She was almost losing it. I tried to pull the phone out of her hands, but she yanked it away from me, kept on shouting down the line. ‘And as for your daughter, Hannah’s told me all about her. She’s got no reason to be such a snob. She deserves everything she gets!’ I could hear the click on the line. ‘Hello!’ Mum screamed. ‘Don’t you dare hang up on me!’ She shook the phone as if she expected Erin’s mother to drop out of the receiver.
Finally, I managed to pull it from her. ‘What have you done?!’
She was shaking with anger. ‘I was trying to help. I thought I could talk to that woman, but she is such a snob. Thinks she is something.’
‘You said I told you all about Erin.’
She shrugged that off as if she thought it wasn’t important. ‘You say a lot of things when you’re angry.’ Then she walked off into the kitchen. ‘I need a cup of tea … I can’t get over what that woman said to me!’
It was bad enough Mum had phoned Erin’s house, but she had said that I had told her all about Erin, as if I had told her Erin’s secret too.
Now I had no hope of convincing anyone otherwise.
Chapter Twenty-Three
It couldn’t get any worse, I thought, but I was wrong. Next day I discovered just how bad it could get. As soon as I walked through the school gates I knew they were going to start on me. They were all gathered round Erin and when she saw me she whispered something in Rose’s ear. And suddenly they all looked at me and laughed.
‘Her mother said what?!’ Rose shouted in a dramatic voice. Always said she should be an actress. They all knew exactly what my mother had said. It had been well rehearsed.
‘Like mother, like daughter,’ Erin sneered. ‘That’s what my mum says. Her mother’s always been over the top about everything. Can’t handle life, my mum says.’
‘Can’t handle a boil on the backside, my mum says.’ This was Heather, and she turned on me and her eyes were dark with venom. ‘She’ll go the same way as her mother, my mum says.’ And I knew what she meant. They all did. No secret about my mum.
‘Sooner the better,’ Rose said, and my eyes filled up with tears. How could they be so cruel? I should have had a smart answer for them. I should have been sticking up for my mother. Instead, I wanted to agree with them – anything to make them my friends again. After last night, my mum had only made things worse for me. I ran from them into the school building, trying to block out their catcalls behind me.
It was during the first lesson that the police arrived. We could all see the car from the class window as it pulled to a halt. Two officers, a man and a woman, strode towards the main entrance. I saw Wizzie exchange a look with Sonya, and I remembered the old woman who had been held up in the town. Good. They had been caught at last.
It was only a short time later that Wizzie, Sonya, Grace and Lauren were being summoned out of our class. They all swaggered as if they had nothing to fear, daring us to say a word. Someone dared. Rose. As they passed her desk she whispered, ‘Scumbags!’ and Lauren glared at her.
A buzz went round the class as soon as they’d gone. I wasn’t part of that buzz. I had no one to buzz with now.
Mrs Tasker slapped a book on her desk to shut us up, and though the lesson continued, nobody really listened. All we could think of was Wizzie and her gang and what was happening in the office.
‘They’ve probably been arrested,’ I said to no one in particular as we pushed our way out of class. Just as well, as no one in particular answered me.
They didn’t appear again till lunchtime, striding into the school yard, laughing and looking as if they’d got away with murder, one up on the police. I hated them in that moment. I thought of the old lady and the photo of her I’d seen in the papers, upset and vulnerable, and I hated them for it.
I wasn’t the only one.
‘I can’t believe you’re laughing!’ Heather snapped at the Hell Cats as they passed her.
‘Believe it!’ Lauren said, squaring up to her.
‘What business is it of yours, anyway?’ Grace came up behind Lauren, her big horsey face angry.
‘She thinks we’re scum,’ Wizzie said.
Rose spat on the ground. ‘You are scum. Always were and always will be.’
I thought there would be a fight then. I waited for Wizzie to launch herself at Rose, or one of the others. She would have too, I was sure of it. But just at that moment one of the teachers appeared. He stood at the main door, glaring directly at Wizzie, and behind him the two police officers stepped from the building and stopped. Their cold stare was aimed at Wizzie too. They knew the Hell Cats were guilty, I was sure of it – just didn’t have enough evidence to prove it.