think my bitch of a sister grassed on me, but Mum reckons Mr Jones, our head of year, rang her up. It don’t really matter now. As long as we can be together, that’s all I care about, don’t you?’
Barry nodded. ‘You shoot back home and I’ll be over in about ten minutes, babe.’
Hearing laughter coming from downstairs, Angela Crouch lay on her bed, absolutely seething. She had seen Barry Franklin walk across the road half an hour ago. She had been spying through the curtains, and he looked even fitter close up than he had from a distance.
‘Go away,’ Angela yelled, as she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
Ignoring her daughter’s order, Pam marched in and sat on the edge of Angela’s bed. She stared at her daughter’s pretty, tear-stained face, and her earlier annoyance with her immediately vanished. ‘Don’t sit up here on your own, love. Come downstairs and say hello to Barry, eh?’
Angela sat bolt upright. ‘And why would I wanna say hello to him? What’s next? Gonna invite the old slapper round for tea, are ya?’
Pam spotted a look of jealous hatred on her youngest daughter’s face and, unable to stop herself, gave her a short, sharp slap around it. ‘You, young lady, should be ashamed of yourself. I know it was you that spoke to Mr Jones. He actually believed that you were such a nice young girl, you were frantically worried about your sister. Well, I know differently, but I will never tell Stephanie, because she would be so bloody hurt. That girl has been a good sister to you, and it’s about time you started appreciating all of your family a bit more. You’re rude to Steph, me, and Lin, and its not bloody good enough. It’s my fault, I know that. Since your father died, I’ve always babied you, but I can see now that it’s not done you any favours at all, and things have to change, Angie.’
Angela threw herself into her mother’s chest. ‘I’m so sorry. I will try and be nicer to everyone, I promise I will.’
Pam held her tearful daughter in her arms. She knew deep down that her Angela was a good girl. ‘Please don’t cry. I love you so much, darling.’
‘I promise I’ll dye my hair back to its normal colour tomorrow, and I will say hello to Steph’s boyfriend,’ Angela sobbed.
Pam smiled. She had known that a few sharp words would be the thing to bring Angela back to her senses, and she had been absolutely right. Kissing Angie on the nose, Pam stood up. ‘You dry your eyes, angel, and come downstairs when you’re ready, eh?’
Angela nodded.
As soon as Pam shut the bedroom door, Angela walked over to the mirror, stared at her reflection and smirked. She needed to get back into her mother’s good books; if that meant pretending to like her bitch of a sister, then pretend she would.
CHAPTER TEN
As summer came to an abrupt end and autumn kicked in, Stephanie and Barry’s relationship seemed to go from strength to strength. Steph kept her promise to her mum by attending school regularly and working hard in her lessons, and Pam allowed Steph to spend time with Barry in return.
‘Hurry up, Ange. I’m meant to be meeting Tammy in half hour,’ Steph shouted, banging on the bathroom door. She and her sister were now on speaking terms, but were hardly best buddies.
‘You’re such an impatient cow. You ain’t gonna be here later when Jase comes round, are you?’ Angela shouted, flouncing out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her as though she were the Queen of Sheba. Angela had pestered her mum for weeks to allow her to bring Jason O’Brien home for dinner. ‘It ain’t fair! Barry’s round ’ere all the time and I have to put up with that. How comes Steph’s allowed to bring her boyfriend round and I ain’t? You always side with Steph,’ Angela had whinged only yesterday. Her drama-queen act had worked, and her mother had agreed that Jason O’Brien was now welcome at the house as well. Today he was coming for roast dinner, the first of many, Angela hoped.
‘No. I won’t be here later. Barry’s taking me out for a meal,’ Stephanie said, feeling extremely grown-up. Apart from a regular plate of chips in British Home Stores in Romford, or the odd sit-in at McDonald’s, this would be the first proper meal that Steph had ever been out for without an adult being present.
‘Where you going?’ Angela asked, with a hint of jealousy in her voice. Not only did she think Barry Franklin was far too handsome and entertaining to be dating the likes of her plain, boring sister, the way he treated her also really got Angie’s goat. Barry was forever buying Steph clothes and gifts. Even though Angela was happy with her Jason, she was still narked that her sister was being treated like she was some kind of bloody princess.
‘He’s taking me to Pizza Hut. It’s well ace in there and they have this big posh salad bar,’ Steph said, proudly.
‘What’s that in aid of then? Is it a special occasion?’ Angela asked, desperately trying to keep the spite out of her voice.
Stephanie wasn’t a very good liar, she never had been; so, red-faced, she came clean. ‘It’s Jacko’s sixteenth birthday if you must know. Tammy’s coming with us as well.’
‘Jacko ain’t going out with that pig now, is he?’ Angela asked, bluntly.
‘Tammy ain’t no pig! She is lovely, and no, they are not going out together. Jacko is a much nicer person now he don’t hang about with Potter and Cooksie all the time, and me and Tam get on really well with him now,’ Steph explained.
‘Well, bully for you,’ Angela said, nastily.
Ignoring her sister’s sarcasm, Stephanie wished her a nice day and took her turn in the bathroom.
Over in the East End of London, Barry Franklin was giving it all the spiel. ‘Come on ladies and gentlemen, you can’t beat my prices. Fifty quid in Harrods these little beauties sell for, hand on heart. Now, am I gonna charge you fifty today? No, I’m not. Nor will I charge you forty, or even thirty for that matter. Today, ladies and gentlemen, this state-of-the-art electronic toy is all yours for a tenner.’
‘Be careful, son. The Old Bill are heading this way,’ an old man shouted out.
‘Bollocks,’ Barry mumbled, as he packed the kiddies’ toys into the big grey suitcase and rapidly made his way back to Aldgate East Station. It was just over three weeks now since his mum had disappeared off to Spain and, seeing as she had left him virtually no money, Barry had had to work fly pitching toys down Petticoat Lane Market on a Sunday just to get by. His boss, Steve, had said he could have the bath towels to sell but, because they were so heavy, Barry hadn’t been able to take him up on his offer. Instead, he’d had a word with another pal of his and had been selling knocked-off plastic robots instead.
The train journey back to Dagenham from Aldgate took about thirty-five minutes and, as he usually did, Barry spent his time on the train thinking about Stephanie. Once or twice in the past, Barry had thought he had been in love, but he now knew that he hadn’t. The way Steph made him feel was nothing he had ever experienced in his life before. They had yet to make love, but Barry was sure that she was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Sex wasn’t everything and, even though Barry was gagging to pop Stephanie’s cherry, he was determined not to put pressure on her. He loved her that much, he would wait for years to do the deed if she wanted him to.
Barry’s daydreaming nearly caused him to miss his stop, but he somehow managed to prise the doors open just in time. Suitcase in hand, he jogged home as fast as his heavy load would allow him. He hadn’t had a magnificent day today like he had last Sunday, but he reckoned he’d cleared fifty quid, which was enough to take Steph out and see him through the next few days. Now his sister’s bloke was out of nick, he didn’t have to support her any more and, worse ways, he could always skip school on Thursday and work up Roman Road with Steve. Inserting his key inside the lock, Barry heard the phone ringing. He dashed to answer it in case it was Steph. It wasn’t. It was his mother ringing from a callbox in Spain.
‘How’s