is a bit dangerous.’
‘Only if you fall, which we’re not going to.’
‘I guess.’
Elliot felt happier than he had in ages: more than he’d ever thought possible in light of Christopher moving away. It was great to be up here with a new friend and, after needing her help yesterday, he was glad to be the one in charge now – the guide.
Elliot definitely fancied Lisa. Who wouldn’t? Not that he expected her to be interested in someone like him: short and fat with glasses. There were lots of better-looking boys. That was one reason why he’d never had a girlfriend. But he liked spending time with Lisa – and it was more than her looks. He’d happily settle for being her friend, he decided.
The way she looked and her confidence reminded him of the popular girls from his class at Aldham Primary, who’d all either ignored him or laughed when the popular boys had made fun of him. Perhaps that was what Lisa had been like in Nottingham. Maybe she’d only stay friends with him until someone better came along.
And yet Elliot had a feeling that Lisa wouldn’t ever behave that way. Look at what she’d done for him yesterday: the effort she’d made to rescue a stranger. And it was so nice the way she’d asked him about his dad earlier when most people would have been too embarrassed to continue. He couldn’t imagine any of the popular girls he knew climbing this tree. No, he hoped that she was different and they could keep hanging out together this summer. He was really glad they’d be going to neighbouring schools in September.
‘Hey, look,’ Lisa said, snapping him out of his thoughts. ‘Two kids are over there in the field. I think they’re coming this way.’
Elliot followed her gaze and his heart sank. Why, of all people, did it have to be them?
‘We’d better go,’ he said.
‘What? I’ve only just got up here. I don’t think I’m ready to—’
‘Please? I really don’t want them to see me.’
‘Those kids? Why not?’
‘I’ll explain in a minute. Let’s get down to the ground first.’ Elliot had already started descending the tree. The last thing he wanted was to leave Lisa behind, but he needed her to grasp the sense of urgency.
‘Wait for me,’ she said, panic raising the pitch of her voice.
Elliot did his best to reassure her. ‘I will. I’m not going to leave you, but we don’t have long. Do the opposite of what you did on the way up, okay? Otherwise, copy me.’
‘I can’t see you to do that,’ she replied. ‘Slow down.’
Reaching one of the larger branches, he stopped to check on her progress. Thankfully, she wasn’t as far behind as he’d feared. ‘That’s it. You’re doing a great job. I’ll wait here, so we can do the last bit together.’
‘Thanks.’
Elliot looked over to where Lisa had spotted the kids. ‘Dammit,’ he said under his breath. They were heading this way and making speedy progress.
‘There you are,’ Lisa said, joining him at last on the large branch. ‘What on earth is the—’
‘Please, not now. You first; I’ll follow.’
‘Oh, I get it. It’s them, isn’t it? The ones who took your stuff yesterday.’
Elliot sighed. ‘Fine, yes it is. Can we go now?’
‘I can’t believe I didn’t guess straight away.’
‘Please, Lisa. They’ll be here any minute.’
‘Why are you running away from them?’
‘Do you really need to ask that? You saw what they did to me yesterday.’
‘Yes, but I wasn’t with you then. And now we have a chance to get back your stuff.’
Elliot couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Lisa was crazy if she thought she could make any difference to the situation. The boys heading this way were Johnny and Carl, two of the three who’d stitched him up yesterday – and the worst two at that. The biggest, toughest lads in his year, they’d been in his class right through primary school and he couldn’t remember a time when they’d not picked on him, usually for being fat or clever. They loved to dole out ‘punishments’ like nipple twisters and wedgies. Nothing original – they weren’t bright enough for that – which explained why they also used to find it so hilarious to say that he and Christopher were gay.
The only reason he’d gone along with them yesterday – foolishly buying their claims of wanting to bury the hatchet ahead of secondary school – had been because they were with Peter. Another Aldham Primary classmate, he and Elliot had been good friends in their infant years, often visiting each other’s houses. They’d grown apart as they got older, developing different friends and interests, but Peter had never been nasty to him. He’d not been especially friendly with Johnny and Carl either. So seeing him with them had been a surprise and, feeling lonely in Christopher’s absence, Elliot had decided to take a leap of faith and go with them. Big mistake.
Johnny and Carl were the ones who actually stripped him, who jeered at how he looked in his underwear, joking that he needed a bra for his ‘boobies’. Peter stood to one side, looking awkward. But he didn’t do anything to stop them. He didn’t say a word. Then Johnny turned to him and asked why he wasn’t getting involved, suggesting it was because he and Elliot used to be ‘bum chums’. That was when Peter stepped forward and pulled Elliot’s glasses off his face.
‘Don’t, Peter,’ he pleaded. ‘Please. They’re new. You know I can’t see a thing without them.’
But his former friend didn’t listen. Instead he dropped the glasses on the floor, stamped on them countless times and then threw them into the distance. In his semi-blinded state, Elliot didn’t have a clue where they ended up. What would be the point in looking, anyway? Peter had wrecked them.
Johnny and Carl seemed as impressed by Peter’s actions as Elliot was aggrieved. The three of them left together, as thick as thieves, which was exactly what they were, since they took Elliot’s clothes and shoes with them.
Once he was sure they’d gone, Elliot allowed himself to cry. He wept big fat tears. And then he pulled himself together, hid behind a bush and waited for help to come, as it eventually did in the form of Lisa. His one small consolation was that he hadn’t broken down in front of the boys. He’d come close, but the shock of Peter’s betrayal had actually hardened his resolve not to give them the satisfaction.
‘I said that now we have a chance to get back your stuff,’ Lisa repeated. Her voice returned Elliot to the present, away from yesterday’s painful memory, still red raw in his mind. ‘How about instead of running away, we try something else?’
‘I don’t think that’s—’
‘Hey, you two!’ Lisa shouted before he could stop her.
‘What are you doing?’ Elliot growled.
She
