‘What was that all about?’ I said.
‘Nothing. It’s fine.’
‘But who is that Michelle person?’ I had a horrible feeling in my stomach. I hadn’t understood what was going on. And Finn had seemed so anguished.
Becky frowned, chewing the end of one of her dreadlocks. ‘She runs a – a refuge place. I was thinking of going there because of, you know, Dex. But he’s not doing me any harm now, is he? I can look after myself. I don’t know why they think I can’t.’
I thought of Dex coming up to me, leaning close and threatening, asking about her, but I didn’t say anything. Dex was definitely scared of Marcus, so it would be all right as long as he was around. Probably.
I tried to relax. A refuge didn’t sound so bad. At least they weren’t talking about – drug rehab. I realised, as I let myself say the words in my head, that that was what I’d been fearing. That Becky was hooked on hard drugs and in real trouble. But just because she looked so weird and out of it, it didn’t mean she was an addict. Did it?
A women’s refuge sounded like a good idea. Becky had problems, I knew that. And I wanted her to get them sorted out, of course I did. I remembered the lively pretty girl she had been, who I had so admired and envied … But did it really mean we had to leave now?
I promised myself I’d keep a close eye on her, do my best to make her eat, and keep her away from Dex.
And I tried not to think of the look of disgust in Finn’s eyes as he’d turned away.
Chapter Twenty
GEORGE
‘George? Hey, George! Marcus wants to see you. Now!’
‘Er, what?’ Half awake, I pushed my head out of the tent flaps to see who was shouting.
It was Cami. ‘He wants to see you now, over in the office.’
‘Why?’
‘How do I know? You must have done something serious though. He’s furious.’ Cami looked bleary-eyed, bruised, and a bit cagey.
I didn’t like the sound of this. Marcus made me nervous at the best of times. I couldn’t think of anything I’d done to annoy him, so why did he want to see me? I peered back at Becky, wondering if she’d come and support me, but she was still asleep, lying on her back and snoring softly. I thought she had probably taken another sleeping pill, in which case I wouldn’t get much sense out of her for a while.
‘I’ll just get dressed,’ I said to Cami. When I emerged into the cool morning air he had gone.
Hardly anyone else was up yet. There were bits of mist swirling around in the trees and over the river, quite pretty actually, but I hunched my shoulders inside my jacket and felt sorry for myself. I hadn’t even had time to put on make-up and felt sure I looked pale and freckly. My bruises would be showing and my hair sticking out all over. Maybe I should buy a beanie like Finn’s to keep it under control.
Marcus was sitting behind a long desk, looking thunderous. I glanced around quickly but the only other person in the room was a big quiet man who was rarely far from Marcus. I thought his name was Davy. I quite liked him, he was certainly a lot better than Marcus’s other sidekick Chester, the fat guy with the ponytail, but just now he was pretending not to notice me.
‘Er, you wanted to see me?’
‘That’s right.’
He glowered at me in silence.
He was starting to freak me out. I hadn’t done anything wrong, unlike just about everybody else at this bloody festival. ‘What was it about?’ I said eventually. Had he wanted Becky to leave, too, last night? Was he furious with me about that?
‘This!’ He pointed at two greyish-white tablets on the desk in front of him. At first I thought they were paracetamol, but then I looked closer. There was a faint indent of a smiling face on each tablet. Not paracetamol, then.
‘Er, what’s that?’ I said, confused.
‘Pretending you don’t know, hey? I thought you were going to be a good influence on Beck. But you’re not, are you?’ He leaned across the desk like he wanted to hit me. I backed off, but he just raised his voice. ‘Using your oh-so-helpful little school girl image as a front. I’ve told Dex I’m not having any kids dealing here and I mean it. Get it? I want you off the site. Now!’
I could feel my throat choking up. I wasn’t used to people shouting at me. ‘What? I don’t understand.’
‘What’s this, hey? Hey?’ He touched the tablets with the end of his pen. ‘Who supplied these to a bunch of English kids? Beatrice, one of them was called. Said she knew you.’
