by Noël Cades
"Not their actual Headmaster. A mate of Chris's who's coaching at the school. Has a thing for Alice." Joe raised his eyebrows at this.
Alice wanted to sink through the floor, even more so when the man in question entered the bar the exact same moment.
"And here he is. Your round, Stewie?"
She dreaded to think how she looked to him, sitting at the bar surrounded by a load of guys. She looked at him but his expression was impassive, he gave her no signal whatsoever.
Jules was biting her lip trying not to laugh.
"You’re coaching my brother?" Joe asked him. "Mike Jackson?"
"Yes, he’s a good kid. Got some talent," Mr Walker said.
"Don’t tell him that, he’s as cocky enough as it is." Joe was sitting there with his arm on the bar in such a way that it was half around Alice. She saw Mr Walker notice this, briefly flick his eyes to hers and then look away. Her heart sank.
She didn’t know if Joe was deliberately trying to play up and annoy him, but he leaned slightly closer to Alice and even brushed her arm when he reached for a drink. He also made a point of getting her a new drink. Alice felt incredibly uncomfortable and hemmed in. She also felt guilty even though it wasn’t her fault.
Joe also brought up various reminiscences and anecdotes of former events and teachers at Fairmount, deliberately trying to establish a rapport with Alice and cut Mr Walker out. Joe was completely focused on her and it was hard for her not to respond without seeming rude.
Alice wasn’t sure if he liked the challenge, was trying to score against the more experienced man, or was acting out of some misguided rescue instinct.
She had always imagined that having two men contend over you would be hugely flattering, particularly when they were both so attractive. The reality was just awkward and embarrassing. She felt annoyed with Joe and bad for Mr Walker, and she was panicked that he might think that she was encouraging it.
He completely ignored her, not saying a single word to her. She couldn’t even try to include him in the conversation because he eventually sat apart from their group drinking with Chris.
It was a relief to finally leave.
"That was a bit of a chest baring," Jules said as they drove back afterwards.
"What do you mean?" Becky had been oblivious, wrapped up in Brett as usual.
"Joe Jackson putting the moves on Alice deliberately to rile you-know-who. I wonder if there’ll be a fight on Saturday?"
"I’m sure Mr Walker’s not going to the party." Alice said.
Jules laughed. "Of course he will. They’re all going. And more importantly, you’re going to be there."
"They won’t really fight will they?" Becky asked.
"I hope so," Jules said. "And that someone gets it on camera."
14. Party
With the first exams done and dusted and no more for nearly another two weeks, they were ready for fun. The party that night was being thrown by one of the players in Gloucester. "It’s practically a mansion," Becky had told them.
"They don’t have mansions in Gloucester, it’s a hole," Jules said. She had been persuaded to come as Leafy was somewhere else roaming around the countryside in a convoy. The festival they had been heading to in Avon was cancelled and everyone had been driven away by the police.
Now they were all looking for somewhere else to go. There were news reports every night about travellers’ vehicles getting turned away all over the country. Mush, Leafy and their crew were currently stuck somewhere in a lay-by near Stroud.
"Let’s get dressed up tonight," Becky said. If they all glammed up it would be ok. Just one of them in a little dress if the others wore jeans would look odd.
Alice was tempted to go shopping for a new outfit but she also wanted to save her money for her trip. Particularly as her veterinary job was on hold until exams were over.
Becky being petite could get away with anything and had loads of great clothes passed down from her sister as well as her own wardrobe. She was spoilt for choice and willing to lend but everything was too small a size for the others. Jules and Alice could just about swap clothes though Jules was taller.
"Is this too nightclub?" Becky asked about a white frock she was trying on.
The problem with parties in summer was that they started ages before the sun went down. Nightclubs were easy, they never went until around pub closing time when it was long after dark. Alice didn’t want to look too sweet or too slutty. If Mr Walker was there - and in her heart of hearts she knew he would be - she wanted to make the right impression. He had only ever seen her in school uniform or jeans. And her tennis skirt, she remembered in embarrassment.
"White is more day, but it’s shiny-ish so you’re fine," Jules said.
Alice picked something short, black and backless. From the front it looked relatively demure. From the back it was anything but. If it turned out to be over the top she could just stand with her back to a wall.
"You can practically see your arse in that dress. I presume it’s for lover-boy’s benefit?" Jules herself was wearing something tight and purple she’d bought from Top Shop ages ago and the others had to beg her not to pair it with Doc Martens. Instead she was forced into a pair of Becky’s sister’s old heels that were half a size too small.
"You do look amazing Alice," Becky said. "Like a popstar or something."
Alice tried to protest out of embarrassment but even Jules agreed. "You are way more attractive than Maddy or any of those girls. They only get all the boys because of who they are at school. Plus everyone knows Maddy’s easy. But a guy like Joe Jackson isn’t going to be all over just anyone like he was over you the other day."
What Jules said about Maddy was true. If you weren’t in the top echelon of cool at school you simply didn’t date anyone else there. The premier clique dated one another, everyone else looked on. Alice’s former boyfriend had been from a different school.
