Fighting Back (3 page)

Cath had been off school for a few days. Rob still turned up to see Amita safely home. Rajeeb was meant to be there. He had promised his father he would look after his sister, but more and more often he didn't bother.

‘Cath's got 'flu,' said Rob. ‘She'll be off school for the rest of the week. Look, I've
got a meeting with my tutor after college tomorrow. Will you be OK if I don't meet you after school?'

Amita shivered. There was a very cold wind blowing.

‘Yeah – it should be all right. They haven't been too bad lately. I think they've given up on me. There are new people in the class they can pick on.'

Rob looked at her carefully. He wanted to be sure she meant what she was saying. He saw how cold she looked.

‘Here, wear my scarf until you get home.' He wrapped it round her neck and took her hand in his to warm it.

They were only a few metres from Amita's house when her father appeared. He must have been looking for her out of the window.

‘Get away from my daughter! Thug!
Lout! Hooligan!'

Rob was taken aback.

‘Hang on, mate …'

‘Go, Rob, leave him to me.' Amita pushed Rob towards his house and turned to her father.

‘Dad, he's Cath's brother. He's my friend, too.'

Gayan turned on Amita and snatched the football scarf from her neck.

‘What do you think you're doing? Wearing this thing!'

He flung the scarf into the gutter and for a moment Amita thought he was going to stamp on it.

‘You know what they are like. He's one of them. They never stop.'

Rajeeb arrived at that moment.

‘What's up now?'

‘Your sister. She's got a boyfriend. A
white thug. Why weren't you there to see her home?'

‘I do have a job to do, you know. Why don't you go?'

Rajeeb looked at Amita. She pulled a face at him.

‘It was Rob,' she said. ‘I met him on the way home.'

Her face warned Rajeeb not to say anything to upset their father any more.

‘Come on Dad, come inside. We can talk about it then. Let's hear what Amita has to say.'

Gayan looked at them helplessly. He moved slowly back towards the door. Amita thought that he was beginning to look like an old man.

Rajeeb stooped and picked up Rob's scarf. He stuffed it out of sight into his pocket.

Inside, Gayan rounded on Amita again.

‘How can you shame me in this way?'

‘Dad, he's not a thug, he's not my boyfriend. He's nice and he's a friend. I told you, he was just seeing me home.'

But her father wouldn't listen. All the bitterness he had been keeping hidden came out now. How he hated it here, how he hated the people, and how his brother was preventing him from being a success.

Rajeeb and Amita tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen. Shocked, they saw he had tears in his eyes. Deep down he knew he was in the wrong again, but he couldn't admit it. In the end he refused to talk any more and stamped off to his own room.

‘Why don't you explain about the bullying at school?' Rajeeb asked.

‘Because he will just make it worse.
Anyway, it's better now. They've stopped following us.'

The following afternoon it was raining. Amita looked hopefully for her brother at the school gate. After what had happened yesterday, maybe he would show up. But there was no one waiting for her, and she set off for home by herself. She was holding her umbrella well down over her head. She had barely gone two hundred metres before she realised Tony and Luke were behind her.

‘Gotcha now! No one around to look after you today.' Tony's voice sounded very loud in her ear.

Running sounds. Maddy and Brian appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

‘No one to help you now.' Maddy thrust her face close to Amita. Too close.

Amita lashed out with her umbrella.

‘Go away! Leave me alone!'

Suddenly there was a ripping sound. Tony had grabbed her umbrella from her and was ripping at it with a knife.

He waved the knife at her. ‘Oh yes. We'll leave you alone all right. But not until we've finished with you.'

Luke had grabbed her arms. Brian was looming over her. Maddy was swinging her bag. Round and round, nearer and nearer.

Amita screamed. Louder than she had ever screamed before. More running footsteps. Amita tried to pull her arms free. What now?

Suddenly a large figure in a football scarf loomed up behind Brian and Tony. Crack! Tony and Brian's head made sudden, violent contact. Tony dropped the knife. Maddy dropped her bag and started
running. Tony and Brian tried to follow her, but Rob was hanging on to both of them by the collar. Luke thought he'd try and help his friends, took one look at Rob, thought better of it, and scarpered. Eventually Brian and Tony wrenched themselves free and fled.

A car door slamming. More running feet. Amita's legs wouldn't hold her up any longer and she dropped onto the wet paving.

An arm went round her shoulders. But it wasn't Rob.

‘Come on, everything's all right now.'

She looked up.

‘Dad?'