‘It wasn’t me,’ I said, my voice sounding high-pitched and panicky. ‘Like I said, I don’t even know what it is.’ Although I had a suspicion now. Hadn’t Beatrice been going on and on about getting hold of some ecstasy, like it was her biggest ambition ever? ‘It’s nothing to do with me.’
‘That’s not what they say.’
‘But …’ I wished I’d woken up properly before all this happened. Someone – Beatrice? – was saying I had supplied them with ecstasy? I knew Beatrice wasn’t that bright but surely even she must realise she couldn’t make up something like this. ‘Look, I didn’t. Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wouldn’t know how to get hold of any of that – stuff. Let alone sell it.’
‘So how do you explain this?’ Marcus was a tall man, dark and intimidating. ‘That Graham girl, she says you gave her this to try. And she was so excited she blabbed to everyone, which was how my guys found it so easily. I’ve had enough of badly behaved kids at this festival. Don’t you get it?’
I wanted to say the only badly behaved kid I knew was his own brother. And Cami had certainly been supplying us underage girls with alcohol with no thought for the consequences … And then I remembered. Cami had never actually given anything to Beatrice and her friend. He had always asked me to go up to the bar with him and carry drinks to them. And not just drinks. Crisps, and then that screwed up bit of paper ... I remember now how Beatrice had glanced at it and given an extra-high-pitched giggle and looked gleefully at her friend.
Oh no. What on earth had I passed on?
I felt sick.
‘Not got so much to say for yourself now, have you?’ said Marcus, bringing me back to the present. ‘You know I could report you to the police for this? But I won’t, ’cos Christ knows we’ve had enough problems with them already. So just clear off and we’ll forget it. Okay? You can pack your stuff now and go.’
I wanted to shout But it wasn’t me! Yet if I did that he’d ask for an explanation, which would involve Cami, and I wasn’t at all sure mentioning his little brother would make things any better for me.
‘I think there must have been an, er, a mistake,’ I said, sounding pathetic.
‘Aye! And you’re the one who made it!’ Marcus was standing up now, towering across the desk at me, not bothering to keep his voice down. ‘Get out!’
At that moment the door banged open and Becky appeared, looking flushed and breathless. ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’
‘Becky! Thank God …’ If anyone could make it all right with Marcus, she could.
‘What’s happened?’ She was asking Marcus, not me, and once again she was back to the switched-on, wide-awake Becky.
Marcus sat back down. He nodded towards me and said, his tone quieter, ‘She was dealing. That’s not on.’
‘Georgina?’ I could have done without quite that amount of disbelief in Becky’s voice. ‘No way. She doesn’t know anything about that kind of stuff.’
‘That’s what I thought. But we found some other youngsters with E last night and they say they got it from her.’ Marcus was watching Becky carefully, like he was willing to listen to her.
‘And did they?’ Becky asked me bluntly.
‘Well … we were all in the pub tent. And someone asked me to pass stuff on and so I did. But I’d no idea what it was. Honestly.’
‘Shame,’ said the man Davy sympathetically, entering the conversation for the first time. He looked happier now Marcus wasn’t shouting. ‘You need to learn never to pass stu
ff on for people. Never.’
‘What an idiot,’ Becky said, shaking her head like she had never done anything stupid in her life. ‘Did you really do that?’
‘Well, I didn’t know, did I?’ I was starting to feel annoyed, which was a whole lot better than terrified. ‘I don’t normally hang around with people who hand out drugs.’
‘You need to be careful here,’ said Becky, as though this should have been as obvious to me as it was to her and Davy. She turned back to Marcus. ‘So, it wasn’t really George. She was just naïve, like I said. Sounds as though you should be looking somewhere else for the source of the problem.’
He drummed his fingers on the desk, watching her with a much more friendly expression than he’d ever shown me. ‘Who?’
I held my breath. I didn’t want to say Cami’s name.
‘Who do you think?’ said Becky.
There was a silence then Marcus said, ‘The little bastard. This has got to stop.’ He and Becky looked at each other, he furious, she shrugging ever so slightly.
