‘You
weren’t
alone?’ Dad turned quickly. ‘Why didn’t you tell that to Mr Simmers?’
‘Because I didn’t want to get Anne into trouble as well,’ Lydia replied.
And that was the truth, but what good did it do her? Lydia could still remember Anne’s malicious smirk in the classroom earlier. And Anne was the one who’d told everyone about the cup being found in Lydia’s locker. Understanding burnt through Lydia as she realized that Anne didn’t like her much, that Anne had never liked her much. But why?
Why
?
‘Lydia, it’s not a question of getting Anne in trouble as well,’ Dad frowned. ‘She can tell the headmaster that you didn’t do it.’
Lydia shook her head. ‘Anne left the school before me,’ she admitted.
Silence.
‘Why on earth were the two of you hanging around after school?’ Dad asked, furiously.
Lydia chewed on her bottom lip but didn’t answer. Any explanation now would just make her look even more guilty. What was she supposed to say?
I was going to take the cup so I could join the Cosmics, but I chickened out. I touched it, but I didn’t take it. It’s got my fingerprints on it, but I’m innocent
. . .
Yeah, right!
‘Anne and I . . . We were just talking. If I tell Mr Simmers about Anne now, it’ll look like I’m just trying to pin the blame on her,’ Lydia replied at last. ‘And it wouldn’t do any good anyway – she couldn’t know my locker combination.’
No one said a word.
‘Dad, Mum, please let me go to another school,’ Lydia begged.
‘Lydia, you are going to stay at Collivale School and you’re not going to bow your head or look away from anyone. You have nothing to be ashamed of,’ Mum said stonily.
‘It’s not that simple, Mum.’
‘Oh, yes it is,’ Mum argued. ‘If you walk around with your chin on the pavement and skulk in corners at the first sign of anyone you know, everyone will think you’re too afraid to face them. D’you understand?’
‘Yes, Mum,’ Lydia whispered.
Only Lydia knew it really wasn’t that simple. What about earlier at school, when Shaun Lucas had called her a thief in front of the whole class? Lydia knew she wasn’t a thief. No way was she a thief. So why had she spent the next half-hour crying in the toilets?
Dad stood up and walked over to the window. He stared out into the night, his whole body held rigid as if he was in pain. Lydia held her breath. Maybe that way she could hold on to the tears in her eyes. Mum took hold of Lydia’s hand and squeezed it gently.
This is it, Lydia thought miserably. This is the worst moment of my life.
She was soon to find out that she was wrong.
Chapter Six
It Begins
‘Thief! Thief! Thief!’
Lydia’s blood roared through her body. Her face was burning; burning hot, then burning cold. And her stomach turned and churned inside her.
I don’t care, Lydia thought fiercely. Call me what you like – I don’t care.
She stood with her back against the storeroom wall, surrounded on all sides by the others in her class. Her former friends. Every lunchtime for over a week now, Lydia had had to go through exactly the same thing. They all lay in wait – carefully choosing the moment when they could torment her. The moment when the teachers were far enough away so that even if they did see what was going on, they would only be able to make out numbers, not specific faces.
Only the teachers never saw anything and Lydia had given up hoping that they would. And now it was worse. Now it wasn’t just the ones in her class tormenting her; people from other classes were beginning to join in too.
‘Thief . . . thief . . . thief . . . !’ they chanted, over and over.
Shut up . . . shut up . . .
Lydia thought the words were in her head. She thought her mind was screaming them, desperate but silent.
‘Shut up . . . SHUT UP!’ Lydia opened her mouth to exhale and the words fell out before she could stop them. ‘SHUT UP . . .’ Her words were petrol thrown onto a bonfire.
‘THIEF! THIEF!’
Lydia bit into her bottom lip, hard, until she could taste her own blood in her mouth. She turned her head slowly. They were all there: Anne, Shaun, Kwame, Maxine, Bharti, Frankie . . . Lydia looked directly at her ex-best friend, Frankie. Her eyes narrowed and filled with scalding hate. Frankie didn’t chant with the rest of them but she didn’t stand up for Lydia either. And, surprisingly, Anne wasn’t shouting with the rest of the mob either. She stood next to Frankie, their arms linked as they watched.
