Looking for a Hero (8 page)

‘OI!’ I heard a male voice cry in the distance. ‘Leave her alone!’ I tried to writhe around while at the same time cry out in response, but the hand over my mouth clamped tighter and, in doing so, he yanked my neck back.

‘LET HER GO!’ someone shouted and I could hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

‘Leg it,’ said one of my assailants.‘Someone’s coming.’

The hands released me and I fell back on to the pavement with a thud. I turned my head to see the backs of two boys running down an alleyway to my right. Then they leapt over a wall and disappeared.

Seconds later, a third boy was towering over me. He looked about eighteen, tall, dark-skinned with brown eyes. He kneeled down, leaned over and offered his hand. I shrank back.

‘It’s OK,’ he said.‘I won’t hurt you. And I think I scared them off.‘ He took my hand and squeezed it gently.‘Are you OK?’ He helped me into a sitting position and I rubbed the back of my head. I’d hit the pavement with quite a bang.

‘I . . . I . . .’

‘Can you stand up?’ asked the boy.

I nodded and he helped me to my feet. Once up, I felt myself begin to shake. Once I’d started shaking, I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t control it and my backside hurt where I’d fallen. The boy looked up and down the street. ‘Did they take much?’ he asked.

‘My phone and some money.’

‘But you’re OK?’ he asked.

I nodded. Then I burst into tears.

Getting home was a blur. I knew that the boy accompanied me, but everything seemed unreal, like I was in a dream. I felt very shaken, in shock that someone had penetrated the bubble I usually walk around in. School. Home. Fridge. Bed. Friends. Family. India Jane world. Safe and sound. Muggings happened to other people, not to me. I’d read about them in the newspaper but it always happened to someone else. Not this time. My world had changed, like anything could happen. However, I felt that the boy who helped me to my feet was a friend. His face was full of concern for me and the hand he offered was strong and kind. He told me that his name was Tyler and I must have given him my address because he knew where to bring me, and he must have rung the bell when we got to the house. It was weird, like I was disconnected from my brain. Tyler kept reassuring me that I was all right. It was over. The boys had gone. As we walked home, I was so thankful that he was there. He felt like a solid presence, unphased by what had happened, in charge of getting me home and thankfully in no hurry to leave me to make my own way. As we walked, he told me about a course on journalism that he’d been on that afternoon and I was grateful for his chatter. It distracted me from going over what had happened in my head.

Mum answered the door and I vaguely remember her look of curiosity on seeing me with a strange boy changing to an expression of horror when Tyler told her that I had been mugged, and then she clasped me to her in a big hug. In typical Ruspoli style, soon the whole family knew and, shortly after I’d got back, I was sitting on one of the sofas in the front room between Dad and Dylan, who both had their arms around me, while Mum brought mugs of hot chocolate. It felt wonderful to be home, like Christmas had come early and it was touching to see how much each member of the family seemed to be affected by what had happened – even Kate came down to see if I was OK. It was only after Lewis had arrived that I stopped shaking and started to feel more like my normal self.

‘So go over it again,’ said Lewis, who had been told the whole story by Mum. ‘Who was the boy who brought you back here?’

‘Tyler,’ I said.

‘No surname?’ asked Lewis.

Mum shook her head. ‘Nice-looking boy. He had a good face and seemed responsible.’

‘Where did he go?’ I asked.

‘That I don’t know,’ said Mum. ‘I asked him in but he said he had to be somewhere. Once he knew that you were home safely, he wanted to be off’.

‘I never said thank you,’ I said. ‘I’d like to ring him or send a card. He called out and the other boys ran off.’

‘A veritable knight in shining Armani,’ said Kate. ‘A cutie. I saw him going down the path from my bedroom window.’

I hadn’t really registered his fanciability at the time but, when I thought about him, I realised that he was, as Mum had said, a nice-looking boy – tall, slim with an intelligent, handsome face, but it was more than his looks – there was something grounded about him, like he knew where he was going and how to handle himself.
Bollards,
I thought.
All the boy hunting that we’d been doing all week with no luck and I meet a fabster who is kind, good-looking and a hero and I let him slip away. I hope I see him again.
Mum seemed to pick up on my thoughts.

‘Maybe he’ll call again,’ she said.

‘Hope so,’ I said. ‘He was almost like the perfect boy’

‘Pff. No such thing,’ said Kate. ‘If they’re male, you have to compromise,’

‘Sexist,’ said Dad.

‘Yeah, speak for yourself,’ said Lewis. ‘The girls I go out with don’t have to compromise.’

‘You think? And have you ever asked one of them?’ asked Kate.

Yeah, maybe you’re not God’s gift to women like you think you are,’ said Dylan.

So much for being the centre of attention for long in this house,
I thought as my family all dived in with their opinions about Lewis and his attitude to girls. I was about to join in but when I looked at Kate, I saw that she looked pale and her eyes were red.

‘Has something happened?’ I asked.

‘Not really. Just a row with Tom.’

All eyes turned towards Kate.

‘What happened?’ asked Mum.

‘When?’ asked Dylan.

‘Did you dump him?’ asked Lewis.

‘It was a quarrel, OK? No biggie,’ said Kate, and I could see that she wished that she’d never mentioned anything.

‘So does that mean it’s over?’ asked Dylan.

‘No,’
said Kate and she began to edge out of the room.‘Look. Forget it. Relationships are about good times and bad. You ride the storms.’

Dad gave Mum an affectionate look. ‘Quite right,’ he said.

‘Compromise,’ said Lewis smugly.

Kate hit him just before she left the room.

