Fifteen Going on Grown Up (4 page)

“Well everything is sorted sweetheart, the police have spoken to the girls and taken them home.”

“Are they going to speak to Dana?”

Hally asked her mother.

“They’re sending someone round…” and as Hally began to interrupt “…and they have informed control about the expected phone call. I gather from what I heard that they will wait until that has been made before they go to see her.”

“Well I hope she gets the shock of her life.”

Hally told her mum with a furious frown on her face. Then they both looked at each other and smiled.

“Come on, let’s enjoy the rest of the party.”

Mum told her and taking her arm pulled her into the middle of the deck and started to dance. Mum could dance well and kept up with the latest dances and before long several of Hally’s guests had joined in as well.

The rest of the party went very well. The barbeque was a real hit and by the end of the evening everyone had had a most enjoyable time. As her guests began to leave in twos and threes the garden quietened down and by eleven thirty there was just Corrinne and Clia and Hally’s family. Nathan had decided he was hungry again so dad put some burgers and sausages on the barbeque and the little group pulled up chairs close together.

“That was a great party.”

Clia told Hally stifling a yawn behind her hand.

“Absolutely marvellous.”

Corrinne chipped in putting on her posher than posh voice. Everyone laughed. Mum and dad handed out food and (protesting loudly) hauled Nathan off to bed leaving the three girls to gossip and gossip they did. Between them they worked out who was now going out with whom and who had broken up, or had a row or just had a kiss and a cuddle.

It was two in the morning when the three girls finally made their way to Hally’s room. They had talked themselves out and were quite ready to just go to sleep. As Hally turned out the light Clia mumbled.

“Just think what your sixteenth will be like.”

The other two giggled but soon all three were sleeping soundly and Hally was dreaming about her fifteenth birthday party.

Chapter 3

Study Leave and Mocks

As soon as everyone started arriving at school on Monday morning Hally was questioned about her party and what Dana had planned. Everyone seemed to know more about it than Hally herself and at one point the rumours had got so out of control that Hally overheard someone telling another that her house had
been raided and six people had been arrested including her dad.

By lunchtime Hally, Corrinne and Clia had given up trying to explain the truth and let the rumours spread as they wished. The only piece of information that the girls could glean from everything was that Dana had been questioned by the police on the night of the party but had denied any knowledge of the incident. Apparently she had also done the same thing when the police questioned her at school about the robbery. So no one really knew what the situation was anymore about the proposed planting of the stolen alcohol. Hally made it clear that she was going to ensure her parents find out from the police what was going on and that she wasn’t going to take anything she heard at school as the truth.

Actually Hally didn’t have to ask her parents to do anything because early that evening they had a visit from the local constable anyway. Mum was just about to serve the dinner when there was a knock at the door. Nathan as usual dashed to open it before anyone else could get up and as usual came rushing back into the kitchen gabbling who was at the door.

“mumdadit’sthepolice.”

He said it as one long word practically skidding to a halt in front of his parents. Since the word “police” was quite discernible all three stood up.

“Stay where you are Hally, I’ll go.”

With a loud groan Hally sat back down and mum began putting lids back on saucepans and food back into the oven. A moment later dad came into the kitchen with PC James Duston.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your evening meal.”

He told them.

“I thought you would like to know what the present situation is.”

Nathan nodded his head quickly and grinned widely.

“We have spoken to Dana Edwards at length but she is adamant that she knows nothing about the stolen alcohol. However the three girls who were in possession of the bottles at your party have all told us Dana sold them the drink and insisted they plant the empty bottles here. We did receive a phone call but it came from a call box so we don’t know who made it. We do know she was out that evening but we don’t know who with. As yet we haven’t been able to trace anymore of the stolen goods and we think it’s probable that it has all been sold on. I’m sorry that I can’t give you any more positive news.”

“So she’s going to get away with it then.”

Hally spoke vehemently.

“No, but it is going to take a bit of time. We believe Martin Cob is heavily involved and we have officers dealing with that. I will keep you up to date as much as possible.”

Hally opened her mouth to protest again but mum put her arm around her and spoke before she had a chance.

“Thank you PC Duston, we would be grateful if you could do that.”

“Well I’ll leave you to your meal then, good evening.”

Mum led him to the door and as she returned she put her hand up because she could see her daughter was about to explode.

“Now Hally, I know you’re angry but we are all going to have to be patient. The police know what they are doing and in situations like this they can’t rush in they have to get as much evidence as they can.”

Hally slumped into her chair with her arms folded.

“Come on Tink.” Dad said tickling her in the ribs. “This will all get sorted.”

Hally couldn’t stay angry with any of her family for long and as dad continued tickling her she began to giggle and sat up straighter at the table.

“That’s better.”

Dad told her then he got up to help mum with the dinner.

Later that evening Hally sat curled up watching a movie. She had finished her coursework and had helped Nathan with his homework. Her parents were in the study looking something up on the internet, they often did this and also had a wide group of friends that they talked to either by email or instant messaging. She felt quite relaxed and peaceful and was able to stay up later than usual because she didn’t have to be in school in the morning. The next four days were devoted to studying for the mock GCSE exams the following week. Hally always became nervous when taking exams and didn’t find revising easy, however she knew Clia would undoubtedly have created colour coded revision timetables for all three of them so she put it out of her mind for the rest of the evening.