"Won’t it be great to be past all that?" she said. "I can’t imagine anyone cares about that stuff at university." There would still be different social sets that formed but at least they’d get to start from scratch.
Because the party was too far for a taxi and they didn’t want the mortification of a parental lift, Alice offered to drive. It meant staying sober unless they all ended up crashing somewhere, but that had its benefits. If she’d made an idiot of herself in front of him when she was high at least she wouldn’t do so again.
"Graeme still likes you," Becky said to Jules. "He’s always asking about you."
"Just because Leafy’s not here it doesn’t mean I’m going to get off with someone else."
* * *
Happily the party was already in full swing by the time they arrived. It wasn’t exactly what Alice would consider a mansion but it was a pretty large house. She wondered who owned it and how trashed it would be by the next day.
Becky immediately went off with Brett when she found him and Alice and Jules ended up talking with a group of Somerset players.
"Are there any good clubs around here?" one of them asked.
"Rockefellas, if you like hairdressers and flinty looking fifteen year olds from Gloucester High," Jules said.
Alice was on edge wondering if Mr Walker was here already and if not when he would come, and if he would come at all.
Her dress was causing a bit of sensation. Some of the guys viewed it as an open invitation to grope her back. She might have found it funny if she’d had a few to drink and she wasn’t stressing about Mr Walker seeing her with a load of men again.
Rescue came in the form of Joe Jackson, who swooped in and put a protective arm around her.
"Hands off."
"Is this your girlfriend?" The Somerset players were apologetic.
"She goes to my little brother’s school. I’m her bodyguard for the night." He planned to be more than that though, Alice thought, judging by where his hand was.
Joe was caressing the base of her spine - no one could see, thank god - and she was
trying to not like it. His fingers were trailing a really sensitive spot and making her skin shiver. Feeling guilty, she tried to arch her back and break the contact.
He laughed and put his arm further round her body, grasping her hip. This was worse. It actually looked like she was with him.
At any other time of her life she would have been over the moon about this. A guy a bit older than her, really good looking, a successful sportsman. But she wanted something different now, someone else.
They were plied with drinks on all sides and it was a struggle to stick to soft drinks. She kept telling people she was driving but the drunker they got the less they remembered or the less they cared.
Jules rolled her eyes. "Just have one Alice and we’ll figure out another way home. Your car will be ok here overnight."
Alice supposed Jules was right so accepted the next drink offered. Beer was pretty much the only option available.
"Going to finally get you drunk, am I?" Joe was really trying to put the hard word on her.
Of course it would be exactly at that moment that she saw Mr Walker. He was wearing a light blue shirt that matched his eyes and he looked amazing having been out in the sun all day. He had the kind of skin that went gold rather than sunburnt.
She tried to squirm away from Joe once again but it only made it worse as he grabbed her to him, thinking she was messing around. Mr Walker saw everything.
Jules was no help because Graeme had made a beeline for her and was chatting her up in the corner.
"It’s the Coach!" Joe said. "Is he still after you, Alice?" He called him over but Mr Walker just nodded and left the room. Alice was desolate.
"I have to find the bathroom." She slipped out of Joe’s grasp and headed in the direction that Mr Walker had gone.
Finally able to approach him she had absolutely no idea what to say. "Hi. I wasn’t sure if you’d be here."
He looked down at her. Even with her wearing heels he was far taller than her.
"Did you come with Chris?" she asked.
"I think you should get back to your boyfriend, Alice." He was firmly in school coach mode or trying to be.
"He’s not my boyfriend."
"He seemed to appreciate your dress." He let that one slip, she thought, and felt a tiny surge of joy.
"We only met the other day. I know his brother." It’s not how it looks, she wanted to say, but that was such a cliché. She wished Mr Walker would run his hand down her back. It was pretty much the only reason she had worn the dress.
Maybe if she just went to kiss him he would yield? Something held her back though, given there were so many other people around. It wasn’t that she minded them seeing but she didn’t want to embarrass and annoy him.
"Can we go and talk somewhere?" she asked.
"That’s not a good idea. You know why," he said before she could protest.
Just then Chris came up. Alice had never been more relieved to see him. Maybe he could fix this and make it happen.
"Managed to find your girl, Stewie?" he said.
Alice felt radiantly happy at the acknowledgement.
"Alice was just going back to her friends." It was a command, not an observation.
She wanted to defy him but he was clearly resolved to keep her at arms’ length. Yet again. She couldn’t hang around the two men with one of them barely refusing to speak to her. He had won this round but she was determined that she would win the next.
Perhaps she should go all out and flirt back with Joe and the other guys to try and provoke an even stronger reaction in him?
What held her back was the guilty knowledge that she would quite enjoy flirting with Joe but it would seem a betrayal. Then she felt annoyed. After all, she was a free agent. Mr Walker was constantly pushing her away. Maybe she should just go and have fun, to hell with it.
She managed to find a bathroom on her way back and bumped into Jules there.
"Did you find him?" Jules said.
