too scared to look at their faces. I heard a girl say something about being cold, and then Pagey (I’m sure it was Pagey) slimed up to her and said he’d keep her warm. (Yuck.) There was the sound of clanking bottles and someone told Nic to shut up. She was obviously being bitchy, since she was always bitchy when drinking. There were a few more minutes of idle chat when I held my breath and didn’t dare look, then everyone moved off towards the cemetery. I peered out. They were just about to disappear round the corner when Nic turned back.
‘My jacket!’
I froze and waited as she came back up the lane. She ducked around the side of the house – she was going to sneak in the back door.
I waited a few minutes and she didn’t reappear. I now know that she was having a row with Vicky. Nic had a row with everyone that night. Slowly, I backed out of my bush and looked up and down the lane. There were still a few people vomiting/waiting for lifts home, and there was a boy and girl having a snogathon. I hadn’t seen Michael. Had I missed him in the crowds? I hurried down the road after Pete and Jason, but keeping a good-ish distance.
I followed them off the road and onto the footpath past Bluebell Woods. Vicky and I used to have a lot of fun building dens down there. Jason and Pete had been joined by Pagey and Lisa, Paul Kelley, Isabelle and Shelley, André Duquemin, Caz Mitchell and Nikki Guillemette (the one who’d been sick in front of Mrs Senner). The wind carried their voices back so I knew they weren’t far off, but I wondered where Nic was. I kept checking over my shoulder, just in case. Then I reached the entrance to the car park, which is also the entrance to the woods. I headed down to the woods, because I didn’t want to get stuck in between Nic coming back from the Senners’, and Jason and Pete and their mob.
Like I think I’ve mentioned, there is a main footpath running all the way through Bluebell Woods which eventually forks – you can go right towards Fermain or left towards Clarence Batterie and Town. I was a little way into the Woods when I heard voices above me and coming closer. I was scared and ran on ahead, climbing off the path the minute I could. Then I waited in a dampish hollow. The mix of voices got nearer and nearer. I heard Nic bickering with someone about Becca Le Messurier (who is or is not a ‘slag’). There were screams and laughter. Then I saw Lisa stumble. Pagey helped her up. Jason was easy to make out because he’s so tall, and he was running around howling like a werewolf. The boys were trying to scare the girls, who were shrieking and throwing damp leaves at them. (Very funny, I’m sure.)
Then I heard Nic’s voice. ‘You should’ve been there – she blamed me for everything!’
‘It’s not her fault.’
‘It is!’
‘Where are we going?’ asked Lisa (I could see her skinny outline). ‘I’m cold, this is stupid.’
Nic was still drinking – the boys had stolen bottles of homebrew and she swung one around and skipped between the trees. Was it just me, or did she stare into the trees like she was imagining an audience?
I told myself that there were enough people mucking about and making noise that I’d never get noticed, and I was also a good way off, but I was also terrified that Jason would do one of his demented sprints in my direction. I was almost relieved when it started to rain. Paul suggested they all go back to the car park and a lot of the boys agreed. Pete and Nikki headed off first, but Nic was being stroppy and calling someone ‘booo-rrrring’. I wasn’t going to stick around. I pulled up my hood and climbed out of the ditch, and practically crawled my way through mud and soggy leaves to the wall that runs beside the White House.66 Then I used it to guide me down towards the cliff paths. I could go left and head for the Clarence Batterie, or I could go right and end up at the Moorings or Fermain.
I’m not going to pretend that I stopped to think about it. I headed for Town because it was quicker, downhill, and the path’s less overgrown.