Free Dead to Me by Lesley Pearse Page A

coal mine.
    ‘You have to earn a wage,’ Hazel said with a shrug. ‘I can’t afford to keep you for nothing. And Chiesmans is, after all, a prestigious store, the gown department is the finest outside of Regent Street. You are knowledgeable about fashion, so put it to good use.’
    ‘Would they take me on for a Saturday?’ Verity asked. She was impressed that Hazel made curtains, and for such a smart shop, though she wondered why she hadn’t made any nice ones for her own house.
    ‘I could ask,’ Hazel said.
    ‘You plan to make us a family of shop girls?’ her mother asked, eyes wide with horror.
    ‘Now look here, Cynny,’ Hazel said, using her sister’s pet name for the first time. ‘I know from a young girl you’ve always tried to pretend you came from some grand family, your ideas have always been well above yourstation. But this is reality now, lodging with your sister in a small terraced house in Lewisham. You have no home of your own, no money, and when Archie is found he’ll be sent to prison. And you have a child to support. You cannot afford to be a snob any more.’
    Cynthia’s reply to this was a strangled sob. Hazel looked warningly at Verity, as if daring her to defend her mother.
    But Verity had no intention of doing so; she knew Aunt Hazel was right.



CHAPTER SIX
    Schoolwas as bad as Verity had feared. It was in Leahurst Road, just a short walk from Aunt Hazel’s, past Hither Green Station. Leahurst was a long, bleak road with no trees to soften the terraced houses.
    Lee Manor School was right at the end of the road, consisting of three buildings originally designed for junior boys in one, girls in another and the third building for girls aged eleven to fourteen. But the boys’ building was now mixed juniors, and the girls’ building housed the infants.
    Miss Ranger was Verity’s teacher. She made Verity stand in front of the class and tell the rest of the girls about herself.
    Verity said very little, just her name, age and that she used to live in Hampstead but now she and her mother had come to live with her aunt in Weardale Road.
    There were around sixteen girls in the class and Verity sensed by their closed expressions that they had taken against her on sight. At the first morning break, when they went out into the playground, a tall dark-haired girl who she was later to learn was Madeline Grant came up to her with a sneer on her face. ‘Speaking posh won’t cut no ice with us,’ she said. ‘And where’s yer dad? Is he dead or has he run out on you?’
    Verity didn’t know how to answer. It was tempting tosay he was dead, but she was afraid this girl might already know the truth about him, and even if she didn’t she was likely to find out before long.
    ‘He ran out on us,’ she said, which was essentially true. ‘But I’m hoping both Mother and I will make new friends here.’
    ‘Oh, do you, now?’ Madeline sneered. ‘I suppose you think smart clothes and a posh voice opens doors everywhere?’
    ‘Not at all,’ Verity replied. ‘I just hope that people will be willing to get to know me and like me, whatever I look and sound like.’
    They had an audience now, and a quick glance around made Verity feel as if she was being circled by a pack of wolves. There were mean girls at her last school who treated new girls this way, but she hadn’t really expected it to happen here. But worse still, she had no idea how to deal with it.
    ‘You cocky cow,’ Madeline exclaimed. ‘You think you’re “it”, don’t you?’
    ‘I’m sorry if I have offended you in some way, it certainly wasn’t intentional.’
    A teacher rang a bell to go in then, but Verity knew it wasn’t going to blow over. She was dreading dinner time, as no doubt it would start again.
    It did start again at dinner time, with prods in the ribs, nasty remarks flung at her, and one girl even tried to trip her up as they were filing back into school. But it didn’t stop with that day.
    Every day there was