‘Oh, it’s you.’
‘Yeah. I need some breakfast. I don’t really want to have to keep hassling you so can I take some stuff over to the tent? Or is there somewhere I can buy stuff? Or …’
Becky was looking at me blankly. ‘Huh?’
‘Breakfast?’
‘We don’t really do breakfast here,’ she said, looking around vaguely as though food might jump out for her. At least she stepped back from the doorway, so I could climb inside.
She sat down and closed her eyes. I was beginning to wonder if she was ill. But it probably wasn’t that. It was probably alcohol, or drugs. I mean, that’s what people did at places like this, wasn’t it?
‘Okay if I get myself some bread?’ I said. I just wanted to find some food and go. I didn’t like seeing her like this.
‘Fine.’ She waved a hand towards the cupboards and collapsed backwards on the unmade bed.
I began to search. There were all of the tins they’d taken from Dad’s house, and a lot less wine than I remembered. A few pots and pans, but not much in the way of fresh food. I found some sliced bread and a jar of peanut butter and made myself a sandwich. I took it back to my tent to eat, along with the remains of the loaf and some cheese for later.
Once I’d eaten I felt a lot better. I went and fetched water from the standpipe and rinsed my face. Then I did my best to reapply make-up in a mirror that was about ten centimetres square. Then I felt ready to face the world.
The first person I came across when I crawled out this second time was Cami. He would do, I thought.
‘I’m supposed to be helping here,’ I said to him, trying to be assertive. ‘Do I go and sign in with someone or what?’
He looked at me thoughtfully. At least he didn’t seem stoned or high or whatever was wrong with Becky. ‘You’d better meet Marcus. Come on, I’ll take you.’
Yes, this was better! I fell in beside him as he walked across the wet grass. It seemed to work, asking for what you wanted. I had food, and was going to meet Marcus. So why not ask some other questions? I really wanted to know more about what had happened last night.
‘I thought I heard an ambulance or something, yesterday evening,’ I said, darting a glance sideways at him.
‘Aye, and the bloody polis. Get their bloody beaks in everywhere. Here twice in one day, they were.’
‘What happened?’
‘Dunno. Some guy fell, I think.’ I knew that wasn’t the truth. Marcus said his brother Cami had found the injured guy – so he must know more than that, mustn’t he?
‘Was he badly hurt? Is he okay?’
Cami shrugged. ‘They took him to hospital.’
‘Who was he?’
‘Dunno. One of Marcus’s helpers. There are always people like that hanging around.’ He pushed the long dark hair back from his face and looked at me properly for the first time. ‘Where were you, anyway, yesterday evening? Didn’t see you around.’
‘I went for a walk, to get reception on my mobile. Then I went to bed.’
Fortunately he didn’t ask any more. For some reason I didn’t want him to know Finn and I had been eavesdropping. My questions hadn’t actually helped me learn anything more, but I decided to leave them for now.
He led me up a path to the place where Dex had stopped the previous day. It was a small stone building, rather cute with its low slate roof and green-painted door and windows. ‘Marcus’s using this bothy as kind of his HQ. He should be around.’
I hesitated. Wondering, a bit too late, whether some of the men from Marcus’s eight o’clock meeting would still be about. They hadn’t sounded like the kind of people I wanted to bump in to.
The door opened onto one large room furnished with three desks and some plastic chairs. Thankfully, it was empty except for a tall, dark-haired man, presumably Marcus, and a girl who was talking volubly on a landline phone. ‘No, tomorrow isn’t soon enough, we were promised them for today so you’d better bloody get them here … No, I said six hundred, not four, Jesus …’
Cami gave me a nudge in his brother’s direction. ‘Go on then,’ he said.
It would have been nice if he’d introduced me, but as he wasn’t going to I walked on my own to the desk where Marcus was sitting. He’d looked up when we entered but said nothing.
‘I’m George Wray,’ I said, trying to sound confident, cocky even. ‘Dex said I could work as a volunteer. I wondered if I should, er, sign in with you?’
