Six Steps to a Girl Read online

  She unwrapped the package eagerly.

  I held my breath, hoping she was going to like it. I’d bought her a silver necklace with pale blue stars hanging from it. It was a bit like one Chloe had.

  “It’s beautiful,” Eve breathed.

  I grinned, relieved, as she rushed to the mirror to put it on. The necklace rested prettily against her skin. She raced back. “I’ll try and call you tomorrow night.” She hugged me, her eyes shining. “Promise.”

  I’d already made plans to go out the next night with Ry and a few other friends. We went bowling and then for a burger. It was fun, though from time to time I couldn’t help wondering what Eve was doing. Ryan noticed me staring at my phone a couple of times.

  “Waiting for a call?” he said.

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Let’s hope it’s not a relegation announcement,” Ryan grinned. “You know, from the Premiership.”

  I threw my burger wrapper at him. He ducked and it landed in a cup of coffee belonging to some old guy at the next table.

  The old guy jumped up, shouting at us, and promptly knocked over the drinks of these two girls sitting opposite him.

  Ryan and I were laughing so much at the horrified expression on his face that I nearly missed my ring tone. Then, when I finally heard it, I lunged for it so fast that I knocked it off the table. Ryan hooted with laughter as I disappeared underneath, scrabbling on the ground.

  It was a text.

  mt m @ site x

  I frowned. Eve was normally a bit more flowery with her texts than that. And she’d never asked me to meet her so late before. Still, maybe she didn’t have much time when she wrote it. Maybe she was hating being out with Ben and her friends. I smiled to myself.

  Ryan raised his eyebrows. “Good news?”

  “Yeah.” I reached for my jacket. “I gotta go.”

  It took me ten minutes to get to the building site. I realised as I stepped over the low chain that the no-entry sign hung from, that I didn’t know whether Eve was already there – or still on her way.

  I stumbled around for a bit, calling her name out softly. I knew the site quite well now, but in the pitch black it was hard to see where the rubble-strewn ground rose and fell. I reached the most built-up part of the site, where a short stretch of breeze-block was divided into rooms with walls and ceilings and holes for windows. I peered inside the first room. It was dark. Creepy.

  I couldn’t imagine Eve could possibly be waiting inside, but then, maybe she’d have felt safer there than out by the front where passers-by could see her. “Eve?” I said.

  Something rustled in the far corner.

  “Eve. Is that you?”

  I took a step inside. The darkness seemed almost to pulsate as my eyes strained into it. And then I sensed movement behind me.

  I spun round, just as someone grabbed my arm.

  15

  Beaten

  I first felt a fist

  And then a kick

  I could now smell their breath

  They smelled of pubs

  ‘Down in the Tube Station at Midnight’

  The Jam

  Everything seemed to happen at once.

  A light shone in my eyes. Blinding me. The hand on my arm tightened its grip. Someone else grabbed the other arm. There were grunts. Shouts. I was being pulled backwards, dragged along the concrete floor towards the back of the breeze-block room.

  My heart pounded furiously, right up in my throat. I wanted to yell out, but my voice was trapped somewhere deep in my head. I tried to pull away from the hands that held my arms. But they dug in harder.

  And then the light dropped and I looked up, blinking, trying to adjust to the darkness.

  My throat tightened. Ben was standing in front of me. His face was twisted with fury – every muscle tensed, teeth bared, eyes wild.

  “You little shit,” he yelled.

  Wham. His fist rammed into my stomach.

  It was like all the air had been sucked out of me. I doubled over, pain radiating out from my belly. The two guys on either side of me jerked me upright. I turned instinctively towards one of them, my eyes pleading for them to let me go. But he was looking at Ben.

  Wham. Ben’s fist drove even deeper into me. I gasped for breath. Again, the two guys holding my arms pulled me upright. I dimly registered who they were – Ben’s friends from the burger bar I’d overheard all those weeks ago.

  Then Ben shoved his face right up in front of mine. He grabbed my hair. Yanked my head right back. He leaned right over me. “She’s mine, you disgusting little jerk.”

