Sugar and Spice

by Jean Ure

  I said, “F-for me?”

  “Just for you…I’ll stop doing it!”

  I said, “You will?” I was stunned. I felt like I’d won the lottery! “You really mean it?”

  “Watch my lips…what did I say? Just-for-you. I wouldn’t stop doing it for anyone else, but I’m sick of you nagging at me!”

  I said, “I wasn’t nagging!”

  “Course you were. Nag, nag, nag. Ooh, it’s naughty! Ooh, it’s stealing! And I still haven’t got my CD.”

  “I’ll get it for you, I’ll save up for it!”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Shay waved a hand. “Don’t bother. I don’t really want it. I was just, like, testing you. Trying to see if you’d do it. It’s probably just as well you didn’t, you’d be bound to get caught.”

  “Yes, I would. I’d be shaking like a jelly.”

  “Dunno what I’m gonna do for kicks in future, mind you. Have to take up finger painting or something.”

  Greatly daring, I said, “You could always learn how to use a vacuum cleaner and tidy your room up.”

  “See what I mean?” said Shay. “Nag, nag, nag! I pity your husband if you ever get married…you’ll drive him bonkers!”

  For the first time, as we went back on the bus together, I felt that Shay and me were real proper friends, like I’d been with Millie.

  We were giggling together and sharing jokes, and I knew it was because I’d found the courage to stand up to her. The girl who’d spoken to me that time in the shopping mall had said that Shay would “make me do things.” I’d told her that I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do and I hadn’t! So I was quite proud of myself and felt that Shay respected me.

  When we got off the bus she said, “Let’s go and get some junk food for tea.” I knew she was only getting junk food to annoy her mum, but I didn’t say anything as I thought I’d probably said enough already. She’d promised to stop nicking stuff and that was the most important.

  We went to a little corner shop that had one of those notices on the door: ONLY TWO SCHOOL CHILDREN AT A TIME. Shay said, “That’s cos they steal things.”

  “Only if they’re mindless blobs,” I said.

  “Yeah, right,” said Shay.

  We were in the shop, trying to decide what to buy, when I noticed that the old woman behind the counter was watching us. It made me uncomfortable, though I don’t know why, since we weren’t doing anything we shouldn’t have been.

  “How about this?” Shay picked up a packet of Starbursts. “And crisps! We gotta have crisps.”

  She was just reaching out for a bag of prawn cocktail when the old woman came over to us and snapped, “What are you two up to?” She must have had a really suspicious nature.

  “Nothing,” said Shay.

  “Don’t give me that! I saw you, trying to filch those crisps. I’m just about sick of you kids! You in particular.” She snatched the bag from Shay and slapped it back on the shelf. “You’ve been in here before, haven’t you?”

  “So what if I have?” said Shay.

  “I’ll give you ‘what if I have’, my girl! And I’ll have those back, as well!” She wrenched the Starbursts out of Shay’s hand. “Nasty thieving brats, the pair of you!”

  “Excuse me,” I said. I was just so furious! What right had this horrible old woman to accuse us of stealing her rotten junky food? “We were going to pay for those!”

  “Pull the other one,” said the old woman. She gave me a shove. “And get out of my shop! You show your faces in here again and I’ll have the law on you.”

  I screamed, “But we haven’t done anything!”

  It was Shay who grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away. I was really surprised that she hadn’t answered back; I was the one practically beside myself with indignation.

  “She hasn’t any right to treat us like that! You can’t go round accusing people of stealing when they haven’t done anything. There’s laws against doing that!”

  I went on about it all the way back to Shay’s place. It was so unfair – and especially to Shay. I couldn’t understand why she wasn’t more angry about it.

  “I’d be fuming,” I said.

  “You are fuming,” said Shay. “You’re fuming enough for both of us.” And then, in this very calm, laid-back sort of voice, she said that when she was really angry – “I mean really, really” – she didn’t waste her energy shouting and banging around.

  “I go away quietly and I plan things,” she said. “That’s what I’m gonna do now…I’m gonna go away all quietly and I’m gonna plan things. You’ll see!”

