Chapter 2: Scared?
Nate was bad news and Gee knew it. They had been on and off for the last year now, and their sexual exploits made Switch's stomach turn. He kept trying to convince her to smoke pot and occasionally she gave in; which was not a good thing at all if she wanted to keep her trade. Drug dealers shouldn't be addicts themselves was the policy of Gee's parents.
She was snapped from her reverie when her phone buzzed. Luckily, the chime couldn't be heard as the class were all talking over the teacher, but Switch quickly put her phone on vibrate anyway.
Hey Lever, sooo bored can I get a job to do?
-G- xo
Switch frowned. She hated anyone but Cassie using her nickname of Lever, and even then Cassie changed it to Levvie. Gee knew all this.
Gee you know I don't like you using that nickname! No u can't have a job cause you blew off your other one which I needed for my persuasion on Noel Macwalland to get him to spill the beans on the leak that we have! -
Switch groaned as she read back over her text. Noel Macwalland was a lying scumbag, even in the criminal world, and he knew about the identity of one of The Girls, or at least thought he did. Switch happened to know that Alice Parnell was a shop assistant in Galway, with a husband and a bun in the oven. Even so, somebody put him up to looking for them and Switch wanted to know who. She had been relying on Gee's connections with some more unorthodox customers to get something to make him feel up for anything, including revealing information under duress.
But, without the drug he gave up nothing despite misplacing a tooth along the way. The rest of the day was spent texting Cass and Jan who bunked off again and Marnie, who didn't go to school, was rich enough to not need to. Switch didn't need to either, but she and Tam both quite liked it and wanted their A Levels. Gee didn't bother at school anymore, she spent her time with Nate or failing him, some other male conquest. Switch rubbed her temples and spent the rest of the day trying to act like she wasn't a master criminal in training.
One of the guys, in the year above and a rookie police officer, was called Mark Jefferson and looked like trouble. He had apparently just joined but was a little arrogant and kept boasting loudly about some girl the police were looking for.
In Switch's opinion he was too young to be a policeman, but his dad was the Chief Captain of the force so he got into the Copper's Academy two years early.
Unfortunately, he was also determined to get to know her and she wanted to avoid the ass-beating she would feel obliged to give him if he tried anything. Switch sighed and rammed her iPod on full blast to the Sex Pistols as she walked out of the school ten minutes after the bell rang. She had spent time trying to get rid of her headache that randomly sprung up in Biology and had dogged her the whole day. Obviously, the headphones weren't helping but Switch just wanted to get home.
She didn't even realize she had passed out until someone caught her as she fell. She lied there, stunned, for a couple of seconds, then blinked and looked into Mark Jefferson's awkwardly pale face.
"Um… You can put me down now." Mark blushed and quickly but carefully set her down on the pavement, where Switch realized her jacket was getting dirty. She quickly stood up and saw Mark looking quite pleased with himself, an expression which soon flipped when she felt dizzy and slumped forward.
He ran forward and caught her, and to Switch's annoyance lifted her in a bridal lift and simply asked, "Where to?" Switch gave the street name and he looked at her. "That's where the Dougan parents left their daughter a flat."
Switch shrugged, "And?"
"Isn't your second name Dougan?"
Switch raised an eyebrow and didn't reply. Mark walked to her street and was about to ask her which number her house was, when Switch squirmed out of his hold, bolted down the street, and jumped the seven foot high chain-link fence behind the empty number 74 using a nearby log for a boost. She sprinted for her door and ran inside after slamming her hand on the sensor. There, on her hall floor, she collapsed and almost had a damn heart attack with the exertion mixed with the massive migraine.
It was only then that Switch realized that she, death-defyer and thief of all kinds, had ran away! From Mark! Switch face-palmed and groaned out a long, exaggerated, "Fuck…"