  He spat on my face. Just under my eye. A glob of wetness rolled down my cheek. Then he let go of my head. Stepped back. Punched. Smack. Right into my jaw. My nose. His fist smashing into me. Over and over.

  I couldn’t breathe. I was nothing except the pain driving against my face. This low moaning started. It took me a few seconds to realise it was my own voice. Then the hands holding me up let go. I collapsed onto the floor.

  I tried to push myself up, but my arms and legs were shaking too much. I sank back against the concrete. The pain in my face was agony.

  Above my head, laughter. “Not such a pissing pretty-boy now.”

  A boot came out of nowhere, glancing off my ribs. A half-hearted kick. Not Ben’s. I curled up on the floor, covering my head with my arms, knowing they hadn’t finished.

  More kicks pounded against my arms and legs. I was only pain. Only fear. Lying there, waiting for it to end. And then it did. I lay there panting for a few seconds, then lifted up my arm and looked up. A boot was poised, ready to ram into my jaw. I stared at it and everything slowed down. I had time to think, with absolute certainty, that if that boot connected with my face I was going to die.

  “Stop, Ben.”

  “That’s enough.”

  Beyond the boot, I could see Ben’s two mates pulling him away from me. Shouting. Ben’s yells drowning out the others. And then he was back, bending down over me. I braced myself. This was it. I was dead.

  But he was pushing my arms off my face, forcing my mouth open, ramming something metallic past my lips, wet with blood.

  His beery breath suddenly hot on my cheek. “You ever go near her again and I’ll kill you,” he shouted. Then he drew closer, his voice lowered menacingly. “Tell anyone I did this and I’ll kill her.”

  Then he stood up, turned away. They were gone.

  I lay there, unable to move, unable to think. I spat the metal chain out of my mouth. It was the silver necklace with the pale blue stars I had given Eve.

  Every part of my body throbbed with pain. My mind shut down. I couldn’t focus on anything else other than the pain. Then everything went black.

  I don’t know how long I was out for. I came to several times, registering something ringing near me. I dimly knew it was a phone, that someone should answer it. Once I tried to move, but everything hurt and I couldn’t work out where to put my hands to push myself up and I collapsed back down into the darkness.

  The next time I came round, my left eye was all swollen up. I could hardly see out of it. The pain had subsided a little, but I was cold. My whole body was shaking with it. It occurred to me that I ought to shout for help or something. But I couldn’t make my voice work.

  Then I heard footsteps running towards me.

  “Ryan, Ryan. Oh Jesus. He’s here.” It was Chloe’s voice. That didn’t make sense. What was she doing here?

  She knelt over me, her eyes wide. “Oh God, Luke. Oh my God.”

  I tried to speak to her, but my mouth still wouldn’t work properly. Chloe pulled me up against her. I could feel the warmth of her body through my jacket. She was pulling her coat off, putting it round my shoulders. Then Ryan was there too. Standing above me, his long fringe hanging over his upside-down eyes.

  “Look at his face,” Chloe was saying. “Jesus. Look what they’ve done to him.”

  “Shit.” Ryan squatted down in front of me. “We’ve got to ge
t him out of here. Hey, Luke, man. It’s gonna be OK.”

  He reached out and put his hands under my armpits. He tried to pull me away from Chloe, and upright. But I was shaking too hard to take any of my own weight. As I moved, pain filled my body again. A wave of nausea rolled up through me. I groaned and puked over Ryan’s shoes.

  He jumped back, letting me sag back against Chloe. “Jesus.”

  “Call an ambulance.” Chloe’s voice was panicky, urgent. “He’s cold as ice. Hurry.”

  I leaned deep against her. She wrapped both arms around me and rocked me gently. “It’s going to be all right, it is, Luke – oh please let it be all right.”

  I could hear her sobbing as Ryan spoke on the phone.

  “Eve?” I whispered.

  Chloe leaned forwards. “What is it, Luke?”

  “Eve?” I was trying to ask if she was OK. But all I could manage was her name.

