Paper Alice by Charlotte Calder Page B

said, in velvety tones. ‘I’m Milly.’
    â€˜Yeah,’ said Andy with a smile. ‘So I gathered.’
    That took the wind out of her sails. I could have cheered. Milly’s carry-on when it comes to boys sometimes sends me into orbit.
    â€˜Oh . . .’ Her smile faltered; she looked uncertainly from him to me and back again.
    Then I felt ashamed. Despite her party-girl behaviour Milly’s actually one of the most defenceless people I know. She just doesn’t seem to have enough layers of protective skin. This, combined with hercompulsive flirtatiousness, makes for a pretty fatal combination.
    â€˜We’re giving Andy a lift to the station,’ I said. I nodded at the back door. ‘Jump in.’
    â€˜So,’ ventured Milly over her shoulder, after we’d got going, ‘You live wi . . . in the house?’
    â€˜Nah,’ came the reply. ‘I live at Summer Hill.’
    With the beautiful Lil, I thought, remembering with an irrational little pang his loving description of her.
    We crossed a one-way street and I suddenly realised that I couldn’t think how to get to Central. I turned my head slightly.
    â€˜What’s the best way?’
    â€˜You’re OK,’ he said. ‘Just go next left, then right, down into Crown. I think . . .’
    But the second turn was another one way – the wrong way. We stopped, looking up and down the tiny street.
    â€˜Shit,’ he said. ‘Sorry! Look, I’ll get out and walk – it’d be a lot easier for you.’
    â€˜Don’t worry ,’ cried Milly airily, waving a hand. ‘We’ll get there! How hard can it be?’
    But I was suddenly remembering Mum’s stern injunction to have the car back by 7.15. Not only would I have to face her anger – all the scarier for being the controlled, quiet kind – but I also wouldn’t be allowed the car next time I wanted it.
    I glanced at the clock in the console. 6.44. In the rush hour.
    I stared down the street to my right at the lights of the cars flashing past on Crown Street, only one short block away.
    â€˜Bugger it,’ I said, ‘gunna go for it.’ And I put theMazda in reverse and started backing down the hill between the two rows of parked cars.
    â€˜Wheee!’ cried Milly.
    This time we actually would have made it if it hadn’t been for two guys in a black Jeep who turned in at the last second from Crown Steet. Dressed in black and looking almost identical; their bald heads outlined against the lights behind them.
    We all ground to a halt; the five of us stared at one another. Correction, six. As a final insult an enormous dog – a Great Dane – stuck its head out the window behind the driver and gave a couple of mighty woofs.
    Now it was my turn to swear – quietly, but with a lot of conviction. Milly was less ladylike. She rolled down her window, leant right out and pointed hard at the kerb space beside them.
    â€˜Pull over and let us through, why don’tcha,’ she yelled. ‘We’re almost there!’
    The dog barked some more, but the two in the front just sat there po-faced, looking at us. It was plain they weren’t going to give an inch.
    â€˜Jeez,’ I muttered, ‘what bastards!’
    â€˜I’ll say!’ cried Milly. She leant out even further. ‘ Dickheads! ’
    The dudes in the Wrangler might just as well’ve been shop dummies, except I’m sure they were enjoying every second of it.
    â€˜Hang on,’ said Andy, ‘I’ll fix it.’
    And he opened his door, hopped out and sauntered down the street towards them.
    The dog went beserk; I thought that Andy was going to get his head bitten off when he stopped and leaned in towards them. But then the guy in thepassenger seat swung round and roared at it and it quietened down immediately.
    Milly and I stared as Andy launched into a spiel. Then started to giggle,