Fighting Back Read online

  ‘He likes to make people think he’s hard,’ Cath had said. ‘But he’s just a big softie really.’

  Amita soon discovered he was also kind and friendly. He was at sixth-form college and was very clever. He was going to university in the autumn.

  ‘Me, I like everybody,’ he said. ‘Except Pompey supporters of course. Now they’re real scum!’

  ‘What’s a Pompey supporter?’ Amita had asked Cath the first time she’d heard Rob say this.

  ‘Portsmouth football team,’ explained Cath. ‘Southampton and Pompey hate each other.’

  ‘Does he get involved in the fighting?’ asked Amita nervously. She knew what her dad thought of football fans.

  Cath laughed. ‘No, it’s all an act. He hates any sort of violence. One of his best mates is a Pompey supporter! But because he’s so big no one ever tries it on with him.’

  Amita had grown to trust Cath. One afternoon when they were alone she talked to her about why they had moved.

  ‘Dad’s the eldest, so he inherited the business. He and Uncle Javin used to fight a lot, but my gran insisted they worked together.’

  ‘Why did your uncle move away then?’

  ‘After Gran died there was a big row. Uncle Javin said Dad had no idea about how to run a business, so he left to come here.’

  ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Well, it wasn’t really Dad’s fault. He could run the shop fine. Rajeeb helped him. The problem was that one of the big stores took over the petrol station nearby.’

  ‘Why did that matter?’

  ‘They opened a shop as well. They sold things cheaper than we did and took away all our trade.’

  Amita paused. Even now the memory of what had happened upset her terribly. It was difficult, very difficult, to talk about it – even to Cath.

  ‘Most of the time I was at school, so I didn’t realise what was going on. The business going down, and all that. But then the attacks started. It was some of the local football fans. They’d opened a new stadium just down the road and the shop was on the way from the station. Dad refused to sell them alcohol before one match and the local thugs decided to make him pay for it.

  ‘They began by walking past the shop and shouting things. It was mostly late in the afternoons, when it was dark. Then they started coming at night and breaking windows. The police came but they couldn’t find out who it was.’

  Cath saw tears come into Amita’s eyes.

  ‘You don’t have to tell me if it still upsets you.’

  ‘I want to tell you. I haven’t been able to tell anyone before. It was November the fifth. There had been a social evening at school. Rajeeb came with me. Dad wouldn’t come. He didn’t want to leave the shop.

  ‘We heard the fire engines as we walked home, but we never guessed where they were going. When we got home it was already too late.’

  Amita was shaking as she recreated the terrible events in her mind.

  ‘He wasn’t there when we got back. Everything was horrible. The worst was the smell. We thought he was dead. He was in hospital but it took ages to find him. He wasn’t badly hurt, but everything changed.’

  Amita was sobbing uncontrollably now, tears running down her cheeks.

  ‘Dad’s so scared now. For weeks afterwards he had nightmares, screaming in his sleep. He just hates football fans and he’s convinced that everyone who isn’t Asian is a racist and out to get him.’

  ‘Can I tell Mum about it?’ asked Cath.

  ‘Not about how Dad is, but the rest, if you want to.’

  Mrs Davis didn’t say anything to Amita, but she was kinder than ever.

  ‘You can come and see us any time you want,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you come for the night sometimes?’

  ‘I’d love to, but Dad wouldn’t like it.’

  It was a relief to be able to say that without a load of questions. Amita was glad that Cath had explained things.

  All too soon half-term ended. Cath was worried. She could put up with Brian Willets and his gang, but she was anxious about Amita.

  Monday wasn’t bad, and Cath thought perhaps they had got fed up with picking on them. Brian had been obnoxious in tutor time, but he’d been picking on a couple of new girls. They weren’t Asian but they were obviously Muslim. They had come from Iraq. Brian and Tony were going through their whole boring bit again. The girls didn’t speak good English and didn’t really respond. When Mrs Soames told the boys off they gave her a load of cheek and got sent out.

