Schemer (16 page)

‘My dad’s brother lives in Canvey Island, but he’s got four kids of his own. Anyway, you don’t know my mother as well as I do, Jacko. If she says I’m going to Spain, then I’m fucking going.’

‘You can always run away,’ Wayne suggested.

Barry rubbed his tired eyes. He could probably leave school and do some extra shifts with Steve, but he only got paid fifteen pound a day to keep look-out and that was hardly going to put a roof over his head and pay all the bills. ‘I can’t live on shirt buttons, Jacko. I think the only way out for me is to go to Spain, save the oner a week, then come back to Dagenham and get a place of me own.’

‘How long will you be away for? And what about Steph?’

‘There’s no point me coming back before I’m sixteen, mate. My muvver is a cunt, and if I scarper before that she will only come back to England and find me. If I toe the line and work hard, perhaps she will let me come back for holidays and stuff. I mean, a ton a week ain’t bad dosh, is it? I’ll be cakeo by the time I’m sixteen, if I’m careful with me earnings. Steph is bound to be pissed off, but I know she loves me and I’m sure she’ll wait for me. I’m fifteen next June, so she’s only gotta wait just over a year and a half and I’ll be back for good.’

‘A ton a week is proper money, mate, and if someone offered me that, I’d bite their hand off. Course Steph will wait for you and, while you’re gone, I’ll keep an eye on her and make sure she’s OK.’

Barry gave Wayne a manly hug. ‘Cheers, Jacko, you’re a diamond.’

Refusing to sit in the same room as her mother, Stephanie Crouch ate her plate of shepherd’s pie leaning over the kitchen top.

‘Why don’t you come and sit in ’ere with us? You can’t eat properly standing up,’ Pam shouted out.

About to throw a sarcastic reply her mother’s way, Stephanie was stopped from doing so by the shrill ring of the doorbell. Wondering if it might be Barry, she ran to answer it.

‘What’s a matter?’ she asked, as she clocked her boyfriend’s sad-eyed expression.

‘I need to speak to you, Steph. Not ’ere though. Can you come out for a bit? We’ll go for a walk somewhere quiet, where we can talk in private.’

Stephanie was immediately alarmed. Surely Barry wasn’t going to dump her? ‘Wait there while I get me key,’ she said. She didn’t want to have to tell him that her mother had barred him from setting foot across the threshold. He looked upset enough as it was.

‘You’d better have eaten that dinner, young lady, and you make sure you’re back ’ere by nine at the latest. You ain’t taking liberties like you did last week, coming in at half past on a bleedin’ school night.’

Ignoring her mother’s whingeing voice, Steph grabbed her door key and slammed the front door. She waited until she and Barry were a few minutes away from the house, then nervously asked the all-important question. ‘So, what do you wanna talk about?’

Saying nothing, Barry led Steph towards the park and was relieved to find it was relatively empty. ‘Do you wanna fag?’ he asked, as he gesticulated to her to sit down next to him on a bench.

Annoyed that Barry was keeping her in limbo, Stephanie snatched the fag out of his hand and glared at him. ‘Am I about to be dumped?’ she asked, bluntly.

With emotion seeping into his voice, Barry explained everything.

‘But you can’t go, Bal. What am I meant to do without you?’ Stephanie said, shocked to the core.

Barry held his distraught girlfriend tightly in his arms. This was even more heartbreaking than he thought it would be – he felt like blubbing himself. ‘It won’t be forever, babe. I promise you I will save every bit of dosh I earn and the day I turn sixteen I will fly straight back home. I can get a job then, on the market or something, and I’ll be able to afford me own place. If you like, you can even move in with me. You’ll be sixteen then an’ all, won’t ya?’

‘But that’s ages away. Please don’t go, Barry. Can’t you live back in Bethnal Green or with your sister and her bloke? I’m frightened if you go you’ll meet someone else and I’ll never see you again,’ Steph sobbed.

‘The only other option I’ve got is to run away, Steph, but apart from dossing on a mate’s sofa round ’ere or in Bethnal Green, I ain’t gonna be able to afford or get a proper place to live. My muvver can be a right bitch and I know she’ll tell social services I’ve done a runner. Then, I’ll get put in one of them fucking kids’ homes with all the waifs and strays of the world. Trust me, babe, if there was any other way out of this, I’d have thought of it by now. There ain’t, so I might as well save up the oner a week that Jake’s gonna pay me for our future together. Eighteen months ain’t the end of the world and I’ll be back before you know it. Look on the bright side, at least you can concentrate on your exams while I’m gone, eh?’ Barry said, kissing Steph lovingly on the forehead.

