.au

Blog: www.clancytucker.blogspot.com.au

Facebook: www.facebook.com/clancy.tucker.5

Twitter: @ClancyTucker

Books by Clancy Tucker

Published in paperback and eBook format, available via:

www.clancytucker.blogspot.com.au

www.morrispublishingaustralia.com

Gunnedah Hero

Winner of two awards in the Australian National Literary Awards: 2007 & 2011.

Pa Joe’s Place

A Drover’s Blanket

(Sequel to Gunnedah Hero)

KY!

‘Highly Commended’ FAW Jim Hamilton Award, 2006 Australian National Literary Awards

Sheeza

Mister Rainbow

Introduction

‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler is book one of a series about the life and times of one of the smartest young women you will ever meet – Sam Tyler. So, get in, buckle-up and hang on. You’ll be glad you did.

Clancy Tucker

Chapter 1

The principal strode to the microphone and clapped. He always did that to get our attention, and it sucked. That’s why I’d nicknamed him El Supremo. His real name is Harry Collins. He’s such a dinosaur.

‘Okay, settle down please. I have some disturbing news this morning,’ he said in his newsreader’s voice. The auditorium went quiet, and El Supremo looked nervous. He glanced at the other teachers before continuing. The teachers also looked serious. Something was up. ‘There’s no easy way to say this. Sadly, one of our students was abducted yesterday afternoon on his way home from school … And, Detective Mason is here to talk to you about the disappearance of Zoran Cepnic.’

‘Jeez!’ I blurted, and didn’t really care who heard me. A loud sigh rippled through the auditorium as two guys walked in. They were dressed in suits and looked like the cops on my favourite CSI show on television. El Supremo left the microphone to talk to them.

I felt sick. Zoran had been abducted. Why couldn’t it be one of the dorky ones? I wondered. Zoran was one of the most popular boys at school, a classmate and a good-looker. I felt like throwing up, and sat with my sweaty hands clasped together, waiting nervously for one of the cops to step forward and speak. The news was crushing, but luckily I was sitting between my two best friends, Tina Godolfo and Neve Simpson. Sadly, Mandy Stannard had arrived late and plopped down next to Tina. She’d been trying to weasel her way into our group for ages, and I didn’t like her. She is such a snob. ‘Zoran? Shit,’ I muttered.

Zoran Cepnic was not only good at sport. He also had brains, and I’d always liked him. He was a cool dude, and one of the few boys at school I bothered to speak to. Tina absolutely adored him. She’d often stand next to him and smile like a cat that got the milk.

‘Shit, Sammi,’ Tina murmured. Neve said nothing. She looked as white as a sheet.

‘Shush, Godolfo,’ I said, grabbed her hand and waited nervously. I rarely called Tina by her surname, but when I did it was for two reasons: to make a big point, or to piss her off. She did the same to me when she was annoyed about stuff I said.

Sitting directly behind me was Jason Carruthers. He was in the year above me, and a year older than us. Jason was the confident type; well known for being a player when it came to girls. Rumours were rife in our school about how many girls he’d dated. Tina thought he was gorgeous, but she was boy-mad anyway. I called him Mr Smooth because I reckoned he was full of it. Heaps of times he’d tried to suck up to me or make conversation, but I always ignored him or made some sarcastic comment.

While we waited for the cop to speak, Mr Smooth started to annoy me by flicking my hair with his key chain. Silly boy. He’d chosen the wrong day. My mind was racing because a kid I liked had been abducted. I managed to put up with Jason’s taunts for a minute or so before I turned around and slapped him hard. It was an awesome shot, clobbering him on the shoulder.

‘Piss off!’ I exploded, and the response from those around us was nothing unexpected.

‘Oooh,’ they all muttered. I ignored them and stared up at the stage, waiting for the cop to tell us what had happened to Zoran. Tina and Neve giggled at my outburst, but I wasn’t amused or in the mood for Mr Smooth’s schoolboy crap. Then, one of Jason’s smart-ass friends made some comment about moody girls, and it being that time of the month – so typical.

The taller, better-looking cop, stepped up to the microphone and spoke. ‘Good morning. Thank you for your attendance. Yes, one of your fellow students was abducted yesterday afternoon. We’ve already received a note from the abductors, but we need your help. We are seeking any information that you may have about Zoran’s recent activities … Even the smallest detail could be vital to our investigation. We’ll be available to speak to any of you. Please don’t be shy. Remember. Small bits of information may come to you in the days ahead, so please do not consider them worthless. We need all the information we can get to find this young man. Thank you,’ he said, and walked off. The principal shook hands with both policemen, then he strolled back to the microphone. The auditorium was as quiet as a morgue. Even Tina had shut up.

‘Students, your teachers will make themselves available should you have anything to talk about. We all hope and pray that Zoran will be found safe. Please resume your normal classes.’ Mr Collins stood silently for a few seconds before he clapped. ‘Come on. Move off please,’ he urged.