‘You’re keen,’ he said, looking me up and down. I didn’t exactly warm to him, but at least he didn’t make me feel uncomfortable the way Dex did.
Cami sniggered.
The girl put down the phone with a bang and lit a cigarette. ‘Bloody fencing suppliers. How many times have they let us down?’
‘You’ll get them sorted,’ said Marcus. He turned back to me, seeming slightly less hostile. ‘You’re Beck’s sister, aren’t you? How come we haven’t seen you around before?’
‘Er ...’ I didn’t think he’d want to know my parents thought I was too young to come to things like this. Here I was, and I was doing just fine.
Fortunately he didn’t wait for me to say anything. ‘Apart from manning the main entrance, there’s nothing much doing till the fencing arrives. Why don’t you have a look around, familiarise yourself with the place? I suppose Dex’ll tell you when he needs you.’
And that seemed to be it. He didn’t want to take down my details or ask questions or get me to sign anything. I don’t know why I’d thought he would. Nothing else about this place was organised.
I followed Cami back out into the misty morning. ‘You want me to show you around?’ he said, offhand.
‘Yeah, okay.’ This was exactly what I wanted.
He took me down a gravel path that ran from the bothy towards the river. It led to a small field with what looked like a much nicer mobile toilet block but no tents or vans. ‘This is for performers only. Bit smarter than our side, hey? They can’t slum it with your normal portaloo, oh no.’
‘There are some fairly big name bands coming, aren’t there?’ I was wracking my brains to remember exactly who. I’d heard people going on and on about the festival but I hadn’t paid attention since I never thought I’d have the chance to come. Oh for internet access so I could check it all out now! ‘Wasn’t Juliana mentioned?’
Cami sniffed. ‘Aye, she’ll be here, big draw apparently but not my kind of thing. The Dance tent is gonna be great.’ He then mentioned a couple of DJs I’d never heard of, which wasn’t surprising as I couldn’t stand dance music. I didn’t tell him that.
Instead I asked, ‘How many stages will there be?’
He looked at me like I was stupid (again), but how was I supposed to know? I glared back and I think he got the message. He answered the question, at least. ‘Main stage. Pub tent with stage. Real World tent, there’s going to be a drum fest there one night and I think Marcus said something about some bhangra rock fusion. That’s his kind of thing.’ He snorted disapprovingly. ‘Then the Dance tent, which is the best. That’s four with music. Then there’ll be a Chill Zone and another pub tent, the usual stuff.’
‘Ah.’
‘Aye. And lots of food stalls and other stalls selling loads of crap, joss sticks and crystals and that kind of thing. They don’t set up till the last minute of course but we’ll be starting on the main stage tomorrow.’
‘Sounds, er, good,’ I said, although I hadn’t actually understood half of what he said.
‘Come on, I’ll show you where everything’s going to be, I’ve seen Marcus’s plan.’
We followed a path beside the river, which was running fast and brown, and came back into the main clearing near the bridge I had crossed the night before. Cami pointed out a camping area being marked out for families. Then there was the one for vans, where Dex was parked. A few more vehicles seemed to have appeared since I had my breakfast.
The big, flattish expanse of grass in the centre was where the stages would be set u
p, with our campsite at the far end. ‘This is for the serious party-goers,’ said Cami as we returned to our tents. ‘That’s why they put us as far away from the families as possible. Once the crowds arrive you’ll get no sleep at all. Not at night, anyway.’ He grinned manically.
‘Er, great,’ I said. I wondered how they were going to fit in any more tents. The little triangle of grass they had fenced off with string and poles was already crowded, with more volunteers arriving all the time.
‘How many people are expected to come?’
‘Dunno. Two thousand? Maybe three? That’s Marcus’s business.’ He frowned at me like he thought I was interfering. I was only asking.
‘Thanks for the tour,’ I said. I could be polite even if he couldn’t. Idiot.
I went into my tent to lie down. Not that you could do anything other than lie down in there. I pulled my sleeping bag over me and closed my eyes. I’d just doze for a while. I suddenly felt exhausted.
