Michael Shaw stopped in front of the Pendulum. His heart thumped. He knew that he could no longer use his size as an excuse to avoid it; this year, he was tall enough. He looked up and swallowed. The thing must be a hundred feet tall, the cages hurtling round at ridiculous speeds. Screams echoed on the night air as the riders whizzed past, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. As the arm descended to earth, he realised that Faith was on the next cage to belt past the awe-struck crowds below. Loud, pulsating music throbbed in Michael’s ears, and he felt nauseous. Faith was with Sadie, and they howled as they hung on tight.
As he followed their cage with his eyes, his friend tapped him on the shoulder.
‘Well fit, your sister,’ he said.
‘Fuck off, Adam,’ Michael replied.
The trio had hooked up at football training in Year 5 and had been inseparable since. Recently, though, Adam had begun to attract trouble, and the others had started to walk a different way home. Problem was, Adam had noticed and had begun to pick on Michael, the smallest of the three. Adam himself wasn’t particularly tall, but what he lacked in inches, he made up for in volume.
‘Look at her tits jumping up and down on that thing!’
Michael’s face turned purple and he scowled. Adam spread his hands in mock apology, then placed them on his chest and began to pretend to fondle himself.
‘Ah, yeah. She’s asking for it,’ he jibed.
Something shifted on the caramel-laden air; the music dipped, someone screamed and the ride slowed. Michael charged at his tormentor and felled him in one hit. Adam, taken by surprise, never saw what was coming. A small crowd noticed the commotion and gathered round the bodies writhing on the floor. They began to cheer. Ethan could only watch, frozen and unsure what to do. Michael was sitting astride his tormentor now, and the pair grappled for dominance.
The crowd parted and Faith fought her way through the gap. She screamed at Michael and dragged him off.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ she yelled.
Adam lay panting on the floor. His eye was cut and had begun to swell. Faith looked from her brother to his victim and back again. Michael glared down at Adam, then threw up his hood and left the scene. He didn’t know where he was going, but anywhere that put distance between himself and humiliation would be good right now.
‘Ethan, what happened?’ Faith asked breathlessly. Ethan looked past her to where Adam was being helped up.
‘Adam was dissing you. Michael stuck up for you,’ he said.
‘Oh shit.’ Faith looked about for her brother, but he’d vanished. ‘Where do you think he’s gone?’ she asked.
Ethan shrugged. Faith looked at her watch: it was ten past eight. She had plenty of time to find him. Sadie asked what was going on, then rolled her eyes. It was obvious that there was only one thing on her mind tonight, and that was hooking up with Luke Miles, who owned a car and had offered to take them to get spiced. Luke was a sixth-former, and his parents were rich and lived in a massive pad on the outskirts of Keswick, so attention from him was flattery indeed, and Sadie wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.
Faith was nervous. She’d never been that into drugs, but she knew that Sadie was. She wanted to be like her friend, to be cool and interesting, but she didn’t like what it did to her brain and her stomach, making her feel sick and out of control. She always knew when her friends were close to making a deal, as they spoke in coded riddles to outwit people who might disapprove, like parents, teachers and coppers. ‘Spice’ and ‘joker’ were nicknames for chemical marijuana, and they sometimes smoked it dipped in ozone to make a wet joint. When Faith had tried one it had nearly blown her head off. If they were planning on doing that tonight, she should really make her excuses and leave. But first she had to find Michael.
‘What’s going on?’
Luke had arrived. He looked at Faith and his eyes wandered to her unzipped coat. She’d changed back into the short top as soon as she’d found the first pub toilet. She followed his gaze and he smiled. Her pulse quickened and she felt as though she was on a precipice. He’d told her that he had some new stuff for them to try, and she was torn between her sober brain telling her the right thing to do, and her teenage brain that wanted to experiment and not let her friends down. She also couldn’t deny that she was hopelessly in love with Luke Miles. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sadie fiddling with her hair and rubbing her nose: she’d already been at it.
‘Are you OK? What happened?’ Luke asked.
‘Nothing, just my brother, he got into a fight, I don’t know where he is.’
Faith felt dumb. She fully expected Luke to tease her about her concern, or perhaps make a joke. But he didn’t. He was so close, she could smell him; it was a mixture of skunk, tobacco and cologne, and it thrilled her.
‘Can I help?’ he asked. Sadie’s mouth fell open and Faith saw that she was jealous. She saw Luke as her own. The problem was that Sadie was always smashed off her tits, and Faith knew that it bored him.
‘Please,’ she said.
‘Let’s spread out. It’s Michael, isn’t it? Call him,’ Luke said.
Faith called her brother’s number but it went to voicemail. She shook her head.
‘My dad’s meeting us at the Royal Oak at nine thirty. He might have gone straight there to wait.’ It was out before she could take it back, and Sadie giggled. Luke ignored her.
‘Let’s check there first, then.’
Luke spoke into his phone, presumably to his mates, and the girls followed, with Sadie applying make-up and taking selfies in front of neon signs and flashing lights. Away from the chaos and din of the main fair, they made their way towards the pub, hoping to find Michael and put an end to the escapade. Luke and Faith checked down alleyways and behind vans as they went; occasionally Faith tried Michael’s number again, without success.
Suddenly her phone rang; the caller ID said it was her brother.
‘Michael!’
The small group stopped walking. They were halfway down a residential street and the odd car sped past. Away from the heat of the burger vans and the huge industrial light bulbs, it was freezing, and the girls pulled their coats tightly round them. They’d noticed the snow as they left the fair, and now it fell in great clumps. Already the cars parked along the road were covered.
‘Where are you?’ Faith shouted into her phone. She nodded and rolled her eyes as she spoke to Michael for barely a minute before hanging up.
‘I’m sorry, everyone, he’s fine. He’s back at the fair, eating chips outside the Cuckoo with Justin.’ Luke smiled. Justin was one of his friends. ‘Sorry,’ Faith said again.
‘Hey, it’s just a good job he’s OK,’ Luke said. ‘Come on, let’s get back to the vibe.’
Faith could feel Sadie’s eyes burning into her as Luke chatted to her all the way back to the fair. As they neared the lights, he took her hand.
‘Have you got to meet your dad at nine thirty as well?’ he asked.
Faith smiled, dying inside. ‘No, just Michael.’
‘I could give you a lift home. I promised to go and get Justin, come on. You can check on your brother first.’ He looked at Sadie and waited. They made a perfect foursome.