triangular graphs spread out between us.
“If you ever want to talk about anything, Jack, you know I’m always here, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer. Jono once said to me, “Listen mate, given the state of you it’s a good thing your family’s even weirder and more fucked up than everyone else’s – the girls can’t get enough of it. They all want to help you get over your inner demons. You’re sorted.”
Personally, I found that a little creepy.
But Georgie Hicks hadn’t called for a while. I’d made my feelings pretty clear. Either way, Mum and Louis were bound to get suspicious if they answered the phone to a girl asking for me. It was clear they both thought Bethany’s mother was poisonous, but they’d basically agreed with her. If they found out we were seeing each other, life would soon become very unpleasant.
I sighed, blowing out a cloud of smoke. I’d have to use Sammy as a go-between. Bethany’s mate from the girls’ school wasn’t to be trusted – she’d obviously blabbed to someone about the festival.
They could pass on messages; Jono at a push. Bethany and I would meet in secret. Maybe after a while her mum would chill out and come round, and we wouldn’t have to be so ridiculously 007 about all this. It had been pretty obvious that the idea of splitting us up came more from her mum than her dad.
I knew what I needed to do. I had to see her. Now. I had to tell her my plan.
Bethany lived in one of the big houses right on the outskirts of town – twenty minutes’ walk down past the church. But I bumped into Jono – literally – while I was still in the park. We crashed into each other just past the big old wrought-iron lamp post in the middle of the green, neither of us properly looking where we were going.
“Shit!” I said, before I realized who it was. “Sorry.”
Jono barely seemed to notice that we’d smashed right into each other. He grabbed me by the arm. “Jack,” he hissed. “I was just going home to call you –” it was a good thing he hadn’t: Mum thought I’d gone to bed early, but she might still have come upstairs to see if I was awake enough to speak to Jono – “I was down at the Spar and I saw Ben Curtis.”
I stared at him a minute, getting my head around the fact that Jono and I were now running on different tracks. He’d just got home from a festival: he was knackered. He’d be going to bed soon, ready to wake up for school. I’d entered another world, one where Bethany’s parents had forbidden us from seeing one another, and Herod was missing, being searched for by the police.
“So what?” I asked. Ben Curtis is this career dope smoker in our year – bit of a knob, really. Kind of guy who gets all snitty if you skin up and there’s a wrinkle in the spliff. Uses a rolling mat, takes it all far too seriously.
“He had a broken nose, Jack.”
“And?” I shrugged, impatient. I wanted Bethany. Nothing was going to stop me getting to her: not her mother and definitely not Jono in a stress about Ben Curtis’s nose. He’s well ugly, anyway: a broken nose would most likely be an improvement.
Jono sighed, looking at me as if I was a complete idiot. “Buggy did it. Ben owed him nine quid.”
I stared at him, fully concentrating now. “What?
Nine pounds
. Are you serious?”
There were implications. Buggy and I had an agreement. It was a small town. I’d been buying dope off him for over a year now. He’d given me the lovely sticky on credit. A whole quarter. I owed him twenty quid. It was cool, I’d thought at the time, because I was waiting for my Christmas cash from Dad (six months late, but never mind). I’d rather eat my own face than ask my father for money, but I wasn’t about to turn down a Christmas present. I’d have it any day now, swore to Buggy he’d get what I owed him by the end of the month.
“You didn’t pay him,” Jono asked, “did you?”
Well, there was no use in Jono panicking all over town. I smiled,
“If you ever want to talk about anything, Jack, you know I’m always here, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer. Jono once said to me, “Listen mate, given the state of you it’s a good thing your family’s even weirder and more fucked up than everyone else’s – the girls can’t get enough of it. They all want to help you get over your inner demons. You’re sorted.”
Personally, I found that a little creepy.
But Georgie Hicks hadn’t called for a while. I’d made my feelings pretty clear. Either way, Mum and Louis were bound to get suspicious if they answered the phone to a girl asking for me. It was clear they both thought Bethany’s mother was poisonous, but they’d basically agreed with her. If they found out we were seeing each other, life would soon become very unpleasant.
I sighed, blowing out a cloud of smoke. I’d have to use Sammy as a go-between. Bethany’s mate from the girls’ school wasn’t to be trusted – she’d obviously blabbed to someone about the festival.
They could pass on messages; Jono at a push. Bethany and I would meet in secret. Maybe after a while her mum would chill out and come round, and we wouldn’t have to be so ridiculously 007 about all this. It had been pretty obvious that the idea of splitting us up came more from her mum than her dad.
I knew what I needed to do. I had to see her. Now. I had to tell her my plan.
Bethany lived in one of the big houses right on the outskirts of town – twenty minutes’ walk down past the church. But I bumped into Jono – literally – while I was still in the park. We crashed into each other just past the big old wrought-iron lamp post in the middle of the green, neither of us properly looking where we were going.
“Shit!” I said, before I realized who it was. “Sorry.”
Jono barely seemed to notice that we’d smashed right into each other. He grabbed me by the arm. “Jack,” he hissed. “I was just going home to call you –” it was a good thing he hadn’t: Mum thought I’d gone to bed early, but she might still have come upstairs to see if I was awake enough to speak to Jono – “I was down at the Spar and I saw Ben Curtis.”
I stared at him a minute, getting my head around the fact that Jono and I were now running on different tracks. He’d just got home from a festival: he was knackered. He’d be going to bed soon, ready to wake up for school. I’d entered another world, one where Bethany’s parents had forbidden us from seeing one another, and Herod was missing, being searched for by the police.
“So what?” I asked. Ben Curtis is this career dope smoker in our year – bit of a knob, really. Kind of guy who gets all snitty if you skin up and there’s a wrinkle in the spliff. Uses a rolling mat, takes it all far too seriously.
“He had a broken nose, Jack.”
“And?” I shrugged, impatient. I wanted Bethany. Nothing was going to stop me getting to her: not her mother and definitely not Jono in a stress about Ben Curtis’s nose. He’s well ugly, anyway: a broken nose would most likely be an improvement.
Jono sighed, looking at me as if I was a complete idiot. “Buggy did it. Ben owed him nine quid.”
I stared at him, fully concentrating now. “What?
Nine pounds
. Are you serious?”
There were implications. Buggy and I had an agreement. It was a small town. I’d been buying dope off him for over a year now. He’d given me the lovely sticky on credit. A whole quarter. I owed him twenty quid. It was cool, I’d thought at the time, because I was waiting for my Christmas cash from Dad (six months late, but never mind). I’d rather eat my own face than ask my father for money, but I wasn’t about to turn down a Christmas present. I’d have it any day now, swore to Buggy he’d get what I owed him by the end of the month.
“You didn’t pay him,” Jono asked, “did you?”
Well, there was no use in Jono panicking all over town. I smiled,
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