I walk along the corridor to the first lesson after being introduced to my tutor group at registration. Two girls I recognize from the bus walk with me.
“So, you’re Jez’s cousin?”
I nod.
One girl pushes loose hair from her face. “Cool.” She says. “Are you in Tin Road?”
“Tin Road?” I say.
“Tin Road, his band?”
I shake my head. Maybe I don’t know enough about Jez to keep this lie going.
“I’m Erin, by the way,” she says. “And this is Gracie.”
I nod and smile. I’m being jostled along the corridor, pressed in by all the other kids.
“How long are you staying with Jez?” says Gracie.
“Till Mum’s better,” I say.
“What’s the matter with her?”
I feel hot and crushed in. Erin and Gracie are on either side of me, waiting for an answer. “Cancer,” I say. “Mum’s got cancer.”
Gracie’s eyes open wide. “That sucks. My auntie died of that.”
Erin grabs my arm as we walk into class. “Come on, Scarlet, sit with us at the back. You don’t want to be anywhere near Mrs. Atkins. She’s dead boring and even worse, she stinks. You can smell her from three desks back.”
I sit between Erin and Gracie and stare out of the window. A flock of pigeons wheels across the houses, their storm-colored feathers dark against the pale sky. I’ve told another lie. It’s easier this way. Sometimes I wish Mum had cancer instead. When Amy Johns’s mum had cancer, everyone said how brave she was, how she fought it like a soldier going into battle. Everyone joined her army. The flags were flying, the bugles called. She marched into battle with an army of followers fighting right there alongside her, lifting her up high.
But with Mum’s illness, there are no flags or bugle calls.
There are no back-up troops.
No medals given out for bravery.
It’s just us.
Alone.
And it’s lonely on our battlefield.
* * *
Erin and Gracie want to take me under their wing. I’m Jez’s cousin, so I’m cool. My mum’s got cancer, so that makes me kind of special. I’m a novelty. Tragic. Interesting. For now, at least. I’m writing out a new script for my life and rubbing out the past. A new life. A lie. A new me. Is this what happens when you step into someone else’s life and leave behind your own? What if I’m asked about my family? Do I write Red out of my new life too?
We have math, then English, and then break. I’ve already got two pieces of homework to do so I slip back to the tutor room. I’m just opening my math book when Erin finds me.
“Scarlet, what are you doing?”
“Thought I’d get homework out of the way.”
Erin rolls her eyes and stuffs my math book into my bag. “Don’t be such a geek. Come on, Tamsin wants to meet you.” She leans into me, and whispers, “Come and meet the Rooftop Gang.”
I follow Erin across the playground, to the bike sheds in the far corner of the school grounds. They back onto the concrete P.E. block. Some of the bike racks are missing, and I see Gracie and three other girls sitting up on top of the bike-shed roof.
A tall girl with white-blond hair lets a ladder down.
I follow Erin up onto the roof, and the girl pulls the ladder up behind us.
“Hi, guys,” says Erin. “This is Scarlet.”
They all look at me. Gracie’s there already, so I guess she’s told them all about me. The white-blond girl is the first one to speak. “Hi, Scarlet,” she says. “I’m Tamsin, Fish’s sister. You’ve met Gracie, and this is Laura and Kim.”
Tamsin looks like her brother, with her blond hair, pale blue eyes, and pale skin—but without the spots. I sit down at the edge of their circle.
Tamsin passes round a pack of cookies. “They’re only three weeks out of date,” she says. “Better than last time.”
Erin takes a cookie and passes the packet on to me. “Tamsin’s dad owns a convenience store. He’s always giving us his out-of-date stuff.”
I listen to them talk about school and other kids and teachers. I work out the teachers who let you hand in homework late, which ones are nice, and which ones to avoid. Tamsin shows us the new shoes she’s bought for school.
“Now those are killer heels,” says Laura.
“You’ll never get those past Miss P,” says Gracie.
“I’ll walk behind you all,” Tamsin says with a laugh. “She won’t even see.”
They talk about clothes and what they want to buy, and I hope Renée will let me get some new clothes too. I’m glad I’m wearing a uniform. At least it doesn’t show me up.
