Lifted Read online

  Mr Owen opened a drawer and took out a plastic bag containing the items he’d talked about: some sparkly, jewelled hair slides, and a lipstick in a gold tube. ‘They’re worth about thirty pounds,’ he said. ‘She’s removed the price tags, which constitutes criminal damage, so they need to be paid for.’ Pam nodded. ‘You’re lucky it’s not more, or we’d have called in the police. And as she hasn’t been violent, either, or foul-mouthed, or tried to run, we’ve decided we’re going to let her off with a warning.’

  ‘Thank goodness,’ said Pam. ‘Thank you so much. I am absolutely sure it’s the first and last time she’ll ever do this.’

  ‘Good,’ said Mr Owen. ‘She’ll also be banned from the store for the period of a year. If she tries to enter, we can prosecute her for trespass.’

  Ruby half climbed up from her chair, then sat back down again. ‘But I told you, I want you to call the police,’ said Ruby, her voice cracking. ‘It’s not the first time. I’ve done it loads of times. I’ve done it here!’

  ‘Sorry?’ said Pam.

  ‘Not this again,’ said Mr Owen, impatiently. ‘She keeps saying she wants me to involve the police because she wants to confess to being that Robyn Hood girl, the one in the news. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that over the past few weeks. It’s extremely tiresome.’

  ‘But I am Robyn Hood,’ said Ruby. ‘I can prove it.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ said Pam. She wanted to pay for the goods (the money could come out of Ruby’s pocket money), and then get Ruby out of there, and home, as quickly as possible.

  Ruby started to cry again, but she had no tears left. What came out was more of a snotty snivel. ‘Why won’t anyone believe me?’

  ‘I am not prepared to waste police time,’ Mr Owen said. ‘And believe you me, you wouldn’t get such soft treatment from them.’ He studied Ruby closely. ‘You look like a nice girl, clearly you’re from a nice family. I’m guessing you’re going to do fairly well in your GCSEs, maybe go to university. Well, however many A stars you think you are going to get, with a conviction for shoplifting you would have a criminal record too. And that would make it very hard for you ever to get a job.’

  Ruby sighed loudly. ‘I don’t care. I don’t need a job. I am Robyn Hood. I am the mystery blogger. Listen …’ She started to try to recite portions of the blog, but she was in such a state she got her words muddled up.

  ‘Anybody could go on the web and learn a blog off by heart,’ said Mr Owen. ‘Mrs Collins, I suggest you take your daughter home and perhaps find someone for her to talk to.’

  Pam nodded. Poor Ruby, she was such a mess. How could she, as her mother, not have realised? She got up and put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We need to go home now. And we need to talk to your father.’ She paid for Ruby’s stolen items and then, in silence, led her daughter back through the store to the exit. Ruby walked with her head down, sulking, just like she did when she was three and had been told off.

  Pam’s car was parked in the car park. She tried to give her daughter a hug across the seat, but Ruby sat stiffly and wouldn’t respond.

  ‘Why don’t you believe me?’ she said. ‘Don’t you understand? I wanted to get caught. I took that stuff deliberately in front of the cameras, so they’d catch me and get the police, and I could reveal who I was. If I’d really wanted to take that stuff and get away with it, it would have been easy. I’ve done it loads of times before. Just read my blog, you’ll see.’

  ‘Don’t talk nonsense, Ruby,’ said Pam.

  ‘Is it so hard to believe that I could possibly write that blog? Aren’t I smart enough? Aren’t I interesting enough?’

  ‘You’re really scaring me,’ said Pam. ‘I’m going to ring your dad.’

  Chapter 21

  Two hours later, Ruby’s family was gathered in her kitchen, the atmosphere so heavy with tension and emotion that it formed an almost visible cloud. Pam and James could barely look at one another and Ruby was monosyllabic. She was exhausted and angry that, despite her repeated protests, nobody would believe her claim. She’d hoped her dad would be more understanding but, if anything, he was even less sympathetic than her mum. It didn’t help that he was irritated he’d been pulled out of an important business meeting. He kept telling Ruby how stupid she was, and how disappointed he was in her behaviour. He said he and her mum would have to discuss the appropriate punishment, but it was likely that at the very least, she’d be grounded. They hadn’t decided whether or not to inform the school; her truancy still needed to be explained.

