‘Who’s the slapper?’ Julie curled her lip.
‘Don’t call her that,’ Holly said defensively. ‘She’s really nice.’
‘Oh my days, don’t tell me she’s one of your lesbo crushes?’ Julie snorted. ‘And there was me thinking you only had eyes for Bex.’
‘Get lost!’ Holly jumped up.
‘Chill out,’ Bex said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down. ‘She’s only messing – aren’t you, Ju?’
‘Yeah, course.’ Julie gave Holly a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘It’s just my sense of humour, babes. I don’t mean anything by it – honest.’
Holly didn’t believe her, but she didn’t want to fall out with Bex again, so she bit her tongue.
At the sound of shouting, all three girls looked round, and Holly smirked when she saw the boys who had tried to mug her earlier being chased off the estate by some older lads.
‘Oh my God,’ Julie said, clutching at Bex’s arm and giving an exaggerated shudder. ‘I see what you meant about this place being a war zone, babes. Can you imagine that type of thing going on round our way?’
Holly opened her mouth to tell the snotty bitch to piss off home if that was how she felt, but Bex let out an audible gasp before she had the chance, and she winced when the girl grabbed her hand and squeezed it hard.
‘It’s him!’ Bex squealed. ‘Look!’
She pointed in the direction of the flats, and Holly saw that Gee had come outside and was standing in the porch looking down at his phone.
‘Holy shit,’ Julie spluttered, her eyes widening when she, too, saw him. ‘She was right – he is the spit of Zayn.’
‘Told you,’ Holly said smugly.
‘Hey, you two keep your eyes off him, he’s mine,’ Bex warned them both as she jumped up. ‘Come on, you.’ She tugged on Holly’s hand.
‘Where you going?’ Holly asked, reluctantly standing up.
‘You’ve got to introduce us,’ Bex said.
‘What? No!’ Holly pulled her hand free. ‘I can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know him well enough to go over and start talking to him like that.’
‘OK, well, we’ll make out like we’re going to yours,’ Bex said, linking arms with her. ‘You say hi, and I’ll take it from there.’
‘No,’ Holly protested. ‘He’ll think we’re stupid.’
‘Don’t be so selfish,’ Bex said, dragging her along. ‘I’d do it for you.’
‘Hey, wait for me,’ Julie said, dropping her cigarette and tottering after them.
10
Gee Allen was pissed off. He’d had a massive bust-up with his girlfriend, Kadisha, at the party, and she’d been bombarding him with text messages ever since. They had been abusive to start with, calling him all the dirty, cheating bastards under the sun and threatening to send her brother and his mates round to do him in. Then, at around 4 a.m. – when, Gee presumed, she’d sobered up and realized what she’d done – the tearful apologies had started to flood in: I’m so sorry, baby, I didn’t mean it . . . I just love you so much I can’t help getting jealous when you speak to other girls . . . I know I’ve got a problem, but I’ll change, I swear . . .
Blah, blah, blah.
Gee had heard it all before, and he’d given her one too many second chances already. So, as fine as Kadisha was, he’d had enough.
Determined to get that through to her now, because she didn’t seem able to take no for an answer, he sent a curt reply to her latest message, then stuffed the phone into his pocket and set off – not noticing the girl who had just that second appeared in front of him. Their shoulders clashed and she went flying, landing on her backside at his feet.
‘God, I’m sorry,’ he said, offering his hand to help her. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Does she look OK?’ her friend snapped.
‘I’m fine,’ the one on the floor said, batting her fake eyelashes at him as she grasped his hand.
‘Are you sure?’ Gee asked, feeling guilty when he spotted the dirt on the side of her white jeans. ‘You’re not hurt, are you?’
‘I’ll live,’ the girl cooed. ‘And I’m sure you didn’t mean it – did you?’ She gazed at him from under her lashes and bit her lip.
‘Course not,’ he said, beginning to feel uncomfortable. ‘Right, well, as long as you’re not hurt, I need to get going,’ he said, sliding his hand free.
‘Oi, Zayn,’ the girl’s friend called after him when he started walking away. ‘At least give us your number – in case she gets concussion or something!’
‘Concussion?’ a woman bellowed. ‘I’ll give you fucking concussion, you slag!’
Gee heard the voice at the same time the girls did, and he groaned when he glanced back and saw Kadisha running across the grass, shoes in hand, face contorted with rage.
‘K, don’t!’ he yelled, rushing back to cut her off. ‘They haven’t done anything.’
‘I’ve got eyes,’ she spat, dodging round him when he tried to grab her arm. ‘The little skank was flirting with you!’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ he hissed, jumping between her and the girls. ‘They’re just kids.’
‘Hey, I’m no kid,’ one of the girls protested, flicking her blond locks over her shoulder and placing her hands on her skinny hips.
‘He wasn’t fuckin’ talking to you,’ Kadisha roared, lunging at her and jabbing a fingernail into her chest. ‘Think you’re a big woman, do you? Sniffing round my man, trying to get his number. I’ll rip your fucking head off, you sketchy tramp!’
‘Oh, my God, she’s crazy,’ one of the other girls spluttered.
‘What was that?’ Kadisha glared at her. ‘If you’ve got something to say, spit it out, bitch.’
‘Pack it in,’ Gee hissed, seizing her by the arm and pulling her away. ‘You’re scaring them.’
‘I’ll do more than fuckin’ scare them,’ she screeched, struggling to break free. ‘I knew you’d been screwing around, and you’d better tell me which one it is or I’m gonna fuck them all
