Rotten to the Core (26 page)

Her mum would kill her if she knew half the things
Jade
did
while she was sloggi
ng away at work all week.
Jade
had become a master at hiding her secret life from her mum.
She
rarely
bothered going to school anymore, she always got up and dressed and made out she was going, but as soon as she had walked around the block
she would go back
, reach
ing
home in time to see her mum’s car nipping off down the road. Most days
Jade
would just sit around on her laptop, checking out
Facebook
or watching crappy daytime TV. She was bored. Bored with her so
-
called mates who all seemed immature compared to her. She wanted excitement. Maybe, just maybe
,
she had found it.

Jay was lying in bed next to
Jade; he was
smoking a joint.
H
er mum would go ape if she could smell smoke in the house, but she hadn’t wanted to sound like a
silly
little girl and ask him to put it out, she wanted him to think she was grown up
.
B
esides
,
she would open the window when he
left
, and spray air freshener, maybe
her
mum would think she had
actually done some housework for a change. Jay
rubbed
her leg with
one
hand, and flick
ed
his ash onto her bedside cabinet
with the other
.
Jade’s
room was a mess, looking around she wished that she had tidied it before he had come around,
as
it looked like a typical teenager
’
s bedroom
.
S
he had told him she was sixteen, although she wasn’t sure he believed her,
but
he didn’t seem to mind if he did realise
she was younger
. Her body still wasn’t as developed as she would have liked, and she had thought that that would have given it away. She had boyish hips and her boobs, she was barely fill
ed
an
A-cup bra
.
S
he had
also
little sexual experience before she met Jay.
A
fumble with a fourteen
-
year
-
old boy behind the bins at the back of the school disco
did not count as an
“experience”. It had all been so quick and awkward
,
she hadn’t really been sure in the end if they’d actually had sex or not. Dean Woods had been one of the hottest boys in school, but lying on top of her on the cold damp
ground
that night and panting like an over
-
excited dog he had been anything but hot, at one point she thought she was going to have to stop and draw him a map. The whole thing had been embarrassing, they had avoided each other ever since.

So when she and Jay
had first
slept together it was a whole different game.

She met him
at
the parade, across from her school. All the kids
in her year
went over to the shops at lunchtime and spent most if not all their lunch money on cigarettes or joints or anything else that was on offer. Jay was a bit of a face
;
if you wanted some gear
,
he was your man,
and
all the kids
knew it, and if Jay wasn’t around he had a few
Y
ear
E
leve
ns selling stuff for him. Jade
had spent many a lunchtime batting her heavily
mascaraed
eyelashes in his direction, and
al
though she had seen that she had caught his attention, he
hadn’t
approached her, which made her try harder.

It was by chance that
they were at the same party
on the estate
;
some lad
’
s parents had gone away for a weekend and the place was heaving. Jay was doing some deals in the kitchen with a few
of the older boys f
r
om Jade
’s school
;
when he was
finally on his own, Jade
had made her move. She hadn’t realised at the time how she seemed like she was offering it on a plate, but Jay could
obviously
see right through her, and within the hour they were
upstairs in a bedroom. Jade
had been frightened at first, she had felt out of her depth. He had known what he wanted, and although he asked if it was her first time,
to
which she told him it wasn’t, he must have known.

He had taken her hard on the bed, on top of the coats and jackets that had been dumped
o
n
t
here, at one point she had wanted to ask him to stop, it was hurting her. But she kept telling herself that this is what she wanted
:
a real man
;
excitement. It had been over before
quickly
,
then
she had come down
stairs
with Jay, and had been given a few looks fr
o
m her schoolmates as if she had gained a new kind of respect from them, she was with Jay
,
after all.

That had been a few weeks ago, and
now
she was more than used to Jay
’
s sexual demands. She wondered if he was officially her boyfriend,
whether
maybe he loved her
;
she was hoping that that was the case, but
not wanting to sound childish she didn’t
ask
, she would wait and see where it
went
. She was far too shy to
ask
him about his feelings
;
besides
,
that was playground stuff.