After more hugs and cuddles, it was time for me to go up to bed. Mum asked if I wanted her to tuck me in and read me a bedtime story like when I was five, but I was beginning to feel better and I wanted to talk to Erin about what had happened and then have some time on my own to go over the events of the day and let it sink in that, yes, it had been horrible but it was over. It
was
over. And I was home and safe. As I went upstairs, I thought about what Kate had said. ‘Relationships are about good times and bad.’
Did that mean that there might be hope for Joe and me after all?
I wondered.
All I had to do was weather the storm.
‘Compromise,’ Lewis’s voice rang in my head.
Boy, this love thing is complicated,
I thought.

My black and white kittens, Posh and Becks, were cuddled up together at the end of my bed and both looked up, hoping to be made a fuss of, as I sat at my desk and picked up the phone. When they saw that I wasn’t going to get on the bed with them, Posh put her head down and went back to sleep, but Becks got up and came and sat on my lap then tried to climb on to my shoulder and nuzzle my nose. He was such a sweetie. I stroked him for a while then dialled Erin’s number. Her mum picked up and called her to come to the phone.

‘Hey India. How goes it?’ she said a few minutes later.

‘My turn to need to hear your voice this time,’ I said.

‘Why? What’s happened?’

‘I got mugged today’.

‘You WHADDDTTTTTTTT? When? Where? Are you OK?’

I quickly filled her in on all the details.

‘Jeez. Sure you’re OK?’

‘Yeah. Fine now.’

‘I wish I was there and I could give you a big hug.’

‘Me too. But I’m OK, don’t worry. They got my phone and some cash, but I’m fine.

‘Sure?’ asked Erin.

‘Double sure,’ I said. ‘Do you think we should go on to MSN – this call will be costing a fortune. I just wanted to hear your voice for a few minutes.’

‘Nah. There are times when it is absolutely permissible to run up our parents’ phone bills and this is one of them. Stay on the phone. Will you see this Tyler again?’

‘I hope so. He had a good vibe. He made me feel safe.’

‘Could it be love?’

I laughed. It felt good to be talking boys instead of muggings. ‘Duh. What is love? I don’t know.’

‘Me neither. I’ve been thinking about it lately. I mean, it’s such a general word. Like we say, I love my mum; I love chocolate. Totally different levels.’

‘Yeah. I love my cats too. And I love my friends but that’s a different kind of love too, isn’t it?’

‘And what you feel for a boy is different again. Like what you felt for Joe.’

‘Yeah but that kind of love can do your head in. Love for family and friends is the best; they’re really there for you when you need them.’

‘Yeah. Boys come and go but friends are for ever. Have you let Leela, Brook and Zahrah know?’

‘Not yet. I . . . I wanted to talk to you first.’

‘Quite right. Bezzies first – but they’ll want to know.’

‘I’ll tell them at school when they’re all there. To be honest it all felt a bit unreal earlier on. After my family, I didn’t think of talking to anyone except you.’

‘Sure you’re OK, India?’

‘Yeah. Honest. But what about you? I was about to call and ask how things were with Scott when my phone got swiped. Any news?’

‘No. I called his mobile again but it’s still switched off. I did call his landline though and his mum picked up. She said that he’d gone into town this afternoon, so it sounds as if at least he got home last night or she’d have said something. I’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll see him around school, but I need to get him alone; it’s not a conversation I want to have while his mates are around.’

‘Yeah. Very wise. Plus we all know how boys can act differently when there’s a gang of them.’

‘Specially Scott. Like he’s always got to act the big man.’

‘Let me know how it goes, OK?’

‘I will. And hey, aren’t you off to Italy soon?’

‘End of next week. Can’t wait.’

‘Just what you need after a shake-up, India. Sure you’re OK now?’

‘Yep. Bit tired now.’

‘Me too. Off to bed then. Sweet dreams, lady of the red, white and blue land.’

‘Sweet dreams, lady of the green land. Love ya.’

‘Love you too.’

Zahrah, Brook and Leela were so sweet when they heard about what had happened and all week they treated me like a princess, bringing me choccie treats and magazines to cheer me up and even helping me set up the address book on my new mobile. The story of my mugging spread around the school like a flu virus and by Friday lunchtime, because of a lack of any other news that week, I was a celebrity. Everywhere I went, people turned and stared or did a double take then whispered to their friends.

‘Hey India, did you know that you had your head kicked in and are now in hospital with brain damage and a broken leg? The rumour is that you may never walk again,’ said Leela as she came out of the school canteen at lunchtime. ‘I just heard Ruby and Nicole in the lunch queue.’

Zahrah raised her eyebrows. ‘Typical,’ said Zahrah. (Ruby and Nicole were two girls who I almost got in with in the first half of term, but then I realised that they liked to gossip about people all the time and a lot of it was really unkind or exaggerated to make a big drama.)

I nodded. ‘No wonder some people are staring. People must think I’ve made a rapid recovery. I overheard some other girls talking in the girls’ cloakroom and, apparently, my hero Tyler is a black belt in karate and he kung fu-ed and karate-chopped my muggers into oblivion.’

We linked arms and made our way to our favourite radiator outside the sports hall. ‘And I heard that there were six muggers and Tyler floored them all,’ said Zahrah.

‘Maybe you should release a statement for the school magazine,’ said Brook. ‘India Jane is alive and well and hasn’t missed a day of school.’

‘I could,’ I said, ‘but it’s good to have a bit of fun after what happened. I like hearing just how far the Chinese whispers will go. I just wish Tyler would get in touch so I could thank him properly.’