Thief! (6 page)

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Authors: Malorie Blackman

Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Science Fiction

BOOK: Thief!
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Lydia looked out beyond the car-park to the moors. Although dull grey clouds filled the sky above the Tarwich shops and houses, the sky over the moors blazed pink and orange. These colours moved around each other in a slow, fluid dance. Lydia felt a peculiar prickling sensation at the back of her neck. She rubbed her nape as she stared at the strange sky. She felt oddly attracted to the sight and yet, at the same time, it gave her a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Someone laughing nearby brought Lydia out of her daydream. She hastily looked down.
Don’t let me see anyone from school.
Please
.
Maybe, if she said it enough times, it would come true.
‘Another fun-packed Saturday getting crushed at Sainsbury’s,’ Mum grumbled.
Moments later, she passed the food trolley to Lydia and they all entered the supermarket.
‘Danny, just behave yourself, OK. I don’t want any of your nonsense today,’ Mum said.
‘But I haven’t done anything,’ Danny protested.
‘Let’s just keep it that way, shall we?’ Mum said.
‘Is that fair or what?’ Danny huffed. ‘I’m being told off and I haven’t even done anything.’
Danny muttered under his breath for at least an aisle and a half. For the first couple of aisles, Lydia hardly dared to look up. Everyone would be looking at her. They would all know what she was supposed to have done.
Don’t look up, Lydia. Then you won’t have to face anyone. You won’t have to see that word in everyone’s eyes, on everyone’s faces.
Thief . . .
‘Lyddy, have you got a headache? Is the light hurting your eyes?’ Danny whispered.
‘No. Why?’
‘You keep looking down,’ Danny said.
‘Shut up and leave me alone,’ Lydia hissed.
They turned down the third aisle – full of slices of bloody beef and chilled lamb and cooked chickens, all wrapped in polystyrene and cellophane. And then Lydia saw her. Anne. With her mum.
The only sound in the whole of the supermarket was Lydia’s blood roaring through her body. She stared, horror-stricken. It took a few moments for Anne to realize that she was being watched. Her head turned and her eyes met Lydia’s. As Lydia watched, Anne’s eyes narrowed and a tiny smile played over her lips. Lydia lowered her head immediately, every atom of her body on fire.
‘Mum, I don’t feel well. Can I go and sit in the car?’ Lydia whispered.
With a frown, Mum placed a hand on Lydia’s forehead.
‘You don’t have a temperature,’ she said.
‘I feel terrible. Please.’
‘No, I don’t think so. Breathing in this recycled air-conditioning is a lot healthier than breathing in carbon monoxide fumes in the car-park,’ Mum said firmly.
‘Mum, Anne Turner from my class is in front of us. Please let me leave,’ Lydia pleaded.
‘No. I’d say she’s all the more reason to stand your ground,’ Mum replied.
And that was the end of that. Lydia had no choice but to keep pushing the trolley. She kept her eyes on her hands in front of her.
‘Mum, that’s the girl I was telling you about,’ Anne said at the top of her voice. ‘That’s the thief!’
There was no way everyone in the aisle didn’t hear Anne. Feeling sick, Lydia looked around. Everyone was looking at her.
Anne’s mum pulled her daughter away from Lydia as if she thought that being a supposed thief was contagious.
‘Don’t you dare call my sister a thief,’ Danny said furiously.
His voice was even louder than Anne’s. Lydia wanted to crawl into the nearest hole and never come out again.
‘Danny, that’s enough,’ Mum said quietly.
‘But she said . . .’
‘I’m well aware of what she said,’ Mum interrupted. Mum turned to Anne’s mum.
‘Mrs Turner, my daughter isn’t a thief. I suggest you tell your daughter to get her facts straight,’ Mum said, adding under her breath, ‘And teach her some manners while you’re at it.’
‘Anne’s told me all about your daughter,’ Anne’s mum said pointedly. ‘That cup has been at Collivale School since I was a girl. She had no right to take it.’
‘Lydia didn’t take it.’ Lydia’s mum spoke even more quietly than before. ‘In fact, your daughter was with her the night the cup went missing.’
