Ewan took a free kick from just outside the box and it connected with his right foot, exactly on the sweet spot. It catapulted away and curled towards the goal mouth. The keeper stretched his full body length, but couldn’t get to it, and it pounded into the back of the net. The boys cheered and ran around the pitch. Girls who’d come to support them fawned over him and Ewan revelled in being the saviour of the beautiful game. He’d scored. He was a success, the warrior of the moment.
Noah held up his hand, and they high-fived.
‘She’s looking over,’ Noah told his friend. Ewan smiled and looked down at his feet. He’d been in love with Natalie since Year 4. She watched him as his teammates slapped him on his back. It was an impromptu match, disorganised and casual, but scoring a goal still brought with it a huge amount of kudos and attention. Noah whacked him playfully and reaffirmed that Natalie was watching. He risked a side glance and it was true; she was smiling at him from beneath her dark curls. Ewan was spellbound by her. Somebody bumped into him and he was jolted from his romantic musings. He looked over to the entrance to the field and tensed.
The mood turned stale and a hush descended on the teams as the air tightened around the rec. They watched as a group of boys entered the grounds, inviting stares from everybody there. Ewan looked over at Natalie, who no longer gazed at him. Her face had turned bleak and she gathered her things together, as did her friends. The fun was over.
Brandon Stand swaggered across the space, with his followers tightly grouped around him. He entered like a conquering hero. Ewan braced himself. Several huddles of girls pointed and gossiped, sticking in close formation, but didn’t disperse, for fear of missing any action, even if it was to see Ewan Moore humiliated again. Ewan saw Natalie stick out her chest and flare her nostrils and he stood firmly rooted to the spot, entranced by her fierceness. He knew she hated Brandon Stand. He admired her sense of justice and how she was fearless in the face of impending menace, for that was what Brandon was: dangerous.
His eyes darted from Natalie to Brandon. She didn’t move. He was reminded of something she’d said in Life Studies: something about men thinking they were in charge, but women knowing how to trick them into thinking they had the upper hand, proving that women were the real puppeteers, choosing the right moment to use their skills, which were infinitely more effective. The teacher had gaped, open mouthed, unable to come up with a retort, and Natalie had gained a round of applause from the boys as well as the girls. He hadn’t really known what she’d meant, and neither had the others, but that wasn’t the point; she’d said something controversial and different, and she’d stood up for herself.
Brandon paraded at the front of his group of hangers on. Noah walked to Ewan’s side as the teams dispersed. The boys gathered their sweaters, brought along for fashion not warmth, as well as other items from the grass, and made their way towards the warehouses. The girls waited for Brandon’s group to pass and then fell in behind. Except Natalie’s group. The younger boys hung about the entrance and the older boys took over the football pitch, fooling around with the balls abandoned by Ewan’s mates. There was a pecking order that everybody adhered to. A dominance hierarchy that made things tick along. It was unspoken and ingrained into everybody’s habits. But Natalie constantly challenged convention and Brandon noticed. That was why Ewan feared for her. One day she’d go too far with her belligerence and Brandon would punish her for it. But Ewan’s money was strangely on Natalie.
Brandon spotted him and grinned.
Natalie watched him. Ewan watched her.
Brandon walked towards the rec.
Ewan exhaled.
Inside, the usual Friday-night deals were being haggled over, but the coppers stayed away, because it wasn’t worth their while arresting a load of kids for possession, when their time was better spent catching the big-league dealers. Everybody knew that getting caught with an ounce of this, or a couple of grams of that, would never see you wind up in court. The cops were after kilos, which led to processors and runners, generated by suppliers, which eventually steered them to factories in major cities like Manchester, Leeds and London, where gangs fought turf wars over the stuff. A few school kids smoking dope, and smashing up some crystals of ketamine to snort, wasn’t even worth one shift of police work anymore.
Brandon spoke seriously to a few kids who came out of the warehouse. They exchanged words and went inside. Natalie walked in that direction.
Ewan noticed Noah catch her arm. No one stopped Natalie from doing what she wanted. She glanced round at him and winked. Ewan checked himself, not quite sure if his eyes were deceiving him. His heart scuttled to the pit of his stomach. He was desperate to protect her but he was rooted to the spot, unable to move. Noah said she liked him, but Ewan, faced with her following the boy who tormented him without mercy, wasn’t sure at all.
He’d studied every movement of her body for the best part of six years, but every time she got too close, he froze like a dummy. Maybe that was why she was following Brandon, who was never short of words. Suddenly, he noticed her turn around and walk towards him. His heart pounded and his face turned pink. She came straight for him, not flinching, and never taking her eyes away from his. She stopped, just one foot away from him, and he looked into her eyes.
‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered. ‘It’s not what you think. Brandon Stand is going to have the ride of his life tonight. I promise,’ she said, taking a small plastic bag out of her jeans pocket and holding it up. It was transparent and contained dozens of pale blue pills. Ewan gazed at her with his mouth open.
‘Where d’you get those?’ he asked.
He looked around, worried that somebody would see. No one was interested in their conversation. The question about the bag was a relatively stupid one, given that he knew exactly where she’d got it. Everyone knew that Natalie’s brother, Arch, was one of the biggest dealers in Cambridge. They lived in a massive two million-quid house, their parents were upstanding Tories, both Arch and Natalie were highly regarded students with fabulous futures ahead of them, secured with family money, but if you wanted the highest-grade skunk around, or the best trip this side of London, then Arch was the man to go to. His parents had no idea that he hid his contraband behind their walls of propriety and wealth. Natalie grinned.
‘Leave it to me,’ she said mischievously. She walked away.
‘Don’t sweat,’ Noah said to him confidently. They watched her go. Ewan felt anger well up inside him, but it wasn’t directed at Brandon Stand. Strangely, it was reserved for Arch Morgan.
Noah looked at him. ‘She hates him,’ he said, nodding towards the rec.
‘You know what those pills are?’ Ewan asked.
Noah smiled. Of course he did. Everybody knew what MDMA pills looked like. Then realisation dawned on Ewan and he forgot about Natalie’s eyes for the briefest of moments. Arch Morgan had been known to supply heavily cut shit to people he didn’t like. Dope laced with other chemicals that could cause untold damage to brain cells, on top of what the top-grade ecstasy did already. His mum had lectured him on it. But it was too late. Natalie was already inside, and what was he going to do about it anyway? The last thing Natalie would want to hear was what Doctor Moore thought. He said nothing.
Noah changed the subject.
‘I’m going into a house tonight,’ Noah announced.
‘Like last time?’ Ewan asked.
‘Yeah,’ Noah said.
Ewan began to breathe heavily and pace around.
‘What is it with you?’ Noah asked.
Ewan stopped circling and looked at his friend.
‘We didn’t get caught, did we? Come on, what else have you got to do? And besides, Natalie is up for it.’
‘What?’ Ewan asked. They both turned back to the rec as Natalie emerged without the bag, hands in pockets, looking very pleased with herself.
‘Right, I’m ready, where are we going?’ she asked, mainly to Noah.
She hooked her hand inside Ewan’s arm and smiled at him. His heart skipped and he had no idea how his feet began moving, but they did, and he walked away, her hand tucked inside his arm, following Noah, as his heart began to sing.