Tammy cautiously opened her friend’s bedroom door. She knew Angie wasn’t at home as she’d dashed in, got changed, and shot out again about five minutes ago.
‘I’m really sorry about the other day, Steph, but I swear I only told Jacko you wanted to go out with him because you lied and said it was me that fancied Potter.’
Stephanie smiled. ‘And I’m sorry an’ all. Are we mates again?’
Tammy hugged her friend and then told her how she had stood up for her and insulted Wayne and his mates.
‘I wish I’d have seen their faces when you called them knob-ends,’ Steph said, laughing.
‘Their faces were a picture, mate. I mean, everyone’s frightened of them ’cause they’re meant to be the hardest fighters in the school, ain’t they, but I showed ’em that we ain’t scared.’
Steph nodded. ‘I’ve got some major goss for you an’ all. You know Wayne said he had a bird? You’ll never guess who it is.’
Tammy reeled off half a dozen names then, sick of being kept in suspense, begged Steph to tell her who the unlucky girl was.
‘It’s Angie,’ Stephanie said.
‘Angie who?’
‘My sister, Angie.’
‘No! Never! She’s only just turned thirteen. Oh my God! What a pervert!’ Tammy exclaimed.
‘Apparently he don’t know her age and he don’t know she goes to our school. Can you imagine what a dickhead he’ll feel when he finds out she’s only in the second year?’ Stephanie said.
‘Where did she meet him? How long they been going out?’ Tammy asked, excitedly. This was the juiciest bit of gossip she had heard in ages.
‘I dunno. I felt a right div when she first told me, as you can imagine, but I’m over it now, so I’ll find out more tonight.’
‘I can’t wait until the whole school finds out Jacko is some noncey cradle snatcher. Talk about spoil his street cred. He is gonna well get the piss taken out of him when everyone finds out,’ Tammy said, grabbing Steph by the hands and forcing her to dance. ‘Jacko is a pervert, Jacko is a pervert, la la la la, la la la la,’ she sang to the tune of the Conga.
Stephanie reluctantly joined in. She would have laughed her head off if Wayne had been dating any other thirteen-year-old girl, but seeing as it was her own flesh and blood, she couldn’t help but worry. Angela might be a stroppy little cow at times, but Steph would always love her dearly.
Cath let herself into Pam’s house with her own key. Both women had front- and back-door keys to one another’s houses, therefore never bothered to knock.
‘And where’s that dirty stop-out?’ Cath shouted out.
‘She ain’t bleedin’ home yet. Rang me from a callbox, she did. Her and the girls are having a couple of drinks in the Trades Hall apparently. All right for some, ain’t it?’
Cathy laughed. She liked Linda immensely and admired her greatly for not letting dwarfism stand in her way. ‘I treated us to a bottle of Liebfraumilch out me tips,’ Cath said, handing the bottle to Pam.
‘But it’s only Monday. We won’t get up for work tomorrow if we drink that,’ Pam complained.
‘You’ll never guess what,’ Cath said, excitedly.
‘What?’
‘I bumped into Lairy Mary up the Heathway today and she reckons the father of the old slapper’s kids is some East End gangster called Smasher Franklin.’
Pam clapped her hands in delight. ‘No! I always knew she looked like a gangster’s moll. Oh sod it, let’s open that bloody bottle of wine after all.’
Wayne Jackman put his hands on Angela Crouch’s buttocks and thrust his erection against her midriff. He really did like Angie; she reminded him facially of a young Samantha Fox, but on the downside he found her very childish at times and her parents’ strictness drove him bonkers. ‘Don’t go home yet, it’s only seven,’ he begged her.
‘I’ve gotta go home. My aunt’s coming round for dinner and my mum and dad will kill me if I’m late,’ Angela lied. She’d had to pretend that her dad was a big thug and still alive because Wayne kept insisting on walking her home. She’d also conveniently forgotten to mention that her Auntie Linda lived with them and was also a dwarf.
Wayne sighed. He had been sexually active for over a year now and Angela’s failure to participate in his favourite hobby was enough to send his frustration to another level.
‘Look, I know you’re frightened of your dad and you can’t stay out late, so what about me and you bunking off school tomorrow? I’ll get us some booze and we can listen to records in my bedroom and stuff.’
‘I can’t. My mum will kill me if she finds out I ain’t gone to school,’ Angela replied nervously. She knew sitting in Wayne’s bedroom would mean some serious kind of physical contact and she wasn’t quite ready for anything like that yet.
Wayne moved his body away from Angela’s and lit up a cigarette. ‘I think me and you should finish,’ he said, hoping his callous statement would have the desired effect.
‘I don’t wanna finish. Please don’t pack me up, Jacko, please,’ Angela begged, tears in her eyes.
‘I’ll be outside the Princess Bowl at half eight tomorrow morning. If you turn up, you’re still me girlfriend, and if you don’t, we’re finished.’
Aware that Angela was now in floods of tears, Wayne smirked and walked away.
Back in Manning Road, Stephanie was telling Tammy about her encounter with Barry Franklin. ‘He swears that he’s starting our school tomorrow and he reckons he’s gonna be in our class. I don’t believe him though, Tam. He seemed a bit of a joker, so I bet he was just winding me up.’
‘So what does he look like?’ Tammy asked.
‘He is quite good looking. I think you’d quite like him, Tam, but he definitely ain’t my type. I’m off boys anyway. Just gonna concentrate on me school work from now on. I’ll never get a good job in a bank or office in London if I don’t pass me exams.’
Tammy nodded understandingly. She was also determined to do well in her exams as she wanted a better life for herself. Many a time she and Steph had discussed living in big houses in a posh area and having unlimited funds to shop for clothes and make-up.
Hearing a knock on her bedroom door, Stephanie turned off the dulcet tones of Kid Creole and the Coconuts. ‘What?’ she yelled.
‘Lin’s home now, we’re gonna eat in a minute. Does Tammy want to stay for dinner?’
‘Yes please, Mrs Crouch,’ Tammy shouted out. Unlike her own mum, Stephanie’s was a great cook.
‘Best you come downstairs and ring your mother then,’ Pam ordered.
Stephanie ran downstairs and gave her Auntie Linda a big hug. Unlike her sister, who was embarrassed over their aunt’s lack of height, Steph adored having Lin living with them. At twenty-nine, Lin was six years younger than her mum. Steph loved her company and treated her more like an older sister than an aunt.
‘How’d you get on, Lin? Didn’t get drunk and flash at the men again, did ya?’
Linda chuckled. The last time she’d gone away with the girls to Caister they’d travelled by minibus, and on the way there Lin and two of her pals had flashed their bums at a coach-load full of blokes.
‘No, I didn’t do a moony. In fact I was the perfect lady,’ Lin replied, with a naughty twinkle in her eye.
Cathy went out into the kitchen to help Pam bring the plates in. ‘Where’s Angie?’