Free A Nice Place to Die by Jane Mcloughlin

Jess had had to explain what that meant, too.
    Nicky, on her part, persuaded Jess that it didn’t pay to be written off as stupid. Stupid people did not get on in the world, and Jess wasn’t going to end up like the rest of the nonentities in Forester Close, and in the whole of Catcombe Mead too, for that matter. With superior Nicky for a friend, Jess couldn’t be stupid.
    The two girls’ friendship was a secret, though. It was born out of mutual inadequacy and it flourished in concealment. It wouldn’t exist if people knew about it. Then Jess and Nicky would be embarrassed and ashamed and avoid each other because of the preconceptions of others.
    In the road, Jess tripped and pretended to take a stone out of her shoe.
    â€˜Is the witch watching us now?’ she asked, not looking at Nicky.
    â€˜Sure she is,’ Nicky said, pretending not to notice that Jess was there at all. ‘I can’t actually see her, but she’s always spying on us.’
    â€˜I wish we could get rid of her,’ Jess said.
    Nicky said. ‘I’m reading a great book about someone just like her. She gets beaten to death in it. It’s called Crime and Punishment . It’s Russian.’
    â€˜Oh, you and your stupid books,’ Jess said out of the corner of her mouth.
    Jess leaned on the wall and pulled the bright orange hips off a leafless rose bush.
    â€˜The old witch will probably complain about what you and your boyfriends get up to round the back of her house at night.’ Nicky made a sniggering noise without her face moving.
    Jess scowled in the direction of Number Three. ‘She’d never dare,’ she said. ‘I’ll set Kevin on her.’
    â€˜Where is Kevin?’ Anyone more sensitive than Jess would have noted the tone of Nicky’s voice when she said Kevin’s name.
    â€˜Who cares, as long as he’s not here,’ Jess said.
    She expected Nicky to giggle, but she didn’t. Jess stared at her. Nicky went bright red and tears filled her eyes.
    Jess, forgetting to pretend she and Nicky were strangers, crowed with laughter. ‘You’re soft on our Kevin. You are, aren’t you? Wait till I tell him that. I won’t let him live that down. You must be mad.’
    Nicky tried to bluster. ‘Don’t be bloody daft,’ she said. ‘Who’d fancy your Kevin, for God’s sake?’
    Stung by any implied criticism of her family from an outsider, Jess said, ‘Well, he wouldn’t look twice at you, I can tell you that much.’
    â€˜Don’t you think I don’t know that?’ Nicky suddenly screeched at her. She swallowed hard and then said more calmly, ‘you’re more his type, after all, aren’t you? Cheap an’easy.’
    Nicky thought Jess was going to hit her and cowered away from her. But Jess thought better of it.
    â€˜He’d give you a poke if I asked him,’ she said.
    Nicky looked at her in horror. ‘You wouldn’t? Oh, Jess, please don’t say anything, I couldn’t bear it if he knew . . .’
    â€˜You done my maths yet?’ Jess said.
    Nicky nodded. She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Jess.
    â€˜I hope you’ve got some wrong this time,’ Jess said under her breath, ‘Mr Perkins gave me a funny look last time and said something snide about believing in the miraculous resurrection of the brain-dead, whatever he thinks he means by that.’
    â€˜Don’t ask,’ Nicky said.
    Jess jumped off the wall and turned to cross the road to Number Two. ‘See you,’ she said.
    She banged the front door behind her and shouted ‘I’m home.’
    Donna was listening to music on Jess’s iPod and didn’t hear her come in and shout. It was only when she reached out for another handful of crisps and found the packet gone that she noticed the girl.
    â€˜What d’you think you’re doing with