I must have fallen asleep. I woke up feeling muzzy and stiff. The lilo had got a puncture, or maybe I hadn’t blown it up enough. I started to push the sleeping bag off me and then froze. People were speaking in low voices just outside my tent, and I recognised one of them. It was Dex.
‘Get your arse up to the village now, okay? Lazy bloody bastard, didn’t I tell you to be there when the pub opened?’
‘Why can’t you go? It’ll only take ten minutes in the van. It’ll take forever if I have to walk.’
‘I can’t take the van, can I? I don’t want to be recognised. And don’t draw any attention to yourself, okay? We might have got rid of Kevin but you never know who’s sniffing around. Just go to the side door and ask for Frankie. Give him this.’
‘What if Marcus finds out?’ I knew who the second voice was now. It was Cami. I’d heard that sneering tone all too recently. ‘Do you think he’d be happy with me running your errands?’
‘Just fucking do as you’re told, okay? You know what’s in it for you. And if you don’t …’
‘Okay, okay, keep your voice down, I’m going. Look, I’m already gone …’
The voice was in fact fading away. I kept absolutely still. I didn’t understand all of that, but I definitely didn’t want them to realise they’d been overheard. For an awful moment I thought Dex might recognise my tent and come to find me in there, but someone called him and his footsteps headed away.
Only then did I unzip the tent and peer out.
At first I couldn’t see which way Cami had gone. Then I spotted his slight frame heading over the wooden bridge. And, as I watched, I saw a slim, tall figure that could only be Finn cross the bridge a little behind him, moving in that fluid way he had. They both turned left and were hidden from view.
Chapter Eight
FINN
I reckoned if I hung about the campervan section whenever Dex wasn’t around, I’d get a chance to talk to Beck. It didn’t work too well at first, but it did mean I could keep an eye on whether Cami was there. And found he was spending more time with Dex Barker than was sensible. Not that Cami was ever sensible, but I thought Marcus was different these days. Why didn’t he say something? If I’d thought it would do any good, I might have said something myself.
I wasn’t going to get involved with what bloody Dex Barker was doing, but I couldn’t help looking out for Beck. And Cami, little shit that he was. It certainly wouldn’t do any harm knowing what Cami was up to.
The first couple of days Beck had seemed really spaced. That wasn’t good. But on Tuesday she looked better. She actually called out when I was wandering past, invited me in for a chat. She must have been pretty sure Dex was far away if she did that.
‘I wondered if you’d help me with George,’ she said, coming to the point immediately. She was certainly switched on today. Or maybe she was worried about Dex returning, and keen to get the conversation over.
I wanted to talk about her, try and find out how she really was. But I made myself say, ‘Your sister? Aye, I suppose I could.’
Since the evening we’d met in the forest, I’d kept my distance. George was sweet, but nosy, and so naive.
‘She needs some food,’ said Beck. ‘She needs someone to show her the way to the village. Could you do that?’
‘I could.’ I’d been there a couple of times now. ‘But why don’t you go with her?’ It would do Beck good to get out.
‘No, no. I couldn’t. Dex wouldn’t like it.’ She sounded quite panicked.
I hated to see her like that. ‘You don’t have to do what Dex wants all the time.’ I tried to keep my voice calm. ‘Surely it’s up to you what you do?’
She paused and seemed to actually consider the words, puzzling them over. ‘Well …’ she said doubtfully.
And then she froze. There were voices in the distance. Two or three people arguing. One of them was Dex. Bugger. Obviously he hadn’t gone so far away, or for as long, as Beck had thought.
‘I think you’d better go,’ she said frantically.
I’d already stood up. The last thing I wanted was to cause her hassle. ‘I’ll head back to my tent. You know, if you wanted you could come and visit me, or George, over there …?’
She smiled faintly but said nothing, just chewed her lip and practically pushed me out of the door.
I managed to slip round the corner before Dex came into sight.
Why didn’t Beck stand up to the bastard? Or, better still, walk out on him? But it seemed she wouldn’t, or couldn’t. At least, not yet. It looked like the only way to help was to do what she asked, and seek out her little sister.