  ‘Some things just don’t change,’ whispered Cath.

  Cath walked home with Amita. They were halfway there before they heard the row. They didn’t even need to look to see who it was.

  Maddy ran at Amita, swinging her heavy bag at her. Amita staggered as it hit her in the ribs. Brian was close by and tripped her so she fell heavily on the ground. Tony was laughing and jeering while Luke lifted his foot to kick at her. She twisted away and the kick, aimed at her head, caught her on the shoulder.

  Cath ran to help Amita, but Tony was waiting. He grabbed her round the waist.

  ‘Stop that! Stop it now!’

  Amita hardly recognised the voice. She heard heavy steps, running, and was aware that Luke and Brian had gone. She heard other feet, running in the opposite direction. Her brother bent to help her up. Her father had grabbed Cath.

  ‘Racist bully! I saw you! I saw you all! I know you; you won’t get away with this.’

  ‘Dad! No! Cath’s my friend.’

  ‘I’ve told you before. You can’t make friends with these people.’ He turned back to Cath.

  ‘Get away. Leave my daughter alone. Leave us all alone.’

  FIVE

  Bodyguards

  Cath ran home. She was crying now, although she wouldn’t have done in front of Brian and his gang. She understood why Mr Desari had reacted that way, but it hurt her to be accused of racism just because she was white. It wasn’t fair.

  The back door banged and, before she could head upstairs out of the way, Rob came into the room.

  ‘What’s up, Cath?’

  She hadn’t meant to make a fuss about things, and if it had been her mum or dad she wouldn’t have said anything. But Rob was different. She explained what had happened.

  ‘I’ve got some study leave from college,’ he said. ‘I’ll be around after school if you want.’

  Cath nodded. ‘That would be good, just for a while.’

  Amita had had a hard time. Although she hadn’t been badly hurt, her dad had wanted to go to the police.

  ‘Leave it, Dad. If you do that it will just make everything worse. I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all. I’ll just keep out of their way in future.’

  ‘I’ll go to the school then. I’ll talk to your teachers about that Davis girl.’

  ‘How many more times? Cath’s my friend. She was trying to help me.’

  At first her dad wouldn’t listen. But in the end he was forced to accept Cath hadn’t been involved. He had been wrong again. Wrong, wrong. That made him feel worse.

  But he had to have the final word.

  ‘Maybe that girl was trying to help. But you see what happens when you get friendly with white girls? They bring trouble with them! From now on, Rajeeb or myself will meet you every day from school.’

  Amita was worried about Cath. After what her dad had said to her, she was frightened that she wouldn’t want anything to do with her. But Cath was waiting for her as she got to school.

  ‘We don’t have to worry about home time,’ she told Amita. ‘Rob’s coming to meet us.’

  ‘So’s Rajeeb,’ Amita laughed. ‘We’ll have good bodyguards.’

  They didn’t have any problems with Brian during the day. But at the end of school the group were waiting outside.

  At the same time they saw Rajeeb and Rob standing chatting together. When they came over to meet the girls Brian and co just faded away.

  ‘I didn’t know you two knew each other,’ said Cath.

  ‘Yeah
– we met at an open day at college,’ said Rajeeb. ‘You know Uncle Javin wants me to sign up for a computer course.’

  ‘Who cares about computers?’ said Rob. ‘Much more important – I’ve persuaded him to support Southampton. I’m getting him a scarf!’

  Amita looked at them in horror.

  ‘What will Dad say?’

  ‘What’s it to do with him? I’m just going to go to a few games. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.’

  Things weren’t too bad at school for a while. Cath and Amita were able to avoid them most of the time. It was just in the tutor periods when the verbal abuse continued. With Amita’s father, or one or other of their brothers around at the end of the day, they didn’t get any hassle on the way home.

  At home, things were more difficult for Amita. Her father was even stricter about where she went and what she was doing and who she was with. He wouldn’t let her out without an inquisition.

  He was quarrelling with Javin again too. He hated being a van driver. In the end Javin told him not to bother.

