ever wanna see your face again, got it?’ he yelled.
Crushed beyond belief, Angela let out a wounded howl, and ran as fast as she could down the street.
Unaware that another drama was just about to kick off, Pamela Crouch was busy dealing with the one that already had. The police had kindly dropped her sister home half an hour ago and, instead of being apologetic over her unruly behaviour, Linda seemed to think it was all one big joke.
‘It ain’t fucking funny, Linda. Mum must be turning in her grave if she’s looking down and knows you got yourself arrested. It’s ever since you’ve been knocking about with them factory girls, you’ve been acting like a bloody hooligan. I think you should look for another job. You need to find one where you mix with normal women. Bad influence, that mob from the Butterkist are.’
‘No they ain’t! For the first time ever, sis, I’ve actually met people who accept me for being me – and let me tell you, I’m having the time of me bleedin’ life. My friends are blinding and I love each and every one of ’em dearly, so don’t you dare try and spoil things for me. I will never forgive you if you do, and I mean that. And if you keep nagging on at me like Muvver did, I’ll go up that council first thing Monday morning and get meself a place of me own,’ Linda replied.
Huffing and puffing, Pam stood up. ‘Who wants a brew?’ she asked.
‘Yes please,’ Linda said, winking at Cath as Pam left the room. Linda might have a height impediment, but her brain was as good as Margaret Thatcher’s and she certainly knew which buttons to press when it came to her elder sister. Threatening to move out worked like a dream every time, and Linda just wished she had learnt the art of being so cunning when she’d lived with her domineering bloody mother.
When the front door opened and slammed, Pam looked up from her tea-making duties. ‘Angie, get your arse down here,’ she shouted, as her sobbing daughter bolted straight up the stairs.
‘What’s wrong with Madam?’ Linda asked, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge door to hunt for some chocolate.
‘Christ knows! Go up and see if she’s all right for me,’ Pam replied. She’d had enough stress for one day to last her a lifetime.
‘No chance,’ Linda said, bluntly. She adored her eldest niece Stephanie, but in Lin’s eyes, Angela was a petulant little mare, and there was no way she was getting involved in the child’s latest fiasco.
About to plead with Linda, Pam was saved from doing so by Stephanie’s arrival home. ‘What’s in that bleedin’ carrier bag?’ Pam asked suspiciously as she clocked her daughter trying to hide the bag behind her back.
‘Just a sweatshirt,’ Stephanie said, as casually as she could. She could hardly tell her mum that the old slapper’s son who lived across the road had bought it for her. Her mother would have a fit.
‘You ain’t nicked it, have you? Where did you get it from?’ Pam asked, bluntly.
‘Romford Market and I bought it out me pocket money, if you must know,’ Steph replied, stroppily.
Swallowing her daughter’s lie, Pam raised her eyes towards the ceiling. ‘Go upstairs and see what’s wrong with your sister. She’s just come in, breaking her heart, she was. You know what she’s like, she won’t tell me sod all – but I ain’t silly, I bet it’s to do with a boy.’
Relieved that her lie had been believed, Stephanie shot straight up the stairs. ‘Whatever’s the matter?’ Angela had the covers over her head, but Steph could still hear her sobbing like a baby.
‘Go away. Leave me alone,’ Angela screamed.
The girls slept in single beds either end of the room, and Stephanie knew if she didn’t sort this particular drama out now and Jacko had dumped Angie, her sister would make her life hell for weeks to come. Sitting down on the edge of Angela’s bed, Steph comfortingly put an arm across her body. ‘I knew he’d find out your age sooner or later, sis. It was only a matter of time,’ she said in an understanding voice. ‘I told you to tell him the truth before someone else did, didn’t I?’
Angela was not only heartbroken, but also bloody seething. Not only had she lost the love of her life and been humiliated by Tanya MacKenzie, but she now had her know-it-all, patronizing sister to contend with as well. Unable to admit that she should have listened to Stephanie’s advice about admitting her age, Angela leapt out of the bed like a banshee. ‘Jacko never found out my age. It ain’t what you think it is, OK?’ she shrieked.
Stephanie was used to her younger sister being an actress – she’d grown up with her tantrums – but as Angie’s body began to shake uncontrollably and her sobs echoed against the walls of the bedroom, Stephanie started to become seriously concerned. ‘Whatever’s happened? You can tell me, Ange,’ she said, holding her distraught sister in her arms.
Rocking to and fro, Angela clung to Stephanie’s chest. She was good at lying and needed some sympathy. Also, if Steph thought she was going to get her hands on Wayne now, she had another think coming.
‘Has Jacko done something bad to you, Ange?’ Stephanie asked. She had tears in her own eyes now, such was her sister’s distress.
Angela was racking her brain for the perfect answer and, remembering the fantastic sex she and Wayne had experienced earlier, she could only think of one thing to say. ‘If I tell you, you must promise never to tell Mum or anyone else.’
‘I swear I won’t tell a soul,’ Stephanie promised.
‘Jacko forced me to have sex with him. He raped me, Steph.’
CHAPTER SIX
After spending all day Sunday consoling and caring for her sexually abused younger sister, Stephanie headed off to school on the Monday morning like a bull in a china shop. She’d left an hour earlier for two reasons: one because she needed Tammy’s advice, and secondly because she’d wanted to avoid Barry. Seeing Tammy standing outside the Church Elm fish bar, Stephanie ran towards her.
‘Why the early meet? You ain’t done it with him, have you? And why didn’t you come round yesterday? We were meant to be going down Dagenham Sunday Market,’ Tammy asked, slightly annoyed that her pal had let her down.
‘Let’s go to a café. We can’t talk here,’ Steph said, grabbing her pal’s arm.
Five minutes later, the girls were sitting in the café on Heathway Hill nursing a mug of tea each.
‘What’s a matter, Steph? You look like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders. Is it Barry? Did he do something to you when you went out with him the other day? If he’s upset you, I’ll have his guts for garters, mate.’
‘It’s not Barry. I had a fab day out with him, the best ever.’
‘Well, what’s wrong then?’
‘It’s Angie.’
Tammy had little time at all for her best friend’s younger sister. In her eyes, Angela was an extremely nasty piece of work, but Tammy had learned to be diplomatic about her for Steph’s sake. ‘What’s she done now?’ she asked, raising her eyebrows.
Leaning forwards so that the workmen sitting on the next table couldn’t hear what she had to say, Stephanie explained everything that Angela had told her.
Tammy listened intently, but couldn’t help but be sceptical. ‘You sure she’s telling the truth, mate? I don’t wanna slag your sister off, but you know what a liar she can be. What about when she told you that poor old man who lived across the road had touched her and it turned out she’d made it up ’cause he’d caught her nicking the milk off his doorstep and she knew he’d tell your muvver.’
Remembering the incident with the old man who used to live across the road, Stephanie shrugged. ‘Yeah, but when my mum went to confront the old man, Angela admitted she was