  That old witch in the newspaper shop is gonna GET IT. She is gonna be WORKED OVER. She is gonna be DONE. I mean it!

  She’s got some cheek, accusing me of stealing. I might have done before, but I wasn’t THIS TIME. I was actually gonna pay the old witch. Well, that’s it. She’s cooked her goose. Good and proper! Nobody, but NOBODY, messes with this baby and gets away with it. She has made one BIG MISTAKE.

  Actually, I must have been mad. It was Spice’s fault, she was the one talked me into it. “It’s STEALING,” she goes, all pathetic. So what do I do? I go and promise that I won’t ever do it again, miss! I’m really sorry, miss! Please forgive me, miss! Dunno what came over me. I shoulda told her to get lost. She’s nothing to me! Why should I care what she thinks, stupid old Matchsticks. I don’t care what ANYONE thinks. She’s got some cheek, telling me I’m like a mindless blob. Never thought she’d have the guts. First one that ever has! Gotta give it to her. Still doesn’t explain why I let her get to me. Must be going soft inna head. TEMPORARY INSANITY. Yeah, and see where it’s got me. Some old witch has the nerve to actually threaten me with the police!!!! ME. When I wasn’t DOING anything.

  Well, that’s it. She’s asked for it. She is gonna be HUNG OUT TO DRY.

  And Spice is gonna help me do it…

  I was so excited when Shay rang me, Sunday morning, to say why didn’t I stay over at her place next weekend. It was Lisa who answered the phone. She yelled, “Ruth-it’s-for-you-it’s-that-girl!” The way she said it, that girl, it was like Shay had crawled out of a garbage dump. She’d picked it up from Mum. She knew Mum didn’t approve, so now she didn’t, either. It was totally mindless and it made me cross, especially since me and Shay had become real, true and proper friends. What right had my snotty little sister to be so high and mighty? I’d have ticked her off except I was just so thrilled at the prospect of actually being with Shay for a whole weekend.

  “I’ll even clear a bit of space in my bedroom,” she said. “Just for you…cos we’re friends!”

  I immediately rushed off to ask Mum. To begin with my heart was in my mouth as I thought she was going to say no. I just couldn’t bear it if she said no! It was Dad who came to my rescue. He said, “Oh, come on, Lynn! What harm can it do?”

  “There’s just something about that girl,” said Mum. “I don’t trust her.”

  Needless to say, Lisa was standing there with her ears going tick tock. I knew she was taking it all in and that later on she’d repeat it to me, parrot fashion.

  “That girl…we don’t trust her!”

  Without having the faintest idea why. I don’t think Mum ought to say these sort of things in front of Lisa; she’s too young and stupid.

  Anyway, Dad stuck up for me and in the end Mum gave in. She said all right, I could go, even though she wasn’t happy about it.

  “But since she seems to be the only friend you have —”

  “She’s my best friend,” I said.

  “Well, just be careful,” said Mum.

  What did she mean, be careful? What was there to be careful about? It didn’t make any sense.

  “Don’t let her lead you astray.”

  Mum thought I was such a pushover I’d do whatever Shay asked me to do. Little did she know that I was the one who’d got Shay to turn over a new leaf! I’d stood up to her. I wasn’t anywhere near as weak and feeble as Mum made me out to be.

  On
Saturday afternoon I met Shay in the shopping centre and we went into Marks & Spencer and bought stuff for tea. Mum never goes into Marks & Spencer, she says we can’t afford it, but Shay said I had to have the best, “Cos you’re my friend…and look, I’m paying for it! See? It’d be just as easy not to, but I’m doing it for you…cos you’re my friend.”

  She’d cleared a bit of space in her bedroom, too, just like she’d promised. It wasn’t very much space, and I thought that most probably all she’d done was just kick stuff out of the way, but at least there was a sort of path across the middle of the carpet.

  Shay said that we’d have to sleep in the same bed, “Cos I haven’t got a sleeping bag and you don’t want to go in the spare room all by yourself, do you?”