  ‘You’re too old to change. Just leave the business to me. You can retire.’

  ‘How can we live with you if I’m not working? I don’t want charity.’

  ‘It’s not charity. You’re family. Anyway, Rajeeb is doing well for me. You can rely on him.’

  But that wasn’t what Gayan wanted to hear. It made him feel even worse. He was at home now with nothing to do or think about except his own bad luck.

  Rajeeb had done very well as the rep, and had brought a lot of new business into the company. But Uncle Javin wanted him to take on the computer side of the business as well. He had bought a new computer for Rajeeb, who was supposed to be studying hard on his computer course, but wasn’t. He was spending time with Rob and his friends instead. Rajeeb played computer games sometimes, and would use his new computer to surf the net, but he wasn’t keen on working on the sorts of things Javin wanted.

  ‘Spreadsheets are so boring,’ he said, getting up from the PC. ‘I can’t understand this manual at all.’

  He went out, leaving the computer on.

  Gayan got up with a sigh to switch it off, then sat down at it instead. He had always liked computers and couldn’t see why Rajeeb had a problem with them. He had thought about trying some writing. He could write an article for the local paper, something about football hooligans, or street crime.

  He looked at the spreadsheet on the screen and picked up the manual. Maybe he could work out how to use it. Then he could show Rajeeb something after all. At least it would give him something useful to do.

  SIX

  Something’s Got to be Done

  Cath had been off school for a few days. Rob still turned up to see Amita safely home. Rajeeb was meant to be there. He had promised his father he would look after his sister, but more and more often he didn’t bother.

  ‘Cath’s got ’flu,’ said Rob. ‘She’ll be off school for the rest of the week. Look, I’ve got a meeting with my tutor after college tomorrow. Will you be OK if I don’t meet you after school?’

  Amita shivered. There was a very cold wind blowing.

  ‘Yeah – it should be all right. They haven’t been too bad lately. I think they’ve given up on me. There are new people in the class they can pick on.’

  Rob looked at her carefully. He wanted to be sure she meant what she was saying. He saw how cold she looked.

  ‘Here, wear my scarf until you get home.’ He wrapped it round her neck and took her hand in his to warm it.

  They were only a few metres from Amita’s house when her father appeared. He must have been looking for her out of the window.

  ‘Get away from my daughter! Thug! Lout! Hooligan!’

  Rob was taken aback.

  ‘Hang on, mate …’

  ‘Go, Rob, leave him to me.’ Amita pushed Rob towards his house and turned to her father.

  ‘Dad, he’s Cath’s brother. He’s my friend, too.’

  Gayan turned on Amita and snatched the football scarf from her neck.

  ‘What do you think you’re doing? Wearing this thing!’

  He flung the scarf into the gutter and for a moment Amita thought he was going to stamp on it.

  ‘You know what they are like. He’s one of them. They never stop.’

  Rajeeb arrived at that moment.

  ‘What’s up now?’

  ‘Your sister. She’s got a boyfriend. A white thug. Why weren’t you there to see her home?’

  ‘I do have a job to do, you know. Why don’t you go?’

  Rajeeb looked at Amita. She pulled a face at him.

  ‘It was Rob,’ she said. ‘I met him on the way home.’

  Her face warned Rajeeb not to say anything to upset their father any more.

  ‘Come on Dad, come inside. We can talk about it then. Let’s hear what Amita has to say.’

  Gayan looked at them helplessly. He moved slowly back towards the door. Amita thought that he was beginning to look like an old man.

  Rajeeb stooped and picked up Rob’s scarf. He stuffed it out of sight into his pocket.

  Inside, Gayan rounded on Amita again.

  ‘How can you shame me in this way?’

  ‘Dad, he’s not a thug, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s nice and he’s a friend. I told you, he was just seeing me home.’

  But her father wouldn’t listen. All the bitterness he had been keeping hidden came out now. How he hated it here, how he hated the people, and how his brother was preventing him from being a success.

