Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 06] (2 page)

Lucy pointed at her
chest. ‘Boobs, you idiot. Lai calls them basoomas or jaloobis.’

TJ pulled a face. ‘He
needs help, does your brother.’

‘Tell me about it,’
sighed Lucy.

‘We could all have a
different colour stone on our stud,’ I said. ‘Have you got any books on
astrology, Lucy?’

‘Course,’ she said,
getting up and going to her shelf. ‘That one you gave me last Christmas.’

When she handed me the
book, I had a quick flick through and found a section on which stones and
colours are right for different signs. ‘OK, here it is, our birthstones. It
says garnet for those born in January, so that’s me.’

‘What colour is a
garnet?’ asked Lucy.

‘Sort of deep wine
red,’ I answered.

Lucy nodded
approvingly. ‘That would look good on you with your dark hair.’

‘Nesta, you’re Leo,’ I
continued, ‘so it says… Let me see… you were born August 18th, so yours would
be a ruby. Wow, that would look fab against your dark skin. Really exotic.’

‘Nah,’ said Nesta
shaking her head. ‘I’d look like some belly dancer. No. I want a diamond if I’m
going to have anything. Much classier.’

‘Fine, whatever,’ I
said. ‘Lucy. Gemini, born May 24th… it says emerald for you.’

‘An emerald might look
better on you, Izzie,’ said Nesta, ‘to go with your green eyes.’

‘Yeah. I’d rather have
a sapphire,’ said Lucy. ‘You know, blue, to match
my
eyes.’

‘Yeah, and blue suits
blondes,’ said Nesta.

‘Well, we don’t
have
to stick to this,’ I said. ‘It’s just if we wanted our birthstones.’

‘What’s mine?’ asked
TJ.

I flicked through the
book to Sagittarius. ‘OK, November to December. It says November, topaz,
December, turquoise. You were born November 24th, so topaz. It’d be great.’

‘Topaz? That’s yellow,
isn’t it?’ asked TJ. ‘I don’t think that’s a good colour for a belly button
stud at all. You know how some of them go a bit ucky - a yellow stone might
look like a lump of solid puss or something.’

‘Er
TJ, g-ross
,’
laughed Nesta. ‘But I think you’re right. I think a turquoise would look better
on a brunette like you.’

I closed the book, put
the back of my hand on my forehead and sighed my best tragic sigh. ‘I despair.
Sometimes I wonder why I
bother
with you ignoramuses. I just thought
we could be the Birthstone Belly Button Gang, that’s all.’

‘You’re mad, Izzie,’
laughed Lucy. ‘But it would be nice if we all got different colours.’

TJ was looking
dubious. ‘I don’t know. You lot have all got really flat tummies but mine’s
rounded. I don’t think they look as good if your stomach isn’t like a
washboard.

Besides, won’t it cost
a fortune? I don’t think I’ll have enough, with the pocket money I get.‘

‘Good point,’ said
Lucy. ‘Cost - what do you think?’

‘I’ll find out,’ I
said. ‘I doubt it will be that much. I mean, it’s not like we’re buying real
diamonds and gold or anything.’

TJ still looked
anxious. ‘I don’t think my mum and dad will like it.’

‘They don’t need to
see it,’ said Nesta. ‘We’re going back to school in just over a week. Soon
we’ll be in winter clothes. No one will see it.’

‘So what’s the point
of having one done?’ asked TJ.

‘When we’re out
together, stupoid,’ said Nesta. ‘When we wear crop tops.’

‘I guess,’ said TJ.

‘So we all in?’ I
asked.

The others nodded, TJ
somewhat reluctantly.

‘Right then,’ I said.
Tomorrow morning. I’ve seen a place in Kentish Town near where the band plays.
We’ll go there.‘

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TJ was the first to
cop out.

‘I can’t,’ she said as
we stood in front of a tattoo shop in Kentish Town on Saturday morning, trying
to summon up the courage to go in. I had half a mind to agree with her and call
the whole thing off. It was one thing having an idea, it was another actually
carrying it through, and I was feeling distinctly nervous. It will be OK, I
told myself as I glanced at a couple of guys leaning against the shop front
smoking cigarettes. Both were a bit hard-looking, dressed in Camden black, and
I wondered if they were the ones who did the piercing or just customers hanging
out. Either way, both of them were walking advertisements for the shop. Their
arms were completely covered in tattoos and they had studs everywhere, in their
noses, in their lips…

and one had little
pointy studs on top of his ears that made him look like Mr Spock in
Star
Trek
.

‘I’m really sorry,’
continued TJ, ‘but Mum and Dad would kill me. I know we agreed not to tell our
parents, but… I can’t risk it. You know what my dad’s like.’

We all nodded.
Everyone calls TJ’s dad Scary Dad. He’s a lot older than the rest of our dads
and is very strict and solemn-looking. I’d probably cop out as well if he was
my father.

‘Plus,’ said TJ, ‘we
don’t know how much it costs yet and I’ve already spent most of this month’s
pocket money. Mum and Dad would get suspicious if I asked them for any more,
you know. They’d want to know what I’d spent my money on.’

‘No worries, TJ. Me
and Nesta will go in and check it out,’ I said. ‘Get the details and find out
if it’s all cool. If it looks remotely dodgy, we don’t do it. OK?’

‘It
will
be
OK,’ said Lucy as Nesta and I headed for the door.

As we approached, one
of the guys with a goatee smiled at us. ‘Can I help you, ladies?’ he asked.

‘Um, yes,’ I said. ‘We
wanted to ask about piercings.’

