The Baby (2 page)

‘No offence, Livvy, but isn't he kind of … possessive?' His voice gets louder in her ear, more insistent. ‘He definitely bullies younger kids. I've seen that myself.' He pulls away to check her eyes. ‘And doesn't his body obsession bore you to tears?'

‘You don't know him like I do.' Even to Olivia this sounds
weak. But it's true. They've been seeing each other for six years now. Since year seven. Thank God Ben decides to let it go – like Nicola did earlier. A party isn't the place. Ben always seems to know when she's had enough. He steps back and gets in some serious shuffling. It makes her laugh. He pulls her in with him again.

‘By the way, I checked on Alice earlier,' he shouts in her ear again. His words are hot on her cheek.

‘Was she OK?'

He nods. ‘Yeah, she's so cute! Told me all about her imaginary farm.'

Olivia winces. She presses her thumbs together. Her sister's had an imaginary farm for the past two years now. She has horses, pigs and dogs. All named after precious stones like malachite and amethyst. Nobody knows why. Nobody dares ask. She has massive tantrums if someone suggests they're not real. And she insists on telling people about it. Olivia shouts back. ‘It's a bit weird, isn't it?'

Ben smiles, shrugs and shuffles some more. ‘You should have known me as an eleven-year-old. I was an emotional nightmare. I burst into tears if anyone so much as looked at my Star Wars Lego. I was sure they wanted to sabotage it, or at least nick Yoda.'

Olivia cracks up at the thought, shoves him in the ribs. ‘I bet.'

Twenty minutes later. Face glowing, beads of sweat on her top lip, she thinks there was something she had to do. Only her mind's not working any more. She's been drinking too
quickly. Jonty won't be impressed if he realizes how drunk she is. All that's in her brain are images and ideas, flitting and skittering behind her eyes.

She's standing with Jonty surveying the kitchen. He has his arm around her shoulders, but he's talking to Adam. It's OK though. He's in a good mood. There's a smell of burning pizza. She doesn't remember putting one in the oven, but someone must've done: Sarah Harrison's taking bites of a limp, wet-looking triangle. The tomato makes orange stains at the corners of her mouth.

Jonty points to a large chocolate cake by the kettle. ‘Who's that for?'

Olivia rolls her eyes. ‘That's mine. Mum seems to think that even though my birthday isn't till Thursday, just the fact that we're having this party means we should have a cake.'

Jonty shakes his head and rolls his eyes. ‘Nice.'

‘Look, I'm just lucky she's not putting on jelly and ice cream as well.'

‘What time are they staying out till?'

‘It took all my negotiating skills to get them to stay out until midnight. But I wouldn't put it past them to be early. It's way past their bedtime.'

‘And Alice?' Jonty narrows his eyes. He's not a big fan. Doesn't know how to deal with her.

‘She's promised to stay in her room. I couldn't persuade Mum to take her with them because she's been ill.'

Sarah wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and comes over. ‘Someone's locked in your bathroom upstairs.
Reckon you might have to call the fire brigade.' She raises her eyebrows and takes one last mouthful of pizza. ‘I'll take photos. Firefighters are so hot!'

They laugh, just as the speakers fizz and die.

Jonty swears, leaps over to the corner and starts to fiddle with wires.

No one else seems that bothered. The low ceiling bounces voices around the room.

This is a good party
. The noise reminds her of a school canteen. Only more glasses.

There's something she should be doing. She's certain.

There's a blast and another fizz and suddenly the music returns. Jonty stands proud, waiting for someone to be grateful. There's a dutiful cheer, and he grins. Olivia finds herself dancing into the front room to celebrate. She's not sure how she got there although she can still feel the circle of Ben's fingers around her wrist, so she guesses he must have dragged her to dance again.

Her drink's on the mantelpiece above the fire.

Glancing at the hallway, through the door she sees smears of birthday cake on the laminate. The swirls remind her of her grandma's curtains.

There's something she has to do.

Jake Moon bangs on the downstairs toilet door, his hand covering his mouth. His body is folded in a retch.

