‘What do you want?’ I said, sounding as cross as I felt.
‘I came to tell you today’s list of shifts is out.’
‘Oh,’ I said suspiciously. It wasn’t like Cami to be so helpful. When I didn’t continue, he gave a knowing smile. ‘So, aren’t you speaking to me?’
I sighed. I’d been furious with him yesterday. Today I had other things to worry about. ‘Yes, fine, I’m speaking. Just don’t ask me to hand things on for you, okay?’
He shrugged. ‘I didn’t think you’d get caught.’
‘Oh, thanks. So you wouldn’t have done it if you had thought so?’
He shrugged again. ‘It was only ecstasy.’
‘So?’
‘You don’t approve, do you?’
‘No.’ I didn’t feel like trying to be cool any more. I was still freaked out about Becky. I knew her problem was far worse than taking ecstasy or smoking a bit of weed, but that was still a step in the wrong direction. I didn’t want anything to do with any of it.
‘It’s no big deal. Everybody here uses.’
‘I don’t. Finn doesn’t.’
‘Oh bloody wonderful Finn. He smoked enough in the past, and done worse. He’s not the fucking angel he pretends to be.’
‘I didn’t say he was. Look, do you think you could go and see if he’s around?’
‘Why?’
I hesitated. ‘I’m worried about Becky.’ I’d crawled out of the tent so as not to disturb her, although there was no sign of her stirring.
He paused for a moment and then said, ‘Isn’t everyone?’ I didn’t know if he sounded resentful or not.
‘She needs to get away from here. I suppose you know why. From Dex and … everything. At first she refused to go, but now she’s agreed.’ I shivered. I was pleased she’d decided that, but really I wished this wasn’t actually happening. ‘Finn said he’d try and sort transport so she can get there.’
It was pointless me telling him this, it wasn’t as if he would want to help. He was Dex’s friend, if anyone here was. Predictably enough, he said ‘Why can’t she just walk to the village and get a bus? Other people do.’
I supposed that was true. Not everyone here had their own transport. I said sulkily, ‘I bet there aren’t many buses. And who says they’ll be going where she needs to go?’
I wondered if I should even go with Becky. I was hungry and tired. And I was out of my depth. Maybe Mum was right, this kind of place wasn’t for me.
‘Where is she going?’ said Cami, suddenly looking interested.
‘I don’t know. To someone called Michelle?’
‘Huh.’ He chewed his lip, frowning. I could see the name meant something to him. ‘Listen, just wait there a while, I’ll get back to you.’
I stared after him as he headed off, not to Finn’s tent, but towards the arena. What was he up to now? I thought for an awful moment that he’d gone to tell Dex what I’d said about Becky, but he went to a van at the opposite end of the line, the one I now knew was Marcus’s.
I was just thinking he wasn’t coming back when he sauntered up again and said he’d stay with Beck if I wanted to use the toilets. By then I was desperate for a wee, so I took him up on the offer.
I had to queue for a while, but I didn’t think I was away that long.
And then, when I returned to the tent, it was empty. No sign of Cami, or Becky.
Well, not empty exactly. All my stuff was there, but Becky’s had gone. What on earth? I’d kept an eye on her the whole time and I left her with Cami for five minutes and this happened. Shit, where had she gone now? Not with Dex, surely?
Chapter Twenty-Four
FINN
I didn’t sleep much. As soon as it was even slightly reasonable to, I phoned Michelle to see if she could come and get Beck. She was pleased that Beck had changed her mind but said there was no way anyone could get over to us until the afternoon. She didn’t seem to think that was too much of a problem. Sometimes she was such an optimist.
So I walked around for a bit, trying to work out what was best to do, and still hadn’t come up with any brilliant ideas when I went back down to the tents.
I was met by the strange sight of Cami and Beck walking towards me, Cami carrying Beck’s rucksack and what looked like all of her belongings.
‘What’s going on?’ What was Cami up to now?
‘Cami says Marcus’ll give me a lift to, well, you know. I thought we’d better come and tell you.’ Beck looked pale and fragile, but not too jumpy.
