I wanted to be the one to find her. Why not? Everything had been going my way lately. Things can happen. Dreams can come true. I am living proof that you must never, ever give up hope.
We went round the park a couple of times. Nothing. I asked everyone we saw, but no one had seen her. We bumped into Hannah doing the rounds as well with a man and woman, who turned out to be Billie’s carers. They hadn’t seen her either. It looked like she’d given us the slip. I thought we’d missed our chance – but then we did this shortcut Chris knew round behind some shrubs and …
‘Deathgrowl at three o’clock,’ said Chris. And there she was, lying on a bench, tucked away behind some bushes and stuff. You wouldn’t have noticed it being there at all, but Chris knew his way around.
‘Ring Hannah,’ I told him, and I ran off to get her. I heard Chris behind me calling me to wait – no way was I going to wait! I wanted to be first there. I wanted to be the one to tell her it was all right.
‘Billie!’ I yelled. She heard me coming and she sat up as I got close. I should have thought, but I had something to say to her, and nothing on this earth was going to stop me.
She got off the bench as I came up to her, and I tried to speak, but I was so excited and I’d run so fast I was out of breath. I stood there like an idiot, puffing and panting and trying to speak and not getting it out. She looked at me like I was some kind of moron and started to walk away, and I thought, I’m not going to lose my chance now!
I didn’t think. I didn’t know what she’d just been through. I grabbed out at her and pulled her round and I pulled her up to me and gave her a big Roly Poly love.
Bang! She went off in my arms. Suddenly I was staggering backwards and she was screaming in my face.
‘No, Billie,’ I said. I dodged down backwards and twisted out of the way – And then – there was a knife in her hand. It just came from nowhere. I never even saw her get it out.
‘Billie, no!’ I said. My voice sounded like she was just nicking chips off my plate. Then Chris shouted, ‘Billie, no!’ really loud, and I realized then, she really was going to stab me. Her face had gone red, her teeth were bared like a dog’s and she was shaking like she was having some kind of breakdown. Her eyes had gone black. It wasn’t Billie any more.
‘We dropped the charges,’ shouted Chris. ‘Billie!’
I don’t think she even heard him. I had to do something. I opened my mouth and …
‘Billie,’ I said. ‘… Will you go out with me?’
‘What?’
I think I was almost as surprised as she was. But there – I’d said it now. ‘Will you go out with me? I fancy you. Go on, Billie, please. What do you say?’
It was a stupid thing to say, I expect. It was almost as stupid as diving in and making a grab for her. But it got through to her. She looked at me, then she looked at the knife in her hand as if she’d never seen it before. She took a step backwards.
‘What?’ she said again.
‘Billie,’ said Chris. ‘Drop the knife.’
She looked at him. She looked so confused.
‘We’re your mates,’ he said. ‘You don’t need to fight us.’
Billie stared at him, then at me. I nodded. And then, slowly, she let her arm drop down …
There was a shout. It was Hannah running towards us. There was that couple following her, running as fast as they could, a string of them across the park.
‘Give me the knife, Billie,’ I said. ‘They don’t have to see that,’ I said. She handed it over and I put it in my pocket. Her face creased up. She started to cry.
‘Oh, Billie,’ I said. ‘Can I hug you now? Just a hug.’
And she gave this little nod, this tiny little nod. I came up to her, slowly this time, and she put her arms round me, and I put my arms round her. I hugged her and she hugged me back. She started to shake a bit, and then there she was, crying on my shoulder like a little kid.