Lorna Cole holds a pack of cigarettes in the air, glints at Olivia, jerks her eyes to the back door. Olivia smiles, thinks about going to join her. Only Jonty hates the smell … Maybe
just one …

A while later, back in the kitchen, she spots Lorna through the window, smoking and laughing in the garden with a cluster of friends. Their movement switches on next door's outside sensor light. The Greaslys will be going crazy. But right now she's too happy to care.

This is a good party!

Another drink, some pizza. And now she's remembered what she was meant to do: check on Alice. She'll be nice and take her a slice of pizza. And where the hell is Nicola?

Jake Moon seems to have stopped vomiting now. And his hand is in Alice's goldfish bowl. Water splashes over the pine dresser. Oversized thumbs chasing goldfish.

Someone – she's not sure of his name – is playing air guitar with her mum's leopard-skin patterned broom. Random.

She chinks glasses with Will Child. ‘Brilliant party, Olivia.' She sees his tonsils when he laughs.

She smiles and smells burning pizza again.

It reminds her that she's getting pizza to take up to Alice.

She wishes she could find Nicola.

Sometime later, there's an ugly scorch mark in the evening where things start to go downhill. She's walking upstairs, a slice of pizza on a piece of kitchen roll in her left hand. The right one clings to the banister.

Hot hands appear at her shoulders.

‘Where are you going with that?' Jonty.

‘It's for Alice. I just thought I'd check on her.' Olivia is
surprised how slurred her words sound as they echo up the stairwell.

They walk upstairs, Jonty's hands moving to her bum. At the top, before she can turn left, he presses her to the right, to her bedroom door. His fingers push the door handle down and she finds herself in her room. Pizza still in her hand.

It's cool and quiet and the break from the onslaught to her senses is a relief. Hers and Nicola's clothes are in piles all over the floor and she feels the crunch of a tube of mascara as it shatters underfoot.

Jonty has his hands all over her. He's sweating and fierce. ‘I hate this top,' he says, lifting the strap.

She takes a breath, not liking the way he pulls. ‘It's fine.'

He yanks her hair. Her head tilts back and she has to tiptoe. It hurts so her heart starts to rattle a faster beat.

‘Everyone can see your bra.'

‘Stop it, Jonty, you're hurting me!' She realizes he's quite drunk. Smears of moisture slide around her neck from his lips.

‘All you've done is dance with that twat, Ben. What kind of girl are you to be dancing with him all the time?'

‘He's a mate.'

‘He's an idiot. And he's always with
my
girlfriend.'

Olivia swallows, which is hard with her neck at an angle. Her calves hurt. ‘He's gay, Jonty. Gay. He's no more of a threat than Nicola.'

‘He's such a twat. His shoes are stupid.'

He mumbles under her chin, his hand still pulling on her hair. Follicles scream at the top of her scalp. There's a taste of
panic on her tongue. The pizza has fallen on to the dirty carpet. She probably won't be able to give it to Alice now. She'll have to go and get another piece …

‘Will Child couldn't keep his eyes off you.' His words are low in her neck.

She can't talk any more with her head pinned back like this. He shoves her then, so that her head cracks against the wardrobe door. It sounds loud in her head. She can feel the door vibrate behind her. But she knows she has to keep Jonty calm. There's a shake in her words.

‘Will's girlfriend … was standing right next to him … when he was talking to me.' She gasps for breath. ‘And you should like this top … because I bought it with that gift voucher you gave me last birthday.'

He stops what he's doing and lifts his head to look at her, releasing her hair a fraction. It's enough to be able to catch his eye.

Olivia is suddenly stone-cold sober. ‘Thanks for sorting out the music by the way, Jonty. Everyone's going on about how good the tunes are.'

His dark eyes make slits. There are party sounds all around the house, only in this room it's deadly, horribly calm. She hears someone crying somewhere. There's a banging on a door. The music gets turned up. Happy screeches outside sift through the window. The music's so loud it's distorting the speakers.

Jonty turns his head to the door. ‘Need to sort the speakers. They'll get knackered like that.' He releases her hair and his
arm falls by his side. ‘Um … you OK?'

She nods and lowers her eyes, folds her arms. She doesn't want him to see she's shaking.

