Free Lifted by Hilary Freeman Page A

again, and he was certain he didn’t want that either.
    He heard a car pull up outside. Ruby’s dad must have arrived. When he looked out of the window again, she was climbing into the front seat and closing the car door beside her. The car sped off down the street, and he sighed and wondered what time she’d be back. She’d told him she wouldn’t be staying over; she rarely did these days. Her dad had a new girlfriend, and Ruby didn’t like her much. ‘The evil stepmother-to-be’, she called her, even though, as far as Noah knew, she’d only been on the scene for a few weeks. Noah was glad his parents were still together and that at least he didn’t have to worry about things like that. The thought of his dad or his mum – especially his mum – kissing someone else made him cringe. Mind you, the sight of his parents kissing each other was bad enough. He turned back to his computer, but he wasn’t in the mood for working on his project. It was reaching the point where it was almost complete and he’d have to tell someone about it, and he wasn’t sure who to tell, or who he could trust. Instead, he decided to play a computer game, a Second World War game with hyper-realistic graphics that someone had copied for him, and once he’d mastered that (killing twenty-seven Nazis in record time), hechatted to a couple of friends online. It was so easy to waste a Saturday afternoon.
    The next time he saw Ruby, it was dark and after dinner. The rest of his family were watching
The X Factor
together, and because it wasn’t his thing he’d excused himself and gone up to his bedroom. He hadn’t remembered to close the curtains earlier, so when he sat down at his desk he could still see out on to the street. Ruby was sitting on top of one of the giant dustbins in her front garden, swinging her legs backwards and forwards. He wondered how long she’d been there. She looked more beautiful than ever, he thought, her silhouette illuminated by the street lamp, and a halo of light around her hair. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but it seemed as if she’d been waiting for him, because the moment she noticed him at the window she jumped down from her perch and walked out into the road towards him. Then she leaned backwards, so that she was staring directly into his window, and she waved. At least, it looked like a wave, at first. On second thoughts, Noah realised that she wasn’t saying hello, she was drawing her hand in towards her body, motioning to him. Could she be asking him to come out to her? He opened the window and leaned out. ‘Hey, Ruby, do you want me to come down?’ he shouted.
    She put her finger to her lips to silence him, and nodded, beckoning him again.
    He nodded back at her and closed the window, aware that his heart had started beating very fast. ‘Just popping out,’ he shouted, as he ran downstairs, knowing that nobody would hear him over the noise of the television. Without stopping to grab a jacket, he ran through the hall and straight out of the front door. It was only after he’d closed it behind him that he realised he didn’t have his keys.
    He’d thought Ruby might be waiting for him outside his house, but she had returned to her dustbin seat in her garden, where he’d first spotted her.
    She smiled when she saw him approach. ‘Take a pew,’ she said, pointing to the other dustbin. ‘Thanks loads for coming out. I wasn’t sure if you’d see me.’
    He sat down next to her. It was surprisingly comfortable. ‘You’re lucky I did,’ he said. ‘How long have you been out here for?’
    ‘I dunno. A while. Mum thinks I’m still at Dad’s. That’s why I’m at the bins. You can’t see them from the window. If she comes out, I’ll say I just came back and bumped into you outside.’
    ‘Right,’ he said, nervously. There was a silence and he felt he had to fill it. ‘Hey, remember when we were small and we used to play hide and seek in these bins all the time, and then there was