Jude scrambled down next to her and threaded his own legs under the barrier. He looked at her and gave a thin-lipped smile. “Sorry, I’m in a mood today. Just got up on the wrong side. Forgive me?”
“Course, you dickhead. Want to play?”
Jude nodded. “First to ten, yeah?”
“Yep.”
The two of them took turns gobbing at the passing cars. If you timed it just right, you could hit the windscreens. There was nothing the drivers could do. They couldn’t stop on the carriageway, and even if they could, they would have to climb a steep hill to get up onto the footpath. Ashley and Jude would be long gone by then. Sometimes, the drivers blasted their horns in anger but that only made Ashley and Jude cackle. Getting a driver to beep was worth double points.
Ashley spat a mouthful of phlegm at a passing BMW. “Ooh,” she said. “Just missed the bastard.”
Jude chuckled, then gobbed a mouthful of spit at a passing motorcyclist. He got the guy right on his bright red helmet.
“Good shot!” Ashley said, whistling. She let a line of saliva elongate and then break, almost hitting a green and white Mini.
“You’re useless,” said Jude. “I remember when you used to be a challenge. Maybe I need to get a new best friend.”
“Good luck. I’m the only person who can stand you. Oh, and your mum thinks you’re okay. How is Helen today? Drunk by breakfast?”
Jude rolled his eyes but couldn’t keep from smiling. “Shut your face, you nasty cow. She’s not that bad, and you know it. Anyway, it’s not like she’s got any other hobbies.”
Ashley pulled at her grubby, shoulder-length brown hair. “Actually, I need to ask her if she can fit me in for a cut. My hair’s well minging.”
“She’s pretty busy at the moment. Everyone’s been getting ready for school.”
“Good thing I’m best friends with her son then, ain’t it?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Cheers.”
They sat for a while, watching the sun descend as the afternoon began its second half. The spitting contest turned out to be no contest at all. Jude got to ten before Ashley even got to five. Three cars had beeped their horns after direct windscreen hits.
Jude cheered up a little, although he started plucking at his rubber bracelet, which was something he always did when he was anxious. “You okay?” she asked, nodding at the yellow band around his wrist. He was halfway through plucking it for a fourth time.
He loosened the bracelet and placed his hands back around the bars. “Just thinking. You know me.”
Ashley smiled. She’d been friends with Jude since nursery, where they had bonded over a mutual love of Lego and finger painting. Realising their bond, their mums had started arranging play dates, and they had become inseparable from then on. The problem was that they made no other friends. By the time they had started primary school they had been joined at the hip, and no different when they moved on to secondary. Instead of birthday parties, they went to theme parks together, or pigged out at a Chinese buffet. They spent almost every afternoon after school hanging out at one another’s houses. They were like brother and sister, which was strange seeing as Ashley wanted to fuck most lads her age.
“It’s getting chilly.” Jude rubbed at his shoulders. “Think I might head home and get something to eat.”
Ashley nodded. “Yeah, me too.”
The two of them pulled their legs back from beneath the barrier and stood up. Evening was still an hour or two away but it was time to call it a day. Five weeks into the six-week summer holidays, the nights were drawing in, which made it more acceptable to go home and chill in front of the TV. At summer’s start, after so long at school, it had felt like a crime to go home before ten o’clock.
They were about to get going when Jude groaned.
Ashley turned to him. “What is it?”
Jude turned white as a sheet. He gave a small nod towards the other end of the overpass and Ashley saw what concerned him. She groaned too. “Oh, shit, that’s all we need. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
The two of them started powerwalking, staring straight ahead and not speaking – trying to hide in plain sight. Lily, Ricky, and the twins were a good thirty metres behind, but it wouldn’t take them long to catch up. That would be bad news. Ricky Dalca and Lily Barnes were always bad news.
Ricky and his crew were always dossing around somewhere on the estate but usually near the school or the shopping centre. Ashley and Jude kept closer to home and managed to avoid the local troublemakers most days. Not today, it seemed.
Jude glanced sideways at her, and she could see the anxiety churning inside him. At school, on the few days when Ricky Dalca attended, he always had it in for Jude. Sometimes, Jude faked an upset tummy just so he wouldn’t have to go in and face the torture. It pissed Ashley right off.
Right fucking off.
She hated bullies, and Ricky Dalca was the absolute fucking worst. His friends, too.
“Are they following us?” Jude asked, his eyes unblinking.
Ashley dared to peek back, and what she saw made her yelp. Before she had a chance to warn Jude, Ricky rushed forward and shoved him in the back. They hadn’t even made it off of the overpass.
We should’ve run. The bastards were never going to leave us alone. They never do.
Jude staggered and just avoided falling. He spun to face his attacker and summoned a rare display of anger. “What’s your goddamn problem, Ricky?”
Ricky was a good-looking lad, which gave Ashley mixed feelings, seeing as she hated his guts about as much as she wanted to snog his face off. Ricky’s parents were Romanian, who Ashley’s dad said were a bunch of criminals, but he had no