The assembly was over, but the news was bad enough to make me vomit. We’d seen two sleek-looking cop cars drive into the school grounds as we got off the bus from Seaspray. Straight away, I knew something awesome had happened because the vehicles belonged to city cops. They were the flash, cool cars we often saw zipping up and down the highway during the holiday season – the ones that sat low on the road and looked awesome. My dad used to call them Q-Cars, but I never asked him why. I just assumed that the Q stood for Quick. I had a weird feeling when those cop cars arrived, never imagining that they’d have anything to do with Zoran’s disappearance.

‘Jeez. Zoran’s been kidnapped. We oughta do something,’ said Mr Smooth. What he said made me think. It was an awful situation. I felt sick inside, convinced that the other kids felt the same way. Neve looked jittery and Tina had a spooked expression. It was horrible news, a bit like the moment when I heard that my dad had died. That day sucked big time. It still sucks.

We got up and slowly moved off. Tina must have been totally shocked because she said nothing. She looked white, almost as if she was ready to throw up.

‘Jeez, Sammi. What do you reckon happened to him?’ Neve piped up. I had no damn idea what happened to him, but I wanted to do something.

‘Dunno. But I reckon Mr Smooth’s right. We’ve gotta do something. I can’t believe it,’ I said, putting one arm around Tina and the other around Neve as we walked out.

Finally, Tina said something. ‘Hey, ya were right, Sammi. Here was I thinkin’ them cops were here because some of them smart-ass boys had knocked off another car.’ Tina referred to most of the older boys as the smart- ass element, except those she thought were cool. She was crazy about boys. Not that she was a slut or anything. Her parents were way too strict for that sort of stuff. All she ever wanted was to meet some guy, settle down and have kids.

‘How’d you know that it was gonna be serious stuff, Sammi?’ Neve asked.

I looked at her and frowned. ‘Just did I suppose. Look at those cop cars. They’re city cars.’

‘Yeah. Ya right, girl. Now, I know why ya were so quiet when ya arrived at school,’ said Tina.

‘Yep, but I never thought it would be as bad as this. Zoran’s been kidnapped,’ I muttered. ‘Shit.’

I usually said very little when I had something serious on my mind. It didn’t happen all that often, and it confused Tina and Neve when I was quiet. Most of the time I was pretty rowdy. My two best friends wore what I called the blonde look when they were confused, because both of them were blondes. I had short dark hair. Neve’s was naturally blonde, but Tina’s came from a bottle, and it looked streaky. It was such a disaster. Her old man went ballistic when he first saw it.

Our next class was Geography, and the teacher was Mr Kerrin. I’d nicknamed him Grizzle Guts because he never smiled, never told us we’d done good work and he always looked scruffy. His shirt was never tucked into his trousers, his tie was never pulled up to his collar and his shoes were dusty. After hearing the bad news about Zoran, none of us were in the mood to learn about the wild rain forests in the Amazon. Grizzle Guts also looked pretty shell-shocked by the news. He probably wasn’t in the mood to teach, and I guess I didn’t blame him.

I sat down and gawked through the window at the two cop cars. I could see the rear end of them from where I sat. Looking at them made me think about Zoran, wondering where he was, who’d snatched him and why. The cop cars were still at school, so I guessed that the detectives were talking to the principal or other kids who’d gone to them with information. I glanced at Zoran’s empty seat and felt sick.

Grizzle Guts pulled his chair out and sat in front of the class. It was something he never did. I was convinced that he tried to distract us and take our mind off the bad news by telling us some story about a guy with a deformed foot who became a champion footballer. It was a pretty smart move, and his idea worked. It was the quietest our class had ever been. Then, he said something that snapped in my brain. It was stuff about achieving success against enormous odds. Quickly, I ripped a piece of paper out of an exercise book and scribbled a message for Tina and Neve, shoved it inside a textbook and passed it on in the usual way. I always left my secret notes on page sixty-nine.

Tina sat two seats in front of me so she got it first. She read my note, looked back at me and frowned. She had one of those DBL expressions – Dumb Blonde Look. I scowled at her and pointed to Neve. Finally, she passed it to Neve who sat beside her. Neve read my note, looked over her shoulder and winked at me. The note I’d jotted down was pretty simple, Gotta do something to find Zoran. Meet up at recess. I never signed the note in case I got busted. Not that it mattered. I’d been busted heaps of times for worse stuff. Now, I was fired up to kick some ass and find Zoran.

We shot out of class as soon as the bell rang, and the three of us bolted to our favourite spot after dumping our books in our lockers. It was the place where we always hung out; just outside the gymnasium.

‘What’s the go, Sammi?’ Neve asked before we’d even sat down.

I looked at her and winked, having already worked out a strategy. ‘I reckon we go see El Supremo and tell him that we need to be involved,’ I replied.

Tina offered one of her best scowls – one that would crush a battleship. ‘Yeah, right. That old walrus is