‘Probably in the staff room, my dear. Best not to disturb him while he’s eating his lunch,’ Mrs Belson replied sensibly.
Ignoring the teacher’s advice, Angela grabbed Chloe’s arm and headed towards the staff room. Mr Jones had a reputation amongst the older children for being rather unapproachable and a bit of an ogre, but Angela didn’t really know him, therefore wasn’t scared at all. As bold as brass, Angela knocked on the staff-room door.
‘Is Mr Jones there, please?’ she asked a male teacher she had never seen before.
‘He’s having his break at the moment. You’ll have to come back after lunch,’ the teacher told her.
‘I can’t come back after lunch and it’s very important,’ Angela replied, obstinately.
‘Wait there,’ the teacher said, shutting the door again.
Mr Jones was a rather tall man with a booming voice and a Basil Fawlty-esque walk and physique about him. ‘Yes. Make it quick,’ he snapped, as he closed the staff-room door behind him.
‘Hello sir. My name is Angela Crouch and my sister Stephanie is in form 4P. Because I’m so worried about her, I didn’t know who else to speak to apart from you, as I know you’re her head of year,’ Angela said, in a butter-wouldn’t-melt voice.
‘I know Stephanie. What is wrong with her?’
‘There’s a new boy in her class. His name is Barry Franklin and Steph has been bunking off school to spend time with him. I know how important these last two years at school are for her, and I would hate to see her mess her exams up because she has fallen for some stupid boy.’
Chloe wanted to burst out laughing, but instead joined in the fun. ‘Angela loves her sister dearly, Mr Jones, so she was wondering if you could speak to her mum. Ange don’t wanna be seen to be a snitch, do you, Ange?’
‘No, sir,’ Angela replied, desperately trying to keep a straight face.
‘OK, I will contact your mother this afternoon. And yes, you are right. Your sister is a bright girl, and she would be silly to throw all that away over some lad.’
‘Thank you, Mr Jones, and can you keep my name out of it, please?’
Nodding his head, Mr Jones excused himself and went back inside the staff room.
Roaring with uncontrollable laughter, Angela and Chloe ran down the corridor and out through the school gates.
After her earlier reluctance to set foot inside Barry’s house, Stephanie Crouch was now completely at ease and thoroughly enjoying herself.
‘You look so pretty today, babe,’ Barry stated, as he lit them both a cigarette and topped Steph’s drink up.
Stephanie grinned. She had worn the red off-the-shoulder sweatshirt that Barry had bought her at Roman Road Market. Teamed with tight faded jeans, big hoop earrings and the make-up she’d applied in the alleyway earlier, Steph was quite happy with the finished result.
‘Weren’t it funny climbing over them fences earlier? What about when you got your foot caught?’ she said, giggling.
Barry raised his eyebrows. He’d felt a right wilf when he had taken a tumble in front of his girlfriend, but could now see the funny side.
‘So, why don’t you like cider? Have you just never liked the taste?’ Steph asked, when Barry cracked open another can of lager.
‘I used to like it, but got pissed on it at a mate’s party when I first started drinking. Ill for days, I was, and the taste of it now just makes me feel sick,’ Barry admitted.
‘You big girl’s blouse,’ Steph said, chuckling.
‘What did you call me?’ Barry joked, clambering on top of Steph and pinning her arms to the dirt-stained carpet.
‘Get off me,’ Steph snapped, pretending to be angry.
Barry silenced her by snogging her passionately. This was the first time they had ever kissed where he had been lying on top of her, and he immediately felt himself becoming aroused.
Stephanie responded to the sweet taste of his gentle mouth but, as soon as she felt the hardness of his penis poking into her thigh, she froze. Stephanie had been quite a late starter with boys compared to her sister and some of the other girls in her year at school. Apart from Barry, she had only ever kissed two others properly, and she had never gone any further than that.
‘You OK?’ Barry asked.
‘Yeah. Can I put some more music on now? The record’s stopped,’ Steph replied, desperate to get away from the feel of her boyfriend’s rock-hard penis. Part of her wanted to see it and touch it, but she would be far too nervous to do so in case she did something wrong.
‘I’m just going a toilet,’ Barry said, as he bolted out of the room like a racehorse. His hard-on was sticking out like a flagpole in his loose-fitting tracksuit bottoms and he was embarrassed to let Stephanie see it in all its glory. He could tell how edgy and inexperienced she was, and even though he had been sexually active for the past year or so himself, he didn’t want to put his new girlfriend under any pressure, or make her feel uncomfortable in any way.
Stephanie sorted through Barry’s record collection. She had noticed the big bulge in his tracksuit bottoms when he had darted out of the room and was relieved to see it had disappeared on his return.
‘Can I put some Spandau Ballet on?’ she asked him.
Barry nodded and lit up another two cigarettes. ‘Tell me more about your family, Steph. I’ve heard you mention your aunt lives with you, but I haven’t seen her yet. Is she your mum’s sister?’
Stephanie sat on the sofa next to Barry and felt contented as she snuggled up against his chest. She told him all about Linda and made him laugh over her love for alcohol and some of the hilarious stunts she had pulled. ‘I think my mum worries about our Lin more than she does about me and me sister. No wonder she’s started to find grey hairs on her head.’
Barry chuckled. ‘She sounds a right case, your aunt. I’ll have to meet her one day – you know, when me and you are out in the open.’
‘I reckon my mum will still be wanting me to be single when I’m twenty-one. Does my head in, she does,’ Steph joked.
‘You shouldn’t be too hard on your mum. She only worries because she cares about you and she loves you. My mum has never worried about me or my sister. She just tends to think about herself.’
‘So, what’s this new boyfriend of your mum’s like, then? Whereabouts they gone on holiday?’
‘His name’s Jake and he’s short, old and loaded. He’s taken her to Spain, but I dunno whereabouts, she didn’t say.’
‘So, has she gone for a week? Or two?’ Steph asked.
‘Supposedly a week, but you never know with my muvver. About two years back she was seeing this geezer called Quiet John. They called him that ’cause he was a right loudmouth bastard. He took her to Spain an’ all. She left me and me sister indoors in our old house on our own. She only left us a score for food and then didn’t come back for a month. She fell in love with a waiter while she was out there, dumped Quiet John and stayed out there on her own for three weeks.’
‘Oh my God! What did you and your sister do? Did you go and live with your dad, or what?’ Steph asked, appalled. All of a sudden her own mother seemed like the best in the world.
‘Me dad was in nick at the time, but me and Chantelle got by. We both had to go out thieving just to make ends meet and a few of our old neighbours cooked us dinners and stuff. We couldn’t tell ’em where mum actually was, though. Me and Chantelle were worried that they’d tell the Old Bill and we’d get put in care. Mum weren’t that popular in Bethnal Green either, you see. The neighbours would have loved to