Worse Than Boys (3 page)

I sat back. ‘Did you like it?’

‘How much of that is true?’ Rose asked.

‘Well,’ I said in my most mysterious voice. ‘No one’s seen Mary Brown since that night. They all say she did run off with one of her boyfriends … but I think different.’

Chapter Five

The ghost stories set up the atmosphere. Now, it was time to play Light as a Feather. You must have played Light as a Feather, but in case you don’t know it, I’ll tell you how it works. Someone lies on the floor, like a corpse, arms folded and crossed over their chest. They have to lie silent and still, hardly breathing.

Rose wanted to be the corpse. She lay down and closed her eyes, and began to breathe deeply. I sat at her head with my hands placed gently under her shoulders, palms up. Erin and Heather took their places on either side of her. They placed their hands under her back and under her legs. In the dimly lit room I began to say softly, ‘Light as a feather. Light as a feather.’

Erin and Heather took up the chant. ‘Light as a feather. Light as a feather.’

Over and over again we repeated the words, almost like a litany. Softly at first, then our voices grew louder,
until they became more of a demand. ‘Light as a feather! Light as a feather!’

And Rose began to rise under our hands.

I don’t know how it happened. I never could understand how it happened. To us it was magic. Our magic. Was there a logical explanation how we could make one of us rise? I don’t know. But it amazed us every time.

I held my breath, the words now once again a whisper, a whisper of wonder. ‘
Light as a feather
.’

Rose lay still, her eyes closed, totally under our control as she rose up into the air.

Magic!
I thought. It was magic, just like us. We were magic too.

Why couldn’t things be magic like that at home? As soon as I walked through the door that night, my magic mood changed. My mum was waiting for me, eager for all the news about the wedding. She was even more excited than I was about being invited. She was in awe of Erin’s family, her mother especially. That always embarrassed me so much.

‘You’ll have to get a really good gift. Erin’s mother will expect quality.’

‘Mum, we’re putting money together and getting a
gift between us, I told you that.’

She shook her head. ‘No. Let the others do that. You get a really good gift and it will be from you and me. I want Erin Brodie’s mother to see I know how to choose quality too.’

Why did she always have to be like that? Turning even the most enjoyable occasion into a competition. She was so chuffed that Erin was my friend. Had hoped that she might be invited to the wedding too. But no one invited my mum anywhere. And I knew why.

I went to sleep that night and pushed my annoyance at Mum aside. It didn’t matter. Life was so good. And if Wizzie and her mates were out to get us, that only made it better. Because we’d win.

I knew we would always win in the end.

Chapter Six

I came across Sonya in the toilets next day. Or ‘S-s-ssonya’, as we liked to call her. I knew that was cruel, and I wouldn’t have done it to anyone else who stuttered. But Sonya didn’t seem to care. I was sure she only stuttered to wind us up.

I saw her eyes dart to me as I pushed my way through the door, checking to see if my mates were with me. A look of relief flashed across her face when she saw I was alone. Sonya was overweight. Not quite fat, but heading that way. I used to say they could use her for a battering ram. She didn’t like that. Sonya had a reputation as a good fighter, but I’d never really seen her fight, just land on people. Honestly, that’s not fighting, is it?

She sneered at me. ‘You’ve g-got it coming, know that?’

‘S-s-ssorry, S-s-ssonya, did you s-ssay s-ssomething?’ Then I laughed.

Sonya’s face went brick red. She threw a punch at me, but I stepped away from it, missing it easily.

‘G-g-ggot to be qu-quicker than that, S-s-ssonya.’

She would have lunged at me again, but right at that moment the toilets were invaded by a bunch of older girls, prefects, always ready to step in and stop any trouble.

‘What’s going on here?’ one of them asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. Sonya’s face was red with anger. It gave her away big time. She pushed past them and crashed out of the toilets.

‘You lot are always causing trouble,’ Pam Ward said. Head girl, a force to be reckoned with.

I was all innocence. ‘They’re the ones who cause the trouble. I was only sticking up for myself.’

She didn’t look as if she believed me. I didn’t care. It would make a great story when I told it to the girls later on.

‘You’re in Erin’s crowd, aren’t you?’ Pam said.

Why did they always say that? Just once I wanted Erin to be in my crowd, but pointing that out seemed like some kind of betrayal, so I said nothing to correct her. ‘Erin’s my best friend,’ I said.