I waited, on tenterhooks. When neither of them said anything I cleared my throat. ‘So you realise it wasn’t me? And, er, I can stay?’ I didn’t care what Marcus decided about Cami, I just didn’t want to get thrown out of the festival.
‘I suppose so. If Beck wants you to.’
Becky nodded. I grinned.
Marcus said, ‘But can we try to keep things clean from now on? Huh?’
‘But it wasn’t me …’ I started to say, but Becky was already hurrying me out of the door. Marcus said something to her I didn’t catch and she shrugged and carried on walking.
As soon as we were out of earshot she demanded, ‘What did you get involved in that for? Jesus!’
‘It wasn’t my fault. How was I supposed to know?’
‘We should never have brought you.’ Becky was chewing one of her dark locks, looking gloomy. ‘Your dad will have a fit if he finds out about this. Not to mention your mum.’
That was true of course but what was the point of worrying about it now? They’d have a fit about absolutely everything to do with the festival. ‘Look, I’m here, I’m fine. I won’t have anything to do with Cami again.’
She made a vague, all-encompassing gesture with her hands. ‘It’s not just Cami. Everyone is involved in something. You don’t fit in here.’
‘I’m fine,’ I snapped. ‘Not everyone is involved, some people happen to just come here for the music. And what about Finn? Don’t tell me he’s dealing.’
She sighed. ‘Who knows what Finn is up to?’ Her expression softened at the mention of him. At least it got her off my back. I still didn’t see how it could be my fault that I’d got caught handing on a few tablets. It was the sort of mistake anyone could make.
Probably time to change the subject. While we were in the bothy I’d noticed they had something I really needed – an electric socket! I said, ‘Do you think Marcus would let me charge my phone in there? My battery’s really low.’
‘What? Oh, probably. But not right now. Give him a chance to calm down.’
So that might at least be one good thing to come out of this mess.
When we got back to the camping area, I looked around for bloody Cami, keen to have a few words with him, but surprise, surprise he seemed to have vanished.
Chapter Twenty-One
FINN
I’d done this before, for Mum once. And I’d seen her do it, and her other loser friends. Dex would probably have been able to tell me exactly where to go, but there was no way I was going to ask him.
I hung around the back of the supermarket, near the railway station, just watching people. You get to know the kind of people to look for. The loud, wild-eyed ones are the addicts, too spaced or desperate to keep a low profile. It’s the quiet guys in the dark hoodies who are the dealers, drifting from one corner to another, like they’ve all the time in the world.
They watched me, too. One of them came up to me before I’d plucked up courage to say anything. ‘What you hanging around here for?’ he said, narrow chin stuck out aggressively.
I tried to sound relaxed, like I knew what I was talking about. ‘I was hoping to score some Buppy.’ Silence. He looked at me, his unshaven face blank. ‘Or Subs?’ Still nothing. Shit. This really hadn’t been a good idea.
Then I had a brain wave. ‘I don’t live round here. You might have guessed. But I’m at the festival in the Forest, with my mum, and she’s trying to go cold turkey. And it’s not working. And I thought if I could get some Buppy for her ...’ I realised he believed me now, because it was so near the truth and I was so desperate.
‘One tab, okay? Then beat it.’ He named a price and I paid without haggling. I was shaking so much I could hardly hand the money over. And it wasn’t just because the guy was seriously scary. Or because I was petrified Beck was going the way Mum had. It was because it was all so bloody easy. Where were the police? Why didn’t they do something?
GEORGE
During the day, stalls selling everything from army surplus clothing to crystals and incense sticks began setting up. It gave the site a totally different feel, busier and brighter.
I’d have liked to walk around with Becky, but she said she wanted to lie down for a bit. Actually, once she’d got over being bright and confident when she spoke to Marcus, she did look a bit ill. Restless and sweaty. I wondered if there was something I could do for her, but she just told me to leave her in peace.