  I agreed that I didn’t. The whole point of a sleepover is to be together, so you can lie there all nice and cosy in the darkness, giggling and swapping secrets. I said this to Shay and she said, “Well, this is it. This is what I said to the Vampire. She thought you were going to sleep in the spare room.”

  “Where is she?” I said. “Is she…” I giggled, “…in her coffin?”

  “Nah, she’s gone off for the weekend. Took her coffin with her. He’s here. The Invisible Man. D’you wanna see him?”

  I giggled again. I was getting used to the way Shay referred to her mum and dad.

  “Don’t see how I can, if he’s invisible!”

  “Yeah, good point,” said Shay. “Let’s have some music.”

  We spent the afternoon listening to various CDs that Shay dug out from the mounds of books and clothes and magazines that littered the floor, then went downstairs to eat our Marks & Spencer’s tea. Shay’s dad looked round the door as we were in the middle of it and said, “Oh, hallo…um…Rosie?”

  “Ruth,” snapped Shay.

  “Ruth. Hallo!”

  I said hallo back, turning a bit pink. I don’t know why I found it so embarrassing, being in the same room as Shay’s dad, but he just looked so totally un-dadlike. If she’d have said he was a movie star or a famous tennis player, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

  “I’m off out,” he said. “I’ll be back about elevenish. You OK here by yourselves?”

  “What if I said no?” said Shay.

  Her dad blinked. “Well, I guess I’d have to have a rethink. But there are two of you, so you won’t be lonely. Just don’t answer the door. Usual precautions. Oh, and you’ve got my mobile number if you need it. OK?”

  Shay’s dad went breezing out, leaving us on our own.

  “What would happen if I wasn’t here?” I asked.

  “What d’you mean?” said Shay.

  “Like…would he still go out and leave you?”

  “They always go out on a Saturday. Both of ’em.”

  “Doesn’t it bother you?”

  “Nah! Why should it?”

  “It’d bother me,” I said.

  “I’m used to it. They’ve always done it. Even when I was tiny. They never really wanted a kid in the first place.”

  “How d’you know?” I said.

  “Cos she told me.”

  “Your mum? She told you?”

  “Yeah. She said I was lucky she didn’t have an abortion and get rid of me.”

  I could feel my eyes growing huge as saucepan lids. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!

  “Welcome to the real world,” said Shay. “Let’s go and watch a video.”

  We watched videos and played computer games all evening, until suddenly, at about eleven o’clock, Shay jumped up and said, “Right! Time to go out.”

  I said, “Out? But it’s dark!”

  “Yeah? So what? I often go out in the dark. C’mon! There’s something we gotta do.”

  “What?” I hurried anxiously after her as she went out into the hall. “What have we got to do?”

  “Tell you when we get there. Here!” She flung my coat at me. “I just gotta fetch something. Won’t be a sec.”

  She went down the stairs into the kitchen and came back up with a plastic carrier bag.

  “OK! Let’s go.”

  I was quite nervous, being out so late. I’m never out that late, not even with Mum. I mean, we just never really go anywhere; we can’t, because of Dad. I kept telling myself that Shay did it all the time, so it had to be all right. But I knew that it wasn’t. Not really. I knew that Mum would be horrified if she ever found out.

  “W-where exactly are we going?” I said.

  “Just into town a bit. Back to the shop.”

  I said, “What shop?”

  “Shop where the old witch accused us of stealing.”

  I felt a row of prickles go tingling down my spine. “W-won’t they be closed?” I said.

  “Hope so,” said Shay. She cackled. “Better had be!”

  “So w-what are we going there for?”

  “Gonna teach her a lesson is what we’re going there for. It’s all right! You don’t have to do anything. Just be there.”

  I desperately didn’t want to be there. Whatever it was that Shay was planning to do, I didn’t want any part of it! But I was too scared to turn round and walk away, all by myself. For one thing, I wasn’t sure I could remember how to get back to Shay’s place, and even if I did get back, I didn’t have a key.

  Reluctantly, I trailed after Shay. The shop was on a comer. The shutter was pulled down over the door, and wire mesh screens were over the windows. All the other shops nearby were closed, and the street was empty.

