Skins: Endgame

Chapter 17

John Foster wants to hurt her.

When he woke up, Cook focused on these five words as he read them from Freddie's diary. They were isolated amongst a sea of conformity: the only sentence in the entire set of pages that didn't say that he loved Effy. More to the point, they were scribbled onto a normal page of words in large letters, which is how Cook easily noticed them.

John Foster. The name rang a bell, although he initially didn't recognise it. It was only after he began to think about how weird Effy had been acting before she got sent back to the hospital, that he remembered John Foster was her Doctor. He was supposed to help her and yet, she only got worse.

And there was something else gnawing at his mind: Tony Stonem had been here yesterday without Cook even knowing about it. The only reason he did know was because Katie mentioned it in an offhand remark before they all went to bed. On reflection, Tony must have been the one that left later in the day when Cook was in the kitchen. But considering Effy wasn't anywhere near Naomi's house, Cook couldn't understand why he would have had any reason to be here.

Tony, what the fuck is your game?

In his train of thought, Tony ended up wandering toward the window. Immediately, he noticed the presence of several police vans and officers.

"Cook! Cook!"

He could hear Panda downstairs: she too must have noticed the commotion outside and was coming to warn him. No need: by the time she got to his door, he had his jeans on and was almost ready to make haste.

"Gotta go, Cookie, the fuzz!" Panda was panicking.

"I'm on it," Replied Cook, "Always looking good in lingerie, Panda." He remarked as he climbed out the window.

As he got outside and began to scale the side of the wall, he could hear the officers at the front side of the house.

"This is the police, open the door! This is the police, open the door. James Cook? Open the door. This is your last chance!"

Jumping down to the ground, he chanced a quick glance in the direction of the police vans. There, alongside the officers, was Arcia.

He felt the needle drop as he ran.

Tony. You sly fucker.

It was way too much of a coincidence. He kicked Arcia out just around the time Tony arrived, then Tony leaves without him even seeing him, then the next thing, the police are here. Tony persuaded Arcia to call in the fuzz as a means of dealing with him discreetly.

Well it didn't work Tony. Now you've just gone and fucked it.

Cook knew exactly where to go, the one place he knew would be safe.

A short time later, he had arrived at that place. Freddies shed was within reach: that old safe house where he, Freddie and JJ had spent so many precious memories together.

He would not feel safe until he was inside, and there was no sense in taking chances by remaining in the open. He needed somewhere private to figure out how to deal with Tony.

Upon throwing open the door, he was surprised to find he was wrong about privacy. Of all people, who else other Effy would be there?

"You fuck everything up again?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"It's his birthday today." She noted.

"Yeah," Cook was looking for a decent shirt, given he hadn't time to throw one on after his earlier escape. He found a red one and slipped it on. "Do you think he'd mind?"

Effy shook her head.

"Freds probably got scared," She said. "I'm pretty scary. But I can't not know if he couldn't bear it. I can handle it. I think I can handle it."

"He wasn't scared of you Eff," Cook handed her the notebook. Effy skimmed through the pages, visibly getting upset in the process.

"We'll go and find him," Promised Cook. "All right?"

Suddenly the door was pulled open. Cook instinctively got into a defencive position-

Police!

But it was just JJ.

"My powers of deductive reasoning are unparalleled," Said JJ. "They're actually hunting you with dogs. Impressive. Anyway, we weren't sure if the coast was clear."

"What do you mean, "we"?" Asked Cook

"Yeah, and it's a bit chilly hiding out there in the garden," JJ said as he moved to the door and called out- "The sea eagles are roosting."

Panda walked in on cue. "Hello, Eff. I've been trying to tell you something."

"Spit it out, Panda-pops."

Panda braced herself. "I'm going away."

"Really?" Asked Effy, not looking too shocked. "Fine. Where?"

"Harvard," Panda dropped the bombshell that had all of them looking at her with stunned expressions. "On a history scholarship. I might have done some exams without telling anyone..."

Later that day, around late afternoon, Naomi, Emily, Katie and Thomas all got texts inviting them to the shed. It had been decided by those present to have a birthday party in Freddie's name, to honour him.

About ten minutes after the group all got their texts, Sketch got a text from Tony.

"It's go time," it stated. Sketch took a deep breath and started to get dressed.