‘What’s wrong with you?’
‘I’ve had a horrible day, and it’s made me feel really sick. And now I’ve got a headache as well.’
‘Another run-in with Bex?’ Suzie asked perceptively.
‘Her and everyone else,’ Holly moaned. ‘She told them my mum’s a prostitute.’
‘Oh, that’s awful. Why would she do that?’
‘’Cos she’s a bitch,’ Holly spat. ‘But that’s not the worst of it. I got mad and told the hardest girl in our class something Bex had told me about her, and now she’s got it in for me too. I heard some other girls going on about a fight after school, and I know Leanne was going to jump me. I managed to get out before her today, but she’ll get me tomorrow, and I don’t know what to do.’
‘Hey . . .’ Suzie said when Holly started crying. ‘Calm down before you make yourself ill for real. It’ll be OK.’
‘No it won’t,’ Holly sobbed. ‘Leanne’s massive, and she’ll batter me if she gets hold of me. All I wanted was a couple of days off to let it die down, but my mum doesn’t give a toss.’
‘Did you tell her why you wanted to stay off?’
‘Yeah, but she said it was my own fault for gossiping. I wish I was dead!’
‘Hey, that’s enough of that,’ Suzie said firmly. ‘Nothing’s ever that bad, and don’t let me hear you say that again.’
‘But Leanne’s gonna kill me,’ Holly wailed, as if her friend hadn’t grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Suzie was quiet for moment. Then, sighing, she said, ‘OK, here’s what we’re going to do. Get ready for school as usual tomorrow morning, then come round to mine. I’ll leave the back door open for you.’
‘Why?’ Holly sniffed.
‘If you need a couple of days to let things blow over, I’ll ring your school and pretend to be your mum,’ said Suzie. ‘I’ll tell them you’ve come down with a stomach bug or something.’
Holly’s heart momentarily leapt before immediately sinking again. It sounded like the perfect solution, but she’d never wagged school in her life, and the thought of getting caught and dragged in front of the Head again terrified her almost as much as the thought of being gripped by Leanne.
‘I can’t,’ she said. ‘I’ll get into trouble.’
‘Trust me, you won’t,’ Suzie insisted. ‘Me and my mates used to do it all the time and we never got caught. Now quit worrying and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.’
17
After a restless night, Holly felt like death warmed up when she got up the next morning, and she groaned when she saw her pasty complexion and the dark circles under her eyes. Wondering if it might be worth waking her mum to ask again if she could stay off, she shuffled out into the hall, but changed her mind when she heard deep rumbling snores coming through her mum’s door.
Back in her own room, she picked her phone up off the bedside table when it beeped as she was pulling her uniform on, and her stomach turned to water when she read the message on the screen.
I’m waiting, bitch. See you soon!
It had come from a withheld number, so she didn’t know who had sent it, but she figured it had to be Leanne, which meant that the girl was probably intending to ambush her on her way to school.
Jumping when another message pinged onto her phone, Holly gazed down at it and was relieved to see that it was from Suzie this time.
Morning, hon, are you coming over? X
Holly bit her lip and stared at it for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. Then, her heart racing, she typed Be there in a minute X and quickly pressed Send before she could change her mind.
Suzie’s back gate was unlocked and Holly found herself in a small, neat garden when she stepped through it. Ahead of her, the kitchen door was standing ajar, and she could see Suzie moving around in the kitchen wearing the same black satin dressing gown she’d seen her in on the morning after Rob had attacked her. Still nervous about skipping school, she contemplated leaving before Suzie spotted her. But it was too late. Suzie walked over to the sink at that exact moment and waved to her through the window.
‘I was starting to think you’d lost your nerve,’ Suzie said, kissing Holly on the cheek when she came inside.
‘I nearly did,’ Holly admitted.
‘Glad you didn’t,’ Suzie said, moving over to the counter when four pieces of golden brown bread popped out of the toaster. Dropping them onto a plate, she said, ‘Be a pet and butter those. Unless you prefer yours dry?’
‘Oh. Is some of that for me?’ Holly asked.