‘Marcus is going to take you to the Centre?’
‘Aye and we need to go now.’ Cami sounded peeved, like he actually thought Beck was being unreasonable wanting to stop by and tell me. He probably did. ‘Marcus’s borrowed Rachel’s car, he’s parking it on the road out already so Dex won’t see and try to get involved. We need to go up this way. Now.’
‘That’s, er, brilliant,’ I said, still a bit confused. If Marcus was helping I wasn’t going to say no. I would have asked him myself if I’d thought for a moment he’d do it. Maybe I didn’t know him as well as I thought. ‘Come on then, I’ll help carry your stuff.’
Cami was right, we needed to get Beck away as soon as we could. Someone in her state could change their minds just like that and then there was the chance of Dex putting his oar in.
We hurried up the banking, Cami muttering about not needing any help from me even though I’d seen that carrying the rucksack had been hurting his ribs. ‘And George is okay with this, is she?’ I said as we hurried along. I was surprised she wasn’t along to say goodbye. Ideally she should be leaving too, but I didn’t have time to fight that battle now.
‘Er, I don’t know,’ said Beck, looking surprised. ‘Cami was rushing me and she wasn’t around ...’
‘She was queuing for the bog. We didn’t have time to hang around and explain.’
‘You mean she doesn’t know? Jesus, she’ll be panicking. Maybe she’ll agree to leave, too.’ I paused, wanting to turn right back and get her.
We’d reached the treeline, almost out of sight of Dex and anyone else who might look.
Cami made to take the rucksack back from me. ‘Well, if you want to go back and get her, and for us to wait while you strike the tent and all that stuff, feel free. If you actually think Marcus will still be waiting to help out, then fine by me.’
He was right, unfortunately.
‘Come on,’ I said, heading into the trees.
‘Tell George I’m sorry,’ said Beck softly as we neared the car Marcus had borrowed (requisitioned?) from one of his assistants. ‘Really sorry. I shouldn’t have brought her. What a mess.’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ I said, trying to sound like I meant it.
‘We’ll look after her,’ said Marcus. ‘Now just get the stuff in so we can get out of here.’
There was no point in arguing with him. I gave Beck a kiss on her pale, cold cheek. Then Marcus pushed her and her bags into the beat-up little car and skidded away up the dirt track. They were gone.
‘Just in time,’ said Cami.
He was right. Dex was storming up the road from the barrier that was hardly ever manned these days. ‘What the fuck’s going on? I’m warning you, Cami ...’
‘Looks like it’s you he wants to talk to,’ I said, swinging back into the trees. ‘I’m going to find George.’
GEORGE
Becky couldn’t just disappear! I ran to Finn’s tent, but there was no-one there. I squinted across to the campervans on the far side. Had she gone there? And if so, was there anything I could do?
My mind was racing, and my heart. I felt dizzy with panic. And then I saw Finn running lightly down from the trees.
‘Becky’s gone …’ I stuttered.
‘It’s okay. She went with Marcus. I was just coming to tell you.’
I took a couple of deep breaths to try and get this straight. It felt like I was hyperventilating. ‘I thought …’ I wanted to sit down, but there was only the damp gro
und.
He took my arm and pulled me over to one of the wobbly stools.
‘Sorry you got a fright. Marcus brought the car round to the track above here. Cami and I helped her carry her stuff up. Marcus thought the sooner they went, the less chance of Dex trying to change her mind. And actually, he was right.’ Finn closed his eyes for a moment, then shook away whatever horrible thoughts he was having.
‘She’s gone?’ I said, although it was pretty obvious. She’d taken her sleeping bag and rucksack and everything.
‘Yeah. Marcus is taking her straight to the Centre. I’d phoned Michelle but she couldn’t get anyone to come and collect her. Then bloody Cami turns up and has it all sorted. I don’t know what came over him, being so bloody obliging. Anyway, Marcus’s going to stay till she’s checked in, too. He seems really … interested in making sure she’s okay.’
‘He likes her,’ I said, thinking about the way he looked at her.