Lydia saw Anne say something to Frankie which was lost under the chants of the rest of the crowd. Then Anne and Frankie turned and walked away to another part of the playground.
‘THIEF! THIEF!’
The buzzer sounded twice for the second lunch session. The chanting of the mob trailed away to nothing. Some were already turning away and heading for the canteen. After all, today was fish and chips day! Some of the others looked uncertain, as if they wanted to stay but not by themselves. Laughing and chatting, the rest of the crowd finally turned and ambled off. Lydia watched them walk away from her as if nothing had happened, as if she didn’t even exist. The bones in her legs turned to jelly. She slid down the wall and hugged her legs to her, resting her head on her knees. Her whole body was hurting. Each time ‘THIEF!’ was yelled at her, it hurt worse than a punch in her stomach. And over the last week she’d had to take so many punches.
‘I’m not going to cry. I won’t let any of you make me cry.’ Lydia whispered the words over and over.
It seemed to be working. For once the tears that always seemed to be stinging her eyes these days didn’t run down onto her cheeks.
‘I’m not going to cry,’ Lydia said again.
She forced herself to stand up. It was time for her to go into lunch as well. Lunch was such an ordeal that she’d skipped it for the last couple of days. But not any more.
‘I won’t give any of you the satisfaction,’ she said, trying to convince herself. She took a deep breath and headed for the canteen.
Lydia grimaced as soggy, greasy chips were slapped onto her plate. Everyone looked forward to Friday’s lunch, but the fish looked as if it had died of old age and the chips were doing the backstroke in a puddle of oil.
‘Anything else, pet?’ asked the dinner-lady.
Lydia shook her head. She turned, swallowing hard. Now for the hard part. She had to somehow get across the lunch hall without catching anyone’s eye. Lydia started forward, her head high, her gaze concentrating on the far wall. But that wasn’t the worst part. Not by any means. It was listening to the silence spreading before her as she approached each table. Then as she passed, the whispers and the laughter started, growing louder and louder as she got further away.
That was the worst part.
Lydia sat down at a table by herself. She pronged a chip with her fork and began to chew. It was like eating with a really bad head cold. The chips grated down the back of her throat as she swallowed and Lydia couldn’t taste a thing.
‘Bharti, sit down and be quiet.’
At the sound of Mrs Binchy’s angry voice, Lydia looked up. The teacher stood glaring at Bharti, who held her lunch plate in her hand. From the pinched look on Mrs Binchy’s face, she was obviously at the end of her tether. Lydia recognized Bharti, who was in the same year as her but not in the same class. Bharti had also been at one of the Cosmic meetings Lydia had attended but they hadn’t said that much to each other. Mind you, that was before Anne had decided that Bharti didn’t belong and had thrown her out of the group.
‘I can’t sit with her.’ Bharti pointed to Lydia. ‘My mum said I mustn’t talk to her ’cause she steals things.’
‘SIT DOWN!’ Mrs Binchy roared.
Bharti sat down quickly.
‘Bharti, you will sit there and eat your lunch without another word. I’ve had just about enough of you for one day.’ And with that Mrs Binchy strode off.
Lydia returned her attention to her plate, viciously pronging another chip. Head bent, she swallowed hard over and over again, waiting for the lump in her throat to deflate. At the moment it was the size of Jupiter. A burning sensation on the top of her head told Lydia that Bharti was watching her. Gritting her teeth, Lydia looked up suddenly.
‘What’re you looking at?’ she snapped.
‘My mum said I wasn’t to talk to you, but I never take any notice of what my mum says,’ said Bharti. A moment’s silence followed. ‘Did you steal the sports cup?’
Lydia shook her head.
‘I didn’t think you did.’ Bharti shrugged.
‘Why not? Everyone else does,’ Lydia said bitterly.
Bharti shrugged again. ‘I never do what I’m supposed to. That’s why I’m always in trouble.’
Over Bharti’s shoulder, Lydia saw Anne and Frankie walk through the door, arm in arm. They both noticed Lydia immediately. Anne said something to Frankie, who tilted back her head and roared with laughter. Lydia looked away, her face on fire.