‘I had a feeling you might skip breakfast if your stomach was still iffy, so I’m making enough for both of us,’ Suzie said, switching the kettle on before cracking three eggs into a frying pan. ‘You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to, but it’ll go in the bin if you don’t.’
‘It’s OK, I’ll have it,’ Holly said, smiling to herself as she took a tub of margarine out of the fridge. It had been a long time since anyone had made breakfast for her. She presumed her mum must have done it for her when she was younger, but she genuinely couldn’t remember.
When the food was plated and the tea was brewed, they sat at the table facing each other.
‘This is nice,’ Suzie said, sprinkling salt onto her eggs. ‘You probably won’t understand, ’cos you’ve got your mum, but I miss having someone to eat with now Rob’s gone.’
‘My mum’s always asleep when I go to school, so we never have breakfast together,’ Holly said, covering her mouth with her hand to avoid spitting crumbs onto the table.
‘What about dinner?’ Suzie asked, taking a tiny bite of toast.
Swallowing loudly, Holly said, ‘She eats at work, so I usually make a butty or stick a pizza in the microwave.’
‘That’s a shame,’ Suzie said. ‘But at least you know how to take of yourself. I was a mess when I left home; took me ages to figure out how to use a cooker.’
‘I’ve been doing it ever since I can remember,’ said Holly. ‘I do all the cleaning and washing as well.’
Suzie heard the pride in her voice and smiled. ‘Independent little thing, aren’t you?’
Holly shrugged and shoved another forkful of egg into her mouth.
‘Any word from Bex?’ Suzie asked.
Holly shook her head. ‘No, but I got a message off Leanne. There was no number, but I know it was her.’
‘What did it say?’ Suzie reached for her cup and took a sip of tea.
Mouth full again, Holly lifted her phone out of her blazer pocket and, bringing up the message, showed it to Suzie.
Leaning forward, Suzie squinted at it and said, ‘Bloody hell, your screen’s a mess, hon. What have you been doing with it?’
‘It was like that when I got it.’ Holly blushed. ‘My mum found it at work and they let her keep it.’
‘Ah, well, as long as it works, who cares?’ Suzie said. Then, tutting softly when she’d read the message, she sat back and said, ‘Ignore it. She’s only trying to scare you.’
‘It’s worked,’ Holly muttered, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. ‘I was going to go in before that came.’
‘Try to forget about it for now,’ Suzie counselled, pushing her plate away and lighting a cigarette. ‘I’ll get dressed when I’ve had this, then we’ll go down to the studio and work on those photos we took the other night. I’ve already edited a few, and they’re looking really good.’
‘Can we ring school first?’ Holly asked, glancing at the clock. ‘The bell goes in fifteen minutes, and they’ll text my mum to ask why I’m not there if I miss registration.’
‘Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,’ Suzie said, picking her phone up off the table. ‘Do you know the number or should I google it?’
‘Google,’ Holly said, feeling nervous again.
‘Relax, it’ll be fine.’ Suzie smiled. ‘What’s the name?’
‘Holly Evans.’
‘I meant the name of the school.’
‘Oh,
sorry. Parkside High.’
‘Ooh, get you.’ Suzie arched an eyebrow. ‘One of my old friends went there. Very posh.’
‘I hate it.’ Holly pulled a face. ‘They all think they’re better than me ’cos they’re rich.’
‘Hey, you’re as good as them all day long, and don’t you forget it,’ Suzie said. ‘Money isn’t everything. You’re clever and kind, and I’d rather have you for a friend than some snobby little cow.’
Holly smiled and shoved the last piece of toast into her mouth.
‘I know what you mean about hating school, though,’ Suzie went on as she typed the name of Holly’s school into her phone. ‘I wagged most of my last year and missed most of my exams. I was lucky I got taken on by the first agent I approached, or I’d probably be stacking shelves or cleaning bogs right now.’
‘That’s what my mum reckons I’ll end up doing if I fail mine,’ Holly said, gathering their plates and forks together. ‘She’s always nagging at me to revise so I don’t end up like her.’
