Part 9 (1/2)

'Do you miss Edinburgh?' Gina asked Niffy.

'Yeah,' she admitted.

'Do you miss school?'

'Sort of . . . You know how it is with St Jude's,' Niffy replied. 'Can't live with it, can't live without it. You don't really want to be away from home, but then you wouldn't see any of your friends, who you love just like family' she beamed at them all 'so you drag yourself back there term after term.'

They'd arranged to meet the Range Rover and Mr N-B at two o'clock in the Co-op car park, when he was going to drive them over to Angus's aunt and uncle's place.

As they set off towards the car park through the unending drizzle, the girls pa.s.sed a group of teenagers huddled beneath the arches of the small town hall on the high street. One of them, a girl dressed in tight jeans, a tracksuit top and a baseball cap, called out as they pa.s.sed, 'Got your posh friends down for the weekend, have you, your ladys.h.i.+p?'

Amy, Gina and Min stopped in their tracks and looked over at the girl in astonishment. Niffy, by contrast, ducked her head down and carried on walking at a brisk pace.

'We're not good enough to talk to then, are we, your highness? Lady Toffee Nose?' a second girl, standing beside the first, chipped in with a sneer.

Amy, Gina and Min were still rooted to the spot, staring at the girls in horror.

Now the other members of the group were joining in. The boys were whistling, and there were calls of 'Stuck-up cow!' 'Snooty witch!' and 'Posh bird!'

Niffy didn't even want to wait for her friends. She just pulled her shoulders almost up to her ears and kept on walking.

Amy, Gina and Min looked at the girls, looked at each other in outrage and looked at the girls again. Gina's mouth was hanging open in shock: was this how Niffy's new cla.s.smates were treating her? No wonder she'd described school as 's.h.i.+t' and didn't want to talk about it. Amy's hands were on her hips; Amy's face was clouding over with fury; Amy was very definitely about to say something loud and angry.

Gina brushed against Amy's arm. 'Maybe you shouldn't,' she warned. 'Maybe it will make things worse.'

But Amy was already taking a deep breath. 'Just what do you think you'rrrre playing at?' she fired out in her strongest Glaswegian accent. 'Our pal is at your school so she can be at home looking after her sick mum.'

No one in the group said anything for a moment, so Amy went on, not quite so angry now, 'At least give her a chance. She's a nice person. Some of you could probably be nice too . . . if we gave you a chance.'

By this time, Niffy had stopped and turned to see what was going on.

The girl who'd made the first comment spotted her and immediately shouted, 'Ooooh, you've finally turned to look at us then, Princess Poncey Pants.'

'I said be nice,' Amy said, slowly and icily.

'Or what?' The girl turned and curled her lip at her. 'What ya gonna do? Get the Queen down to have us arrested?'

This caused an outbreak of loud, sneering laughter from her friends.

Amy had been in enough playground sc.r.a.ps to know that it was time to retreat with a parting shot; she could come back to fight another day.

'You're going to be very sorry,' she said loudly and clearly so that everyone could catch each word. Then she took Gina and Min by the arm and marched them away from the group as quickly as she could.

The laughter and whistles of the teenagers were still ringing in their ears as they rounded the corner into the Co-op car park.

'Nice new friends,' Amy hissed at Niffy.

'Don't interfere. It's best to just keep your head down and stay out of their way.'

'No it isn't!' Amy retorted. 'You've got to sort them out or this will go on and on all the time you're at their school. And that could be a while! I promise you, you've got to sort it out.'

'No I don't,' Niffy snapped.

Mr N-B's filthy old Range Rover was already in the car park. Without saying anything more, Niffy opened the front pa.s.senger door, climbed in and slammed it shut.

Chapter Sixteen.

The drive from Buckthwaite to Angus's aunt and uncle's home through green and twisty country lanes seemed to soothe Niffy. As the car turned into a long tree-lined driveway, she turned and smiled at her friends in the back seat.

'Wait till you see this place I think you're going to be impressed,' she told them.

The driveway seemed to go on for miles, winding through leafy woodland, then past green fields where sheep grazed and enormous oak trees, protected by little wooden fences, spread their graceful branches. At the end of the drive, the rhododendron bushes fell away and they pulled up in front of a vast grey stone building.

There was no way this could be a house, Gina couldn't help thinking. It looked more like a museum or a school even some kind of castle. Surely this couldn't be where Angus's relatives lived! Only royalty could afford a place like this.

In contrast to Blacklough Hall, the front doors were thrown wide open at the sound of the car on the drive. A flight of steps dotted with colourful pots of plants and flowers led up to the ornate marble-columned entrance hall.

Already there were people standing there, a middle-aged couple and, towering above them, waving frantically, a hunky blond figure, which must surely be Angus.

'Hi! h.e.l.lo there! Good to see you great to see you!' He came bounding down the steps towards them, booming out greetings, scattering three tiny yapping dogs as he went.

'Does everyone live in a place like this around here?' Gina asked Amy, only half-joking.

'Erm, no. Don't think Niffy's school pals do, for a start,' came Amy's reply.

'But look at it,' Min said, staring through the Range Rover windows in something close to dismay. 'It just doesn't feel right that someone should have a house this big. What about the homeless people?'

'You'd fit plenty of them in here,' Amy joked. As she stepped out of the car, she watched happily as Angus kissed Niffy on both cheeks which could just have been politeness, though the hands around her waist pulling her towards him definitely weren't. And while her father wasn't looking, Angus leaned down and gave Niffy's ear a quick lick, which caused Amy to utter a shriek of surprise.

'Hey, Amy,' Angus said when he could bear to take his eyes off Niffy. 'Can I kiss you too?'

'Yeah.' Amy offered each cheek in turn, but warned him, 'Just no licking, OK?'

He ushered them in. 'Come on, meet the rellies.'

The rellies, Angus's aunt and uncle, turned out to be nice. The house was glittering and the unmistakable impression was: rich, rich, rich. It couldn't have been more different to the threadbare state of Blacklough.

'My uncle is a banker, you know wads of money,' Angus explained in a cheerful whisper.

When Amy was shown into the drawing room, she made straight for the beautiful bay window and admired the three gleaming cars parked outside. An Aston for him, a Lotus for her, and an immaculate old-fas.h.i.+oned blue Land Rover, perfectly restored, s.h.i.+ning and loved in every way for going into the fields, perhaps?

'Angus, who cleans the cars here?' Amy asked.