"He blew me off again. Made some snarky comments about Joe Jackson."
"He’s jealous! That’s great."
"Not if he gets too jealous though. He might just give up."
"If I were you," Jules said, "I would just go for it with Joe Jackson. He’s clearly up for it. You know he’s being tipped for selection to the England squad?"
This didn’t mean a great deal to Alice as she didn’t follow cricket. All the same she had to fill the evening somehow.
When she returned to the room where Joe was she found him already surrounded by another group of girls. Before she could make an exit again he saw her. "You’re back." He pushed past the other girls and put his arm around her. So it was settled, she thought. She was effectively his date for the night.
He was young, he was handsome, he had bright blue eyes and tousled dark hair that he pushed back off his forehead. He ticked every box. But he wasn’t Mr Walker.
Still, he was obviously a bit of a player, so she didn’t feel too bad about leading him on.
* * *
They ended up outside in the garden: Joe, Alice, Graeme, Jules and a couple of others. The evening was balmy and there was a half moon in the sky. Despite the skyglow from Gloucester the stars were also bright.
As Becky had said, Graeme was still clearly keen on Jules. If Jules got drunk enough she might just yield, Leafy or no Leafy, Alice thought.
Someone passed a joint around and the familiar tang filtered through the night air. Alice skipped it because it wasn’t her thing and she wanted to keep some wits about her.
She had tried to get drunk but it didn’t seem to make her feel any better. She envied Jules who was in high spirits, telling various outrageous stories. Alice felt she was sobering up more quickly than she could drink.
Joe didn’t seem to notice she was quieter. He had his arm around her shoulders and his other hand was resting on her thigh.
Maybe Becky was right. Maybe she should just lose her virginity, get it over and done with. Joe might be ideal for the job.
Thinking about this she went to the bathroom again. All the alcohol was going straight through her. She kept an eye out for Becky and of course Mr Walker but didn’t see either of them.
"Have you seen Matt anywhere?" some girl asked her. Alice didn’t recognise her and she hadn’t heard of anyone called Matt.
It was one of those parties that got busier the later the hour as people were continuing to arrive after the pubs shut. The downstairs cloakroom was occupied so she made her way up the stairs to find another. A house this large must have several.
There were still people upstairs - couples mainly - but it was less crowded than downstairs. Various bedrooms had been taken over and there were empty glasses strewn all up the stairs and on the landing. Whoever owned the house had a massive clean up ahead of them.
Alice found an unoccupied bathroom and locked the door. After going she sat on the edge of the bath for a while, her thoughts confused. What was she doing? Where would this lead?
Eventually she got up and looked in the mirror. She was still looking ok. She swivelled to try and see where her dress was positioned and hitched it upwards and forwards a bit to avoid her underwear showing.
As she exited the bathroom she bumped into one of the Somerset players they’d spoken to earlier. "Jackson not with you?" he asked.
"He’s outside," Alice said and instantly regretted it because the guy was leering drunkenly at her.
"Come and have a drink with me."
"No thanks, I’ve got to get going," she said. The drunken player was pawing at her, not letting her past him to the stairs.
Afterwards she couldn’t remember exactly how it happened. He had somehow manhandled her through a bedroom door and pushed her onto the bed. She was crying out but he put a hand over her mouth and pushed her dress up.
He was swearing at her but his words were slurred. Alice thought she heard "fucking cocktease" but her ears were ringing with panic and everything was a blur.
He used hi
s bodyweight to pin her down. He had a heavy, chunky build and he stank of booze and cigarettes. It made her feel sick. She couldn’t move.
"Let me go," she was pleading with him, but he was groping her roughly, forcing his fingers beneath her underwear, trying to rip it off.
She was crying in fear but no matter how she struggled she couldn’t get away from him.
Where was everyone else? Why did no one come?
His hand was over her mouth again, practically covering her nose, she could hardly breathe. She couldn’t even bite his hand because he was mashing her lips against her face.
She was getting exhausted from struggling against him, trying to escape.
His body squashed hers and with his other hand he was fumbling with his own zip. He’d got it stuck and he was swearing again and calling her names as he got angrier.
If he had been only slightly less drunk he might have been less clumsy and things could have been a lot worse.
The rest of the events were almost like being in a trance.
There were voices and shouts and suddenly he was pulled off her and she was lying there dishevelled, trembling and weeping. Her dress was in disarray, perhaps torn.
Two men fighting and a punch and one dragging the other out of the room.
Someone was asking her if she was alright, some girl, and Alice was huddled into a ball. The girl had her arm round her, trying to console her.
Finally, the only people she wanted to be with were there, Jules and Becky. Joe was also there but Alice was barely aware of him as her friends took her into the bathroom and closed the door. They were both hugging her as she sobbed.
"He’s scratched your face," Becky said and dabbed the blood off with a damp tissue.
She never knew how long they stayed with her but eventually she was ok again and they helped her fix her dress and walked her down the stairs, one on either side of her like bodyguards.
Joe was very concerned about her and offered to drive her home.
"You’re way over the limit," Jules said.
