Bruises on the Fruit

Chapter Five

February 24th, 1996

I tried to broach the subject gently over pizza.

"There's this party..." I began.

"No," said Mum.

"Lex and Nisha are going-"

"No."

"It's just a few friends gathering, not really a party at all-"

"No."

"But Mum, if you just listen-"

"No."

"But Mum!" I exclaimed. "Why not?"

"You are grounded, Jasmine. You are not going to a bloody party."

"It's not fair, you never listen-"

"Tell her, Richard!"

"W-well, er, J-j-jasmine, the th-thing is-" Mum rolled her eyes so far they almost disappeared.

"Go to your room, Jasmine."

"But Mum-"

"Now! I can't even look at you!"

I pouted back to my bedroom and sat morosely on the end of my bed. Who was she to say where I could or couldn't go? How could she keep me here, trapped? Didn't she want me to be happy? How could she take this away from me?

I marched back down the stairs.

"Mum, I'm going." I said, firmly.

"No you're not!" said Mum.

"I'm going." Mum's lips pursed. She took a deep breath in through her nose and pushed it out of her mouth. She opened her mouth, looked at me, closed her mouth and looked away again. I edged backwards toward the door. "I'm going, Mum," I said again. I opened the front door. Dick and Bobby looked from Mum, to me, and back to Mum.

"Jasmine," said Mum quietly, "If you walk out that door, don't bother coming back."

"Fine!" I shouted, slamming the door behind me.

Zed lived in a small terrace in a long line of identical houses. Every one had a bay window, in front of it a small patch of nothing, and a short brick wall in front of the nothing. Paint was chipping off the outside window sill. Inside, not much light seemed to get in. There were no pictures on the wall. The fading carpet was covered in a paisley pattern. Various people sat and stood around the house. On a large burgundy armchair, a girl I didn't know sat in the lap of a boy I didn't know, lips locked in a desperate teenage frenzy. On a mismatched sofa, Lex was sat between two boys who were deep in conversation with her breasts. Nisha followed me into the room, her eyes flicking anxiously from face to face.

Zed emerged from the crowded kitchen, wearing his usual audacious smile.

"Hey, babe!" He said, kissing me and taking my hand. I looked around to find Nisha already locked in conversation with Lex. Zed led me into the kitchen. It was a long, narrow room, congregated by several people, drinks in hands. Zed poured various liquids into a large plastic cup and handed it to me. I took a sip and tried not to throw up.

Smackhead Steve materialised next to us.

"Coming for a smoke?" We followed him into the narrow back yard, where he lit a joint and passed it to Zed. Both of them were grinning uncontrollably.

"What're you two so happy about?" I asked. Steve leaned in close to me.

"Life, sweetheart!" He took the joint from Zed, breathed in hard, threw his head back and laughed. "Life is good."