He moves towards the doorway then stops. He turns his head. ‘Look, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. It's just … sometimes I think you don't like me any more.' He puts his hand on her arm. It's OK, the anger's over, she can feel it in his fingers. They've got a nicer grip.

He smoothes her cheek with hot, trembling fingers. ‘Are you really OK?'

She nods, not trusting any words, and tries a smile. It works – he believes her.

Jonty searches her face then kisses her quietly on her lips. ‘I love you.'

Things feel nicer. Now she can start to calm down.

Standing in the darkness, surrounded by clothes and make-up, she watches her boyfriend leave the room. Olivia lifts herself up on to her tiptoes and then rocks back on to the balls of her feet, stretching her muscles. She feels strangely calm, considering. Her scalp is stinging like mad. She breathes out.

Remembers the pizza on the floor.

And then to her horror, in a split second, she senses a movement from under the quilt on her bed. Someone's in her room.

And has seen everything.

‘So tell me again why you got scared?'

Alice is massaging the dog, Sandy, frantically. Her back is
pressed against her radiator in her bedroom. The dog pants happily. She's been with Alice almost all of the night.

‘Because I could hear someone sort of moaning in the bathroom and because some people knocked on my door. They laughed at me.'

Olivia pictures her sister on her carpet playing with her imaginary animals, scared of strangers wandering into her room looking for a bit of ‘space'. She can imagine her alarm. Her sister's weirdness is seriously annoying.

‘So you came to look for me?'

Alice nods, her fingers active and restless in Sandy's fur. ‘Sort of. Only you said not to come downstairs, so I came to your bedroom. It's a terrible mess, by the way.'

Olivia shakes her head. Sometimes her sister does her head in. But she feels bad for being cross. She's only eleven, she has a lot to learn. ‘There are a few more people than I thought were going to come. There are some gatecrashers.' She pulls a face. ‘There's no need to tell Mum. I'll make sure everything's tidied up for when they get back.'

Olivia smiles. There's a small silence. The music volume downstairs subsides a fraction – so Jonty has obviously sorted the speakers. The front door is opening and closing – are people starting to drift home? There's still a low moaning coming from the bathroom.

She'd better check on whoever's in there before her parents get back.

She starts to stand up.

‘Olivia?'

‘Mmm?'

‘Why is Jonty sometimes horrible to you? He banged you against the wardrobe. It was really horrid. Why do you let him?'

Olivia sighs – pulls fingers over her head. It's still sore. There lies the million-dollar question. Why does she let him? How has it got to this point? All this pinching? This hair-pulling? The odd kick in the shin? Why does she let it happen? If any of her friends knew, they'd tell her to dump him within seconds. Nobody would believe it anyhow. Sometimes Ben and Nicola give her weird looks when they're talking about Jonty, but most of her friends – and she has many – think she's got the perfect relationship. It would be shameful to have to admit that he's started doing this sort of thing.

So why is she still with him? Why didn't she drop him like a ton of bricks after that first pinch about eighteen months ago?

She swallows and fidgets under her sister's unwavering gaze. For an eleven-year-old, Alice is genius-clever. And even though she's seriously weird too, she won't take being treated like a little kid.

She tries to brighten her face, but it's difficult and she's not completely certain that she's convincing her sister. ‘Oh, don't worry about that. I think he's a bit drunk. He's normally fine in the end.'

Alice nods, but her mouth doesn't look right.

There's a wail from the bathroom, then a bang.

Alice rolls her eyes. ‘She's been doing that for a whole hour
now. It's really getting on my nerves.'

‘Probably someone who's drunk too much.' Olivia nods. ‘I'll nip downstairs and get Jonty or Ben. Reckon we might have to break the lock if she doesn't stop making that noise.'

Alice's eyes light up with excitement. ‘Really?'

Olivia smiles and reaches for the door handle. ‘Yeah. We had to do that at Jodie Bradshaw's party. This boy got so drunk that he couldn't undo the lock.' She looks down at her sister who has started eating the piece of pizza from the floor. ‘Look, Alice. About Jonty?' She meets her sister's eyes at last. ‘I promise I won't let him be horrible any more.'