  Rajeeb and Amita tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen. Shocked, they saw he had tears in his eyes. Deep down he knew he was in the wrong again, but he couldn’t admit it. In the end he refused to talk any more and stamped off to his own room.

  ‘Why don’t you explain about the bullying at school?’ Rajeeb asked.

  ‘Because he will just make it worse. Anyway, it’s better now. They’ve stopped following us.’

  The following afternoon it was raining. Amita looked hopefully for her brother at the school gate. After what had happened yesterday, maybe he would show up. But there was no one waiting for her, and she set off for home by herself. She was holding her umbrella well down over her head. She had barely gone two hundred metres before she realised Tony and Luke were behind her.

  ‘Gotcha now! No one around to look after you today.’ Tony’s voice sounded very loud in her ear.

  Running sounds. Maddy and Brian appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

  ‘No one to help you now.’ Maddy thrust her face close to Amita. Too close.

  Amita lashed out with her umbrella.

  ‘Go away! Leave me alone!’

  Suddenly there was a ripping sound. Tony had grabbed her umbrella from her and was ripping at it with a knife.

  He waved the knife at her. ‘Oh yes. We’ll leave you alone all right. But not until we’ve finished with you.’

  Luke had grabbed her arms. Brian was looming over her. Maddy was swinging her bag. Round and round, nearer and nearer.

  Amita screamed. Louder than she had ever screamed before. More running footsteps. Amita tried to pull her arms free. What now?

  Suddenly a large figure in a football scarf loomed up behind Brian and Tony. Crack! Tony and Brian’s head made sudden, violent contact. Tony dropped the knife. Maddy dropped her bag and started running. Tony and Brian tried to follow her, but Rob was hanging on to both of them by the collar. Luke thought he’d try and help his friends, took one look at Rob, thought better of it, and scarpered. Eventually Brian and Tony wrenched themselves free and fled.

  A car door slamming. More running feet. Amita’s legs wouldn’t hold her up any longer and she dropped onto the wet paving.

  An arm went round her shoulders. But it wasn’t Rob.

  ‘Come on, everything’s all right now.’

  She looked up.

  ‘Dad?’

  At last everything was sorted out. Rob explained that his meeting had been c
ancelled so he came along anyway, although he was a bit late. Gayan had arrived at the same time as Rob. He had seen everything.

  It was hard for Gayan to say it, but he knew he had to.

  ‘Young man, I am grateful to you. I apologise for the way I spoke to you before. I see now that I was wrong. Nevertheless, I must make it clear. I will not have you seeing my daughter.’

  Rob rarely got angry, but this time it was all too much.

  ‘Look, Mr Desari. First off, I am not seeing your daughter. I have my own girlfriend, thank you very much. And another thing. How long are you going to let this go on before you do something? This time something’s got to be done.’

  Gayan looked at Rob. ‘What do you mean, this time? What has been going on?’

  SEVEN

  Just a Game

  Someone had called the police. The scene in the street was chaos for a while, but eventually everything got sorted out. While they were waiting, Amita and Rob explained everything to her father.

  ‘You are quite right to protect your sister,’ Gayan said to Rob. ‘I only wish my own son was as loyal.’

  Suspicion flashed in his eyes again. ‘But your sister does not need protecting. She is a white girl! Are you sure that was not just an excuse …?’

  ‘For what, exactly?’ said Rob. ‘Mr Desari, look. Whatever you think, it’s not just about race. It’s about being different. Some people just can’t cope with that.’

  Gayan pointed at Rob’s football scarf.

  ‘All right. I accept I may have misjudged you. But what about this? You carry the symbols of your own hatred around with you.’

  ‘OK. Point taken. But that’s just a game …’

  ‘I suppose you think what happened today is just a game too.’

  ‘Of course I don’t. Look, I came along to help Amita, not to get a load of grief.’

  Gayan glared at him. ‘Thank you, but there will be no further need for you to help. I will do things the way I see best.’