‘Hhmm! I bet Anne’s happy now,’ said Bharti as she watched them too.
‘What d’you mean?’ Lydia asked.
‘She and Frankie used to be best friends until you turned up. Then it was you and Frankie,’ Bharti explained. ‘Now it’s back to the status quo.’
‘I didn’t know that,’ Lydia said thoughtfully.
‘Now you do,’ said Bharti.
Lydia turned to look at Anne and Frankie again, watching as they laughed at some unknown joke. And in that moment Lydia knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Anne was the one who’d set her up.
Chapter Seven
The Message Spreads
‘Mum, I don’t want to go.’
‘I can’t manage the shopping all by myself.’
‘Danny’s going with you,’ Lydia protested. ‘Why d’you need me as well?’
‘Lydia, I’ve had enough of this. Go and put your coat on. And wear your trainers or your boots – it’s slippery outside.’
Lydia scowled up at her mum. She recognized that tone of voice. Her mum had made up her mind and nothing short of a ton of semtex would shift her now. Lydia turned her head to stare back out of the window. The road and pavement glistened like glass from the severe overnight frost. High above, grey clouds were beginning to sweep across the town. Lydia sighed. All she wanted to do was watch the world go by from the front room window. Why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone?
‘Lydia, move! NOW!’ Mum said angrily.
‘But someone from my class might see me,’ Lydia whispered.
‘So what? You didn’t do anything to be ashamed of,’ Mum said. ‘How many times must I tell you? Hold your head high and don’t let anyone make you feel ashamed of something you haven’t done.’
Lydia sighed deeply as she uncurled her legs from beneath her and stood up. She looked at her mum again, making a silent appeal.
‘Hurry up, Lydia. I don’t want to spend my entire Saturday stuck in the supermarket,’ Mum said.
So much for that! Lydia looked down at Danny, who lay flat out on his stomach in front of the television. He was playing with his latest football game.
‘Danny, go and put your shoes on. You can’t go shopping in your slippers,’ Mum said.
Danny pressed the PAUSE button. ‘Can’t I just finish . . . ?’
‘No, you can’t!’ Mum exploded. ‘You children are driving me up the wall and on to the roof! Now I want both of you in the car in
one
minute.’
And with that Mum marched out of the room.
‘Since last week, everyone’s been so grouchy,’ Danny complained. ‘Snap! Snap! Snap! All the time.’
‘And it’s all my fault. Go on! Say it!’ Lydia said furiously.
‘Well, excuse me all over the place! That’s not what I meant and you know it. Don’t you snap at me as well.’
‘Sorry, Danny.’ Lydia dragged the words out.
‘I should think so, too.’ Danny sniffed. ‘I don’t care what anyone else says, Lyddy. I know you didn’t do anything wrong.’
Lydia smiled. Before Danny realized what she had planned, she kissed him on the cheek.
‘Ugh! Yeuk!’ Danny rubbed his cheek vigorously. ‘I’m going to have a whole load of spots there tomorrow! Are you nuts?’
‘I must be to kiss my baby brother,’ Lydia said sourly.
Danny and Lydia glared at each other until their lips started to twitch. Then they both started laughing. Lydia pushed lightly against Danny’s left shoulder. Danny pushed her back. They both smiled.
‘Come on. We’d better get going before Mum goes into orbit,’ said Lydia.
After putting on their trainers, coats, scarves, hats and gloves, they both left the house in silence.
Lydia emerged from the car like a snail from its shell. She looked around, her teeth clamped together so tightly that her jaw ached. The car-park was almost full, with people milling around everywhere. The supermarket was at the edge of town, very close to the moors. Thanks to the traffic, it had taken them ages to get there – at least fifteen minutes – but Lydia wished fervently that the journey could have lasted until everything was closed. The supermarket was usually only six or seven minutes’ drive from the house and Lydia’s mum wasn’t exactly a Sunday driver. According to Dad she was more of a speed demon! And ever since she and Dad had bought their brand new car a couple of months before, there’d been no stopping her!