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decided to walk past again. As they walked past this time all three looked at once. Natalie’s mother and father were still in position but this time Natalie was there, standing above her father, looking straight back at them. She hurried them on with a slight flick of her eyes and they were gone.
    By the time they reached the other corner Natalie was out of the house and walking down behind them. She was wearing clothes that shone, light green satin trousers and a frilly dark green satin blouse with platform shoes that weren’t quite platform shoes but platform trainers.
    Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was not wearing a smile. ‘I told you lot not to look in my house. What if my dad sees you?’
    It was Martin’s job to reply. ‘We couldn’t see ya, and anyway we were careful.’
    â€˜You weren’t careful, you were all staring into my house as if someone in there owed you money.’
    â€˜Come on, take it easy, you know I love you.’
    â€˜Love what? Where are we going then?’
    Martin looked at Matthew, Matthew looked at Mark then all three looked at Natalie and shrugged their shoulders. Natalie raised her voice. ‘Hope youain’t brought me out here to walk the streets.’
    â€˜No way, I wouldn’t let my girl walk the streets all night. We just gonna walk to kill a bit of time, then we going to a nice club where you will be wined and dined, man.’
    â€˜Man, why do you always say “man”?’ said Natalie. ‘If you’re a man, that means I’m a woman and even so, I ain’t YOUR woman, I am me.’
    Mark tried to lighten the conversation. ‘Yeah, girl power.’
    Natalie was abrupt. ‘Shut up, you.’
    An outsider would have been fooled but none of them took this conversation seriously. They all laughed out loud and began to walk. The walk was a lazy, slow one; there was no breeze, so after ten minutes on the move the sweat broke out and their clothes began to stick to their skin. They stopped first outside the fried chicken shop on Green Street, but no one wanted to eat.
    Mark, Martin and Matthew spotted four boys from Eastmorelands and headed over to say hello. This was not Natalie’s scene at all. She knew that she couldn’t afford to look timid, so she lifted her shoulders and held her head high as she stood around listening to the boys’ small talk.
    After a couple of minutes she realised that her every move was being watched by a group of three girls and she couldn’t help noticing how tough theylooked. All three were wearing dark blue baggy jeans. She was pretty sure they were Londoners born and bred but thought that they could find a job working for the Jamaican tourist board, not simply because of their dark skin but also because of their clothing. One had a T-shirt saying ‘I Love Jamaica’. Another wore a T-shirt that was a Jamaican flag and the third just had a West Ham football shirt on, but she, like the others, was adorned with yellow, black and green bangles, badges and necklaces. Natalie thought they looked good but dangerous.
    Natalie shifted nervously. She didn’t know quite where to look but she had to put on a front. The other three girls made no attempt to hide the fact that they were on Natalie’s case. They began to whisper to each other and smile as they stared at her. Natalie felt illuminated in her green satins and began to wish she had chosen clothes that weren’t so loud.
What are they grinning at?
she wondered.
Is it my clothes? My shoes? My hair? Do I look too innocent?
Suddenly the three girls started to walk towards Natalie. Her heart began to race, the palms of her hands began to sweat. She felt like falling apart but she held herself together.
    â€˜You from round here, den?’ said the big girl wearing the Jamaican flag.
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜What school yu go to, den?’
    â€˜Eastmorelands.’
    â€˜Yeah, I wanid ta