Mrs Turner frowned and turned to Anne. ‘Is that true?’
‘No, Mum,’ Anne replied immediately. ‘Lydia’s just trying to wriggle off the hook and put me on it instead.’
‘That’s a lie. You were with me that night,’ Lydia gasped.
‘No, I wasn’t. You’re just a liar as well as a thief,’ Anne said viciously.
‘My daughter is neither of those things,’ Lydia’s mum denied.
‘If you say so,’ said Anne’s mum. ‘Come on, Anne. We have shopping to
buy
.’
‘And just what does that mean? Are you insinuating something?’ Lydia’s mum asked.
‘Mum, let’s go. Please let’s go,’ Lydia implored.
The decision to get away was taken out of Lydia’s hands. Mrs Turner took Anne firmly by the hand and practically dragged her away. Scalding hot tears burnt a trail down Lydia’s cheeks. She looked around. The eyes of everyone in the aisle were on her. The security camera at the end of the aisle, past the checkout counter, was trained on her. The whole world had turned into a pair of eyes.
‘Mum, can I sit in the car?
Please?
’
‘No.’
‘I hate you,’ Lydia hissed at her mum. ‘I hate you and I’ll never forgive you.’
‘That’s enough, Lydia,’ Mum said quietly.
Beside Lydia, Danny started to sniff. Slow, embarrassed tears that he couldn’t control slid down his cheeks.
‘It’s OK, Danny. I’m sorry. Don’t cry.’ Lydia put her arm around her brother’s shoulders.
‘I’m not crying.’ Danny wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
They carried on walking down the aisle. Lydia looked at her brother. Even if no one else did, Danny believed in her. Not in the way that Mum did, by thinking that Lydia should hold her head high and that was all that mattered. Not in the way that Dad did, by believing that no daughter of his could have done such a thing. No, Danny really and truly believed that
she
, Lydia, hadn’t stolen the cup. And Lydia needed that – more than anything else.
As they queued at the checkout counter, Lydia smiled tentatively at Danny. He smiled back. They didn’t need to do or say anything else.
‘Lydia?’
At the sound of her name, Lydia’s head whipped around. She couldn’t believe it.
‘Frankie!’ Lydia said, stunned.
‘Hello, Lydia.’ Frankie smiled uncertainly. ‘Er . . . how are you?’
‘I’m OK,’ Lydia said slowly. Why was Frankie asking? She didn’t care. She hadn’t said one word to Lydia over the last week. Not one.
‘I . . . I just wanted to say . . . I know you didn’t take the cup . . .’
‘Oh yeah? What’s changed your mind,
Frances
?’ Lydia asked, her eyes blazing. She’d used Frankie’s real name deliberately, wanting to give back just a little of the hurt she was feeling – even if it was just a
very little
.
‘Lydia, I’m on your side . . .’
‘Are you, Frances? You could’ve fooled me,’ Lydia said, turning away from her.
‘Look, can we . . . ?’ Frankie got no further.
‘Frankie, I didn’t know you were here.’ Appearing as if from nowhere, Anne linked arms with Frankie, ignoring Lydia and her family completely. ‘Come and say hello to my mum.’
Frankie allowed Anne to lead her away. She turned her head to look back at Lydia, frustration written all over her face.
‘Lydia, that wasn’t very nice,’ Mum said quietly.
‘What wasn’t?’
‘Cutting her dead like that. Frankie obviously wanted to talk to you. She was trying to be friendly, which is more than can be said for that other one,’ Mum pointed out.
‘Well, I didn’t want to talk to her.’
‘Don’t be too proud to let her be your friend,’ Mum warned.
‘I hate her and Anne and everyone else at that rotten school.’
‘Now Lydia . . .’
‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ said Lydia stubbornly.
She wished her mum would just drop the subject. Mum shook her head but took the hint and said nothing.
‘I’m your friend, Lyddy,’ Danny whispered.
Moments passed before Lydia spoke.
