Chapter Seventeen

‘Cool it, will you, Mum?’

‘Cool it? When you’ve been missing half the night and we’ve been worried sick?’

‘I’m home safe, aren’t I? I was fine at Marta’s.’

‘What happened?’

Emily shuffled from one foot to the other. ‘I didn’t know Suze had posted the party on Facebook.’

‘Why didn’t you call us when it happened? Why run off to Marta’s?’

Emily recalled exactly what she’d been doing when the first terrifying battering of the front door ricocheted round the house. She’d been about to launch on her very first snog with Robbie. She could feel the heat of his breath on her face, see his dark eyes narrowing as they focused on her. On her!

Her skin tingled with the memory of it and her heart began to race. Damn, her face was going scarlet! She spun round to hide her tell-tale cheeks from her mother. Run some water, rinse a mug, take a drink, anything to allow a few seconds to cool down, recover. She turned back, half hiding behind the mug.

‘It was fine, Mum. Honest it was. Marta was near and I knew she wouldn’t mind. I didn’t want to have to wait around with all those NEDs there, I just wanted to get away.’

‘Oh, Em.’

The pathos in her mother’s voice cut through Emily’s discomfiture. ‘I’m all right, Mum. You worry too much.’

‘You’re only just sixteen, precious.’

Sympathy could only stretch so far. ‘It’s old enough to take responsibility for myself.’

‘It’s a tough world out there, Em. There’s a million risks. D-drugs. B-booze.’

Her stuttering was getting impossible, Emily thought, torn between concern and irritation.

‘B-boys. You don’t know—’

‘Mum, I do know. We get all that stuff at school. I don’t do drugs, that’s just stupid. And you drink alcohol. It’s only when you go crazy that you have to worry about it and I don’t even like the taste that much. I can look after myself. With boys, I mean. You know.’ She looked away, embarrassed. ‘You can trust me.’

‘Sweetheart, you haven’t exactly proved that, have you? I think it’s best if we ground you, at least till after your concert.’

‘That’s not till Christmas!’

‘That’s enough time to think about your behaviour.’

‘Mu-um!’

‘D-don’t argue, Emily. You’ve put your father and me through more in the last few hours than I can bear again. Just think about that.’

Emily glimpsed the brightness of tears in her mother’s eyes as she walked out of the kitchen. Her own feelings were too complicated to analyse properly. Defiant, angry, indignant and perhaps ... perhaps just a tiny bit ashamed? But why? She hadn’t really done anything wrong. If Suzy hadn’t been so stupid as to put the details on Facebook, she’d have had a magic night with Robbie and no harm would have been done.

All recollection of fear was replaced by crossness at the sheer thoughtlessness of those NEDs. She found her mobile.

‘Hi, Suze? Yeah, it’s me. How’s it going?’

‘Dad’s freaked out – the house is well trashed. You should see it—’

Suzy launched into a description of the chaos. Alcohol spilled everywhere, vomit on the new front-room carpet, syringes in the kitchen, the bathroom and behind the sofa. God knows what the mess was on one of the living-room chairs and the garden had been wrecked.

‘Mum’s in a right state about that. You know how she is about her garden.’

‘Yeah. So what’s happening?’

‘Nothing much. Dad’s stalking round with a clipboard, making notes for the insurance. Mum’s just dabbing her eyes with a boxful of hankies and wailing, “My precious begonias”.’

Emily giggled. ‘Is she really mad?’

‘A bit. She’ll calm down. They’re like, “so long as you weren’t hurt, darling, it’s just things, nobody’s died.” I’ve got them around to thinking it was all their fault anyway. They shouldn’t have gone away for the night. What about you? What happened when you left here? I lost the plot about then.’

‘I went to Marta Davidson’s, you know? Mum’s friend. She lives not too far from you.’

‘Cool. So you stayed there?’

‘Yeah. Just got back. Haven’t heard from Robbie yet though.’

‘Where did he go?’

Emily’s shoulders hunched. ‘Not sure.’

‘Didn’t he take you to Marta’s?’

‘No, he legged it with some of the other guys.’

‘What a jerk.’

‘Suzy! He’s so not a jerk.’

‘Why’d he run off then?’

‘You know,’ Emily said feebly. ‘Anyway, I’m going to call him now.’

‘Don’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘Well, for a start, boys don’t like girls who do the running. Let him call you.’

‘Okay,’ Emily said dubiously, remembering Robbie’s broad shoulders and the slenderness of his hips in his low-slung jeans.

‘Trust me, Em. I know about these things.’

Suzy, a veteran of half-a-dozen relationships, did know, reflected Emily. Smart, sassy, fearless, she drew boys to her like a scented flower attracted bees. She ended the call with the usual kisses and promises to phone again soon, set down her phone, and waited.

She didn’t have to hold her breath too long. When her mobile launched into the Hayden cello concerto – her favourite – she managed to snatch it from the dresser just as Ross’s hand shot out to pick it up.

‘Get off, Ross, it’s mine.’

‘Just trying to be helpful.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Emily said sarcastically then, seeing the name Robbie flashing on the screen, inhaled sharply and sped out of the kitchen. ‘Back in a minute.’

‘Supper’s ready, Emily,’ her father called after her.

‘Yeah, just coming.’ She pressed the green button as she ran and tried to sound nonchalant. ‘Hi.’

‘Ems? You okay?’

‘Yeah, sure. You?’

‘Cool. I was worried about you. I didn’t see you in that mob. What happened?’

A clear vision flashed in front of Emily, of Andy, Robbie’s friend, scurrying to the window in the upstairs bedroom where they’d all been sprawled, looking out and saying in a shrill, scared voice, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, they’ve got baseball bats,’ as another bang reverberated round the room.

There’d been a chorus of ‘Shit!’ and ‘Let’s get out of her, fast!’ and a mad rush for the door, during which she’d been knocked over and left doubled up on the floor, the imprint of a foot clear on her hand. But he hadn’t meant to leave her. Robbie wouldn’t have done that. He must’ve thought she’d been with him, that they’d meet up outside and head off safely together.

‘I don’t know. When I got out, I couldn’t see you,’ she said, her voice small.

‘I looked for you everywhere, babes. Didn’t know what had happened.’

‘I got knocked over. It took me a few minutes to get out. I made it just before the front door came down.’

‘You okay though? What did you do?’

‘I went to a friend of my mum’s. I stayed the night there. You?’

‘Oh, we headed back into town, ended up in some club.’

Emily was shocked. He sounded so casual about it. He’d run off and left her – and then gone off clubbing as though nothing had happened!

‘Oh,’ she said, her voice little more than a whisper.

‘I’d’ve called but my battery’d gone flat.’

‘Emily! Supper’s on the table!’ Her father’s voice was sounding stern.

‘That your dad?’ Robbie asked.

‘Yeah. I’ve got to go.’

‘Thought we might hang out on Thursday. After orchestra?’

With a bump and a jolt, her heart restarted. He still wanted to see her! He really liked her! Then she remembered her mother’s curfew. Bother.

‘Okay,’ she said, a smile creeping back into her voice. She’d work something out.

‘Emily!’ Cross now.

‘Coming!’ She turned back to her phone. ‘Cool,’ she said. ‘See you.’

‘See you, babes.’

She sauntered back into the kitchen. Macaroni cheese, the way her mum made it, with a crispy cheese and cornflake topping. Yum.

‘I’m ravenous,’ she said appreciatively, and was surprised to find that it was true.