  Shay said, “Good! You stay here and keep a look-out. I’m going down the side. If you see anyone coming, you gotta let me know. OK?”

  I nodded, miserably.

  “Look, we’re friends,” said Shay. “It’s what friends do…they watch out for each other. It’s all I’m asking…just watch out for me.”

  She made it sound like I’d be really letting her down if I didn’t do it.

  “Anyone comes, you tell me. Yeah?”

  I said, “Yes, but wh —”

  “Don’t ask! It’s best you don’t know. You’re already an accomplice, of course—” I felt my legs begin to wobble. “But you can always say you didn’t know what was going on. If anyone asks, that is. But no one’s going to ask. Are they? Cos you’re gonna keep a look-out! Here, just hang on to the bag.”

  Shay took something from it, then thrust it at me and disappeared down the side, leaving me to stand shivering on the corner. It wasn’t really cold, but my kneecaps were bounding and my teeth kept clattering. I think it was because I was just so terrified.

  Cars passed, but no people. A police car came down the road and slowed up as it approached. I did my best to look brave and confident, like I was just standing there waiting for someone, and to my relief it drove on. I was so busy watching it, making sure it didn’t turn round and come back, that I didn’t notice a street door opening at the side of the shop. A man came out, followed by a woman. I nearly died of fright! It was the old witch woman that had accused us of stealing. She didn’t look quite as ancient as she had in the shop – and the man didn’t look ancient at all. He was big and burly, like a rugby player. I gave a panicstricken squeak and dashed off round the side.

  “Someone’s coming!”

  Shay immediately stopped whatever it was she was doing and ran for it. I made to run after her, but the rugby player had me in his grasp.

  “What the —”

  I squealed and wriggled, but he just held on even tighter.

  “Is this you?” He gestured furiously at the side wall of the shop. Someone had spray-canned all over it – DEATH AND DESTRUCTION – in big letters, plus lots of really creepy drawings of skulls and crossbones and hangman’s nooses.

  The old witch woman had appeared.

  “You’re one of those kids,” she said. “I recognise you! What’s in that bag? What have you got in there?” She snatched it away from me. “I thought as much!” Triumphantly, she brought out a can of spray paint.

  Black, the same as the stuff on
the wall. “Caught you red-handed, my pretty! Just as well my son’s a fast mover…thought you’d get away with it, didn’t you?”

  “I don’t reckon she was the one actually did it.” The man still had a grip on me; his fingers were really biting into my arm. “I reckon she was just the lookout.”

  “No!” I shook my head. “It was just me!”

  I don’t know why I said that, except that Shay had obviously managed to escape and I didn’t want to get her into trouble. After all, the old witch had falsely accused her.

  “I did it by myself,” I said.

  They obviously weren’t sure whether to believe me. The man said, “Are you telling the truth?”

  “Yes! It was me on my own!”

  A new voice broke in. “Don’t believe her! She wouldn’t dare!”

  I spun round. It was Shay! She’d come back! The man immediately pounced on her.

  “I knew it! I knew there was another of ’em!”

  “You don’t have to break my arm,” said Shay.

  “I’ll do more than break your arm, you little vandal, I’ll—Ow!” He jumped back, with a curse, as Shay kicked out. “You little brat!”

  “I told you, you don’t have to break my arm! I’m not going anywhere. Wouldn’t have come back if I was planning on going anywhere.”

  I don’t know why she had come back. She could have got away quite easily – no one need ever have known. I wouldn’t have told on her, no matter what they did to me. I really wouldn’t! I was her friend. Friends don’t betray each other. But oh, at the time, I was just so relieved!

  The old woman’s son wanted to turn us over to the police, but the old witch woman said no.

  “Not that they don’t deserve it, but I know this one.” She pointed at Shay. “I know her mum and dad – they come into the shop quite often. Nice, respectable people. I think we’ll go and see what they have to say.”

  “They’re not there,” said Shay.

  “Well, let’s just go and check that out, shall we?”