Pam sniggered. ‘Do the other two know that?’

I pushed my way out the door, half expecting Sonya to be lying in wait for me. But it was Heather who was there. ‘I heard that,’ she said. ‘Thanks very much. Erin’s your best friend, is she? Not me.’

I put my arm around her shoulder. ‘I only said that because they were talking about Erin.’

But it was a lie. Erin
was
my best friend. She and I were special. Soul mates, me and Erin. I tried to make it up to Heather as we walked to class.

There was a crowd round the school noticeboard and we pushed our way to the front. ‘Hey, look what they’re putting on for the school summer show!
Grease
!’

Everyone loved the school summer show, except maybe Wizzie and her lot. People like her, the low lifes, wouldn’t have anything to do with the school show. But we loved it. It was always such a laugh.

‘We must tell Rose. She’d be brilliant playing Sandy.’ Rose was a really good singer. She had dreams of going on the stage one day. She’d been in the show the year before. She’d definitely be up for this one too.

Suddenly, Heather burst into song. ‘
Summer lovin’, I came in last
…’

I joined in, totally off-key. Didn’t know the words either. ‘
Summer lovin’ … Wizzie got gassed
…’

We laughed ourselves silly as we walked up the corridor, hurrying to tell Rose about the auditions. Erin caught up with us and joined in. I noticed Sonya and Lauren watching us. Surely it was envy I saw in their eyes. What else could it be? Who wouldn’t want to be one of us?

Chapter Seven

There was a fight coming. We could all sense it. Nothing was said, but the tension was there. And it was coming from Wizzie’s crowd, the Hell Cats. I said it was probably BO and we all laughed.

Even the teachers sensed it.

Mr Hammond, the teacher who produced the school show, called us together one day and asked us just what was going on.

‘Nothing, Mr Hammond,’ Erin said, before I had a chance to speak. She looked round at us. ‘We don’t know what you mean.’

Heather looked blank. Not a difficult thing for Heather. Rose just looked bored.

Mr Hammond spoke directly to Erin. ‘Don’t think if there’s any trouble you won’t get the blame. Just because you lot manage to avoid it most of the time.’ He was one of the few teachers who didn’t give us any
slack. He thought we were every bit as much to blame for trouble as the Hell Cats. ‘You think because you live in a better area you must be better than they are. Actually, that’s what makes you worse.’

We all looked at each other as if he was talking Chinese.

‘What are we supposed to have done wrong?’ I managed to get his attention at last. He turned to me.

‘You were on that train too. Don’t think I don’t know it. And I know how it works, Hannah. They got the blame, so Wizzie will get back at you for it. I know Wizzie and I know you lot. And you’re all trouble. Not one of you any better than the other.’

‘We keep back from trouble, sir. You ask anybody.’ I was all wide-eyed innocence. I could see that was really annoying him.

As he finally stomped away from us, I whispered to Erin, ‘But if trouble comes to us, we don’t turn our back on it.’

And trouble was coming. But when? I didn’t feel scared thinking about it. It was more like excitement I felt. Every time I passed Wizzie or her mates in the corridors I tensed, expecting them to lunge at me, expecting a fight at any moment. I even imagined it
happening. And I’d win. Then I’d go back to Erin and tell her. ‘Sorted.’ I’d sorted it. Me. Hannah. I wanted to be the one who sorted everything.

I walked into the canteen and there they were, at their table. Wizzie was lying along it on her belly Lauren and Sonya were sitting on it. Big Grace had her feet resting on it. Why couldn’t they ever just sit at a table like normal people? I wondered.

I decided I wasn’t going to wait for them to come to me. I barged up to them instead. ‘That’s very unhygienic,’ I said, pointing out Wizzie’s bare midriff. I noticed she’d had her belly button pierced. It had a ring attached to it. Even more unhygienic. ‘Especially since it’s your belly that’s on the table.’

Wizzie sat up. Did she have a fresh scar on her neck? Red raw, I was sure she did.

‘Cut yourself shaving?’ I asked.

It was Sonya who leapt at me. Wizzie held her back. ‘Not here, Sonya hen. We’ll get them later. And we’ll pick the time.’

‘You … and what army?’ I suppose I was trying to egg them on. Here in the canteen, I wanted all of them jumping on me. Boy, would they be in trouble then.

