more than usual.
‘Cider? Lager? Or Scotch?’ Wayne asked his girlfriend.
Unlike her sister, who drank regularly at weekends, Angela had barely ever touched the stuff but, not wanting to act like a kid, she opted for Scotch.
‘Are you OK?’ Wayne asked, as she took a sip and promptly started to choke. ‘Yeah, I’m cool. Went down the wrong hole,’ Angela gasped.
‘You sure you don’t want lager or cider instead?’
‘No, I always drink Scotch,’ Angela lied, taking another sip.
‘What do you wanna listen to? How about the Fatback Band?’ Wayne suggested.
‘Yeah, I love that,’ Angela lied. She actually had no idea who the Fatback Band were. She was more into Kajagoogoo and Culture Club herself.
Singing the words to ‘I Found Loving’, Wayne sat down next to Angela and pushed her into a backwards position on the bed. ‘You make me feel really horny, do you know that?’ he panted, as he fondled her breasts.
Still feeling extremely edgy, Angela pushed him off her and sat up. ‘Can we have some more drink and play some music before we get off with one another? We’ve got all day, ain’t we?’ she asked, fearfully.
Sensing her anxiety, but also sensing that there was a good chance he was going to get his end away later, Wayne sat up and smiled at Angela. ‘Your wish is my command, babe.’
At lunchtimes, Stephanie and Tammy had a regular routine. Firstly, they would walk to the little tuck shop which was a spit’s throw from the school. The nice man in there would sell cigarettes singly to the schoolchildren for ten pence each and Steph and Tammy took full advantage of his kindness. From there, the girls would walk round to Broad Street where there was a parade of shops and a small indoor market. The girls’ lunch usually consisted of a bag of chips from the local chippy, but occasionally, if they were feeling flush, they would buy a burger in the café and sit in there and eat it.
‘Look, Barry Franklin’s standing outside the chippy on his own. Let’s go and talk to him, shall we? It must be horrible starting a new school when you don’t know anyone, and he said when he introduced himself that he came from Bethnal Green,’ Tammy said.
Lighting up the Player’s Number One that she’d just purchased in the tuck shop, Stephanie felt hot and flustered but did her utmost to look and sound cool. ‘Just walk past him. I can’t be arsed talking to boys no more.’
‘You like him. I can tell,’ Tammy said, teasingly.
‘No I fucking don’t! Now shut up, and if you say anything to him, I’ll never forgive you,’ Steph replied, angrily.
‘All right, ladies. Mind if I tag along with you? I don’t really know anyone yet and I feel a right plonker standing ’ere on me own,’ Barry asked, staring at Steph.
Unable to hold his gaze, Stephanie looked down at her feet. ‘We’ve gotta go somewhere, ain’t we, Tam?’ she mumbled.
Tammy ignored her friend’s awkwardness and smiled at Barry. Unlike Wayne Jackman, Barry seemed like a decent lad and there was no way she was going to leave him standing outside the chip shop on his own. ‘We’re only going to the café in Broad Street market. You can come with us if you like.’
Barry grinned. ‘Cheers, girls, and to repay you for your kindness, lunch is on me.’
Over in Digby Gardens, Angela’s earlier nerves had now disappeared and she felt both woozy and extremely confident. ‘Can I have another Scotch?’ she asked Wayne. At first, Angie had found the drink tasted horrendous, but after a couple of glasses, she’d sort of got used to the taste and she enjoyed the floating feeling that came with drinking it.
‘Gissa kiss now, babe,’ Wayne urged, as he handed Angela her drink.
Giggling, Angie pushed him away. She knocked her drink back in one gulp, then stood up. ‘If you let me choose some music, then you can have more than a kiss,’ she said, seductively.
Wayne grinned broadly. ‘Tell me what records you want on, and if I’ve got ’em, I’ll play ’em for you.’
‘You got any Kajagoogoo or Culture Club?’ Angie asked.
Wayne burst out laughing. ‘No I ain’t! That’s little kids’ music.’
Feeling her face redden as she remembered her own age, Angela thought of the bands her elder sister liked. ‘What about Duran Duran or Soft Cell?’ she asked, composing herself once more.
‘I’ve got Soft Cell. “Tainted Love” is one of my favourite songs ever. What’s yours?’ Wayne asked.
‘“Tainted Love” is my favourite song an’ all,’ Angela replied. Steph used to play it all the time in their room and it had sort of grown on Angie over the past year or so.
Wayne put the seven-inch single onto his record player and set the arm so it would automatically repeat itself.
‘I love you Jacko,’ Angela said childishly, as Wayne positioned his body on top of hers.
‘Take your top and knickers off,’ Wayne ordered, his voice husky with lust.
‘You’re fucking beautiful, babe,’ he whispered truthfully, when Angela stood completely naked in front of him. Her breasts weren’t as big as some of the girls he’d slept with, but other than that, she was perfect.
Angela stared at Wayne as he took off his tracksuit top. His torso was fit and firm and he had one of them six-packs like she’d seen on some of the pop stars whose images were pinned up on her bedroom wall. When he took off his bottoms and put a rubber thing on his penis, Angela felt her nerves momentarily return. She had never seen a willy in real life before, and Wayne’s was not only bigger than she had expected, but it was also sticking up in the air like a flagpole.
‘I want you so much,’ Wayne mumbled, as he pushed her back onto the bed and got on top of her.
‘You’re hurting me,’ Angela cried, as Wayne tried to ram his penis inside her.
‘Ain’t you done this before?’ Wayne asked, surprised.
‘Tell me if you’ve done it before and then I’ll tell you if I have,’ Angie replied, showing her true age once more.
‘Yeah, I’ve done it loads of times,’ Wayne bragged.
‘And me,’ Angela lied.
Now he knew she wasn’t a virgin, Wayne roughly thrust himself inside her.
Angela bit her lip to stop herself from screaming out in pain. A minute or so later, Wayne let out a funny groan and rolled onto his back. ‘That was fucking amazing! Did you enjoy it, babe?’ he asked, with a big smile on his face.
Angela nodded and tried to block the awful experience from her mind by concentrating on Marc Almond’s voice. Angela had expected having sex for the first time would be pleasurable and romantic, but Wayne hadn’t even kissed her during it. All he had done was get on top of her and then hurt her by shoving his big thingy up her.
‘Do you want to do it again?’ Wayne asked, putting a comforting arm around Angela. He had just noticed the blood on the end of his penis, so now guessed she had lied and it was her first time.
‘Not yet. Let’s have another drink first and listen to the music for a bit,’ Angie replied, miserably.
As a happy Wayne leapt off the bed to pour the drinks, he sang at the top of his voice to the chorus of the song.
Wanting to cry, Angela shut her eyes. If what she had just experienced was meant to be love, then the words in the song must be right: it was bloody tainted.
Tammy Andrews lived in the opposite direction to Stephanie, so they arranged to meet that evening and said goodbye outside the school gates. Carrying her own schoolbag on one shoulder and her sister’s bag on the other,