Desperate to make it up with them, because they were the only real friends she’d made since moving to the area the previous year, Holly set out for school early on Monday morning in the hope of catching up with them before the bell went. Neither girl was in their usual meeting place when she got there, but Bex was in the same set as her for most lessons, so she headed to their form room and took her seat at the desk they always shared.
When Bex arrived a few minutes later, she walked straight past Holly as if she hadn’t seen her and plonked herself down next to Leanne Phillips. A big girl with a reputation for being a bit of a bully, Leanne usually sat alone, and Holly half expected her to tell Bex to sling her hook. But instead, Bex whispered something to Leanne and the girl burst out laughing. Sure that she was the butt of whatever joke Bex had told, Holly struggled to concentrate when the teacher arrived and the lesson got under way.
Bex sat with Leanne again in the next lesson, and the one after that. Upset, but also pissed off by then that Bex was ignoring her because of that stupid little tiff, Holly decided to skip lunch when she walked into the dining hall and saw Bex and Leanne standing together in the queue.
Halfway across the field at the back of the school a few minutes later, she glanced over her shoulder when she heard her name being called, and tutted when she saw Bex running after her.
‘What do you want?’ she asked, turning to face her.
‘To talk,’ Bex said breathlessly.
‘Why? You’ve been ignoring me all morning, so why stop now?’
‘If you’re expecting an apology you’ll be waiting a long time, ’cos you deserved it after the way you acted on Saturday,’ Bex said bluntly. ‘But that doesn’t mean I want to see you upset.’
‘I’m not upset.’
‘So how come you’re nearly crying?’
‘I’ve got a cold.’ Holly sniffed to prove her point and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. Then, dismissively, she said, ‘You’d best go back to your new bestie before she starts wondering where you’ve got to.’
‘Nah, she’ll be too busy stuffing her face.’ Bex gave a sly grin. ‘You should’ve seen how many chips she piled on her plate back there. I swear the greedy bitch’d weigh twenty stone by now if she didn’t burn it all off shagging Gary Mottram.’
‘You what?’ Holly frowned.
Still grinning, Bex formed a circle with her hand and poked her finger in and out of it.
‘Seriously?’ Holly asked, curiosity overriding her determination to play it cool.
‘Seriously.’ Bex nodded. ‘She was telling me about it earlier; reckons they’ve been at it for months. And she doesn’t even care that he’s still seeing Carla Lewis.’
‘Dirty cow.’
‘Dead cow if Carla ever finds out,’ Bex snorted. ‘But never mind her, I’ve got something for you.’
‘What is it?’ Holly asked, following as Bex forced her way through a clump of bushes at the end of the field, behind which was a tiny clearing where the kids who smoked hung out at break times.
‘Ta-da!’ Bex said, pulling a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from the bottom of her bag after dusting herself off.
‘I don’t smoke,’ Holly reminded her, perching on a log that was surrounded by fag ends, chocolate wrappers and crushed soft-drink cans. ‘And neither do you.’
‘I do now,’ Bex said, sitting next to her. ‘Julie’s mum buys them off someone who smuggles them over from France, and she’s got tons of cartons stashed in her wardrobe. Ju nicks them and sells them for a fiver, but she didn’t charge me.’
Lip curling at the mention of Julie, Holly said, ‘Might’ve known she’d be behind it.’
‘She didn’t force me,’ Bex said, blowing out a thick stream of smoke after lighting up. ‘And she’s honestly not that bad if you give her a chance.’
‘You’ve changed your tune,’ Holly snorted. ‘You were slagging her off the other day, saying how much she does your head in, and now you’re up each other’s arses. What’s all that about?’
‘I dunno.’ Bex shrugged. ‘I saw a different side to her at her cousin’s party, and we had a right laugh when I stayed over at hers. But that doesn’t mean I like her more than I like you, so you don’t have to be jealous.’
‘I’m not jealous,’ Holly lied. ‘But Saturday’s our day, so why did you go to the pictures with her when you could have gone with me?’
‘You’re always skint, so that was never going to happen,’ Bex said. ‘But it’s done now, so shut up about it and have some of this.’
She held out the cigarette out, but Holly shook her head and stuffed her hands into her pockets. ‘You’ll get addicted.’
‘Nah, I’m not that weak,’ Bex said, taking another drag and blowing a smoke-ring. Then, remembering something, she said, ‘Hey, did you hear about Kell?’
‘No. What about her?’ Holly wafted the smoke away.
‘Her mum’s been sectioned,’ said Bex. ‘Ju’s mum was talking to her friend about it on the phone when she was driving us to the pictures, and she had it on loudspeaker so we heard everything. Apparently, Kell’s mum was running round Tesco on Friday night, stark naked.’
‘No way,’ Holly gasped, wondering if that was why Kelly hadn’t answered her calls at the weekend – and why she wasn’t in school today.
‘Way!’ Bex said. ‘She was proper going off her head