Wizzie knew that too. ‘I’m going to make you so sorry, Driscoll.’

‘In your dreams,’ I said and I turned away from her. I bumped right into Zak Riley, nearly knocked his tray and his lunch all over him.

‘I don’t believe you!’ he moaned. ‘You’re talking like a couple of gangsters. Did you never play with dolls?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘Did you?’

Zak ignored that. ‘Girls are supposed to be interested in pink fluffy things. Shop till you drop. Sugar and spice and all things nice?’

He had stopped in front of me. I pushed him aside. ‘You’re in the wrong school if you want girls like that, Zak,’ I told him. ‘Miss Marchmont’s Academy for Young Ladies this ain’t.’

I heard Wizzie laughing behind me. I couldn’t help smiling either. Zak was right, I guess. Girls weren’t supposed to fight, were they? But here at Cameron High, you had to be tough. You had to make sure gangs like Wizzie’s knew they couldn’t walk all over you.

Wizzie and her friends didn’t waste any time. That same day, after school, they were gathered across the road, waiting for us. Grace stood straight when she saw us, so did Sonya. Only Wizzie ignored us, picking at her
nails, calm and unconcerned. You had to admire how cool she always was. Lauren was beside her, looking as usual like an unmade bed. Had she never heard of an iron … or a comb?

‘Wizzie’s mine,’ Erin whispered to me.

My heart was throbbing, I could feel the perspiration on my upper lip. But other than that no one looking at me would have known I was heading for a fight.

Chapter Eight

They spread themselves across the road, barring our way. Wizzie was right at the front, with the others close behind her. But she had her supporters too, other lowlifes from the school, ones who came from their estate, lived on the east side of the town, sympathetic to the Hell Cats. That was OK by us. We had back-up too: the ones who would step in if the fight got out of hand. I couldn’t see them, but I could feel their presence, knew they would be there. They wouldn’t join in the fight unless they had to. Unless the fight turned dirty.

Erin stepped a few paces ahead of me. She waved a hand at Wizzie. ‘Would you mind getting out of the way? Ladies coming through.’

Wizzie just stared at her. ‘Make me,’ was all she said. It was all she had to say. I knew she wasn’t going to move.

The wind rose and whipped up plastic cups and crisp packets and leaves across the ground. I was suddenly reminded of some old Clint Eastwood movie, the Man with No Name, staring down his enemies in a dusty Mexican street. I had to stop myself from giggling. Wizzie’s eyes narrowed. I saw her as if in close-up as she stared at Erin. And Erin stared right back at her.

‘She’s mine,’ Erin had said of her, and I knew even in that moment I was annoyed at that. Annoyed that Wizzie wasn’t looking at me, searching me out. I felt guilty about it too. Erin was my very best friend.

Well, it was up to me to change things. There was going to be a fight and someone had to make the first move. It might as well be me.

I let out a roar like a demon and hurled myself towards Wizzie. Grace Morgan was as quick as I was. She threw herself between us, caught hold of my blazer and pulled me to the ground. It was then all hell broke loose. I swivelled on to my back and blocked a blow from Morgan’s fist. I reached up and grabbed her by the hair. My hand almost slipped through her mane it was so greasy! But I tugged as hard as I could and she screamed.

I was aware of Lauren and Heather battling it out on
the ground beside me. And Wizzie and Erin still standing, locked in combat. And even then, in the middle of a fight, I was annoyed that it was Wizzie and Erin who were fighting each other – leader against leader – and I knew I didn’t like that.

That tiny slip of concentration was all Morgan needed. She pulled herself free of me and punched me hard across the face. I saw stars, I really did, but I held on to her hair and pulled her with me as I rolled across the ground.

It was then I heard the roars and cheers from the crowd. The whole school had gathered to watch us.

At last I managed to get to my feet, but I didn’t waste a moment. I didn’t want to fight with Grace Morgan. I wanted Wizzie. I was sure she was getting the better of Erin.

I pushed Grace aside so hard she fell against Lauren and caught a blow meant for Heather. I yelled with laughter and turned and jumped in between Wizzie and Erin. I pulled Wizzie’s head back and stopped a punch that was heading straight for my friend. Wizzie turned on me – just as I’d planned – anger flaming in her eyes. She was ready to leap at me, but she was suddenly pulled away again. Erin was on her feet, fighting
Wizzie, and I had given her the chance to get the upper hand.