Lifted by Hilary Freeman

Author:Hilary Freeman [Freeman, Hilary]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 1848120680
Publisher: Piccadilly Books
Published: 2010-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

The manager turned to Ruby. ‘You’re free to go now,’ she said, with an expression that looked like pity. Poor girl, it seemed to say, her parents clearly don’t care about her much; no wonder she’s a thief. It made Ruby feel guilty. ‘Free to go on condition that you do not return to this store, or any other branch for a year.’

‘I promise,’ said Ruby, rubbing her eyes dry with her knuckles, as she got up from her chair. She wondered if they were going to circulate Wanted posters of her around the country, to alert the other security guards and shop staff. Ruby Collins: Wanted Dead or Alive. Otherwise, how would they be able to stop her? What if she came in disguise? Not that she wanted to come into this shop ever again anyway. Overpriced rubbish. If the blouses had been better made they wouldn’t have torn so badly when she pulled the security tags off, would they?

The manager showed Ruby to the door and asked the security guard to escort her from the premises. Ruby didn’t know what to say, so she said, ‘Thank you,’ which felt wrong, but would have to do. She almost held out her hand so that manager could shake it, but that would have been weirder still. The security guard walked behind her until she was out on the street, then nodded, turned away and went back into the shop without saying anything.

Ruby had never felt so pleased to be outside. She didn’t feel upset any more, just empty and a bit numb, as if all that crying had used up her emotions. She drank the air into her lungs, silently thanking Noah for helping her get away with it. She couldn’t believe the telephone trick had worked. Noah’s voice might have been deeper than most boys his age (frankly, some of them sounded like they’d been inhaling helium), but he didn’t speak like a middle-aged man, not like her dad, anyway. Maybe it was different on the phone, a bit distorted, or maybe the shop manager had just wanted her money and the problem sorted quickly, and so hadn’t wanted to ask too many questions.

That was another thing: Ruby couldn’t believe that Noah had had to pay for the things she’d stolen, especially since it had been made very clear to her that she wouldn’t be taking them home with her. How had Noah been able to pay? How come he had a credit card?

She felt guilty; she wouldn’t have asked him to help if she’d known he’d be made to pay. Somehow, she would have to find a way to pay him back. Maybe she could get a Saturday job, if her parents would let her. Her dad always said, ‘If you need money, I’ll give it to you. I don’t want you working for minimum wage when you could be doing your coursework.’ He didn’t understand that she’d quite like to earn her own money, because it would make her feel more grown-up, more independent.

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