I wish I could tell you that was how it ended. That I finished the season with the Parrs on a high, winning both the league and the cup, and that afterwards me, Eve and a few others had trials for the centre of excellence and we all got in. Oh, and that Amy and I aced the entrance exam, but Portia Poohsbreath failed and we all lived happily ever after.
I really, really wish I could tell you that. Only I can’t. I can’t even tell you that the euphoria lasted for days because it didn’t – it didn’t even last until the end of the match. Why? Eve Akboh, that’s why.
After our conversation, Hannah and I walked back to the touchline for the start of the second half. Hannah made some changes. “OK, girls, just keep doing what you’re doing. Let’s see … Minto, you look perished. Warm up. I’m putting you on for Gemma.”
“Me?” Amy said, shivering. “I can’t. I’ve got terrible growing pains.” She doubled over and started groaning.
Jenny-Jane spat an orange pip out of her mouth. “Forget her. She’s a waste of space. Leave Gemma on. She’s ripping ’em to shreds.”
“Shut up, JJ! I am not a waste of space,” Amy told her.
“Prove it,” JJ retorted.
Hannah tutted. “OK, OK. I don’t want any domestics! JJ, you’re on for Gemma. Minto – get your growing pains under control. You’re on in ten.”
“If you insist,” Amy replied and offered me a stick of gum.
“No, thanks,” I said, “I want to go and talk to my dad.”
“You’ll be lucky.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
She nodded across to where before half-time, Dad had been standing alone. Now there was a small crowd of five or six teenage boys around him. I recognized two of them as Eve’s brothers, Claude and Samuel, but I didn’t know the others. Eve was there, too, talking away ten to the dozen.
“Oh,” I said, feeling deflated. Alarm bells didn’t quite go off at that moment – Claude and Samuel did sometimes come to watch Eve play and occasionally some of their friends did too – but I’d so wanted to talk to Dad on his own.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Amy asked.
“Sure,” I said.
We strode arm in arm around the perimeter of the field. I told Amy what Hannah had said. “That’s cool, if that’s what you want,” she said. “Hey, if you get really good I could be your agent. I fancy myself as the next Karen Brady.”
“You fancy yourself full stop,” I told her.
“Oooh, cutting. I’m not so sure I’m liking this new sarcastic streak, girlfriend.”
I started to giggle, but when we reached the huddle around my dad, I stopped, feeling self-conscious, especially as Eve looked so startled to see us.
“Oh!” she said. “Are we on again?”
“No, we’re resting,” I told her.
“And I’m growing,” Amy added.
Sam and Claude turned to me, but the other boys continued chatting away to Dad.
“Hiya, Gem,” Samuel greeted me, a broad smile on his face. “I hear you’re on fire today.”
“Hello,” I said, loosening myself from Amy as I tried to edge my way to Dad. The three other boys seemed reluctant to let me through, but Dad noticed and sidestepped around them.
“OK, fellas,” he said. “It was nice meeting you. I’m just going to talk to my daughter for a minute, OK?”
“Sure,” one of the boys replied. “We’ve got to head off anyway. It was cool meeting you, Kriss.”
The others nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Really cool.”
“Wicked, man.”
I relaxed a little. Good. They were going. But one of them, a tall boy with his hoodie pulled tight around his face, stayed put. “Yo, Kriss. Before we go, is it OK to have a photo of you?”
I tensed and Dad automatically did too.
“No way, Marlon,” I heard Eve say as she realized what was happening.
Amy went further. “Don’t you dare!” she barked and made a grab for his camera.
“Butt out!” Marlon told her, trying to push her away. “It’s no big deal.”
“It is if you’ve been through what she’s been through, you meathead!” Amy yelled at him.
But it was too late. The damage was done. Maybe if the flash hadn’t gone off, I wouldn’t have reacted so badly – but as soon as he pressed the button that was it. The light in my eyes, the scuffle all around me, the cries and the commotion were exactly, exactly like when I was four and being led out of that flat by the police and into the pack of photographers after the ransom had been paid.