First day back at school
Liz is like,
‘God, that was so bad.
I totally thought we were gonna get done.’
And Shawna goes,
‘We were so lucky.’
And Meg’s like,
‘Yeah, close call, weren’t it?’
I almost laugh,
not
cos anything’s funny –
it’s cos I can’t really believe what I’m hearing.
‘It’s not a close call if you actually get caught,’ I say.
‘It wasn’t my first offence, was it?
And now I’ve got to do this stupid scheme thing,
like, every Saturday.
How fucking lucky is that?’
Meg puts her arm around my shoulder.
‘Yeah … but …
what they’re saying
is that only one of
us got caught,
innit?’
‘Yeah … Me.’
Meg sighs like I’m too stupid to get her point.
‘Look, Jess,
your mum doesn’t
care about that stuff,
does she?
If I got caught,
my mum and dad would blow a nut.’
‘I’m picking up shit,’ I say.
Meg smiles.
‘I know.
You’re a well good mate, Jess.’
But I’m not.
I can’t be.
If I were a good mate
I wouldn’t be thinking about
how to get my own back on Meg.