  ‘What I don’t understand is why you need to shoplift,’ he said, sighing deeply. ‘I’ve always given you everything you could ever want, haven’t I? I buy you nice things all the time.’

  Ruby nodded. ‘I know, Dad. It’s not about that. Read the blog, then you’ll see.’

  ‘As for this Robyn Hood nonsense, you should be a big girl and take responsibility for what you’ve done, instead of finding excuses and making up stories.’

  ‘It’s not an excuse Dad,’ Ruby said, close to tears again. ‘It’s the truth. Please, let me prove it.’

  ‘OK, so let’s see some of these things you’ve stolen, then.’

  ‘I don’t keep any of them. I give them all to charity shops, that’s the whole point. Don’t you read the papers? Come down to the cancer charity shop with me now, or any of them. The volunteers all know me! I’ve always been careful to go to lots of different shops, so no one suspects, but if I tell them who I am and what I brought in, they’ll remember. I know they will!’

  ‘Of course they will,’ said Pam. ‘We’re always taking things in there.’

  ‘Wait!’ cried Ruby, desperately trying to think. ‘Actually, I do have some earrings, that I took when we were shopping for Helen. Dad, remember, that jewellery shop, the expensive one? I took these amazing pendant earrings and the charity shop wouldn’t have them because they were for pierced ears.’

  He laughed. ‘You’re expecting me to believe that you stole pricey jewellery from right under my nose? Come on then, let’s see these earrings.’

  ‘OK. And then you can ring the shop and ask if they remember them going missing. They’re bound to remember. I’ve got them upstairs … They’re …’ She whirled around in frustration. Of course, she didn’t have the earrings any more – she’d given them to Noah to hide. ‘Look, I know this sounds like an excuse, but I don’t have them now. I can get them for you later, I promise. In the meantime, please just bring me your laptop and I’ll show you my blog. When you read it, you’ll know I’m telling the truth.’

  Exasperated, James went to fetch his briefcase from the hall. ‘OK,’ he said, when he returned. ‘Here’s my laptop. Now, get this silly nonsense over with once and for all.’ He placed it on the table, brought up the internet and slid it across the table to Ruby.

  Ruby smiled. She felt re-energised, the adrenalin surging back to her body. I’ll show them, she thought. Now they’ll see! She found the blog log-in page and typed in her password, pushing return with a triumphant prod of her thumb.

  Username or Password not recognised.

  She must have been too hasty and mis-typed. She tried again.

  Username or Password not recognised.

  It wasn’t possible. She knew her username and password as well as her own name and date or birth. ‘I think there must be a fault,’ she pleaded. ‘Something wrong with the internet!’ She saw her parents roll their eyes at each other. ‘Please let me bring up my blog from the outside, so at least I can show you it and talk you through it.’

  Shaking, she typed in her blog’s URL address and pressed return.

  This page does not exist.

  This couldn’t be happening. Where was her blog? She was in a blind panic now. Had the police taken it down, or the internet company, or the Government, maybe? What if she did a Google search? There it was, first in the results … but why wouldn’t it load? All the other fake Robyn Hood sites were still there, a
ll the articles linking to her blog, but where was her blog?

  And then she understood. It was Noah. It must have been Noah. Only he could have taken down the blog. Only he had a reason to.

  ‘I’ve got to go!’ she announced, jumping up from the table and rushing into the hall. ‘Back in a minute …’

  ‘Where do you think you’re going, young lady?’ she heard her Mum shout, as she opened the front door. ‘Stop!’

  She was out in the street before she thought to look at her watch. Three o’clock. It was a school day, would Noah even be home yet? Maybe, if he had a free last period. She looked up at his window, but there was no sign of him. Her parents would be coming after her, any moment. She had to think. She ran down to the corner of the street, so she was out of sight. How long did she have before they came out looking for her? Thank God her mobile was in her pocket.

