Highbridge by Phil Redmond Read Free Book Online

perhaps it was during the 2011 riots, when he got it …’ Matt hesitated for a second or two to build up the expectation. ‘He got it … On a smashed shop window when he was nicking some trainers.’
    Luke started to laugh. ‘What? Does he look like he’s ever gone looking for trainers?’
    ‘Just a thought,’ Matt replied.
    ‘And we could lie here all night dreaming up daft ideas but in the end he’s still what he is.’
    ‘A thievin’ drug dealer?’
    ‘Which is probably all the explanation you need. The druggies like their knives too.’
    Finally Matt seemed to concede the boring point, as Luke went back to wondering, once more, why life was like this.
    ‘Why do we have to do this anyway?’ It was Becky, moaning again as she threw the Sanderson’s bag on to the central reservation and set the oven to warm up while unwrapping the pizzas.
    ‘Why can’t we just get a takeaway?’
    ‘Because it’s healthier,’ Tanya responded.
    ‘And,’ added Carol, ‘we know which takeaway you would want to go to.’
    ‘No I wouldn’t.’
    ‘Yes you would.’
    ‘Enough,’ Tanya cut across again, throwing the ice-cream tubs to Becky. ‘Freezer. Carol, plates. And why does he hang out at that place anyway? It’s horrible. That fat fella who looks like he’s eaten all the pies.’
    ‘Oh God, yeah. And in that creepy doctor’s coat he wears. What’s that about?’ Carol gave an exaggerated shudder at some obscure thought. Although she didn’t share it, the others exchanged a look of not knowing exactly what she thought, but assumed it was from one of the freaky downloads she would later try and get them to watch.
    ‘He’s his uncle or something,’ Becky offered. ‘He’s letting him stay there for a while.’
    ‘Why, though?’ asked Carol.
    ‘Dunno.’
    ‘You don’t seem to know much about this great love of yours.’
    ‘It’s … It’s something to do with his parents not liking his lifestyle.’
    ‘What? Like going out with white girls?’
    ‘You’re being racist again.’
    ‘No I’m not. You read about it all the time. They want them to marry their own. Me dad’s just as bad about wanting to know the ins and outs of everything and everyone I go out with.’
    ‘Tell me about,’ Tanya added as she started to chop the now washed salad.
    ‘At least he’ll be glad you’re at home tonight.’
    ‘It’s Friday night, Carol.’
    ‘Oh yeah.’ She and Tanya exchanged a grin and then another exaggerated shudder at the thought of parental sex.
    ‘What?’ asked Becky.
    Tanya exchanged another look with Carol. She is clueless.
    ‘Is that why you find him attractive then, Becks,’ Carol asked to get back on subject. ‘That you are his forbidden fruit?’
    ‘Well if I am he hasn’t had a bite, yet.’
    ‘But you’re thinking about it?’
    ‘No, well … No.’
    Tanya dumped the salad on the table. ‘Anyone want dressing?’
    ‘Are we allowed, Mum?’ Carol asked as she went to the fridge, synching her phone with Tanya’s wireless speaker on the way.
    ‘It’s your figure you’re jeopardising, my girl,’ Tanya responded in mum mode. ‘And not that playlist you had at Jules’s party last month. It’s all old people like Take That and I’m not quite my mum yet.’
    ‘She’s into old people, aren’t you, Becks?’ Carol grinned.
    ‘Oh My God. Will you stop? You’re obsessed.’
    ‘You’re the one obsessed with the Pharaoh.’
    ‘And will you stop calling Husani that? He just happens to be Egyptian. And he’s about twenty-six.’
    ‘That’s older than Mr Hibbert in History and you wouldn’t go out with him.’
    ‘Mr Hibbert wouldn’t buy me a Chloé bag.’
    Tanya laughed. She couldn’t help it. ‘It’s one of Bobby McBain’s fakes. You can get one for about twenty quid at the end of market day.’
    ‘Mr H. wouldn’t even buy me one of those,’ Becky protested. Lamely.
    ‘No, because at twenty-five he’s not sniffing round a sixteen-year-old schoolie either, is