by Peter Boland
Lena edged a little closer to the counter. She got near enough to tell that neither of the men behind the till was wearing any deodorant. A horrible whiff of sweat found its way up both nostrils. It threw her for a second. All she could think of was Seb and Duff in a struggle with these two men, and the pong they’d have to put up with. Why the hell was she thinking about this? She needed to focus. Fast.
The men stopped talking and looked at her. One of them raised his eyebrows as if to ask what she wanted. Lena looked back at them as her brain struggled to get into first gear. They eyed her as if she had special needs.
“Er, have you got a …” Lena was about to say charity box when her wits caught up with her, “… er, spaghetti.”
One of the men, who had several day’s growth of thick bristles around his chin, nodded to towards an aisle. Lena couldn’t tell which aisle he’d aimed his nod at, so she just picked one at random and headed towards it.
There was a sharp whistle from behind her. Lena turned and looked back.
“No, next one,” he said in a heavy accented voice.
Lena gave him a thumbs up and smiled crookedly. So much for being inconspicuous. As she walked to the aisle she heard the door open, then clatter as it closed. Lena couldn’t help herself and turned to see if it was Mack. She caught his eye. In return, he gave her a furious look and carried on towards the back of the shop. She probably wasn’t supposed to make eye contact, judging by his nasty look. The mistakes kept piling up in Lena’s brain as she realised she was heading in the wrong direction. Lena was supposed to be going towards the till, not away from it. There was no option but to keep moving, she’d look even more suspicious if she suddenly doubled back now.
Lena pretended to look for pasta, scanning up and down the shelves. She felt like the world’s worst actor. Every move she made seemed so obvious and deliberate. The storekeepers must know she was up to something. Curiosity made her steal a glance at them. They were both locked in an important discussion.
Then she saw it.
The collection box.
It was tucked well behind the till, no wonder she couldn’t see it when she came in. But from a side angle it was in plain sight.
There was a huge bang from the front of the store. It sounded like the door had been opened by a stampeding elephant.
“Hey,” said the guy with bristles, “Not so hard or you pay for it.”
Lena couldn’t see what was happening, she didn’t need to. A second later, she heard a noise she knew well – the scrapes and scuffles of a fight kicking off.
Lena knew she should stay put, but fights had a gravitational effect on her. Adrenalin squirted into her veins and she found herself standing around the corner, transfixed by the sight of Seb with Mack in a headlock. Mack’s face was going as red as sunburn, but then he pushed Duff back into a shelf of cereal. Boxes tumbled all over them as they kept on fighting. Lena couldn’t believe how real they were making this look. The two shopkeepers pushed past her, leaving a stinky wake behind them, which worked like smelling salts on Lena. She wasn’t supposed to be spectating, she was here to rob.
The two men tried to prise Mack and Seb apart. Their feet skidded on the floor and their hands grappled with the two boys, as the four of them careered all over the shop, slamming into things. Lena backed away, keeping hers eyes fixed on the scuffle. When she was out of view, she ran behind the till, grabbed the collection box and ran for the door. She had only taken a step when she was violently yanked back. Lena thought someone had grabbed her. She spun round ready to throw fists. There was nobody there. The collection box had halted her escape. A thick metal chain was attached to its base, the other end was padlocked to a bracket on the counter. Lena pulled and pulled but the box was definitely staying where it was.
She went behind the counter to see if there was anything to prise it off with. The only thing she could find was pair of scissors. She dug them into the counter to try and lever off the bracket, but it was bolted on too tightly. The struggle was still going on behind the aisles, getting louder all the time, but it wouldn’t be long before the shopkeepers got the better of Mack and Duff, and threw them out or called the police.
In desperation, Lena yanked and yanked at the chain, but it stayed put. She pulled it so hard that it lifted the whole counter, making everything on it jump up for a split second, including the till. In that instant, something caught her eye that shouldn’t have been there. A bright shiny access key poked out of the cash register. Shop keepers usually took this with them to stop people opening the till when they weren’t behind the counter. But in all the confusion these two had left it behind.
