Love Bomb by Jenny McLachlan Page B

stuff.’ Then he jumps up on the bench and, with a swoop of his arm and a hiss from the can, starts to spray an enormous ‘T’ on the wooden wall of the shelter. I glance over my shoulder, but the prom is deserted. Nat stands next to Toby and starts on his own graffiti. From what I can make out, he’s spraying the outline of a green furry fish. A gust of wind slips into the shelter and I pull my hood tight round my face.
    ‘I tagged our school’s chapel and they freaked out,’ says Toby. ‘Apparently I ruined a nineteenth-century panel.’
    ‘Isn’t what you’re doing illegal?’ I ask.
    ‘Alright, Mum,’ says Nat, laughing.
    ‘Graffiti is illegal,’ says Toby, turning the ‘o’ in ‘T-Dog’ into a snarling bulldog. ‘But what we’re doing is art . Like Banksy.’
    I’m not so sure. What they’re doing looks pretty much exactly like graffiti. I turn back towards the prom. Someone’s got to be their lookout, and if I don’t watch I can pretend they’re not doing it. The rainclouds make it seem later than it is and the pier glitters in the darkness. If I stare hard enough, I can just about see a carriage slowly climbing the track of the Crazy Mouse. Are they all on there right now? It hovers for a second at the top before zooming down. I imagine their screams. I guess Kat is sitting with Bill. He loves fast rides and roars all the way through the scary bits.
    ‘Hey, B-Cakes, what d’you think?’ Toby is standing next to his graffiti. Honestly? It’s a bit messy and drippy and the shading’s gone wrong. Still, his is definitely better than Nat’s.
    ‘It’s good,’ I say. Then, because Toby’s waiting for more, I add, ‘It’s massive.’ I mean it’s big – it stretches across the whole of the back wall of the shelter – but Toby thinks I mean massively awesome. He grins as he jumps off the bench.
    After he’s put the finishing touches to his furry fish (which is actually a wolf), Nat heads home. Before Toby and I leave, he gets out his phone and takes a photo of his art. Suddenly, it feels extra quiet in the shelter and even the crash of the sea dies away. We’re standing so close together our shoulders are touching. This feeling creeps through me that Toby might do or say something.
    But the shelter still smells of wee and the pier looks so pretty that I don’t want to be in here a minute longer.
    ‘C’mon,’ I say, stepping out on to the prom. ‘Let’s go.’ Immediately, sea spray mists my face and a gust of wind tugs me forward. Toby joins me and we run laughing towards town, being knocked on all sides by the wind.
    *
    As the bus sways back across the Downs, Toby drops a crumpled Burger King bag on my lap.
    ‘What’s that?’ I ask.
    ‘A present,’ he says. ‘You said you liked it.’
    I open the bag and pull out a necklace. It’s a curled-up fox made out of a thin disc of wood hanging on a chain. Foxes are my favourite animal. Earlier we walked past a stall where a man was making them and I pointed the necklace out to Toby.
    After putting it on, I study the tiny carved lines of its nose and ears. Buying me a necklace … this tells me Toby likes me, doesn’t it? There’s just one problem. I didn’t actually see Toby buy it. Did he run back and get it when I went up to watch Bea dance? There definitely would have been time. Also, why would you steal something if you had a pocketful of money? I tuck the necklace inside my coat.
    ‘I love it,’ I say.

It’s almost dark when I get to my road and I see my house lit up and looking all cosy. Toby and I said goodbye at the bus stop because he had to go round to Dexter’s and watch Bad Asses . Apparently it’s the sequel to Bad Ass . I’ve remembered word for word our goodbye so I can write it in Dennis the minute I get in:
    Toby: See you.
    Me: Thanks for my fox.
    Toby: Now you’ll never forget our first trip to Brighton. (Little wave from me, gorgeous eyebrow wriggle from him.)
    First trip to Brighton!
    I’m actually