So far the
ir
relationship consisted of being in bed, but that is what all new relationships were like
,
right? Not getting enough of each other? He hadn’t told himself anything about himself
,
though, and hadn’t asked her much about herself, but they had plenty of time for all that stuff
,
she guessed. He had just mentioned introducing her to some of his friends one night, at some party, so maybe they were in a proper relationship. He wanted to show her off. Smiling
,
she put her hand under the
duvet
and rested it on his
.

             
“Make
us a coffee, would you,
Jadey
?”
R
emoving her hand, he patted her naked arse
,
as she got up to wrap her gown round herself before going to the kitchen to
make
him one
.
S
eeing his phone flash, he noticed he had three missed calls.

             
“Alright
,
Tanya
,
” he said
,
picking up the call before it rang out again
,

Tanya was crying
,
and he found it hard to understand what she was saying
.

             
“What do you mean
,
he knows? Who knows what?”
Jay asked.

             
“Billy
:
he must know about us
,
Jay, h
e’
s thrown me out
;
I’ve got nowhere to go
.
”

             
“Alright, where are you now?
I’ll come and get you
.
”

After calming her down and getting
her to say
where she was, Jay
put his clothes on.
Jade
c
ame
in with
a mug of coffee.

             
“Where are you off to?”
S
he couldn’t help but sound disappointed
;
she
had
thought she would have him to herself for a few more hours.

             
“I’ve got
to
go
,
babe
.
”
H
e pulled his jeans on and didn’t look her in the eye
.
H
e had got what he
had
c
o
me for
,
and she might be a pretty face but she had nothing interesting to say. He would defin
i
t
e
ly have a few friends who might be interested in her
,
though
;
she seemed to be easily persuaded so she should be
easy
to convince.

             
“I’ll call you in the week
,
babe
.
Let you know about that little party I’m organising?”

Glad that he was a
rranging to see her again, Jade
perked up.

             
“Ok
ay,
babe, you do that
;
can’t wait
.
”
W
aving him off
,
as he walked down the front path towards his beamer
,
she felt pleased as punch with herself
,
already selecting party
outfits
in her head.

Jay got in his car and
drove
off to pick
up
Tanya
;
he had no idea
how Billy had found out
, but he knew
that
if Tanya was in the shit he would be more so.
He decided that he would take her back to Emma’s flat and she could stay in the spare room
;
it wasn’t ideal, but as he had been given
little
notice, it was all he could sort out
,
and he was sure Tanya wouldn’t mind if it w
ere
just for a few days. Emma wouldn’t know what day of the week it was
,
let alone who Tanya was, the girl was off her head all the
time. He would cancel her punters and keep it low key while Tanya was there. He needed to pop back there
,
anyway, he hadn’t been there for the best part of the week and Emma owed him her week
’
s earnings.

Driving faster,
h
is head was spinning
;
he didn’t know what to do about his job, or Kate
.
None of
it
made sense
:
how could Billy know
?
O
r maybe he didn’t
;
maybe he
had
had enough of Tanya? Surely Billy would have had it out with him
,
too. Jay knew how Billy
had
had a thing with one of the
girls
from
the
lounge at Goldie’s when he used to be there
; a
little blonde bird, Candy or something
.
M
aybe he didn’t give two shits about Tanya and
had
just ended it,
or
maybe he’d just traded
her
in?

A
s he pulled up outside the newsagents where Tanya was standing with
a
Louis
Vuitton
suitcase, mascara running down her cheeks, he
knew
he would soon find out.

31

Billy was dreading this, but he knew it
would
be the only way
,
once and for all
,
that Kate
would
actually listen. He had to make Kate
p
hysically see the damage that Jay
inflicted
on people, and how that scumbag had no qualms about walking over
anyone in
his way.