Free The Look of Love by David George Richards Page A

they were kissing
passionately, and the boy had his hand up Jo’s short dress.
    Louise backed
away. She didn’t know what to do. Victoria’s behaviour was bound to
cause a backlash, and it wouldn’t be long in coming. She returned
to the dance floor, but Victoria was now no where to be seen. In
desperation, Louise went back to Jo and pulled her away from the
boy.
    Jo was
surprised by the intrusion, she was also heavily drunk.
“Wha–What’s-a-matter?”
    “I can’t find
Victoria!” Louise had to shout over the noise of the music. “Have
you seen her?” She knew as soon as she spoke that it was a daft
question, but she was worried sick.
    Jo shook her
head in annoyance. “No, I haven’t bloody seen her! She’s probably
having a piss!”
    “I hadn’t
thought of that! I’ll go and check!”
    “Yeah! You do
that!”
    As Louise
hurried away, Jo muttered, “Daft cow…” Then she turned back to the
boy she was with and said with a smile, “Now, where were we?”
    As Louise
approached the ladies toilets, she knew she was heading in the
right direction. There were several girls gathered around the door,
and Louise could hear the shouts from inside. She pushed through
the girls, seeing their faces filled with a mixture of delight and
anger. Inside the toilets there was a circle of girls all shouting
and screaming. Louise joined the circle and looked down in
horror.
    There were
three girls pinning a fourth girl to the floor. Two of them seemed
to be sitting on top of their victim, holding her wrists and
punching her repeatedly in the stomach. The third girl was kneeling
across her chest, banging her head up and down on the floor. All
Louise could see of their victim was her legs sticking out, kicking
and waving around. The girl had bare feet, and even though she
couldn’t see her face, Louise knew instantly that it was
Victoria.
    As she watched,
mesmerised by the whole seen, one of the other girls in the circle
suddenly darted forward, grabbed Victoria’s long hair, and began to
tug on it.
    Louise looked
around in panic. There were too many girls, what could she do? And
then she saw a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher hanging on the
wall. She grabbed it, pulled out the pin and fired it at the
girls.
    The result was
instantaneous.
    As soon as the
ice cold carbon dioxide hit all that hot, sweaty, and bare skin,
there were screams of terror and a stampede for the exit. Two girls
were bowled over, and one of them was trampled in the rush.
    Only one of the
three girls attacking Victoria was reluctant to leave, but a blast
from the extinguisher right up her skirt sent her howling after the
rest. The toilets were suddenly empty.
    Louise threw
down the extinguisher, grabbed a very battered looking Victoria,
and half dragged her and half carried her to the door. As soon as
they were back in the main part of the club, Louise hoisted
Victoria up and headed for the exit.
    There were a
few cat-calls and comments from some of the girls they passed, but
no one stopped them or attacked them. Two large men in suits who
had been approaching the toilets stopped and watched them go by.
One of the men, obviously Bouncers, went over to the ladies toilet
and pushed the door open. He then turned to his partner and nodded.
The second man then followed Louise and Victoria all the way to the
exit. It was clear that they were no longer welcome.
    Victoria could
hardly walk. She leaned heavily on Louise, holding on to her
tightly. She was doubled up in pain, her head down, and dragging
her feet. She kept trying to arrange her inadequate skirt and top,
pulling them back into place as she staggered along. Louise still
had her jacket, and although Victoria was all wet from the water
(or worse) on the floor of the toilets, Louise covered her with
it.
    When they
reached the street, the cool night air was an instant relief from
the hot smoky interior of the club. Louise breathed in deeply,
calming down from the shock of what had happened and what she