‘Does he?’ Finn looked surprised. Maybe there were some things he didn’t see. Then he said, ‘But he hates drug rehab.’
I didn’t bother asking why. Normal people would think getting someone to go voluntarily into rehabilitation was a good thing, but the people round here weren’t normal. Except Finn. And he was only semi-normal.
I’d begun to recover from my fright. Becky had got away. She was going to be, well, had a chance to be, all right. ‘Thanks. Thanks for sorting that for her.’
‘Thank Cami and Marcus, not me.’
‘I’ll thank them as well,’ I said. I knew who had done the most to help Becky. It wasn’t me. I should have done more. I sighed and tried to think of something else, like why Cami was being helpful. Probably sneaking her away like that and giving me a fright had seemed like a good joke. Bloody Cami.
And then it struck me. I was here on my own. Really on my own. No Becky to be nominally responsible for me. No one to help me leave, if I actually wanted to. I looked around it all with new eyes, worried.
‘She said to say she’s sorry to desert you,’ said Finn.
‘Oh.’ I was amazed she’d remembered me.
‘And guess what? Marcus said he would keep an eye on you.’ Finn gave a laugh, although he didn’t sound amused.
‘Marcus? Jesus.’ I didn’t know what to think of that. Scary Marcus was going to be responsible for me? Since our little disagreement about the drug-dealing I don’t think we’d exchanged a word. He must like Becky a lot.
‘So, that’s all right, isn’t it? You get to stay.’ Suddenly Finn smiled, his whole slim face lighting up. And I found myself smiling in return. Yes, it was definitely going to be all right now.
‘That is, if you still want to stay?’ he asked, suddenly doubtful.
‘Oh … Yes. Yes I do, absolutely!’
‘Good.’ We sat there awkwardly for a moment, then he grinned. ‘So, why don’t we start having some fun? Have you tried the ice cream from that organic stall? Supposed to be amazing. Come on, I’ll treat you.’
He seemed relaxed and happy. It might have been the first time he’d been like that since I’d met him.
He took my hand and pulled me to my feet. How could I resist? I had a warm, excited kind of feeling in my stomach, and it wasn’t due to the offer of amazing ice cream.
I’d realised something else. Finn was fine with Marcus fancying Becky. Which must mean he wasn’t interested in her that way. Which might mean, might might mean I had a chance …
Chapter Twenty-Five
GEORGE
I wished Finn had kept hold of my hand, but that would have made life too perfect.
As it was, I forgot about having no hair-straighteners, that my tee-shirt was creased, and all the other things I would normally have tormented myself over if I was near a boy I liked (because yes, okay, I did like him – a lot) and was just happy. I could feel my face in the unaccustomed shape of a broad smile.
Becky was getting treatment and she was going to be fine. Definitely.
I was going to get to stay for the whole of the Forest Festival.
And Finn MacPherson seemed to actually want to spend time with me. Life was awesome.
Actually, it was just a typical April day, with showers one minute and sun the next. It was sunny as we made our way across the trampled grass and joined a queue at one of the new stalls. The whole of the back part of the field was now filled with tents and stalls, twice as many as yesterday. The place smelt of chip fat and burgers and joss sticks. Even the overflowing waste bins seemed to have been emptied here. When we got close to the front of the queue, we could smell some kind of berry and vanilla and the sugary scent of candyfloss.
There were a whole lot of different people around the site now. Not just the giggly teenagers like Beatrice but people who actually seemed interested in the music. There was a guy ahead of us in the queue having a serious – I mean serious – debate with his skinny, specky friend about the merits of jazz rock versus rock fusion. Actually, I’d have been quite interested in the conversation, if I hadn’t had someone even more engrossing standing right beside me.
Finn decided we should have three scoops of ice cream each, in a cardboard bowl, plus syrup and extra cream. I chose bilberry and strawberry and pistachio. He had two scoops of double chocolate chip and one of vanilla. ‘Got to keep it pure,’ he explained.
‘Poser,’ I said happily.
We went out through the security barriers and climbed the slope towards the edge of the forest. You could look down on everyone from here. The ground was wet, so we ended up sitting on the log where I had found him and Becky the night before.