This new information sped through Lena’s brain. She dropped the collection box on the counter, this didn’t matter now. The buttons on the cash till stared back at her. Lena couldn’t figure out which one to press so she started hitting all of them randomly with her fists. Nothing happened apart from ridiculously large numbers appearing on the display. Lena banged her fists harder and quicker until there was a pleasing ‘ping’ sound. The cash tray obediently slid out nudging Lena in the stomach. It was more money than she had ever seen. The little compartments were stuffed with cash and the sight of it hypnotised her temporarily. Lena raked her hands over the till tray, grabbing as many notes as she could and stuffed them into her pockets. When they were gone she went for the coins as well. The money was pushed into every pocket she had.
A few coins fell on the floor. She thought the shop keepers would hear it and return, but the sound of the two boys fighting masked any noise she was making.
When no-one came, Lena gained confidence. A stealing frenzy gripped her like a fever and she desperately looked around for anything else she could take. Behind her were shelves of spirits. They’d need something to celebrate with when she rejoined the gang. Scanning quickly along the rows she found the most expensive one. It was a bottle of Scotch with an unpronounceable name. She put her fists around the neck and pulled it off the shelf, holding it tight to her chest. Then she walked quickly out of the shop with her head down, resisting the urge to look at the scrap going on down the aisle.
When she was clear of the shop, Lena sprinted as hard as she could, putting as much pavement between her and the corner shop. The street was fairly empty, but just in case she darted down several side streets until her lungs wouldn’t let her run anymore.
Lena lent against a wall, panting hard while she took out her phone. She had a text message from Duff:
Park. Now.
Lena obeyed and headed straight to the park. With every step she could feel all the money bulging in her pockets like she was a walking bank. The notes crunched and the coins clunked and dug into her skin. Suddenly Lena felt very conspicuous. Did everyone she passed know how much money she had on her? This thought made her walk a bit faster. She really wanted to take the main roads where it was safer, but she had to keep to the back streets just in case the shop keepers came looking for her.
At the park everyone was sitting on a roundabout apart from Liz and Si, who were on a bench with their faces clamped together in a relentless kiss. They stopped when they heard everyone shout Lena’s name. Gem jumped up first and marched towards her. It wasn’t to congratulate her, judging by the sneer on his face and his knotted eyebrows.
“What took you so long?” he said, blocking her path.
“I had a problem.”
“A problem? Don’t tell me that’s all you got,” Gem looked at the bottle Lena held tightly to her chest. “We got plenty of booze, we need cash.”
“Get out of my way,” Lena said. She didn’t wait for an answer and pushed past him. Duff and the others got up off the roundabout, looking equally cross when they saw the whiskey bottle in Lena’s hand.
“Where’s the box?” said Vicks.
“Back in the shop,” Lena replied. Now it was her turn to be cross: “Why didn’t you tell me it was chained down?”
Everyone looked at each other, then they turned to look at
Gem.
“Gem, you scoped that place out,” said Duff. “Why didn’t you see it had a chain?”
“There weren’t no chain on it; she’s lying.”
“I’m not lying,” said Lena.
Just then, Seb and Mack came running up. Their faces were puffy and Seb had a few scratches on his face.
“You okay?” asked Lena.
“Yeah,” said Mack, “but you took a long time, girl.”
“Yeah, you got to be in and out quick with something like this,” Seb added.
“This don’t look good, Lena,” said Gem. “You took too long and you didn’t get the box.”
“What?” said Mack and Seb together.
“It was chained down,” said Lena.
“It was not chained down,” said Gem. “No box, you didn’t pass the initiation, so no joining this gang.”
“Oi!” said Duff. He towered in front of Gem, glaring down at him. “It’s up to me if she joins, got it.” Gem shrank back and didn’t say anything else. “Okay, Lena,” Duff said, turning to her, “So you didn’t get the box. The whiskey’s good but we’re sorted for booze.”
