Besides, Beth didn’t want to get them covered in mud and ruin them. She knew they had been expensive, that her parents would have had to struggle to scrape the money together for them, especially after paying for guitar lessons for her too. So she was walking in her flat boots, and would change when they got to the lookout tower.
It was all right for Chloe, her parents had loads of money, thanks to her dad being a solicitor. If she ruined the high-heeled boots she was wearing, she could get more the next day. Her mum spoiled her rotten, always wanted her to look nice. Beth thought all of that, but didn’t say a word. She knew it would lead to an argument, and she couldn’t be bothered.
‘You’re so sensible. You’re totally like an old woman, sometimes!’ Her friend laughed at her stoic silence.
‘Ooh, look, a barn owl!’ said Beth, to change the subject. She pointed at the bird that swept low over the deep indigo sky. Silent as a ghost, its wings barely moved. Its flat, oval face turned towards them, then it banked, giving a flash of buff stomach. In the silvery light it looked as pale as the moon, a sliver fallen to earth and trying to find its way back. Beth turned to her friend and beamed. Chloe shook her head.
‘Mental,’ she muttered. ‘Anyway… So Aleksy is defo going to be there tonight?’
‘That’s what he said!’
Lately, Beth felt as if she and Chloe were growing apart. Talking about boys and music and bitching about other people was all well and good, but Beth needed more. She wasn’t sure Chloe would ever feel that urge.
As they grew closer to their destination, though, Beth’s excitement built. Especially as the occasional car went by, packed to the gunnels with people they recognised from years above them at school. When Aleksy and a bunch of his pals cycled past on BMXs, he called out a casual ‘hi’ to them, but didn’t slow down.
‘This is going to be so amazing,’ Chloe gushed. ‘Like, all our friends will be well jell when we tell them about tonight. So come on, how did you hear about this? Why all the secrecy?’
Time to tell the truth. No harm in letting one little secret go, to her best friend.
‘Right, okay, you can’t repeat a word of this to anyone. On Saturday I bumped into Alison Daughtrey-Drew. Like, literally. And she dropped a bag full of Ecstasy! Well, I think they were; they looked like the photos we’ve seen in the anti-drugs lessons… They must have been, anyway, because she was really weird with me, saying she was carrying them for a friend.’
‘OMG, this is fucking amazing! Did you, like, blackmail her or something?’
‘No! God, no. But on Monday she was waiting for me when I got off the school bus and was just chatting to me – but totally with an agenda, you know? I think she was worried I’d tell someone about what I’d seen.’
‘Well, you’re so trustworthy, Beth. Like, you’d never tell anyone anything if someone wanted it kept a secret.’ Chloe stopped and hugged her. ‘So what happened next?’
‘Like I said, she seemed to be creeping around me a bit. Asking me how I was, and all that. Then she said that “as we’re friends now”, she’d like me to come to this silent rave she’s organised.’
‘She said “as we’re friends”?!’
‘Yeah. I know – mad, right? But anyway, I asked if you could come too—’
‘Ah, thanks BFF!’
‘No problem, BFF! She said we can get in free, so we’re sorted.’ Beth shrugged. ‘It’s totally to buy my silence, but I’ve no intention of telling anyone anyway – anyone but you.’
The conversation had brought them to the grounds of the tower, which glowered over the marsh. There was barely a sign of anyone outside.
‘I don’t know why you had to wear your coat,’ hissed Chloe. ‘It so makes you look dead young.’
‘First you tell me I’m an old woman, now I look too young. Make up your mind.’
Beth kept her voice light, even though she was a bit annoyed by her pal’s fresh nagging. Chloe shivered against the wintery wind in a thin denim jacket, her arms folded and her teeth almost chattering. She looked as if she had goosebumps on her goosebumps. Beth decided that giving up her coat wasn’t worth the risk of hypothermia. But while the coat stayed firmly in place, Beth did change into her new boots, balancing on them expertly. All those hours of practising walking up and down in her bedroom had paid off.
‘Seriously, do I look all right? Do I look older?’ she asked Chloe.
She wore smoky eyeshadow, dramatic eyeliner and false lashes, which felt strange when she blinked. Her lips were a hot fuchsia. Her long, golden-blonde hair was a backcombed and hairsprayed mane.
‘You look, like, totally gorgeous – and you’d easy pass for eighteen,’ replied her pal. Chloe’s black-and-white stripy playsuit only just skimmed her bottom, showing off her legs in sheer tights and the long boots that she’d nicked from her mum’s wardrobe. Her heavy make-up made her virtually unrecognisable. She didn’t ask how she looked, such was her confidence.
One more hug, and the two girls strutted into the compound, linking arms to hide their nerves.
Despite there being cars, motorbikes and bicycles in the car park, there was no sign of anyone other than a trio huddled under a single security light by the large, single-storey rectangular building attached to the tower. Two huge men stood at the doorway, wearing big padded jackets. They dwarfed the coltish form of Alison in her skinny jeans and form-fitting North Face jacket to keep the cold and wind at bay.
Chloe’s face fell a little when she saw how stylish but sensible the older woman looked. The teenagers pulled up short. The security light illuminating the area went off, plunging them into darkness. Beth gave a little shriek, clutching Chloe’s arm tighter.
‘It’s okay,’ Alison called, sounding bored. As she spoke the light flicked on again, and she seemed to be waving her hand. ‘Bloody sensor. It’s motion-activated, so I have to keep waving my hand.’
Chloe prodded Beth with a finger in the ribs, so she stepped forward. Her heart thudded so hard against her chest she was sure people would see it. Her hands were slick with perspiration despite the freezing temperature, and she wiped them on her coat, hoping no one would notice. She did not belong in this world of raves and drugs and lying to her parents in order to stay out all night. This was wrong. She worried that Alison might change her mind and send her home – and half-hoped that she would.
‘Umm, hi, Alison. It’s Beth, Beth Oak. Umm, you said it would be okay for me…’
‘Beth! Of course! Let me take your jacket and that bag. I’ll look after them for you,’ smiled Alison, urging the girls forward. Beth thought of a predator eyeing up prey as she looked at the calculating eyes and perfect white teeth behind the blood-red lipstick.
‘Go on, then,’ Chloe whispered. ‘You’ll look a total pillock taking that lot in there.’