The Schemer. Kimberley Chambers

her and Cathy’s husbands had been born and bred in Barking, which was why they had ended up with council houses under Barking and Dagenham council. In Pam’s case, her David had insisted Dagenham was a nicer area to raise children than the East End, but Pam had never been truly happy living there. She missed the old estate she had lived on and her frequent trips to Roman Road market. The pie-and-mash shops in Dagenham were rotten, in Pam’s opinion, and not a patch on Kelly’s up the Roman.

      ‘Your Steph’s home, looks upset she does,’ Cathy warned her friend.

      Pam ran out into the hallway to greet her eldest daughter. It was very unusual for Steph to arrive home before her weekend ten o’clock curfew, so she knew something must be wrong. ‘Whatever’s the matter?’ she asked, clocking her daughter’s tear-stained face.

      ‘Nothing. Leave me alone,’ Steph replied, trying to duck past her mother so she could run up the stairs.

      Petrified that her daughter had been attacked, or even worse, Pam grabbed hold of Stephanie’s shoulders. ‘You ain’t going nowhere, young lady, until you tell me what’s happened. Has someone touched you?’

      Collapsing into Pam’s arms, Steph cried more tears than she’d ever cried before.

      Unaware of the drama that was currently going on downstairs, Angela Crouch had got over her earlier sulk and was now thoroughly looking forward to her big night out. Unlike her sister, Steph, Angie had been into boys from a very young age. At ten, she’d had her very first French kiss and at twelve she had let Gary Ratcliffe tit her up, the Dagenham term for touching someone’s breasts. However, even though she’d had plenty of boyfriends, Angie had never been in love before, not until now, anyway.

      Turning the music up to Kool and the Gang’s ‘Get Down On It’, Angela stood in front of the mirror singing into her hairbrush. Even though both she and her sister had always been called pretty, Angela knew she knocked spots off Steph in that department. Angie was twenty months younger than her sister and shorter in height, but knew she looked older. ‘Get down on it, suck my helmet,’ Angie sang, flicking her hair over her shoulders seductively. Her new boyfriend had taught her the rude lyrics to the song and Angie thought they were hilarious. Glancing at the Swatch watch her mum had recently bought her for her thirteenth birthday, Angie took the needle off the record. She’d arranged to meet her boyfriend at 7.30 outside the Princess Bowling Alley along the A13, and she didn’t want to be late.

      ‘What’s a matter with you?’ she asked, as her sister barged into the room and threw herself onto her bed face downwards.

      ‘Don’t ask! I ain’t going a school Monday. I’ve asked Mum to find me a new school ’cause I ain’t never going back to Priory again,’ Steph wept.

      Whereas she herself could turn on the waterworks on a regular basis just to get her own way, Angie had rarely seen Steph as upset before. She sat on the bed next to her, hoping that something bad had happened. ‘What’s up? I dunno what happened to your photo by the way. I was doing my make-up and it fell on the floor. I reckon the string must have snapped.’

      ‘Sod the photo. I’ve fallen out with Tammy and I’ve made a complete fool of myself over a boy. I am such a fucking idiot, I hate myself.’

      ‘Why have you fallen out with Tam?’ Angie asked, surprised. She knew how close her sister and Tammy Andrews were, and she had never known them to argue in all the years they’d known one another.

      Needing to get the whole episode off her chest, Stephanie began at the beginning of the story and told her sister everything that had happened.

      ‘But if you lied and said that Tammy fancied this boy’s mate, then you can’t blame her, Steph. It’s you that’s out of order. Who is the boy anyway? Why won’t you tell me his name?’

      ‘Because he goes to our school and I know what a big mouth you’ve got. Enough people are gonna find out what happened as it is, without you telling all your mates an’ all,’ Steph replied, truthfully.

      ‘I won’t say nothing, I promise. Tell me his name?’ Angie asked, nosily. She was thoroughly enjoying her sister’s despair and wanted to know more.

      ‘Swear on Mum’s life you won’t tell anyone,’ Steph said, solemnly.

      When Angela crossed her heart with her right hand and repeated the oath, Steph sat up and squeezed her sister’s hand. ‘It was Wayne Jackman. He’s in the fifth year, do you know him?’

      The look on Angela’s face immediately changed from a look of false concern to one of contorted rage. She snatched her hand away from her sister’s and stood up. ‘Wayne’s my boyfriend, you slag!’ she exclaimed.

      Stephanie looked at her sister in pure amazement. Angela was only in the second year at Priory – she’d missed out on being in the year above because she had been born a week too late – so there was no way she could be dating Wayne, who was in the fifth year.

      ‘You gotta be joking, Ange. Jacko wouldn’t go out with a second-year girl. You sure you’ve got the right boy?’

      With hatred in her bright green eyes, Angela glared at Stephanie. There was only one Wayne Jackman at Dagenham Priory, and not only was he gorgeous, but he belonged to her. ‘I’ve told him I’m fifteen. I’m meeting him tonight, he’s taking me to his mate’s party in Beam Avenue. I swear, Steph, if you mess this up for me by telling him my real age, I’ll never forgive you for it.’

      ‘I won’t say nothing, I promise, but he’s gonna find out your age, Ange. How can he not? You go to the same school, you div.’

      Putting her trendy beads on, Angela picked up her silver purse and pointed her forefinger nastily in her sister’s face. ‘That’s for me to worry about, not you. I swear, Steph, if you ever say one word to him, I will fucking kill you.’

      CHAPTER TWO

      Stephanie spent all day Sunday moping about in her bedroom. Angela had flounced in and out a few times and, not wanting to face her sister, Steph had pretended she was asleep. Yesterday’s heartbreak had now turned to rage, but Steph wasn’t annoyed with her sister, she was angry with herself for acting like such an idiot. Wayne Jackman had humiliated her good and proper and, as Steph flicked through an old copy of Jackie Magazine, she vowed never to let another boy get the better of her again. If Wayne hadn’t been dating her sister and had just let her down gently, she would probably still have been in love with him. Instead, she had managed to force herself to hate him overnight.

      Refusing to eat her roast-lamb dinner by claiming she had a sore throat, Stephanie used the same lie on the Monday morning when her mum woke her up to go to school. Facing Wayne and his gloating pals was totally out of the question – she’d rather eat nails.

      ‘Well, best you get that arse around that doctor’s then and get yourself some antibiotics. You better not be trying to pull the wool over my eyes, young lady, because if I find out you’re lying, I shall drag you into that school by your hair tomorrow,’ Pam warned her daughter.

      Stephanie waited until her mum had gone to work and her sister had gone to school before getting out of bed. She hadn’t even had a wash or cleaned her teeth yesterday so, feeling filthy, she decided to run a bath. Turning the taps on, Steph went back into her bedroom and stared out of the window. The weather was dull and wet, just like her mood. Spotting a dark-haired boy leaning against Marlene’s wall smoking a cigarette, Stephanie lifted the net curtain up slightly so she could get a better view of him. Steph was well aware that her mum and Cathy were obsessed with the coming and goings at Marlene’s house, but surely this young boy wasn’t her latest conquest?

      Aware that the boy had spotted her staring at him, Stephanie let go of the curtain and quickly jumped back from the window. Boys were now vermin as far as she was concerned.

      Tammy Andrews somehow got through her classes and, as the bell rang for home time, grabbed her schoolbag and ran through the corridors. Falling out with Steph had upset her greatly and