“I got something else,” said Lena. She handed the bottle to Mack and then pushed her hands deep into her pockets. “Hold out your hands,” she said to Duff. A second later she dropped great big fistfuls of cash into them. There was so much money that it spilled over his hands and fell onto the grass. Vicks was quick to snatch it up. The smile that broke over Duff’s face was big enough to light up the whole park.
“Oh, that is cool,” said Duff.
“That is very cool,” said Vicks.
“Wait, there’s more,” Lena carried on pulling notes and coins from every pocket she had. This time she handed them to Vicks, as Duff couldn’t hold any more.
“Girl, you are so in this gang,” said Duff.
“Where’d you get it from?” asked Gem.
“The till,” Lena tried to say matter-of-factly, but a grin hung on every word she said. “They left the key when they went to sort out Seb and Mack.”
Everyone slapped Lena on the back and shouted whoops of joy, everyone except Gem. He stood there looking confused, this quickly turned to anger.
“Hold on, she was supposed to get the charity box,” he said. “That was the plan, she’s failed.”
“Are you tripping?” said Duff. “That charity box just had a load of change in it, no more than twenty quid. There’s hundreds here. Now come on give this girl a drink.”
Mack opened the whiskey bottle and handed it to Lena like she’d just won the grand prix. She lifted it to her lips and drank until her throat burned. Then she handed it to Duff who took several gulps.
“Damn, Lena, this is good stuff,” said Duff.
“Is it? I just grabbed the most expensive one.”
Everyone laughed. Lena looked around at all her new gang mates. She was in. She was one of the Niners. Around here that was the closest you got to being a celebrity. It was a sky-scraping moment for Lena. Now she would be looked at differently. People would give her respect and if they didn’t, the Niners would come visiting. She was like royalty now. Drink would be plentiful. No more bumming it off people or hassling students. She’d be able to get into any pubs or nightclubs in the neighbourhood. Fake IDs and queuing wouldn’t be needed. The gang had connections and those connections meant doors would open for her. It would be VIP areas all the way. She couldn’t wait to tell Tanya. Then she realised, Tanya wouldn’t be here for this new life of hers, this was for gang members only. Suddenly Lena really missed Tanya.
“Duff?” Lena said. The bottle was being passed around and everyone had relaxed. Most people were gathered around Vicks. She sat on the roundabout counting out the money, arranging it in neat little piles so it could be shared out. Duff took a hit of whiskey then handed the bottle to someone else.
“What’s up?”
“You know my friend Tanya?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Do you think she could join the Niners?”
“Don’t see why not, if she’s as good as you.”
“Oh yeah, she is and she’s smart too.”
“Okay then, if she passes the initiation.”
“Of course.”
Gem sat on the swings away from everyone else, but he was close enough to hear their conversation. He pushed himself off the swing and moved in closer. “We shouldn’t have any more girls in the gang,” he said.
“Oh, why not?” Duff asked.
“Cause it’ll make us weak. We need more blokes.”
“Why?” said Lena.
“To fight other gangs. If we’re full of chicks we’ll get our asses kicked. And then what? We’ll lose respect on the street and we’ll be nobodies.” Gem raised his voice at the end of his little speech. He wanted everyone to hear this. The cheerful banter around the gang stopped right on cue. “We need to be strong. Another girl’s not going to be any good to us in a fight. Vicks went to open her mouth in protest, but Lena got in first.
“I could beat you in a fight,” Lena said.
Gem laughed, it wasn’t natural, but forced. A few of the boys smiled and shouted encouragement. Lena couldn’t tell whether it was for her or Gem, or whether they relished the thought of a girl/boy fight. They were probably thinking of all the hits they would get on Youtube if they filmed it.
Gem suddenly became serious. “You don’t want to fight me, girl. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“That’s all right, I’ll go easy on you.” Lena said.