‘Oh, is she a cleaner?’ Suzie asked. ‘I was wondering what she did. And does she always work lates?’
‘Yep.’
‘Don’t you get scared being on your own every night?’
‘I’m used to it.’ Holly shrugged. ‘And I still wouldn’t see much of her even if she worked days, ’cos she always goes straight to bed as soon as she comes home.’
She carried the plates to the sink, and Suzie watched her thoughtfully as she washed them and the frying pan before wiping the cooker and the counter. She was guarded when it came to talking about her mum, but some of the things she’d let slip during their conversations gave Suzie the impression that she’d pretty much been left to bring herself up – which probably explained why she was forbidden from going out or answering the door when her mum was out: in case someone realized she was being left alone overnight and reported her mum for neglect. She might be almost sixteen now, but who knew how young she’d been when it had first started happening?
Still, it was their business, not hers, so she tore her gaze off the girl and phoned the school.
‘Oh, hello, is this Parkside High? I’m calling to let you know that my daughter won’t be coming in today. Her name’s Holly Evans and she’s in year ten.’
‘Eleven!’ Holly hissed, snapping her head round.
‘Sorry, I mean year eleven,’ Suzie corrected herself. ‘I’ve been up half the night and I’m not thinking straight. Anyway, she’s been sick and her temperature’s still high, so I’m waiting for a call back from the doctor. I’ll let you know how we get on.’
‘What did they say?’ Holly asked, wiping her hands on a tea towel when Suzie had finished the call.
‘That they hope you’ll be feeling better soon, and to let them know if you’re going to be off for more than a few days so they can arrange to have some work sent home for you,’ Suzie said, smiling as she stubbed the cigarette out and got up. ‘Now relax and make us another brew while I get dressed, then we’ll go downstairs.’
Nodding, Holly refilled the kettle and switched it on, then rinsed out their cups and put a new teabag in each. As she waited for the water to boil, a new message pinged onto her phone. It was just one word this time: Shithouse! Staring at it, she chewed on her lip. It was definitely Leanne, because she’d never heard Bex use that word, and she dreaded the thought of what would happen when she went back to school. But the girl couldn’t get to her while she was here, so she determinedly pushed it out of her mind and made the teas.
18
Down in the cellar, cut off from the rest of the world, Holly forgot her troubles for a few hours as she and Suzie went through the photos. As Suzie had promised, the edited ones really did look as if they had been shot at various exotic locations around the world, and Holly wished she could post some of them onto her Facebook page so Bex and Julie could see how gorgeous Suzie had made her look. But her mum checked her page and would want to know where and when they had been taken, so she couldn’t risk it.
The photos of Holly weren’t going on the website, so they concentrated on separating Holly’s shots of Suzie into sets of definites, maybes and hell nos! Uploading the ‘definites’ turned out to be a little trickier than they had anticipated, and they wasted a fair bit of time messing about with the dimensions before they got the hang of it.
All too soon, it was time for Holly to go home, and the dread she’d pushed to the back of her mind resurfaced as she left the artificial light of the cellar and emerged into the bright daylight of the kitchen.
‘Don’t worry, it’ll be fine,’ Suzie said, giving her a hug before she left.
‘Hope so,’ Holly replied, her stomach already churning at the thought of facing her mum.
Holly took a deep breath before inserting the key into the lock when she reached the flat, and she did a quick mental run-through of what Suzie had told her to say if her mum had found out that she’d wagged school. She was to say that she had gone, but that, because of the messages she’d received, she’d been too scared to go inside when she saw Leanne and a gang of girls waiting for her at the gate. Then, to keep Suzie out of it, she was to say that she had phoned the school and pretended to be her mum, and had spent the rest of the day hiding in the park. And if her mum got mad, she was to start crying and ask if her mum would have preferred for her to come home in an ambulance – because that was what would have happened if Leanne and the others had got their hands on her.
Praying that she wouldn’t slip up, she entered the hallway and hung her blazer on a peg. She could smell food, and she was surprised to find a pan of stew bubbling on the stove when she went into the kitchen. Her mum rarely cooked, and never from scratch, and she wondered what the occasion was.
