Kimberley Chambers - The Schemer

‘I’m sorry, Steph, but I told you when the boy first came round here that he was only allowed to have dinner and pop in until his mother came back. I will not have my name darkened by being involved with that old slapper, so I’m sorry but the answer’s no. Now, that’s the end of the matter.’

Devastated by her mother’s callousness, Stephanie grabbed her school bag off the sofa and ran up the stairs, sobbing.

Barry pulled a face as he sipped the drink that his mother had given him. He had never drunk sangria before, and in his opinion it tasted vulgar – a bit like sweet vinegar.

‘Don’t you like it, boy? Wanna shot of JD with me instead?’ Jake the Snake asked.

Barry nodded his head. Both his mother and Jake the Snake kept smiling at him and he was becoming more perplexed by the second at their sickly niceness towards him. ‘So, what’s this big news, then?’

Marlene grinned. ‘Jake’s bought a bar in a really posh part of Spain. It’s beautiful, Bal, and it’s gonna be called Marlene’s.’

Barry was well chuffed. If his mother moved abroad and his sister moved out, he would have the whole house to himself. ‘That’s blinding news, Mum. So, when you going out there to live?’

‘Next week. I ain’t telling the authorities I’m living out there though, because I don’t wanna lose me social money or this house, so if anyone asks you, just say we’ve bought a holiday home and we’re flitting backwards and forwards. I can’t wait for you to see it, Barry. It’s top notch and we’re gonna sell all posh food in there as well. Jake’s hired a proper chef, ain’t you, babe?’ Marlene gushed, squeezing her sugar daddy’s hand.

‘Sounds ace. I’ll have to come out there for a holiday one day,’ Barry replied, chirpily.

Marlene burst out laughing. ‘You dopey sod! You’ll be moving out there with us. You’re gonna love it, Bal, and you wanna see the girls out there. You’ll have a field day, son.’

Barry looked at his mother in stupefied shock. ‘I don’t wanna move to Spain. I wanna stay ’ere. I don’t mind having holidays out there, but I like it in England.’

‘Don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud. You’ll love it in Spain. What boy your age wouldn’t wanna be surrounded by the sun, sea and pretty girls. And you’ll be loaded. Jake’s gonna pay you well, ain’t you, Jake?’

‘How’s a hundred sovs a week sound?’ Jake asked, grinning.

‘I couldn’t give a shit if you were paying me a thousand sovs a week, I still wouldn’t wanna go to Spain. I like living in Dagenham. I like my job on the market and I ain’t leaving me girlfriend. I love her too much.’

‘Love! You’re fourteen years old, boy. You don’t know what bleedin’ love is at your age. Anyway, you’ll easily find another bird out in Spain. Tell him how pretty the girls are out there, Jake.’

When Jake began to speak, Barry was so infuriated, he stood up. ‘I ain’t fucking going and you can’t make me go if I don’t wanna,’ he screamed.

Marlene leapt off the sofa and grabbed her son by the shoulders. ‘Oh yes I can! I’m your mother, and now your father ain’t gonna be around to look after you, you have no choice but to live wherever I wanna live.’

‘But what about school? Can’t I finish me schooling and then come out there if you still want me to? I can look after meself, you know that. And what about Chantelle? She’ll be about to keep an eye on me, won’t she?’

‘Don’t give me all that old bollocks about school. You might be clued up and streetwise, but you’re hardly academically bright, are you? You’ve always said you couldn’t wait to leave bloody school and work full time. Well, now’s your fucking chance to make something of your life. Just think of how well off you’re gonna be, earning a ton a week at your age.’

Barry sat back down in the armchair and put his head in his hands. If he hadn’t already met Steph, he would have jumped at the chance of moving to Spain and earning a hundred quid a week, but he couldn’t bear to be parted from her. ‘I ain’t going, Mum. I’m sorry, but I just can’t leave me bird.’

‘You can and you will, boy. Jake needs you to help him run this bar, we both do, so like it or not, that’s what you’ll be doing,’ Marlene snapped back.

‘Can’t you just employ someone else to do it?’

Marlene’s earlier façade of being nice had now all but disappeared and she was becoming more irate by the second at her ungrateful son’s attitude. ‘No, we fucking well can’t! Now you listen to me, Barry. I don’t want you with me in Spain any more than you wanna be there, but we need your help. There’s a lot of heavy lifting and stuff to be done, and we need someone who can keep an eye on the place who we can trust. Jake ain’t as young and fit as you are, so you can do all the donkey work, while me and him run the actual gaff. There is no way we are employing any of them Spaniards, ’cause we can’t stand the greasy bastards, and if we employ a decent English bloke, he’s gonna cost us big bucks. So, like it or lump it, boy, you’re moving to Spain. Now, do yourself a favour and get that smacked-arse face of yours out of my sight before I give you what for, you selfish little fucker.’

Absolutely furious, Barry grabbed his door key and ran out of the house.

Stephanie was lying on her bed crying when Angela came into the room.

‘What’s up? Has Barry dumped you or something?’ Angela asked, hopefully.

‘No, it’s Mum,’ Steph replied, wiping her eyes with the cuff of her sleeve.

‘What’s she done?’

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