Corrinne and Clia arrived at Hally’s just after ten in the morning. As predicted Clia handed Hally an A3 laminated revision timetable.

“I’ve already got mine.”

Corrinne told her.

“Well you want to do well and you know how hopeless you both are at revising.”

Clia stated matter of factly. All three girls laughed and made their way into the kitchen. Mum had left a plentiful supply of snacks and drinks for them and they quickly set out their books in readiness. Hally quickly told her friends what PC Duston had said the previous evening and for a while they discussed what might happen next.

“Right, that’s enough chit chat it’s time to get on.”

Clia announced. The other two looked at her and laughed.

“What?”

She asked.

“You look so serious and business like.”

Corrinne told her.

“Well this is important, you know that.”

“OK, chill a bit Clia, we are going to study our little socks off.”

Hally told her. Clia smiled and leaned forward to point out on their timetables where they needed to start.

By one thirty the girls were ready to take a well earned rest. Between them they made ham and salad sandwiches and as they ate the talk turned again to Dana Edwards.

“I wish there was some way we could get her to own up.”

Hally mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich.

“Well she’s just one of those nasty little bitches that take pleasure in hurting other people. She’ll get her comeuppance soon.”

Corrinne stated.

“I wish I could be so sure.”

Hally replied. Clia had remained quiet, silently munching her lunch. Then she put her sandwich down purposefully and said.

“Look, let’s go out for a bit and get some fresh air. Besides I think I have an idea.”

The other two both began to ask what she had thought of but Clia put up a hand and insisted that she would explain later.

The three girls made for the local park and saw several other students there in small groups. These they avoided and headed for a bench surrounded by large oak trees. It was a spot they had used many times when they wanted to discuss something serious and didn’t want to be inside. A few birds were pecking the ground around the bench and took off as they approached. Clia who had brought her sandwich with her in a paper towel crumbled some of it and threw it in amongst the trees and watched the birds swoop down to feed.

“Well, come on tell us.”

Hally said excitedly. Corrinne rubbed her hands together and nodded at Clia.

“I think we should go and see Dana…” the other two began to protest that that would be useless. “…just listen. I think we should go and tell her that we are going to start a very strong rumour that she has grassed on Cobby to get herself out of trouble with the police if she doesn’t admit what she did to you. I think she’ll fall for it.”

Hally frowned with uncertainty.

“What if she just goes and tells everyone that it’s us.”

“We deny any knowledge. Anyway she’s pretty thick. If she does tell the police what she did to you she’s gonna have to tell the police where she got the stuff, so in a way she will be grassing on Cobs but I reckon she’s more scared of him than the police and they will probably be able to pick him up without bringing her into it.”

Corrinne didn’t look convinced.

“I dunno it’s a bit risky and we shouldn’t really interfere with the police investigation, we could get into trouble ourselves.”

“We are not interfering!”

Exclaimed Hally

“We are just trying to make her tell the truth. Well Clia I’m game. We might as well go and try it now.”

Corrinne knew she was outvoted and so did not try and change their minds but supported their intention. Clia tossed the rest of the sandwich to the birds and the girls headed for the northern gate of the park which would take them to Dana’s house.

“I just hope she’s in.”

Hally told the other two.

“She’s probably still in bed. She’s hardly likely to be revising and we all know she stays out to what time she likes.”

Corrinne commented.

They arrived at Dana’s house and Hally pressed hard against the door bell. There was no response, so she knocked hard on the door itself. After a short wait the girls heard an upstairs window opening.

“What do you lot want?”

They looked up and saw Dana leaning out of a window.

“We need to talk to you.”

Hally called up.

“I got nuffin to say to you.”

Dana replied and was about to close the window when Clia called out.

“If you don’t it will be worse for you.”

The window stopped moving and Dana’s head reappeared.

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

After several minutes wait the front door opened just wide enough for Dana to peer around.

“Well?”

“We are not going to talk to you through a crack in the door.”

Clia stated very firmly. With a sigh Dana opened the door fully and stood clutching her dressing gown around her.

“I ‘spose you better come in.”

She mumbled moodily. The three girls stepped into the hallway and Dana led them into the kitchen. Hally looked at her friends with a small frown. The kitchen was a complete mess. There were dirty dishes and pans piled in the sink, bread and butter left open to the flies and a pile of laundry spilling out of a laundry basket in the corner. Dana found what appeared to be a clean glass and filled it with water; then she leaned against the table and waited.

“I want you to tell the police what you did.”

Hally told her. Dana gave a short harsh laugh.

“On your bike.”

She replied snappily. Clia stepped forward slightly and looked directly in Dana’s face.

“Well actually, this is not really a request.”

“Oh really, so you’re gonna make me, is that it?”

Dana sneered back, placing the glass on the table and crossing her arms.

“No we can’t do that, but there is something else we can do.”

Clia told her examining her finger nails as though Dana’s comment hadn’t bothered her at all. Dana looked disconcerted

“What…what are you on about?”