  Whr r u? she texted. I nd 2 spk 2 u now!

  Two long minutes passed. Then: On my way hm frm schl. 1 min. u ok?

  She knew exactly which way he would be walking, so she started towards him, hoping to head him off before he turned into their cul-de-sac. It can’t have been more than a few seconds before she saw him coming towards her. He was walking fast, frantically swinging his arms to keep up speed.

  She ran up to him, so angry that she wanted to hit him. ‘How could you? How could you?’

  Even though she didn’t say, he knew what she meant. He’d been waiting for this. ‘I’m so sorry, but I took it down to protect you. I thought you were going to do something stupid.’

  ‘You’re too late,’ she said, tearfully. ‘I already did. And you’ve made it worse.’

  She told him about Kelly’s. ‘Now my parents think I’m a freak, as well as a thief and a liar.’

  ‘Oh Rubes,’ he said. He tried to put his arm around her, but she backed away. ‘I’m sorry. I was trying to help because I care, honest I was.’

  ‘But it’s my blog, my words, my life! You had no right to take it down like that.’

  ‘I know, I’m sorry. I’ll put it back up for you, I promise.’

  ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Because as soon as you do, I’m going to confess everything. First I can tell my parents – and you can back me up. And then in the blog. After that, people will have to believe me.’

  Noah sighed. ‘You’re making a mistake …’

  ‘And another thing,’ said Ruby. ‘You know those earrings I asked you to take for me? I really appreciated you doing that, but I need them back now. To show my dad.’

  Noah hesitated. ‘The thing is, I don’t have them,’ he said. ‘Sorry, Rubes, but I got rid of them. I didn’t want anyone else to find them.’

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding! Where are they?’

  ‘I threw them out. They’ll be on a landfill site somewhere now. Gone forever. Sorry.’

  ‘Noooooo! They’re my only proof.’

  ‘You don’t need proof, Ruby. Listen, I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve got an idea. You could come forward about the blog, reveal yourself, but say it was all made up, like a story. That way you’ll get all the credit for writing the blog without getting into trouble with anyone. I’ve got all the computer evidence, the whole history, so they’ll know it was really you who started the blog.’

  ‘So I’ll be a stupid liar, a fantasist, instead of a thief? My parents already think I’m losing it. And I’ve been caught shoplifting twice now. The people at Zenda and Kelly’s will recognise me and they’ll say they know I really did it.’

  ‘I doubt it, they must catch hundreds of shoplifters every week. And if they do, you can say it was just for research or to get noticed. We can think of something. I’ll help you. We can work it out together.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I need time to think about it.’

  ‘OK,’ said Noah. ‘But do you forgive me now?’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said, giving him a little smile.

  He moved to hug her again, and this time she let him. She buried her face in his chest and breathed him in, the smell and the feel of him. She sensed how small her body was against his, his long arms firmly wrapped around her waist, and it made her feel safe, protected, as if everything was going to work out. Then she gazed up at him and he gave her that slightly squinty look from beneath those eyelashes, the look that turned her insides to jelly. The hug turned into a kiss, a long, slow comforting kiss that she didn’t want to end.

  ‘I’d better go home and face the music,’ she said eventually, pulling herself away. She could still feel the sensation of his lips on hers. It would be so easy to fall back into that kiss. ‘I promise I’ll call you later.’

  ‘Do,’ said Noah. ‘Remember, I’ll help you any way I can. We can work it out together.’

  She nodded. ‘Thanks.’

  Later that night, after her parents had screamed and shouted until they had no voices left, her dad had gone home and her mum had sent her to her room like a kid, Ruby lay fully clothed on her bed and thought about what to do. Noah’s idea was attractive, because it meant she could still take the credit for her blog without owning up to being a compulsive thief, but something about it didn’t feel right. The blog was hers, the vehicle for her personal thoughts and feelings (at least, until the point she’d felt she had to lie to keep her readers happy). If she claimed it had all been a fantasy, then she’d be denying who she really was. She’d spent too long doing that already, trying to fit in with her friends, trying to be the person her parents wanted her to be. Just for once, she had to be true to herself.