I ate the ice cream in tiny spoonfuls. I think it was the best I’d ever tasted.
Eventually, though, it was over. ‘Thanks. That was amazing.’
‘Yeah, it’s good, isn’t it?’ He stretched out long legs and for a while we just watched the crowds below. The first band of the day was setting up on the main stage and I supposed I should take an interest and find out who they were. I would, in a while.
‘Are you really going to be okay staying at the festival without Beck?’ he said abruptly.
‘Ye-es. It’s not as if she paid much attention to me, anyway.’
‘What will your mum and dad say?’
Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. Dad hadn’t insisted on speaking to Becky since that first time, but what would happen if he did? And now she was at this rehab place I couldn’t see how I could keep up the story that she and I had been together at the house all along.
‘They don’t know I’m here,’ I said eventually. ‘They know I’m with Becky – well, Dad does – but he thinks we’re both at his house. I suppose I’ll just have to stick to that story and hope it all works out.’
He began to laugh. ‘You mean you came here without your parents knowing?’
‘Of course. They would never have let me come. My mum has a total thing about music festivals and drugs. I wonder if she’s suspected about Becky … Anyway, I’m here now and I’m going to make the most of it.’
‘You’ll be really in the shit when they find out.’
I didn’t know if he said that with a sneer, like Cami would, because now I was frowning down at my boots. I couldn’t see any way this would end well. ‘It’ll be fine. Probably.’
‘If you keep your distance from Dex, it will be.’ He sounded fierce for a moment. Then he said, ‘Shall we go back down and see who’s playing?’
He took my hand and this time he kept hold of it. I’d worry about parents and Dex and all that stuff later, right now I was going to have fun!
I meant to keep away from Dex Barker, I really did. I didn’t want him asking me about Becky, and I wasn’t going to risk what he might do if I was alone with him. But I couldn’t avoid him totally.
So when he came up to a whole group of volunteers in the early evening, with a copy of the duty roster in his hands, I slid towards the edge of the crowd but didn’t actually leave. I needed to know what my shifts were tomorrow. At the moment F
inn was manning the gates by the family area so I hoped he wouldn’t see me near Dex. I thought if I kept my head down Dex might not see me either. Unfortunately that stupid red hair makes me too bloody easy to spot.
As the group began to break up he moved to cut off my escape. ‘Georgina.’
‘Er, hi.’ I could feel my heart starting to race. He couldn’t do anything to me here, could he? Out in the open, when it was still fairly light?
‘I hear you’re a fan of Murdo Mensah.’
‘Er, yes,’ I said, confused. Why was he interested in that?
‘He’s headlining on Friday.’
‘I know.’
‘Festival tickets sold out just like that once his name was announced. Everyone is trying to get backstage passes to actually meet him.’
I didn’t say anything. I wanted to just walk away but this was Murdo Mensah we were talking about.
‘I could get you a pass, if you want?’
I stared at him. Why would he want to do me a favour?
‘You could tell Beck I got it for you,’ he said, as though guessing my thoughts. I presumed he knew she’d left the festival – and why. Did he really think I’d put in a good word for him?
I shrugged.
‘Well, do you want the pass or not?’
I really didn’t want to take any favours from him, but I couldn’t refuse this one, could I? ‘If it’s not too much trouble …’
‘No bother. Come by my van later and I’ll give it to you.’
Go to his van! No way. ‘I said I’d, er, meet up with some friends later. Finn and …’
‘Come by in the morning then, whatever.’ He stalked off.
Great. Now I had to find a way of picking up that pass. I certainly wasn’t going to put in a good word for him with Becky, but he didn’t need to know that. And I needed to make sure Finn – and Marcus – didn’t find out what I was up to. I had promised them I’d stay away from Dex, but there was no way I was missing out on this. A backstage pass, the chance to see Murdo close up, with his weird little dreadlocks and his beautiful dark eyes, maybe even to say hello, have a photo taken with him … I couldn’t believe I could be this lucky.
Music and Lies (George and Finn Book 1) Page 13