The Girl by the Thames Read Online Free Page A

well.”
    The girl looked serous for a second, then laughed.
    “Oh, I like her,” she said to the rest of them.
    “You’ve got a pair, girl, that’s for sure,” said one of the boys. He was well built for his age and wore a bright red hooded top. He put his arm around the girl in the tracksuit to broadcast they were an item.
    “Who the fuck are you?” Lena said, her face tightly pinched.
    “Are you Lena?” said the boy.
    She looked at them all, sizing each one up. Even she could see it was pointless to stand up to them. “Yeah,” she said eventually. “And this is Tanya.”
    “We’re not interested in her, just you,” he said.
    “Don’t worry about Sadie, either,” said the girl. “We’re not here for payback. We’re not her friend or nothing. Anyway she’s an annoying little bitch and had it coming.”
    “So what you want then?” Lena was still in defensive mode.
    “We could do with someone like you,” said the red hoodie.
    “What do you want her for?” Tanya interrupted.
    “What? You her girlfriend?” said the girl. “You’re not part of this conversation, darling.”
    “Hey, that’s my mate, don’t backchat her,” said Lena.
    “Wow, you are feisty. If you knew who we were, you wouldn’t be making speeches, but seeing as you don’t know, I’ll let you off. We want you to hang with us a while.”
    “Are you the Niners?” asked Tanya.
    The girl glared at her, angry that Tanya had dared to open her mouth. “Might be, wanna find out?”
    The Niners were legends around Woolwich. They had gotten their name because nine was rumoured to be the number of unfortunate teenagers who had felt their fury at the end of a knife. Just the mention of the name opened doors, doors that were usually heavily barred and guarded by people with scars and reputations. At one time everyone was going around saying they were a Niner because of the status it had on the streets. The real Niners got to hear about it and hunted down every wannabe. It was now considered safer to jump in front of a train than impersonate a Niner. This had made the gang very secretive and select - you never really knew if you were speaking to a Niner or not.
    Lena looked at Tanya for some guidance, but Tanya sensed that silence was smarter at this point.
    “Don’t worry, we ain’t going to hurt you,” said the girl, zipping her tracksuit up, making ready to leave. “Anyway, I think you can take care of yourself.”
    “Why do you want me? You don’t know me,” said Lena.
    “We’ve heard about you. That’s why we wanna talk, see if you’ve got what it takes. Look, you can stay here all night and rob other people’s drinks like a pikey. It’s up to you.”
    Lena looked at Tanya, her eyebrows raised like a lifting bridge.
    “Go on,” said Tanya. “I’ll wait here for you.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah. Definitely.”
    Lena thought for a second. “Okay, I’ll come.”
    “Cool, I’m Vicks,” said the tracksuited girl.
    “I’m Duff,” said the red hoodie, “and this is Seb and Mack.”
    Seb and Mack didn’t say anything. They didn’t even smile, probably to preserve their hard exterior. Then he pointed to the girl and boy who were holding hands. “And those two are Liz and Si – they’re in lurve.”
    “Shut up, Duff,” said Liz.
    “Don’t be like that, I know you want me,” Duff said, holding his crotch.
    Lena looked at Si for his reaction, to see if he’d start something with Duff for hitting on his girlfriend, but there was none. Duff was clearly the alpha of this gang.
    “And the little one’s Gem,” said Vicks.
    “I’m big in other ways,” he grinned. Out of all of them he looked the most dangerous. His eyes were small and too close together, like he was plotting something.
    “Come on, let’s talk,” said Vicks, swiftly changing the subject.
    The gang members led Lena to the front room of the flat, closing the door behind them. Tanya thought about following and listening, or putting her eye