Part 1

Vee Howley is a bright young boy. At least, that is what his teachers think of him. Filled with irrepressible energy and an easy laugh, the boy puts a smile on the faces of the teachers of Clarence Primary School. Vee is a little rascal, always trying to get his money's worth out of life, they say.
He will go far.
But his younger school mates live in terror of the possibility that the boy with the insolent smile might lay his storm-grey eyes upon them.
Vee wisely keeps his hands off the boys of his year, reserving for those his age a more discreet and psychological form of 'attention'. That is, until the Slapping Game becomes the New Thing in his school.
From that moment onwards, blood will flow.