  “Yeah, she called me. I called Ryan. Don’t think about it now, Luke. Everything’s going to be OK.”

  I couldn’t work out what any of it meant. I was so cold. The shaking was getting worse.

  Ryan flicked his phone shut. “They’ll be here in a minute.” He squatted back down in front of me. “It was Ben, wasn’t it? Was he on his own?”

  “No way,” I tried to smile at him, to indicate there had been an army attacking me, but I felt sick again. I looked down. Why couldn’t I make my body stop trembling?

  Chloe was stroking my hair. Like Mum used to when I was little. Ben’s last words suddenly flashed back into my head. I looked up at Ryan.

  “Ry,” I whispered hoarsely.

  “What, mate?”

  I made a superhuman effort to speak through my chattering teeth. “Don’t tell. ’Bout Eve. ’Bout Ben.”

  Ryan frowned. I could see him look up above my head to Chloe.

  “Please,” I said. “Don’t say . . . Ben.”

  “OK, man, whatever. We won’t say anything. Don’t talk anymore.”

  Satisfied, I lay back against Chloe and let the darkness take me.

  When I woke up, the pain and the shaking were gone. I was warm, lying under crisp, smooth sheets. I could tell it was light in the room through the glare against my eyelids. People were murmuring in low voices in the distance.

  I opened my eyes. The left one was just a narrow slit, but through the other I could see Mum, in a chair next to me. Her face was stained with tear tracks. She squeezed my hand. “Oh my God, my baby, my baby.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Mu-um.” It came out in this hoarse whisper. I swallowed. There was no pain anymore, but my whole body ached.

  “Where am I?” I said.

  “Hospital. Chloe and your friend Ryan brought you here in an ambulance. They’re still here, down in the cafeteria.” She smiled at me. “I was just talking to the doctor. She says you’re very lucky. There’s nothing broken and no internal injuries. Just lots of cuts and bruises.”

  I frowned at her. “What time is it?”

  “About one or so. Lunchtime. You’ve been asleep for hours. Oh, Luke, when you didn’t come home . . .” Mum paused, gulping back her tears. I tried to squeeze her hand, but the effort made me feel sick.

  “Did you see who did this?” Mum said. “Did you know them?”

  I shook my head, then closed my eyes and sank back against the pillows.

  The next time I woke up, the pain was worse in my face, but I felt less exhausted. And I was starving. I could see I was in a long ward, with beds in two rows opposite each other. Mum was talking to one of the nurses by the door.

  “Hey. Babe-magnet.”

  I focused on the figure at the end of the bed. It was Chloe. She was munching on a sandwich, grinning at me.

  “How you feeling?” she said.

  “Can I have some of your sandwich?” I said.

  Chloe walked over and handed me the remainder of her sandwich. I bit into it hungrily. “Ow.” My jaw hurt to move. I chewed more slowly.

  “Tell me what happened,” Chloe said, sitting down beside me.

  I explained briefly as much as I could remember. “You haven’t said anything have you?” I asked anxiously, glancing over at Mum. “Ben said if I told anyone he’d . . . he’d hurt Eve.”

  Chloe shook her head. “Me and Ryan talked to the police last night. We just said we got worried when you didn’t get home, so we went to look for you.”

  Chloe explained how she’d been out at some party when she’d got a call from Eve. “It wasn’t that late. Before eleven. She was hysterical – said that Ben was coming after you. Apparently he’d taken her phone and sent you some text on it, pretending to be from her?”

  I nodded.

  “She said something about her birthday. How she and Ben were going out, how she couldn’t call earlier. Frankly it didn’t make sense. Anyway, I knew you were out with Ryan so I got hold of him and he said we should go round the places you and Eve met. So we did.”

  I put down my sandwich. “Did you know before?” I said. “About Eve?”

  “Yeah, I kind of worked it out a while back,” Chloe smiled. “But I thought I’d be cool and keep my nose out.”

  I smiled back, then sat up, determined to get out of bed.

  “Hey. Slow down. D’you want me to call her? Eve?” Chloe said. “Make sure she’s OK?”