‘Then come this way,’
he said and led us into the shop. Inside, it looked normal enough - very clean,
with posters on sale and jewellery on display. At the back were what looked
like hairdressing chairs in front of mirrors, and I could see what looked like
a dentist’s chair in a room off to the right. A shiver went down my spine.

‘So what do you want
to know?’ asked Goatee Man.

‘How much is it to
have your belly button pierced?’ said Nesta.

‘Thirty-five pounds,’
he said. ‘Is it for you?’

We both nodded.

‘How old are you?’

‘Sixteen,’ Nesta lied.

The man shook his
head. ‘Then you’d have to come with your parents. We don’t do belly button
piercings without parental consent. Sorry.’

‘But we
do
have our parents’ consent,’ I fibbed. ‘They’re totally cool about it.’
Haha. Big lie.
My mum would hit the roof if she knew where I
was, but I didn’t think it would be a problem. She wouldn’t even notice. She
never pays much attention to me these days, except to lecture me about where
I’ve been and what time I get back.

Goatee Man grinned.
‘That’s what they all say, darlin’. Nice try, but sorry, no go.‘

Nesta and I went back
out to join TJ and Lucy. ‘No go,’ said Nesta. ‘We need our parents’
permission.’

TJ looked relieved,
but Lucy looked disappointed.

‘And it’s thirty-five
pounds,’ I said.

‘That’s me definitely
out, then,’ said TJ. ‘I’ve only got fifteen pounds fifty.’

‘Maybe they’d do a
deal and put it halfway in,’ laughed Lucy.

TJ punched her arm.
‘Haha. But have you got enough?’

‘I’ve got forty quid
that my gran sent me for my birthday,’ said Nesta. ‘I could lend someone five.’

‘I’ve got thirty,’
said Lucy. ‘That’s all my savings.’

‘I’ll lend you the
last five,’ said Nesta. ‘What about you, Iz?’

‘I’ve just got it. Dad
gave me twenty quid a few weeks ago and I saved it. With what’s left of my
pocket money from Mum, I could just about do it.’

TJ pointed back at the
shop. ‘But they said they wouldn’t do it without permission.’

‘We could go somewhere
else,’ said Nesta,‘ and blag our way in. You know, slap a bit of make-up on and
say we’re eighteen.’

Lucy’s face fell even
further. ‘Yeah right. Like anyone’s ever going to believe that I’m eighteen.
It’s OK for you lot. You’re all tall and look older, but me… I’m minuscule and
look younger than I am. It’s not fair.’

‘Don’t worry, Luce,
we’ll think of something,’ said Nesta. ‘We won’t do it without you.’

‘Let’s phone Candice,’
said Lucy. ‘No way she had
her
parents’ permission if I know her. I’m
going to find out where she got hers done.’ She punched Candice’s number in on
her mobile and wandered off down the street to talk to her. A few minutes
later, she was back smiling. ‘Candice says that there are loads of places in
Camden that will do them. She says some of them won’t and get all snotty about
your age, but to keep trying as there are a few where there are no questions
asked. She gave me directions to the one she went to.’

‘Let’s go,’ I said.
Now that we had started on Mission Belly Stud, I wanted to get it over with.
Although I was brave about the thumb pricking, really I’m a bit like Nesta in
that I don’t like needles. I’d had a sleepless night thinking about what having
the stud might feel like when it was being put in and I’d had weird dreams
about giant needles chasing me.

Twenty minutes later,
we found the shop that Candice had told Lucy about. Although it sold mainly
clothes, belts and boots, there was a discreet sign on the till saying ‘Body
Piercing’ and pointing to the back of the shop. A shop assistant at the counter
nodded towards a door when she saw us looking at the sign. So far, so good, I
thought. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

‘Just go on in,’ said
the assistant. ‘Dels in there somewhere.’

I opened the door and
we all trooped in. The first thing that hit me was an overpowering smell of
antiseptic. There was a small reception room with the usual display of studs
and rings and a door to the left, which was ajar. Through it, I could see and
hear
a man having a tattoo done on his upper arm. He didn’t look like he was
enjoying it one bit and looked out at us with thin tight lips.

The man doing the
tattoo glanced up at us. ‘Won’t be a mo, girls. Take a seat.’

We dutifully sat down
and looked around. ‘This is like waiting to see the dentist,’ said Nesta. ‘It
even
sounds
like a dentist’s with that tattoo thing buzzing. I feel
really nervous.’

‘It’s going to be well
worth it,’ said Lucy. ‘We’re going to look so glam.’

‘So who’s going
first?’ I said. ‘We’d better decide.’

‘I will,’ said Lucy.
‘I hate waiting and I want to get it over with.’

‘Do you want to go
next, Nesta?’ I asked.

She shook her head.
‘No hurry. I don’t mind waiting. I need to gear myself up mentally.’

‘I’ll go second,’ I
said. ‘That way you’ll know it’s all right.’

‘OK,’ said Nesta.
‘Thanks.’

A few minutes later,
the tattooist and his ‘victim’ came out. Interesting, I thought, because the
tattooist didn’t have any tattoos, or at least none that were visible. He
looked very ordinary, in fact. He was wearing a normal shirt and trousers - not
at all like the typical Camden characters who wear black or Goth clothes. On
the other hand, the victim was covered in tattoos. He had a shaved head and
swirly patterns all over his arms and up his neck. He looks weird, I thought,
like he belongs in the circus or something. Then I realised that I was staring
at him and quickly looked at the floor.

‘Right, I’m Del,’ said
the tattooist after Circus Boy had gone. ‘What is it you’re after?’

‘Piercing,’ said Lucy.

‘Ears, eyebrows, nose,
lips, tongues, belly or nipples?’ asked Del.