‘It’s not – marijuana, is it?’ Kerry looked at us with an open mouth. We’d had drugs education at school before the holidays. Zoe and I collapsed with laughter.
‘It’s an incense stick, Kerry,’ I said. ‘What are you like?’
I knew Zoe was thinking the same as me, that this would be so much better if we didn’t have Kerry tagging along with us. But hey – after two dead weeks of nothing, this was an adult party at a mate’s flat. Cool, cool, cool.
Of course we couldn’t find anything to wear and soon we had all the contents of my drawers and wardrobe scattered all over the bed. Zoe painted Kerry’s nails and put some mascara on her, although she made us promise we’d take it all off before she went home. Zoe and I were about the same size and so eventually we found some T-shirts that would just about do.
‘What happened to your back?’ Kerry blurted out, as Zoe was changing her top. There were a few purple bruises spoiling her smooth skin. Zoe pretended she hadn’t heard.
‘Hey, Zoe. I said, what happened to your back? It’s all bruised,’ Kerry persisted, even though I gave her a glare that was meant to say ‘shut up.’
‘Nothing,’ Zoe muttered.
‘But it’s all horrible marks,’ Kerry chirped on like a silly bird. ‘Have you had a fall?’
‘That’ll be it,’ Zoe said.
I tried to catch Kerry’s eye and gave a tiny shake of my head. How had she not worked out by now that this was something Zoe never, ever talked about? Fortunately, Kerry got distracted by a poster on my wall and started rabbiting on about that. She really was like a baby sometimes. I tried to remember what Luke said – she couldn’t really help it – but it was hard.
Then we did each other’s make up. Zoe was great at that. She did brilliant eye-liner, bright purple for her, dark green for me, flicked out at the corners of our eyes, and the sort of shiny eye colours that we would buy in moments of madness but never usually got the chance to wear.
When my mum came home from work, we told her we were all going for a pizza with Emma Wood. She even gave me some money, which made me feel a bit guilty but I took it anyway. Zoe phoned her mum from our house. Then we set off.
The rain had stopped. The air was thick and warm and full of promises. Some trees or bushes were giving off a strong, heady scent. My insides were tingling, as if something big was about to happen. I knew without asking that Zoe was feeling the same. We kept catching each other’s eyes and grinning. The summer holidays were long and eventless, but this might make up for it. It would give us something to talk about later, back at school, when the other girls were ear-wigging.
‘I’m a bit scared, are you?’ Kerry suddenly stopped walking. ‘If I get found out I’ll be in so much trouble.’
Zoe shrugged. ‘Don’t come then.’
Kerry opened her mouth and closed it again. Then she said: ‘No, I want to come. It’s just – I’m a bit nervous.’
‘More than happy to go without you,’ Zoe said, turning away and striding forward.
I looked at her, then at Kerry, who’d gone red in the face. I went back and put my hand on her arm, touching as lightly as I could get away with.
‘Come on, Kerry. Zoe doesn’t mean that. We wouldn’t even know about the party if Jodie hadn’t invited you. You won’t get in trouble, I promise. It’ll be fun.’
Zoe was still pacing ahead. I took a deep breath, linked arms with Kerry and marched her on. She looked at me as if I’d just saved her life.
‘Hey,’ I said, trying to get Zoe back. ‘What do you think they meant by a demonstration party, anyway? Is it like an anti-government demonstration or something?’
‘I can’t see it,’ said Zoe. ‘It’s probably one of those things where people try to sell you stuff. Make up and things. One of my mum’s friends used to do it. Mum got annoyed ’cause she felt like she had to buy something, even when she didn’t want to. Maybe Jodie is trying to earn extra money.’
‘Hope it’s not that,’ I said.
‘Hey, maybe it’s one of those ones where they show you sexy underwear and stuff.’ Zoe gave Kerry a sly grin.
Kerry blushed again. ‘Oh, no, you don’t really think –’
‘No, I don’t,’ I said. ‘Jodie wouldn’t be up for it. ’Specially not with that Dave around. Imagine him in a – a – bra and suspenders or something.’
That made Zoe and Kerry laugh and the heavy air lifted, just a little.
As soon as we reached the stairs of the high-rises, we could hear the pounding of music. We ran up the concrete steps, Zoe covering her nose and mouth, until we got to the ninth level. Jodie’s door was open, so we gave a quick knock and went in, Zoe waving her hands about because of the smell of cigarette smoke. There were a few people we didn’t know sitting on the floor, but we found Jodie in her tiny kitchen. She grinned at us. ‘Hey, you came. I thought you might be sick of your own company by now.’
She took the crisps and put them into plastic bowls. Kerry started eating some straight away, in big handfuls.
‘Welcome to the demolition party,’ Jodie said.
‘Demolition! Not demonstration,’ Zoe said, scorn in her voice, shaking her head in Kerry’s direction. ‘We thought you were going to try and sell us some knickers.’
Jodie sniggered at the thought. ‘The flats are being knocked down in a couple of months’ time,’ she said. ‘Loads of people have already moved out. We’ll have to go too. In a few weeks, maybe. So we thought we’d have a big party. I mean, it doesn’t matter if the place
