Jenny Downham: You Against Me

‘His favourite celebrity’s Vin Diesel,’ Jacko said, ‘though I don’t think we need to let that worry us, because he also likes Where’s Wally?’ He snapped his fingers, laughing. ‘We’re gonna take him easy!’

But at the gate, even Jacko was silenced. They stood openmouthed, taking it in. The house was lit up like Christmas, with fairy lights strung in the trees and torches with real flames staked along the path.

Jacko whistled. ‘Man, they’ve gone to town!’

‘They’ve got no shame. I told you.’

The place seemed even bigger than before. There must be at least five bedrooms and the lawn wrapped itself round the whole house. There were flowers that showed up their colours even in the dark, like flowers from a shop stuck in the earth. The windows seemed bigger too, all glaring with light. They obviously didn’t worry about heating bills, could just chuck cash away, probably had radiators at full blast and doors open and everything on standby all night long. There was a confidence to it that Mikey admired and hated at the same time – how come some people had so much? How come some kids got this for free?

‘You think they’ll suss we don’t belong?’ he said.

Jacko screwed up his forehead and looked offended. ‘We belong everywhere.’

‘What about the scratched-up Jag? You think they’ll know it was me?’

‘Nah, plenty of people hate the guy. Just keep the spanner out of sight.’ Jacko drew in a last chestful of smoke before chucking his fag on the gravel. ‘Right, remember what we said? First one to see him sends the other a text, then we reconvene for phase two.’

Mikey checked his mobile. He supposed it was some kind of plan.

Jacko went first, straight through the front door and inside like he knew the place. Mikey made his way round the side, following a trickle of guests just arriving. Round the back of the house, the garden opened up. It felt different from the front, almost tropical, with heaters belching out hot air and the grass still wet from the rain.

There were masses of people – adults as well as kids standing in groups on the lawn, others sitting at tables in a marquee with drinks and plates of food. Mikey was stunned by the effort that had gone into this.

He grabbed a beer from a woman with a tray and knocked half of it back. He wondered if anyone from school would recognize him. It’d been two years since he left and these kids were the ones who went on to college, so it was unlikely. He took another gulp of beer and tried to concentrate. Find Tom Parker, that was the plan. Tell Jacko when he had .

There was a group of boys sitting at one of the tables, there were more queuing for food, another group swigging beer over by the fence. They all had that posh look Mikey was expecting to find, but none matched the pixellated photo Jacko had shown him in the car.

He walked round the garden once, a whole circuit. Music pumped out from speakers, the leaves on the trees shivered, the grass thumped under his feet. He hated all these people in their smart clothes, with their wine and champagne. He thought of his sisters at home – Holly drawing crazy pictures with colours like mud and grey. Karyn trying to make dinner with no food in the house. Mum asleep. These people didn’t care about his family at all. They were here to support Tom Parker. In fact, they were probably laughing at Karyn. Whispering about her, nudging each other. It was unforgivable.

A girl wobbled by on very high heels. She was drunk, he could see that.

‘Hey,’ he said, ‘I’m looking for Tom Parker. You know him?’

She stopped and smiled. Her eyes were dark and drawn round the edge in blue. ‘Who are you?’

He couldn’t stumble at the first hurdle. ‘Joe.’ He had to be someone other than himself and he knew he’d never see her again.

‘You’re very good-looking.’

‘So, do you know where Tom is?’

She waved her arm in the vague direction of the house. ‘Somewhere. How do you know him?’

‘College.’ Second time today and it was beginning to sound true.

She leaned in to him as if she had a secret. ‘You want to kiss me?’

‘Not really.’

She laughed, puckered her lips and moved in closer. ‘I bet you do.’

He looked about, but no one was taking any notice. He could pick her up and carry her off. He could drag her behind the marquee where it was dark and do whatever he liked to her. He could say she wanted it, that she asked for it.

‘Come on,’ the girl said. ‘Kiss me then.’

Was this how trashed Karyn was that night?

He nudged her off. ‘I don’t want to.’

She looked insulted. ‘Don’t you like me?’

He gave her a peck on the cheek to shut her up. Her skin tasted expensive. He told her he’d see her later, though he’d run if he saw her coming. He waved her off and fumbled for his phone. He couldn’t do this. He shouldn’t be here. This was the stupidest idea he’d ever had.

Just as he was texting him, Jacko appeared. ‘Target located,’ he said.

‘What?’

Jacko nodded at a tall boy loping across the grass towards a group of men. ‘I’ve been tailing him for five minutes. It’s definitely him.’

Tom Parker looked like a tosser – shirt and tie, schoolboy hair, shaking hands with all the adults. Looking at him made Mikey want to puke, made the knot in his gut tighten.

‘Let’s get him.’

But before he could move, Jacko caught him, said, ‘Whoa! That’s not the plan.’

‘Bollocks to the plan!’ Mikey tried to shake him off. ‘Let go of me. I’m sick of this.’

‘You whack him now, you’ll get arrested,’ Jacko hissed. ‘How’s that going to help Karyn?’

Mikey shoved him off. ‘It’s gonna help me!’

A woman walked past and looked curiously at them. ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘Everything all right?’

‘Perfect,’ Jacko said, putting his arm round Mikey and reining him in. ‘We were just saying what a lovely evening for a bail bash.’

The woman moved away, frowning slightly.

Mikey shrugged Jacko off again. ‘I hate this place.’

‘I know, I know.’

‘I hate him too. Look at him – surrounded by suits and still untouchable. He’s getting away with everything!’

Jacko sighed, opened his coat, pulled out a bottle and passed it to Mikey. ‘I also located the drinks cabinet. I think you’ll find this twenty-five-year-old malt whisky will clear your mind.’

Mikey took three long gulps. It flamed in his throat, warmed his belly. It was good to sink inside the feeling that somehow this was all going to work out. He took another gulp, and another.

Jacko smiled. ‘Better?’

Mikey nodded. He was thinking of his mum with her morning Valium. For the first time he understood why she talked about taking the edge off the terror.

‘He’s the centre of attention,’ Jacko said, ‘so we need to stay calm and move on to phase two.’ He winked. ‘You get to do what you’re best at, Mikey, and talk to girls. We need tactical intelligence – does he do martial arts? Is he left or right-handed? Has he got brothers and are they here? The usual stuff. I’ll keep a visual and gather data as I tail him. We both need to suss out the best location for phase three – preferably somewhere dark and quiet with good escape routes.’ He checked his watch. ‘We’ll reconvene on this position in an hour.’

Mikey felt momentarily dizzy. He rubbed his eyes. It would be great to pretend this was an ordinary night, that they’d crashed some random party, that he was here on the pull.

Jacko pressed the whisky bottle on him. ‘Keep this, it’s doing you good. Think of the Vikings, Mikey. Free booze. Posh birds. We’re here to plunder.’