‘D’you know something, Danny? In this whole, stinking town you’re the only true friend I’ve got,’ she replied.
‘Lydia, that’s enough. I’m sure you’ll find a way of showing everyone that you didn’t . . .’
‘Don’t start that again, Mum,’ Lydia interrupted. ‘It doesn’t matter – not any more. Danny’s the only friend I’ve got and he’s the only friend I want.’
Lydia turned to where Frankie stood with Anne and her mum. Something inside her curled up into a very tight, painful knot and sat like a rock in her stomach. Lydia clenched her fists.
‘I’ll get my own back on you, Anne, and you, Frankie, if it’s the last thing I do. I swear I will,’ she said slowly.
And she meant it.
Chapter Eight
The Accident
Lydia’s mum wheeled the trolley back to the car, followed by Danny and last of all Lydia. They each picked up a carrier bag and started loading up the boot of the car.
‘Mum, I want to walk home,’ said Lydia when they’d almost finished.
‘Why?’
‘You’re always telling me to get more fresh air and exercise,’ Lydia snapped. ‘Well, that’s what I want to do.’
Mum frowned. ‘Fine. You go for your walk – and maybe by the time you get home you’ll have walked the devil out of your backside!’
Danny laughed as he always did whenever Mum used that expression. Mum’s lips twitched reluctantly.
‘As my mother used to say!’ she added drily.
It was strange how Mum always quoted Lydia’s gran when she was annoyed! The ghost of a smile that flitted across Lydia’s face was gone as quickly as it arrived.
‘Can I go?’ Lydia asked, forcing herself not to snap or snarl or scowl.
‘Go on, then,’ Mum said. ‘Get walking! Just arrive back home in a better mood!’
With a brief nod of gratitude, Lydia headed across the car-park. To get to the car-park exit wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. It was uphill all the way.
‘Lydia, don’t cut across the car-park. Go through the supermarket – it’s safer,’ Mum called after her.
Lydia shook her head. ‘I’ll be OK,’ she called back. No way did she want to see Anne and Frankie again.
‘Mind the cars,’ Mum warned.
Lydia nodded and carried on walking.
‘I must be crazy!’ she muttered to herself.
It would be a long walk home, especially in the freezing cold, but at least it would give her a chance to be alone and think. The car-park was busy with cars coming to and from the supermarket but, although Lydia was careful to watch out for approaching cars, she was oblivious to everything else. She had too many other things on her mind.
Think, Lydia –
think
! she told herself sternly. How had Anne done it? How had Anne set her up?
How would I plant something in someone else’s locker? Lydia wondered.
Spy on them while they opened their locker to get the combination? No, that wouldn’t work. Anne would need eyes like a hawk to be able to work out Lydia’s locker combination from any distance. And if Anne
had
been close enough to see what it was, then Lydia was certain she would’ve seen her. Unless Anne had used binoculars . . . Lydia stopped walking and frowned. Binoculars! Was that it? Lydia shook her head and carried on walking. Surely someone would’ve spotted Anne bringing binoculars to school? Besides it was an awful lot of effort to go to just to get someone in trouble. But why not? Maybe Anne reckoned that getting Lydia in trouble and getting Frankie back as her best friend at the same time would be worth the risk.
Lydia’s left foot slipped on a patch of ice. She stepped gingerly across it and carried on walking. The sooner she was out of the car-park, and away from Anne and Frankie and everyone else, the better.
That’s all I need – to slip and trip and skate along on my bum all the way back down to Sainsbury’s, Lydia thought sourly. She smiled slowly. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea! If she broke an arm or a leg then she’d be off school for a while – as long as she didn’t break her neck first! On second thoughts, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all.
‘Lydia, hang on. Didn’t you hear me calling you?’
Lydia turned. Frankie came puffing uphill towards her. Lydia glared at her but said nothing. So much for wanting to be alone to walk home and think. She’d only made it as far as the car-park exit! When Frankie reached Lydia, she looked around nervously, then tentatively smiled. Lydia’s face remained a frozen mask. Frankie’s attempt at a smile faded to nothing.

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