  She didn’t feel like talking, and this seemed a little too important for a quick text, so she opened up a new email. Sorry Noah, she wrote. Thank you for trying to help. But I’m going to do it my way. xx

  Chapter 22

  The following morning, Ruby awoke at seven to the thumping bass of a song she pretended to like but secretly hated. Her eyes still welded shut, she leaned across the bed and pressed the snooze button, sending herself into a fitful doze. When she woke up again, at seven-fifteen, it was to the drone of the weather report. She punched the radio off, feeling drowsy and bad-tempered. She’d hardly had any rest. It had taken her several hours to drop off and then she’d slept badly, her dreams fragmented and dark. She had woken several times in the night with a sensation of dread that made her heart pound wildly. Once, she felt so alone and so afraid that she had thought of texting Noah for comfort, but it had been five a.m., and he’d only have tried to talk her out of her plans.

  She kicked off her duvet and swung her feet on to the matted fibres of the rug below. From downstairs she could hear the whirr of the toaster and the whine of muffled voices on breakfast television. Mum was going to work early for a meeting; she’d told Ruby the night before, even though they weren’t really speaking. She’d stood in the hall just outside Ruby’s bedroom and shouted this information to her through the locked door. Ruby hadn’t responded because she was too upset and angry to speak and her voice had been caught in her throat.

  Her mother was shouting to her again now. ‘I’m going to work, love. I’ve left your dinner money on the side,’ and this time Ruby intended to reply, but before she could, she heard the front door slam shut. When she was younger, Mum always used to make Ruby come down and kiss her goodbye, but she’d long since given up trying. Ruby couldn’t remember when she’d last kissed her mother. On Mother’s Day, probably. It was what you did, like buying flowers and a card that said, You’re the best mum in the world, and managing to keep a straight face when she opened it. The funny thing was, she could have done with a hug from Mum now.

  Before she got ready for school she checked her emails. There was nothing from Noah. Why hadn’t he replied? He kept his computer on twenty-four seven, and he received his messages on his phone too, so she was absolutely certain he had read her email, very likely only a few minutes after she’d sent it. Her blog wasn’t back up either. She didn’t know what to think. Was there something wrong with his internet connection? Was he was
annoyed with her for not wanting to follow his advice? But if so, then why hadn’t he just told her? Maybe he’d just had to rush out early and hadn’t had time. She’d corner him at school and talk to him about it, she decided. That way she could explain properly, discuss her reasons with him, even persuade him to help her. Revealing herself wouldn’t be easy; there were simply so many unknowns. It would be good to have someone she could confide in and talk things through with, an ally.

  After she had washed her face and pulled her hair into a ponytail, she decided to squeeze the two large zits that had formed overnight on either side of her chin. It was a mistake. Neither of them had yet come to a head, so there was no satisfying whooshing sound as the pressure released, and when she had finished, there was more blood than pus in the tissue. Now she felt ugly and self-conscious too. Her mother had left a cup of coffee out for her in the kitchen. It was lukewarm and bitter, despite the sugars, so she abandoned it on the counter.

  Noah wasn’t at school when she arrived, which was weird because he was never later than her. It was possible that he was ill, she thought, but he hadn’t said anything about not feeling well yesterday. Perhaps it was one of those bugs that comes on suddenly in the night. She felt the glands at the sides of the neck, hoping she hadn’t caught it. She did feel a little off-colour, but that could just have been nerves, or lack of sleep. It was also possible that Noah had an appointment she wasn’t aware of, at the dentist or optician, something that couldn’t be fitted in after school and was too boring to have mentioned. She texted him a couple of times during the morning, between lessons, to ask where he was, but he didn’t reply. His phone was probably switched off, or out of reach. She grasped for a simple explanation, pushing aside her fears that something had happened to Noah, or that he was avoiding her. She wasn’t sure which would be worse. The longer she went without hearing from him, the more worried and frustrated she became. She was desperate to talk to him. If she was going to do it, do it, she didn’t want to do it without him.