‘So, when will you be going?’

‘Next week, I think. I’ll write to you every single day and I can ring you at weekends and stuff. If I work hard, me mum might even let me come home to visit you as well. I’m sure Jacko can sort it so I can stay at his for a week or whatever at a time.’

Stephanie felt as though her heart had just been sliced in two. Barry was her first true love and now, after an extremely short but happy romance, he was about to be cruelly snatched away from her.

Barry tilted Steph’s chin towards him so he could look her in the eyes. ‘I need to ask you something and you must be truthful with me.’

Biting her lip to stop it wobbling like a distressed child’s, Stephanie nodded.

‘Swear on your life that you’ll wait for me, Steph.’

‘Cross my heart and hope to die, but you must swear to me that you’ll never go out with any other girls,’ Steph croaked.

Barry wasn’t the tearful type. His mother had brought him up to be tough; even from a very early age, he had forced himself not to cry because of the good hiding he received in return on the odd occasions he had. For once, though, Barry could not suppress his emotions. Staring at Steph, he wiped his tears away with the cuff of his jacket. ‘I swear to you, Steph, that I will wait for you. I love you, girl, and I always will.’

CHAPTER TWELVE

The days leading up to Barry’s departure were very emotional for Stephanie. Every spare second she had, she spent with her boyfriend, but even though they did some fun things together, there was always a tinge of sadness in the air.

‘So, when’s lover boy leaving? Has his flight been booked yet?’ Angela asked.

‘He’s flying out on Monday morning. I dunno what I’m gonna do, Ange. I love him so much,’ Steph replied, her eyes welling up, as they regularly seemed to lately.

Angela smirked. She was thrilled that Barry was emigrating. In her eyes, he was far too much of a catch to be with Steph. Even though she had Jason, Barry’s generosity towards her sister, and the way he looked at her so adoringly, always made Angela want to vomit. ‘You’ll meet someone else, you know. There are plenty of good-looking boys out there.’

Stephanie looked at Angela in horror. She probably didn’t mean to be so bloody infuriating, but she really was at times. ‘I don’t want no one else, Ange. I’m waiting for Barry and he’s gonna wait for me.’

‘Have you done it with him yet?’ Angela asked, nosily.

‘No. I really do fancy him, but I’m scared of doing it.’

‘Don’t be scared. I’ve done it with Jason and it’s brill. He’s better at it than Jacko was.’

‘You shouldn’t be sleeping with lots of boys at your age, Ange. You don’t wanna get a bad name for yourself.’

‘I haven’t slept with lots. I’ve only done it with two. You should stop being a prude and try it, Steph. It’s well good, but don’t be surprised if you don’t like it the first time, ’cause I didn’t. It hurt.’

Stephanie digested her sister’s words, but said no more on the subject. Unbeknown to her family, she had arranged to spend the night with Barry. His mum and Jake were holding a big leaving bash over in South London this evening, and they and Barry’s sister were all staying in a hotel and wouldn’t be home until tomorrow. As luck would have it, Tammy’s parents were also away for the weekend. Steph had begged her mum to let her stay over at her friend’s house, and had promised that Tammy’s older sister would be there to keep an eye on them. Pam had been suspicious at first and had wanted to know the ins and outs of a duck’s arse, but after learning that Tammy’s sister’s boyfriend was a policeman, and believing Steph’s lie that Barry would be at the leaving party with his mother, Pam had allowed her to go ahead.

‘Right, I’m off now,’ Steph said to Angela, as she zipped up her overnight bag.

‘You ain’t really staying round Tam’s, are you?’

Stephanie loved her little sister, but knew deep down she could never truly trust her. ‘Yes I am! What makes you say that?’

‘Because I saw Barry’s mum and her boyfriend leave earlier. His sister and that Indian boyfriend of hers were with ’em an’ all, but your Barry weren’t.’

‘Barry’s been to work. He’s meeting his mum at the party later,’ Steph replied, producing the only viable excuse she could think of.

Angela laughed out loud. Steph was lying, she had it written all over her bright red face. ‘You just enjoy yourself, and don’t worry about Mum. She was still at work when they all went out earlier and I won’t say nothing to her, I promise.’

‘You’d better bloody not,’ Steph said, glaring at her sister.

