asked.
I glanced at him. His eyes had the troubled look I’d seen in the park.
‘Cos it gonna be movie gold, man!’ said Pea. ‘You win an Oscar filmin’ this. It gonna be da war to end all wars.’
Tokes sighed. ‘I’m supposed to be staying out of trouble,’ he said.
‘Well, mebbe you shoulda thought of that before you take on Shiv in da park, man,’ said Pea with another giggle. ‘But since you was tryin’ to help out Da Pea – stop me from turnin’ into a mushy pea – I’m givin’ you a tip-off. An’ cos you new round here and I kinda like you, even though you a crazy fool.’
Tokes rolled his eyes. ‘Right,’ he said. ‘Look, I’ve gotta go.’ He turned to me with a question in his eyes, like he was saying, ‘You coming or what?’
‘Mebbe I come wit’ youse,’ Pea cut in, his voice anxious suddenly, like a little kid who’s desperate to be friends. ‘Hangin’ out wit’ a pair of future corpses should be fun, innit.’
Tokes frowned again and I got the feeling that he didn’t like this, but then he hesitated and glanced at the ground, as if he’d remembered something again.
‘Sure,’ he said reluctantly. ‘Just don’t go expecting me to rescue you next time.’
‘You a funny man!’ said Little Pea with a pleased grin spreading over his face. ‘I can handle myself, innit. Don’t need no one to rescue Little Pea.’ He was defiantly hopping on one leg and flinging a few upper-cut punches into the air in front of him. ‘I look out for myself – always have. Ain’t no one gonna mess wit’ me!’
‘If you say so,’ said Tokes.
‘Come on then!’ said Pea. ‘Let’s make a movie.’ He grinned at me like we were best friends suddenly. ‘An’ mebbe, just mebbe, if you treat me nice, I tell you da biggest secret in Coronation Road.’
So that’s how the three of us ended up walking up Coronation Road on a boiling-hot day in August. Tokes went striding ahead like he was already regretting saying Pea could come, while Little Pea skipped along at my side.
‘Nice hairdo,’ he said, smirking. ‘Same purple rinse as my granny!’
I felt the colour rising in my cheeks.
‘Like the boots too,’ he said. ‘You do dem yourself ?’
‘Did you do your trainers yourself too?’ I muttered, nodding down at his fake Nikes.
‘Ooh, the white film chick got attitude!’ he said, clicking his fingers excitedly.
I looked at him and he looked at me and he held my gaze, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Then he giggled. ‘You know I got what it takes to be a film star, dontcha? Even if alien boy don’t recognise my star quality yet.’
‘Maybe,’ I said.
Pea did a little hop like I’d just told him he’d won an Oscar. ‘You jus’ wait, gran’ma!’
Tokes turned round, caught my eye and then frowned at Little Pea. He looked worried, but he didn’t say anything.
Coronation Road is the main artery running through that part of London and it’s where all the parallel universes collide. There are Ghanaian groceries selling plantains and mealiepap and tiny smelly fish; Caribbean meat stalls with goats’ heads on the wall and ox tongues on giant platters of ice, blood swilling out over the pavement. There are Asian silk shops and tiny Japanese booths selling every type of international calling card. There are pound shops and pawnbrokers; wig shops with windows full of rainbow-coloured hair extensions and skin-lightening creams; nail bars with jewel-encrusted talons – rows and rows of them, glimmering on display. And in among all these are the chain stores, struggling for air, not so high and mighty here. The only thing the shops have in common, my dad said, is that they all have the grumpiest, most unhelpful shop assistants you’ve ever come across in your life. We used to laugh about that all the time. My dad always used to be able to make me laugh – it’s the thing I miss most since he’s gone.
And anything can happen on Coronation Road. People deal drugs in broad daylight, sell knock-off videos, braid hair, cure toothache, piss, pray, break up, make up. I heard one couple got married there once, outside Fry-days Fish and Chip Bar, and that a baby was born on the floor of Beyoncé Hair and Beauty. I even heard that the Queen and her sister visited when they were little girls, and half the road got bombed to rubble in the Blitz. Basically, Coronation Road is like a film set with a million storylines and that’s why I love it more than any other place on earth.
‘So what you gonna call your film, huh?’ Pea squeaked excitedly. ‘I was thinkin’ mebbe Stars of the Starfish ? Whatcha think?’
‘I don’t really know yet,’ I muttered.
‘Me, I born an’ bred on da Starfish Estate, innit,’ Pea went on, nodding towards the square mile of tower blocks behind the library at the other end of Coronation Road. ‘Cut me in half, you find “Starfish” written down da middle of me like a stick of rock. Not like Mr T here,’ he chirped. ‘He got another hood tattooed on his blood, I reckon.’
Tokes didn’t turn round, but I could see the muscles in the back of his neck tensing.
‘Chill out, man,’ said Little Pea who seemed to be enjoying Tokes’s unease. ‘Jus’ makin’ small talk, innit.’ Then he turned to me and winked. ‘No need to tell me where you live, Hollywood, cos everyone know that.’
Tokes turned at that and walked backwards, like he felt he needed to keep an eye on Pea, like he didn’t trust him not to stab him in the back. ‘Why?’ he demanded. ‘How you know where she lives?’
Little Pea smirked and let out a loud laugh that was too big for his tiny body. ‘No way!’ I felt my cheeks hotter than ever as Pea’s face lit up with a delighted grin. ‘You tellin’ me he don’t even know ’bout your mamma?’
I glared at him, but I knew there was no point; he was bursting to tell and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
‘She dittn’t tell you her mamma is bessie mates with da Prime Minister?’ Pea squeaked on, his tongue flicking in and out of his mouth.
Tokes was still looking at me, but I just stared down at my boots, wishing I could disappear into the cherry-red faces.
‘She probably BFFs with Her Majesty da Queen too,’ said Pea. ‘Am I right?’
Tokes was still looking at me. ‘Is he serious?’
‘Sort of,’ I muttered. ‘She’s an MP.’
‘Dat mean Member of Par-lia-ment!’ Pea announced.
‘I know what it means,’ said Tokes, giving him a look. Then he turned back to me and said, ‘That’s pretty cool.’
‘It is so not cool!’ I muttered quickly.
‘She