I splashed out on a stripy crocheted hat in pink and yellow and orange. If I couldn’t hide my stupid hair I thought I might as well accentuate it, and at least this stopped it sticking out. Then I bought a venison burger. It was nice to eat something that didn’t come out of a packet or tin.
I saw Beatrice Graham in the distance. Stupid git. Did she really think the ecstasy had come from me? She must have given someone money for it and the funds certainly hadn’t come my way. But I couldn’t be bothered to try and explain. If she had got in trouble from Marcus’s men she didn’t seem to mind. She waved cheerily and made to come over and speak but I managed to avoid her.
I charged my phone for a while in the office. Only Davy was there so it was fine. And then I made my duty calls. Mum was still satisfied with texts, thank goodness, but Dad was being really annoyingly nosey and wanted to know why I kept using my mobile and when was the house phone going to be fixed. He made noises about contacting BT himself but I thought I managed to head him off. I did not need more complications!
I tried to enjoy myself. Having so nearly been made to leave the site – three bloody times! – it seemed more important than ever to have fun. I’d got to know a few of the other volunteers so I had people to chat to, and it was interesting to take my turn manning the gates (keeping away from Dex) but it all seemed somehow a bit dull. Like I had expected something better. Maybe once the proper bands started tonight it would change.
I wondered where Finn had gone to. He had been furious last night about Becky staying. I really hoped he didn’t get to hear about me ‘dealing’ drugs. He’d think I was more of an idiot than ever. Not that it was anything to do with him.
And then suddenly, late afternoon, he was there. And – miracles do happen – he was in a good mood.
‘Come on, time for some food before the evening really gets going,’ he said. ‘You’ve done your shifts, haven’t you? I’m doing pork ribs – boil-in-the-bag – peas and mash. My turn to cook, isn’t it?’
‘Sounds good to me,’ I said happily. The venison burger seemed a long time ago. Plus he didn’t seem to have heard about my brush with Marcus.
‘Great. Beck is meeting us at my tent.’
My spirits sank. I should have realised Becky would be included.
I fell into step beside him as we headed back to the camping area. ‘What have you been up to today?’ I asked. I hadn’t seen him around at all.
‘This and that. Got a lift into town which is why I’m up on provisions.’
‘That’s good.
’ I wished he’d told me and I could have asked him to get some stuff for me. Or maybe not. I was running low on make-up (it went so quickly when you used such a lot) and I couldn’t really ask him to pick that up.
He dropped his voice as we approached his tent. Becky was already waiting, twirling one of her dark locks. ‘Beck been okay, has she? I wish she’d gone with Michelle.’
I shot him a wary look. Was he blaming me?
He said, ‘Still, if you’re keeping an eye on her …’
I nodded, to show willing, although I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to stop Becky doing anything she really wanted to do. She was totally unpredictable. ‘I’m trying,’ I said doubtfully, but he seemed pleased.
‘Okay, so who’s playing tonight?’ asked Finn a while later, as we sat around on our precarious stools and dug into the food he had prepared.
‘Not sure,’ said Becky through a full mouth. She was looking better, thank goodness. Maybe all she’d needed was sleep and food. ‘The Tea Leaves? Murdo Mensah? Some country stuff in the pub tent.’
‘Murdo Mensah’s not on yet,’ I said. How could she not know that?
‘I remember now,’ said Finn. ‘There’s an Irish band head-lining on the main stage, and isn’t the Real World Tent having a drum fest? Might be worth taking a look.’
‘For a minute or two,’ said Becky dismissively. But at least she was sitting with us, talking like a normal human being. It was good to see her like this. We just had to keep her away from Dex and his crowd, they seemed to be the source of her problems.
Once the music started in earnest Becky headed for the dance tent. The steady beat of the music seemed to make her almost as spaced out as the drugs – unless she was slipping some drugs I hadn’t noticed.
‘She’ll be here for ages now,’ I said to Finn as we stood to one side, watching her. She looked fine. I decided Finn had been exaggerating, there was no need for me to be so worried about her. I was keen to look around, see some proper live bands. Even more so if Finn came too.
Music and Lies (George and Finn Book 1) Page 11
