Sapphire by Heather Burnside

Author:Heather Burnside [Burnside, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838939625
Publisher: Head of Zeus

38

February 2006

‘Right, promise me,’ said Sophie. ‘That if I manage to pull this off, we can spend the night in the shelter.’

Jake shrugged. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with where we’ve been sleeping for the past two weeks. If we stay there we can save our money for other things.’

Sophie knew exactly what the other things would be: drugs. But she couldn’t really use that argument on him, not when she had been relying on diazepam every night to help her sleep. And then, a few nights ago, she had given in to the temptation and taken some speed. It had seemed like a good idea at the time; all of Jake’s crowd had been pressurising her to join in with them and she was sick of being the outsider.

So, she’d done it. And not only had she taken speed, but she’d enjoyed the feeling it gave her; excited and as though she wanted to chat all night about anything and everything. People who previously seemed intimidating, no longer did. She could relate to them and finally felt like she belonged in their group.

That had been the first night she’d had sex with Jake in the shop doorway. It was late when they got there, and she was still high. When Jake had made advances towards her, assuring her that nobody could see what they were doing in the sleeping bag, she hadn’t protested. And although she hadn’t enjoyed it, she’d been glad to get it out of the way.

Sophie had known for some time that it was inevitable. Jake had been talking as though they were in a relationship together and, although she didn’t fancy him despite his good looks, she wanted to stay with him. By now she was realising that being on the streets was all about survival and she had a much better chance if she was with Jake than if she tried to go it alone.

‘But if I pull this off, we’ll have more money anyway. And I’m sick of being cold. It would be nice just to be warm for a change.’

‘Alright, stop whinging. Let’s see how much you get and then we’ll decide.’

For a while they followed the crowds down Market Street until Jake spotted a potential target. ‘There,’ he whispered.

Sophie followed his gaze till she saw a man in a bomber jacket with a bulge in the back pocket of his jeans. It was obviously a wallet and Sophie was amazed to think that someone would take such a risk. She snuck up on the man with Jake walking by her side.

Deftly she reached into the man’s pocket, feeling the leather under her fingers. Then she grasped it quick and passed it straight to Jake who disappeared in the crowd. Feeling her touch, the man swung around and faced her. Sophie carried on walking, adopting a casual stride as though she was unaware that there was anything wrong.

‘Eh, you! Come back here,’ yelled the man, patting his empty back pocket.

Sophie had passed the man by now and she turned back, ‘Are you talking to me?’

‘Yeah you.

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