Vicks and Liz cheered.
“Be serious,” Gem said. “I can’t have a reputation as a guy that fights girls.”
“Chicken,” said Vicks.
“You serious about this, Lena?” asked Duff.
“Yeah, if I win, Tanya can join. If Gem wins, no more girls in the gang. And this stays within the gang, no-one else will hear about it.”
“Sounds cool to me,” said Duff.
“Hold on, what if I end up killing her,” said Gem.
“You won’t,” said Mack.
“We’ll step in if it gets out of hand,” said Seb.
Duff rubbed his chin and looked at Lena and then quickly turned his gaze on Gem. “Okay, let’s do this.” Everyone screamed with delight and pulled out their phones ready to record the fight.
“No filming,” said Gem. “This stays within the gang, remember.”
“Fair enough,” said Duff. “Put ‘em away.” There were a few groans of disappointment as everyone pocketed their phones. “You two ready?”
Lena nodded and felt a delicious hit of adrenalin in her blood, as the rest of the gang crowded around her and Gem.
“Hold on, hold on,” Duff held his hand up, a signal for everyone to be quiet. “Give ‘em some space, people.” They all moved back forming a natural circle around the two of them.
“I ain’t cool with this,” said Gem.
“Well, Lena seems to be all right with it,” Duff replied. “Go on, don’t wuss out on me.”
“It’s going to be a quick fight,” Gem said, squaring up to Lena.
“Well, you got nothing to worry about, then,” Liz shouted out.
Lena sized up Gem. He was about the same height, but carried a lot more weight. But he was far too confident and she could use that to her advantage. Lena quickly formed a strategy. The process was instinctive for her. She didn’t need to think about it. Her fists were already raised and she stood on the balls of her feet, ready to move. Gem would want to end this quickly. He’d already given away his tactics. He would come in fast and hard. He stood in front of her, a mirror image, hands up, clenched tightly. His small eyes seemed to be fixed on a point somewhere around her chin. That would be his target.
“Ready?” Duff said.
“Ready,” said Lena and Gem.
“Let’s get ready to rumble,” Si shouted out.
“Go on, Lena,” the two girls added.
“Fight!” Duff shouted.
Gem came in fast,
just as Lena had expected. She took a step back as Gem swung a punch at her chin. Lena jerked her head back so it looked like the punch had maximum impact. In reality it had just glanced off her. She even let out a whimper to add to the deception.
Gem followed it up with a left hand to the same place. Again, Lena moved back letting it slide off her face. She threw her head back, giving the impression he’d landed a belter. By now his confidence would be soaring and he’d think the fight was his. He’d want to land a killer blow to finish her. Sure enough, he pulled his right hand back to put full force behind it. The punch was released. Just before it hit Lena, she dipped her head so the blow landed on her skull just above her hairline. It was the hardest part of the head, where the bone was thickest. Like hitting a rock. Gem’s bare knuckles cracked against it, almost breaking. He cried in pain as every nerve in his hand lit up. He instinctively grabbed his injured fist with his other hand, leaving his stomach unprotected. Lena brought her leg up and planted it into his gut.
A gush of air came out of Gem’s mouth. He was winded and clutched his midriff while still holding his bruised hand. This left his face unguarded. He looked up just as Lena head butted him square on the nose. Water filled his eyes and blood fell out of his nose. He couldn’t see properly and staggered back, drifting over to the left. Lena took her time, following him at a walking pace. Gem tried to clear the blood and snot away from his face with his cuffs, leaving his middle section unprotected. Lena moved in close and drove her foot deep into his already sore stomach. The force of the second kick knocked him over backwards.
Lena seized her chance to end the fight. She fell on top of him and pelted him with rapid blows to the face. Swear words machine-gunned out of her mouth. A frenzy took over her. Now she had him down, there was no need for strategy and she could revert to a blind, violent rage.
