Kimberley Chambers - The Schemer

Totally besotted with one another, Barry and Stephanie carried on kissing as though they were the only two people on the train.

‘Why don’t we jib school tomorrow an’ all? Me mum’s going away for a week with her new bloke. She’s going to Spain and is sodding off first thing in the morning. Me sister won’t be about tomorrow either, ’cause her bloke’s coming out of nick and they’re having a do for him round at his brother’s house. It might be the only day we can have the house all to ourselves. What do you say?’

Stephanie felt her stomach immediately tie itself up in knots. She liked Barry, really liked him, but she wouldn’t be fifteen until another few months, and certainly wasn’t ready to take their relationship to another level yet.

‘What’s up?’ Barry asked, noticing her reluctance to answer his question.

‘I dunno. I suppose I’m just worried if someone catches me coming in or out of your house and I’m worried about the other stuff. You know?’

‘What other stuff? All we’re gonna do is drink, smoke and play music. I’ll never make you do anything you don’t wanna do, babe.’

The two old women tutted and stared at one another. ‘To think my Albert died in the war for kids like these,’ the fatter lady whispered to the other.

‘Well, if it’s just for a beer, fags and some music, yeah why not?’ Steph agreed, grinning.

Barry squeezed Stephanie’s hand and stared intently into her eyes. ‘That’s my girl.’

Pamela Crouch was not in the best of moods. She had spent the whole of the previous night sitting up in Oldchurch Hospital’s A&E department, and was so tired, she knew she wouldn’t be able to go into work today.

‘I’m sorry, Pam,’ Linda said, as they finally left the hospital and got into a cab.

‘I should hope you bloody well are! Six hours I’ve just sat up that poxy place. I mean, whatever possessed you to walk home alone, Lin? You know if you’re pissed and you fall over, unless you’re with someone you can’t get back up again.’

‘The cab firm I use only had two drivers on and the man on the phone said I’d have to wait an hour. Anyway, I weren’t that pissed. I just tripped over on a bit of uneven pavement,’ Linda fibbed.

‘Don’t you start lying to me an’ all, Lin. I’ve got enough on me plate with them two deceitful daughters of mine forever telling me porkies, without you insulting my intelligence an’ all. I ain’t bloody stupid. Even the nurse told me you’d had a skinful. You’ll have a pickled liver if you carry on at the rate you’re going. I mean, you’re out on the piss every night. It ain’t normal.’

‘I’m sure I only go out a lot now because I was stuck indoors for all them years with Mum. I’m just trying to make up for lost time, I suppose,’ Linda explained.

Pam squeezed her younger sister’s hand. ‘Just promise me you’ll either get a cab home or get one of your mates to walk back with you in future. If that man hadn’t found you lying on the pavement, you could have bleedin’ stayed there all night and died of hypothermia.’

‘I won’t do it again, I promise. So, how are the girls? Are they talking again yet?’ she asked, sensibly changing the subject.

Pam shook her head sadly. Since their argument at the weekend, her daughters hadn’t spoken a single word to one another, and the looks of hatred flying between them were breaking Pam’s heart.

‘What about that Marlene’s boy? Has Steph seen him any more, do you think?’

Pam shrugged. ‘I can’t stop her seeing him at school, can I? All I can do is make her come straight home after school, not let her out at weekends, and hope it will just fizzle out. Cath knows, obviously, but apart from you I’ve told no one else, so make sure you don’t tell anyone either. I know your mouth’s as big as the Blackwall Tunnel when you’re pissed.’

‘Speak of the devil,’ Linda said, as the cab driver turned into their street.

Pam stared out of the window. Marlene was wearing skintight black shiny Lycra leggings and an in-your-face zebra-print top. The new boyfriend was putting a suitcase in the back of his posh Jaguar and Marlene was hugging her pregnant daughter by the gate. Pam paid the cab driver, then urged her sister to get out of the taxi.

‘Why don’t you go and have a word with her? Just tell her to keep her son away from our Steph. I’ll say something to her if you like?’

Pam shook her head. She had never been one for confrontation, especially in full view of the street. Seeing the boyfriend go back into the house and come out with another case, Pam pushed Linda up the path.

‘Let’s just hope that she’s bought a one-way ticket to wherever she’s going and is taking that bastard son of hers with her,’ Pam said.

Hearing laughter and chatting outside in the street, Angela Crouch lifted the curtain up and stared out of the window. She smirked as she laid eyes on Barry Franklin for the very first time. He had a dark diamond-patterned Pringle jumper on, pale grey tracksuit bottoms and white trainers.

‘He’s proper horny and well out of your league. You have no chance of holding onto him,’ Angie said to Steph, nastily.

Stephanie sighed. She hated falling out with her sister. ‘Let’s stop all this silliness and make up, shall we? Mum’s worried about us and it’s so not fair on her. Friends again?’

Ignoring Stephanie’s outstretched hand, Angela smirked. ‘Drop dead, you bitch.’

Relieved when his sister was picked up in a Datsun by her boyfriend’s brother, Barry did his best to tidy up a bit. Both his mum and his sister hated housework and he didn’t want Stephanie to think his family was frowsy. Satisfied that the lounge no longer resembled a bomb site, Barry made two trips upstairs to get his record player and records. He hadn’t wanted to suggest to Steph that they sat in his bedroom, in case she got the wrong end of the stick. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he picked up his front-door key. Stephanie had been so petrified about being seen entering his house that he had arranged to meet her in the alleyway down Ford Road. Feeling a tingly feeling inside his stomach, Barry picked up his carrier bag and, grinning like a Cheshire cat, sprinted down the road.

Angela met her friend Chloe at their usual spot and, arm in arm, they walked to school discussing their love lives.

‘So, do you really like Jason then? Or, do you just wanna go out with him to wind Tanya up?’ Chloe enquired.

‘Both! I love winding that bitch Tanya up, but I do really like Jase an’ all. I was looking at pictures of Wham in Smash Hits last night and he so does look like George Michael.’

‘Well, Darren wants us all to go on a double date on Saturday. He said we’ll go to Romford, have a mooch round the shops, then go to the pictures. You up for it?’

Angie nodded her head excitedly, then immediately scowled as she saw her sister’s best friend Tammy approaching. ‘What do you want?’ she asked, rudely.

‘I just wanna know where your sister is. She weren’t at school yesterday and I didn’t wanna ring her at home in case your mum answered and I got her in trouble. Is she bunking it? Or is she ill? She never met me this morning, so I take it she ain’t in today either? She did try and ring me late last night, but I was out with me mum.’

Angela grinned from ear to ear. This bit of information was priceless. ‘I think you’ll find she’s bunking off to spend time with the old slapper’s son – and thanks for telling me; I didn’t know.’

‘Don’t say nothing to your mum, will you? Steph would never grass you up if this was the other way round,’ Tammy said, alarmed that she’d just put her foot in it. She could tell by the vicious look of glee on Angela’s face that she would try and use the information to get her sister into trouble.