A pigeon flutters down and struts near us, its head tilted, watching us for dropped crumbs. I crumble the edges of my cookie and drop the pieces near my feet. The pigeon paces closer, not trusting enough to come too close. If Red were here, it would trust him. He’s so quiet and still with birds, he almost becomes invisible. I sometimes wish I could be invisible too.
“Hey, Scarlet! You’ll have to watch out for Baba Yaga.”
Tamsin nods. “Baba Yaga, the old Russian witch. She likes pigeons too. She comes to feed them in the park.”
Gracie grabs my arm and pulls me down. “Look,” she hisses. “That’s her now.”
We all flatten ourselves on the roof and watch the old woman walking along the pavement on the far side of the road. She doesn’t look like a witch. She’s carrying plastic bags that swing back and forth as she lurches along. Her face is hidden behind a headscarf, and she’s wrapped in a shawl and an old coat. Long woollen socks are wrinkled around her thick ankles, and her feet are stuffed into cut-off rubber boots.
Tamsin narrows her eyes. “She’s evil. She turns children into birds.”
“Tamsin!” laughs Kim. “We used to tell that story in primary school.”
Tamsin’s eyes open wide. “It’s no joke. Naseem disappeared last year. What happened to him?”
Laura rolls her eyes. “His family moved to Birmingham.”
Tamsin leans in closer to the circle. “So we were told. But children go missing all the time. Baba Yaga turns them into birds. She boils them down and eats them with her iron teeth.”
We watch the woman hobble along the street and stop at the end house. She puts her bags down and fumbles for her keys before letting herself in and closing the door behind her.
Erin breathes out and sits back up. “That’s her house. It’s full of birds. When you walk past you can hear them flapping against the windows.”
Tamsin nods. Her eyes are wide, wide open. She’s enjoying this story. “It’s true. You can hear them scratching and pecking. They’re all children, trapped in there, trying to get out.”
Gracie snorts a laugh. “I told my little brother I’d take him to Baba Yaga if he ever messed up my room again. You should have seen his face.”
I can’t help smiling and notice Tamsin sees me.
She frowns. “Don’t laugh. It’s true.” She keeps her voice to a whisper, so everyone has to lean in closer. “Rumor has it that if she offers you a chocolate you’re done for. She’s chosen you. She’s going turn you into one of her bird children and keep you there forever.”
* * *
The end-of-break bell wakes us from Tamsin’s story. I grab my bag to go.
“Hey, Scarlet,” says Tamsin.
We all turn to look at her. “D’you want to be in the Rooftop Gang?”
I look around the faces. This is my first chance of making friends and I don’t want to blow it.
I nod.
Tamsin gives a sly smile. “Then you have to do a dare.”
Gracie frowns. “We could let her off. Her mum’s ill, after all.”
Tamsin shakes her head. “Rules is rules, Gracie. You know that.”
I look around them. “What kind of dare?”
“I reckon,” says Tamsin, a sly smile creeping across her face. “I reckon Scarlet should get into Baba Yaga’s house and bring something back to prove it.”
“No way,” says Gracie.
“Come on, Tamsin,” says Laura. “Not even you would do that.”
Erin’s looking between me and Tamsin, seeing who will win.
Tamsin shoulders her bag. “That’s the dare,” she says. She turns to me, challenge in her eyes. “You don’t think she’s a witch, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure she’s just a harmless little old lady.”
“It’s too risky,” says Gracie. “Let’s dare her to take something from the staffroom instead.”
Tamsin puts her hands on her hips. “What is it with you guys?”
She glares at them. Kim picks at some moss growing in the cracks in the roof. Gracie stares down at her hands.
Erin is just watching, waiting.
I don’t want them to think I’m chicken. “I’ll do it,” I say.
They all look at me.
“I’ll do it. I’ll go.”
Tamsin looks triumphant. She grins. “Good on you, Scarlet. Tomorrow lunchtime. Let’s all meet here, and we’ll watch you go to Baba Yaga’s house.”
I smile deep inside. I don’t want to be alone anymore. I want friends. I want to be in their gang too.