‘I won’t!’ Angela said, honestly. Had circumstances been different, she would have been tempted to grass Stephanie up but, seeing as her sister’s relationship was all but over anyway, there was little point in doing so.

Barry sighed wistfully as he put the two fillet steaks into his mother’s battered-looking old frying pan. He’d worked his last shift at Roman Road Market today, and his boss had handed him a fifty-pound note as he’d left. ‘You’re a good lad, Bal. Definitely the most reliable I’ve ever had working for me. If and when you come back from Spain, they’ll always be a job here waiting for you,’ Steve had told him.

Barry checked that the steak was sizzling nicely, then washed the salad. He had quite a flair for cooking, due to his mother’s inability to do so, and even though he would never admit it to anyone, in case it spoiled his street cred, he rather enjoyed it. He looked at his watch. He was meeting Steph at the corner of the road at seven and they would then do a bit of garden hopping for the very last time. He couldn’t wait to hold her in his arms all night long, and had even changed his sheets so that the bed smelt nice and fresh. If tonight was the night when he and Steph made love for the very first time, he wanted everything to be as perfect as it possibly could be.

Pam and Cath were tucking into a plate of Scotch eggs when Linda walked into the lounge wearing an old tracksuit.

‘Ain’t you going out tonight?’ Pam asked in surprise. It was unheard of for Lin to sit indoors on a Saturday evening, and Pam’s first thought was that her sister must be ill.

‘Nah, I don’t fancy it. I thought I might just stay at home and have a drink with yous two.’

‘Don’t you feel well?’ Pam asked, concerned.

‘I feel fine. I’m just gonna shoot round the offie and get some lagers. Do yous two want anything?’ Lin asked.

‘Get us another bottle of Liebfraumilch and some of them Twiglets,’ Cathy said, handing Lin a five-pound note.

‘And get me one of them Double Decker bars,’ Pam yelled out, as Lin shut the front door.

‘Do you reckon she’s ill?’ Cathy asked her pal.

‘Nah, she ain’t ill, but I’ll bet you a pound to a piece of shit she’s done something wrong.’

Stephanie Crouch felt like the Queen as she wiped her mouth with the serviette Barry handed her. Her boyfriend had treated her to a slap-up three-course meal and had laid the table like they did in posh restaurants. They had eaten Heinz tomato soup with crusty rolls for starters, fillet steak and salad for main and chocolate mousse for their dessert. They had also shared a bottle of fizzy white wine and Stephanie felt extremely grown-up as Barry topped her glass up again.

‘Ain’t it romantic, Bal, sitting ’ere like this? The meal was so lovely. I ain’t no good at cooking and wouldn’t have a clue how to do the steak like you did it.’

Barry laughed. ‘When we move in together, I’ll teach you how to cook properly. Then we can take it in turns. You can cook one day and I’ll cook the next.’

Stephanie smiled sadly. ‘I so wish you weren’t going to Spain, and it ain’t eighteen months till you come back, it’s eighteen months, three weeks and two days. I worked it out in bed last night.’

Barry stood up and urged his girlfriend to do the same thing. He kissed her passionately and let out a groan as his penis began to harden. ‘Shall we go upstairs, have a lie-down on the bed and play some records?’ he asked.

Stephanie stared into Barry’s doleful brown eyes and ran her fingers through his thick dark hair. He looked irresistible today in his navy Sergio Tacchini tracksuit and she knew the girls would be all over him like a rash in Spain. Steph held Barry’s hand and, without saying a word to him, she led him up the stairs.

As Pam had predicted earlier, Linda’s tongue started to loosen by the time she had drunk beer number three. Christmas was less than eight weeks away, and as Pam and Cathy discussed who would cook what this year, Linda butted into the conversation. ‘Had a bit of agg in the Trades last night, I did,’ she said, cockily.

Giving Cathy an ‘I told you so’ glance, Pam turned towards her younger sister. ‘You didn’t get yourself nicked again, did you?’

Linda shook her head. ‘Nah, nothing like that.’

‘Spit it out then. What you done now?’

‘I had a row with the treasurer. He said I was pissed, but I weren’t, I swear I weren’t. So I abused him and he barred me.’

‘What? Barred you for good?’ Pam asked, hopefully.

‘I dunno if I’m barred for life yet. My mate Sue’s brother is on the committee, so he’s gonna have a word in the week, see if he can sort it out for me.’

‘So, what did you say to upset the treasurer then?’ Cathy asked Linda.

‘I can’t remember exactly, but I think I called him an old cunt.’