  “I gotta see her,” I said, swinging my legs off the bed.

  I looked down. I was wearing one of those hospital gowns that do up round the back. Below my knees my shins were a mass of bruises.

  “Man,” I said.

  “Wait till you see your face,” Chloe grinned. She fished in her handbag and pulled out a little mirror.

  I looked into it. Jesus. The whole left side of my face was red and swollen. You could hardly see the eye. The skin was broken in several places and held together with little white strips. My lip was swollen and cut too. Altogether I looked a mess.

  Mum came bustling over. “Lie back down, Luke. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “But . . .?”

  “No buts. That’s final.”

  In the end they let me out that evening.

  I tried to call Eve on her mobile a couple of times, but it was always switched off. Chloe rang Eve’s house for me, but her mum said she was out.

  I guessed that must at least mean she was OK.

  For the first time since he died I found myself really wishing Dad was here. I could have told him everything, I reckoned. He would have known what to do. I mean, Mum was just too much of . . . of a mum. If I explained to her what had really happened, she’d only worry and fuss over me even more. And she would never understand how much I hated Ben. How much I longed to get him back for what he’d done.

  In the end, I told the police I’d been jumped by three strangers. No idea what they looked like.

  What else could I do? Ben’s final words rang in my head. I’d seen his face. I knew what he was capable of.

  I was afraid for Eve.

  Mum wanted me to stay off school on Monday, but there was no way I wasn’t going in. I had to see her. Make sure she was OK.

  I took some painkillers to ease the aching in my jaw, and set off. I knew I looked like my face had been turned inside out. I was braced for people to stare at me.

  But I was not expecting what happened next.

  16

  Lies

  In the morning I awake

  My arms, my legs, my body aches

  The sky outside is wet and grey

  So begins another weary day.

  So begins another weary day.

  After eating I go out

  People passing by me shout

  I can’t stand this agony,

  Why don’t they talk to me?

  ‘Grey Day

  Madness

  As I entered the classroom, the talking stopped. Everyone turned round and stared at me.

  Embarrassed, I scurried to my desk.

  I buried my face in my bag and made a big show of diggin
g out last week’s homework. I knew when I looked up people would be crowding round, eager to find out all the gory details of what had happened to me. I’d decided to repeat the story I’d given Mum and the police. Hopefully after a couple of hours everyone would forget about it – and maybe at break I could go and find Eve.

  I looked up. No one was there. In fact, it was as if people had deliberately moved away from me – they all had their backs turned, concentrating on other things. There was this low-level tension in the air.

  I stared round. To be honest I was a bit hurt. I mean, I hadn’t wanted to be the centre of attention, everyone staring at my messed-up face. But I had at least expected my mates to show a bit of concern.

  I wandered over to the guys I sometimes played football with.

  One of them – a tall, skinny guy called Jamie – caught my eye. He folded his arms. “So did you really do it?”

  “Do what?” I could feel everyone was now watching me.

  Jamie looked uncomfortable. “What Ben says you did.”

  I stood there, my face flushing. What the hell was going on? Ben had demanded I say nothing. That he would kill Eve if I did.

  “What did Ben say?” I said, cautiously.

  Some of the girls were crowding round now. One of them sniggered.

  “You know.” Jamie’s cheeks were scarlet. “About with Eve?”

  Oh, God. I knew it didn’t matter what I said, my face was giving me away. I lowered my eyes.

  “Shit.” Jamie sounded disgusted. “If it was my girlfriend, you’d have had worse.”

  I stared at him. Was he really saying that my having seen Eve behind Ben’s back a few times justified what Ben had done to me?

  Jamie turned his back on me.

  I wandered across the room to my desk again. The atmosphere was stretched taut. I could practically feel people hating me.

  Leaving my bag behind, I left the room. I couldn’t wait until break. I had to see Eve, find out what was going on. As I walked along the corridor towards her classroom my heart pounded. I still needed to be careful when I saw her – not make anything too obvious until I knew exactly what was happening. I thought it through. Best thing was to go in, go up to Chloe. Try and speak to her privately.