SOMEONE DIFFERENT by Kate Hanney

moment.’
    Patsy looked behind us into the road. My eyes flicked over to Anna and she grinned at me.
    ‘Monday?’ Patsy said suddenly.
    I nodded.
    ‘Without fail?’
    ‘I swear down.’
    ‘OK. But listen, Jay , you’d betta make sure ya do, cos, well ... ya know what I mean?’
    I nodded again slowly, and Patsy reached into her pyjama pocket and peeled two twenties off a roll of notes.
    She handed them to me, and I passed them straight to Anna.
    ‘Cheers, Patsy,’ I said, and we turned away.
    ‘Who is she?’ Anna asked as we walked back up the road.
    I shrugged. ‘Just somebody I know.’
    ‘She’s pretty scary.’
    ‘She looks it, but she’s safe enough. Anyway, you din’t seem scared – what’s the extra for?’
    ‘You.’
    I stopped. ‘Oh no it’s not. I don’t wanna it.’
    ‘Jay, please.’
    ‘No way.’
    She sighed. ‘OK then. Not for you, for me.’
    ‘What d’ya mean?’
    ‘I won’t get through this weekend if we can’t talk and send texts to each other. Please, put some credit on your phone with this.’ And she held twenty pounds out in front of her.
    I looked at the note getting drenched in the rain. She knew, didn’t she? Just from being in our house, seeing what it was like, and me not being able to give her the money to get home; she knew I’d got no credit on my phone.
    ‘Please,’ she whispered. And she reached out, lifted my hand up, and pushed the money into it.
    When my hand dropped down again, my heart dropped with it.
    We went and sheltered in the off-license doorway while we waited for the taxi.
    ‘D’ya think you’ll be able to get out over the weekend?’ I asked her.
    ‘I don’t know.’ Her face looked worried. ‘If they find out about you, Jay, they’ll make things really difficult.’
    Her words hit me harder than any punch ever had.
    ‘Because of school and revising and everything,’ she said quickly. ‘It’s not just you; they’d be the same with anyone.’ She tightened her grip on my hand and stared at me.
    ‘Yeah, OK.’ I smiled, and she smiled back, relaxing again.
    ‘And apart from that, Mum’ll have plans for us to go shopping, she’ll want me to ride Tia, and we have guests coming for dinner on Saturday night, so that’s definitely out.’
    ‘Can’t ya say you’re goin’ out with your mates or summat?’
    She glanced at her Ugg boots. ‘I don’t really have many friends. Most of the girls from school are complete bitches, and the ones who aren’t all live miles away – Dad would want to take me and pick me up again afterwards.’
    I rested my head against her hair.
    ‘If I can think of any way at all though, I will.’
    We held each other really close, and by the time the taxi eventually pulled-up at the edge of the road, neither of us wanted to let go.
    The driver peered out through the window, and I nodded at him. ‘Can ya hang on, mate, just for a minute?’
    He shrugged and lit a fag.
    ‘Let me know as soon as ya get home,’ I said to Anna.
    ‘Course.’ She hugged me. ‘Thank you for tonight; it’s been unbelievable.’
    I dipped my head forward and kissed her. ‘We’ll see each other really soon, yeah?’
    She nodded as the driver tapped on the window.
    ‘You’d better go,’ I said gently.
    Anna forced a smile and turned away, but just as she was about to open the car door, she spun back round and almost knocked me off my feet. We kissed right up until the driver sounded his horn, then Anna dragged herself backwards, and I watched them drive away.
    When they were out of sight, I stared down at the twenty pound note still in my hand. Normally, there’d have been only one place I’d have gone with that – Patsy’s.
    But although a joint would’ve been wicked right then, I stopped and thought about it.
    She’d given it to me so we could keep in touch, hadn’t she? Because she wanted to talk to me. It probably never even entered her head that I’d spend it on anything else; she trusted me. How would she feel