Lifted by Hilary Freeman

expectantly. ‘Not for you, obviously. I mean, even if you had your ear pierced, which you don’t, they’re not really your style. I thought maybe one of your sisters would like them? Or even your mum? As a present. You could say you’d bought them.’ She held the earrings out to him again and he studied them.
    ‘They look really expensive,’ he said.
    ‘They are,’ she said, with perhaps a little too much pride in her voice. ‘About a hundred and fifty quid.They’ve got real stones in them and they’re gold plated. I’d give them to my mum but she’d wonder where I got the money from to buy them, and if she told my dad he might put two and two together.’
    ‘Right, I see.’
    ‘So will you take them?’
    ‘I … don’t … know.’ Ruby’s face fell and it tugged at his heart. He couldn’t bear to disappoint her. ‘I mean, I want to help, but I can’t give them to my sisters for the same reason,’ he said. ‘They’d know something was up. I’ve never bought jewellery for anyone in my life, let alone expensive stuff. It’s not even like it’s anyone’s birthday coming up.’
    ‘Oh,’ she said. She looked unhappy.
    ‘And I’d be, like, an accessory,’ he said. ‘To the crime. For receiving stolen property.’ God, now he sounded like he’d watched too many episodes of
The Bill
. ‘Can’t you just throw them away?’
    ‘I guess I could. And I thought about it. It just doesn’t feel right. Someone took hours making these. They’re so pretty, someone deserving should have them.’
    He didn’t really understand but he thought he should try. ‘OK, then. But what about putting them away somewhere for now, until you find a good use for them?’
    She shrugged. ‘I know it’s stupid but I don’t want them around. I can’t explain, but just having them in my room, even hidden away, makes me feel a bit sick.’
    ‘Like the tights?’ he said. ‘Like what you said in your blog?’
    ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Just like that.’
    He shrugged. ‘Look, if it makes you happy, I’ll take them. I can hide them away and if they’re at my place you won’t have to worry about them.’
    ‘Really?’ she said, in what sounded like mock surprise, as if she’d always known he’d agree in the end. ‘That would be brilliant. I mean it. Thank you.’ She handed over the earrings and he slipped them into the back pocket of his jeans. He could feel the metal hooks digging into his bottom through the fabric, an uncomfortable reminder of his collusion. Was he her accomplice now? Were they like that couple in the film, Bonnie and Clyde? Except they weren’t a couple, were they?
    ‘Hey, look, I’d better go back inside,’ said Ruby, jumping down from the bin. ‘Sorry, but my mum will be wondering where I am.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Noah, disappointed. He didn’t need to jump off the bin because his feet were already touching the floor. He stood up. ‘Me too.’
    Ruby came towards him, as if she was going to give him a hug, but then appeared to change her mind. She touched him on the arm. ‘Thanks so much again. I mean it, thank you!’
    Noah patted his back pocket. ‘No worries,’ he said. Anxiety gnawed at his gut. He had a nagging feeling that no good was going to come from this. No good at all.

Robyn Hood’s Blog
    I steal from expensive stores and give to charity shops
    March 08
    The first thing I ever stole was a bar of chocolate, from the newsagent down the road. I was nine years old. I suppose I might have taken something more impressive, like the Crown Jewels, but the security was fairly tight (at the Tower of London – they didn’t keep them at my local newsagent) and I didn’t want to end up with my head on a spike, or worse. I took the chocolate bar because I could – because it was there – and because I’d never stolen anything before, and I wanted to try it, just to see what it felt like. It was a Wispa bar, the one with holes running through it, and technically, I suppose, half