the bus shelter. Usually she got jeers and catcalls because she wasn’t one of their crowd, but this day was different. When she came out of the chemist, there was a group of about eight of them sitting on the church wall, and for once they spoke to her. Even to be noticed by them was such a rare event that when they called her name, she tentatively went over to join them. She supposed she should have realised that they didn’t actually want to talk to her, but they did want something.
‘Oy - you - Leonora,’ one of the lads called. It always raised a laugh when she was called by her full name, because these were the kids from the rough end of town, and they thought it was a posh name. If only they’d known. She knew this lad - Neil something or other. He was in the year above her, and fancied himself something rotten. She wasn’t sure why, because he had floppy, greasy hair and a huge zit on his chin, but it was the first time anybody had paid her any attention.
As she got closer, she could see that some of the girls were sniggering and whispering to each other, but the lads seemed to want to talk to her.
‘All right?’ Neil asked. She nodded, not quite getting up the confidence to speak.
‘Listen, Le-o-nor-ra,’ he enunciated each syllable and turned to his friends with a smirk. ‘We need you to do something for us. That old bag in the sweet shop has banned us from going in - so get us some chocolate will you?’ He pronounced ‘You’ as ‘ya’ which Leo thought sounded cool, but she would never get away with it. She’d get cracked around the head at home, and she would sound ridiculous probably.
‘Okay,’ she answered. ‘I don’t mind. Give me the money, then.’
They all burst out laughing, as if she’d said something hysterically funny. Or stupid, more likely.
‘Tut, tut, Nora. Is it okay if I call you Nora? You don’t pay for them, you silly tart. You nick ’em. A couple of Curly Wurlies and a Toffee Crisp will do fine.’
Leo hesitated. She wanted to be accepted, but she had never stolen anything in her life, and had no desire to start now. But if she refused, they would jeer at her even more and it would spread round school like wildfire that Leonora Harris was too chicken to nick a couple of bars of chocolate.
If she’d had money of her own, she would have bought the chocolate and lied, but she didn’t. There was enough of her stepmother’s money to buy one thing - and she’d have to say she’d lost the change and take the punishment. Perhaps she could pay for the Toffee Crisp and steal the Curly Wurlies. If it meant that the other kids finally accepted her, maybe she could do it.
Leo knew they were watching her as she walked towards the shop, and she tried to look confident. She swallowed hard as she pushed the door open. Mrs Talbot was standing behind the counter, serving some children and their mother. They were choosing from the penny tray, and taking their time about it. The chocolates were on display shelves down the side of the shop, with the big jars of sweets that had to be weighed out on the toffee scale right behind the counter.
Mrs Talbot was a large woman, which everybody joked was from eating too much of her own stock. She always wore one of those cross-over aprons with a loud pattern, and her face was set with lines of what looked to Leo like constant irritation. For now, though, Mrs Talbot was being all sweetness and light to the mother of the well-behaved children.
Her face flushing with the fear of what she was about to do, Leo glanced quickly over her shoulder and hurriedly placed the two chocolate bars in her shopping bag. She picked up the Toffee Crisp, and advanced towards the counter, her palms sweating with fear. If this is what it felt like to be a burglar, she thought, she couldn’t understand why anybody would want to do it.
Mrs Talbot said nothing and finished serving the family. Leo was relieved. Obviously she hadn’t noticed a thing. Mrs Talbot even walked to the door with the customers, opening it to show them out with a smile, and wishing them a good day. But then Leo’s fear returned in full force,