At last everything was sorted out. Rob explained that his meeting had been cancelled so he came along anyway,
although he was a bit late. Gayan had arrived at the same time as Rob. He had seen everything.

It was hard for Gayan to say it, but he knew he had to.

‘Young man, I am grateful to you. I apologise for the way I spoke to you before. I see now that I was wrong. Nevertheless, I must make it clear. I will not have you seeing my daughter.'

Rob rarely got angry, but this time it was all too much.

‘Look, Mr Desari. First off, I am
not
seeing your daughter. I have my own girlfriend, thank you very much. And another thing. How long are you going to let this go on before you do something? This time something's got to be done.'

Gayan looked at Rob. ‘What do you mean,
this time
? What has been going on?'

Someone had called the police. The scene in the street was chaos for a while, but eventually everything got sorted out. While they were waiting, Amita and Rob explained everything to her father.

‘You are quite right to protect your sister,’ Gayan said to Rob. ‘I only wish my own son was as loyal.’

Suspicion flashed in his eyes again. ‘But
your
sister does not need protecting. She is a white girl! Are you sure that was not just an excuse …?’

‘For what, exactly?’ said Rob. ‘Mr Desari, look. Whatever you think, it’s not just about race. It’s about being different. Some people just can’t cope with that.’

Gayan pointed at Rob’s football scarf.

‘All right. I accept I may have misjudged you. But what about this? You carry the symbols of your own hatred around with you.’

‘OK. Point taken. But that’s just a game …’

‘I suppose you think what happened today is just a game too.’

‘Of course I don’t. Look, I came along to help Amita, not to get a load of grief.’

Gayan glared at him. ‘Thank you, but
there will be no further need for you to help. I will do things the way I see best.’

Rob shrugged again. He smiled at Amita and moved away to talk to the policewoman.

Eventually they were all allowed to go home. Rob had promised to make a statement to the police later.

Javin and Rajeeb were both there when they got back.

‘Where have you been? We were worried about you!’

Gayan looked at his brother.

‘I was worried about Amita. I didn’t want her meeting that boy again, so I went to meet her.’

He turned to Rajeeb.

‘This is all your fault! Amita, attacked in the street! If you’d done what you were told this would never have happened!’

‘My fault? Look, Dad, I told you. I’ve got
work to do.
You’re
the one sitting around all day.’

If Amita hadn’t felt so shocked, she would have been angry, but the last thing she wanted was a family row. She was the one who had been attacked, but no one seemed to care about her. Pride. Being in control. Sometimes she thought her brother was as bad as her dad.

Amita was off school for a couple of days. When she got back, Cath was back too. She was very pleased to see Amita and gave her a hug.

‘I wanted to come round and see you. But …’

Amita knew why she felt she couldn’t. Dad. If only she could say, ‘It’s fine now. When Dad saw Rob in the fight, he knew how wrong he’d been. You can come round anytime!’ 

If only.

At least things were better at school. Tony was permanently excluded. Carrying a knife was serious and the police were talking about prosecuting. Brian was going to be moved to a different school. Luke and Maddy were excluded too, but for shorter times.

Things were still difficult at home, but there were good signs even there. Rajeeb was still doing well, but by the summer it was clear that the computer side of things wasn’t for him. He just couldn’t get his head round it. But someone else could – Gayan! He was discovering he had a real knack with computers. He began to take on the computer side of the business. He talked of setting up his own computer business one day. Slowly, slowly, he was becoming more settled, back in control of his life. 

Then came the day when Javin invited the entire Davis family round for a meal. Rob couldn’t come, but Cath would be there. Amita was anxious. How would her father react?

In the end, it was a great success. Everyone was relaxed, and there was lots of laughter around the table.

At the end of the meal Gayan spoke quietly to Cath’s mum.

‘Mrs Davis, you have a fine daughter in Cath. I am very pleased that she is Amita’s friend.’

Amita had feared that the dinner party would cause more trouble, but it turned out to be a healing moment for her family.

Rajeeb was now at college in Portsmouth. Much to Rob’s disgust, he had deserted Southampton football team. He was now a full Pompey supporter. 

‘There’s no choice at my college,’ he said. ‘If I turn up there wearing a Southampton scarf, I’ll get slaughtered!’

One day in the autumn, two football supporters, one wearing red, the other blue, stopped under a lamp-post.

‘Coming in for a minute?’ asked Rajeeb.

‘Alright, but I’d better hide the scarf,’ said Rob.

‘Why? Dad, you mean? Don’t worry about him. He’s getting quite tolerant, these days. Even with Southampton supporters!’

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