And if I was going to do it, I might as well get it over with and do it now. I headed straight for George’s tent and called out her name. I’d half hoped she wouldn’t be there, but there was some rustling and then, ‘Finn? Er, hi. Hang on a sec.’
After a moment, she undid the zip and peered out. ‘Do you want to come in?’
I looked inside, wondering what had delayed her. The sleeping bag was rucked up like something had been pushed underneath it. Books, from the shapes.
‘I’m going to walk up to the village. Beck said you needed some supplies and I wondered if you wanted to come along.’
She considered, then nodded. ‘Okay, I suppose. I wouldn’t mind buying some stuff. Can you pass me my boots? I’d never have thought I’d be so grateful for a pair of ugly great walking boots.’
‘They have their uses.’ I was kind of relieved she’d agreed. I had promised Beck.
As she moved to tie the laces I glimpsed the books she was trying to hide. A revision guide for GCSE chemistry. So she’d been studying, had she? I was surprised – and impressed. Maybe she wasn’t so young and silly after all.
I said, more friendly, ‘You enjoying yourself here?’
‘It’s all right.’
‘Managing to text your mum, are you?’
‘Yes, thank you.’ She sounded disgruntled. ‘How did you know I was texting my mum?’
‘Beck said you were worried she would worry. Said you were planning to stay home alone or something.’
‘I was going to stay in my dad’s house. I would’ve been fine. It’s not as though Becky is making much effort to look after me when I’m here.’
She pulled a face which made me smile. She really was quite pretty, but it was the way the expressions flitted across her face that was so intriguing. Annoyed ... curious ... defensive. It was all there to see. It certainly made a change from totally spaced out, which was the norm round here.
‘I should have gone up to the village on my own,’ she said, frowning again. ‘But I didn’t know the way, so I didn’t. Pathetic, hey?’
She looked so cross with herself that I laughed out loud. ‘Well, if you come with me this time, you’ll know the way in future.’
‘Yes.’ Then, after a pause, grudgingly, ‘Thanks.’
I headed over to the bridge and we crossed the river and turned left onto a path that very soon joined a broad forest track.
‘Managing to do much studying?’ I asked, making an effort.
‘Studying?’ She sounded horrified. She must really have wanted to hide those books.
‘I’ve been trying to do some,’ I continued, encouragingly. ‘I do my Highers in May and I did shit in the Prelims – mock exams, you know.’
She looked surprised. She probably thought Cami and I had dropped out of school, if we’d gone at all.
After a moment she said, ‘I’ve got some GCSE exams in June. I know they’re not as important as Highers – Highers are similar to A Levels, aren’t they? – but my mum’ll go mental if I don’t do well. She goes on and on about it, she’s driving me mad.’
‘It’s ’cos she cares,’ I said lightly. Hard to imagine Marcus or Aunt Lulu encouraging study. Which was fine, I could manage, but Cami could definitely do with a bit of help.
She didn’t respond so I said, ‘Was that why you wanted to stay at your dad’s on your own? To study?’ It sounded a bloody good idea. A place to be on your own.
She shrugged uncomfortably. ‘Well, sort of. Mostly I just wanted to do what I wanted, not fit in with family. Sometimes, you know, it just feels like I’m in the way? Both my parents have remarried …’ Her voice trailed off.
‘You don’t get on with your steps?’ At least that wasn’t a problem I’d ever had.
She pulled a face, struggling to explain. ‘Actually, I do. They’re fine. Steve, my step-dad, is a lot more reasonable than my mum. But it’s not like he’s my family, you know? And they fuss all the time, treat me like a kid.’
I nearly said but you are a kid. She looked so young.
She must have read my expression. She scowled. ‘I can look after myself.’
I smiled and spread my hands wide. ‘Aye, of course you can.’ I would definitely have to look out for her. And not just because Beck had asked me to.
We walked in silence for a while. Then, as we approached the village, she did a jump of mock-excitement.
Music and Lies (George and Finn Book 1) Page 4