‘I thought I heard the door,’ Josie said, walking into the room behind her. ‘How was school?’
‘OK,’ Holly said warily, wondering if it was a trick question; that her mum knew she’d wagged it and was giving her the chance to confess before the axe fell.
‘That’s good.’ Josie smiled and patted her arm. Then, apologetically, she said, ‘Sorry about yesterday, love. I wasn’t in the best of moods, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. How did you get on with that girl you were talking about? Did she give you any trouble?’
Holly shook her head.
‘Well, let me know if she does and I’ll go in and make sure the Head puts a stop to it,’ Josie said, picking up a spoon and stirring the stew.
Scared of her mum going to the school and finding out that she had supposedly rung them that morning, Holly said, ‘No! It’s fine now. I, um, sorted everything out with Bex and she told Leanne to back off.’
Josie put the spoon down and peered at her. ‘You’ve never told Bex anything you shouldn’t, have you? About us, I mean.’
‘No, of course not,’ said Holly. ‘We don’t really talk about our parents. It’s more about homework and what we’ve watched on telly, and that.’
‘I hope that’s the truth, ’cos all it’ll take is for someone to say the wrong thing and we could lose everything. You know that, don’t you?’
‘I know,’ Holly murmured, averting her gaze when she felt her cheeks heating up. ‘I, um, need to get changed,’ she said, edging towards the door.
Josie glanced up at the clock, and said, ‘Hurry up, then. I haven’t got long.’
In her bedroom, Holly leaned back against the door and breathed a sigh of relief. Her mum definitely didn’t know she’d skipped school, so she’d got away with it. But the tension of not knowing had made her feel sick, and she didn’t think she could go through it all again tomorrow. So, as scared as she was of Leanne, she was going to have to go to school and try to avoid the girl. There were numerous ways to get onto the school grounds, and Leanne and her mates couldn’t guard them all, so all she had to do was slip in and out without them catching her, and then make sure she was always in view of a teacher during break times, and she would be OK. It would only be for a couple of mo
nths, until the exams were out of the way; after that she would never have to see any of the stupid bitches again.
Josie was sitting on the sofa with a bowl of stew on her lap when Holly went back to the living room after changing out of her uniform. Holly’s bowl was on the coffee table, alongside a plate of buttered bread.
‘Like it?’ Josie asked when Holly dipped a piece of bread into the stew and stuffed it into her mouth.
‘Mmmm.’ Holly nodded and swallowed. ‘It’s lovely.’
‘It was your favourite when you were little.’ Josie smiled. ‘I should try to do it more often.’
‘That’d be good,’ Holly said. ‘Suzie says . . .’ Pulling herself up short when she realized what she’d said, she flashed a glance at her mum out of the corner of her eye to see if she’d picked up on it.
She had, and she gave Holly a quizzical look. ‘Suzie?’
‘Um, Bex’s mum,’ Holly lied, hoping she’d never mentioned that Bex’s mum was actually called Tina. ‘She reckons home-cooked food is healthier than shop-bought.’
‘Does she now?’ Josie rolled her eyes. ‘Easy to say when you can afford to buy fresh every day. Stuck-up cow.’
Holly didn’t answer and they ate on in silence. Josie finished first and took her bowl into the kitchen, leaving it on the ledge beside the sink before pouring a glass of vodka and lemonade. Bringing it back to the sofa, she caught Holly flicking a disapproving glance at the glass and said, ‘What?’
‘Nothing,’ Holly murmured, picking up on the edge to her mum’s voice and wanting to avoid an argument.
Josie took a defiant swig of the drink and then lit a cigarette and settled back in her seat, asking, ‘So what did you do today?’
‘At school?’ Holly asked, wary again.
‘Where else would I be talking about?’ Josie gave her a bemused look.
‘Er, maths, history, geography and RE,’ Holly said, mentally visualizing her timetable in case her mum had already checked it.
‘Got any homework?’
Witness Page 10
