Fortune Cookie by Jean Ure

meant whatever was inside him had been given to us as well. I didn’t see any reason why we shouldn’t sell the ring to pay for his operation. It was only fair!
    I felt a whole lot happier once I’d worked that out. Shane might be a criminal, and the people he knew might be criminals, but me and Cupcake weren’t doing anything wrong.
    I explained this to Cupcake when we met next day by the lift on the second floor. I’d told her to be early, so I could explain my plan. I’d worked it all out! We were going to get into the lift, and press the button for the top floor.
    â€œAnd that’s when we’ll do it… on the way up, so’s he can’t run off without giving us the money.”
    Clever, or what? I thought it was! I thought it was a really smart move. Cupcake as usual could only see problems. Like, what if someone else was in there?
    I said, “We’ll just wait till they get out.”
    â€œWhat if they don’t get out until we reach the top?”
    â€œThen we press the button for the basement and go all the way down!”
    Oh, but what if someone else presses the button? What if someone gets in while we’re still only halfway there? What if no one gets in and he mugs us?
    I said, “He’s not going to mug us!”
    â€œYou don’t know that,” said Cupcake. And then she opened her mouth and wailed, “I feel like a criminal!”
    So that was when I told her: we weren’t criminals. I gave her the story of the ring. How Mum’s friend had been accused of stealing it and had handed in her notice.
    â€œMum says, not before time. She’s a really horrible old woman. Fancy accusing someone of stealing, when all the time it’s her own dog! Except he’s our dog now, and anything that’s inside him is ours as well. It’s our ring, and we can do what we like with it.”
    Cupcake said, “Yes, I know! But I get scared.”
    â€œYou don’t want to be scared of Shane Mackie,” Isaid. “I remember one time he babysat me, I threw up all over him… he didn’t half yell!”
    I told her to just stare at Shane very hard and imagine him covered in bright yellow sick. Cupcake was grateful for that. She said it made her feel a bit braver.
    I might as well admit it made me feel a bit braver, too. I’d thought my idea was so brilliant! It wasn’t till we were actually all shut up together, going up to the top floor – very slowly – that I began to wonder if I might have made a mistake. I mean, how many times in movies do you see two people getting into a lift and only one getting out?
    Quickly, before I could freak myself out, I stared very hard at Shane’s right shoulder, picturing all the bright yellow sick. I could feel Cupcake doing the same thing, standing transfixed at my side. Shane said, “What you two looking at?”
    â€œOh! Nothing,” I said. “I thought a bird had splodged on you, but it must just be the light.”
    â€œOr maybe it’s the pattern,” said Cupcake.
    â€œOr the colours.”
    â€œYes! The colours. Sort of…”
    â€œ Green ,” I said.
    â€œAnd brown,” said Cupcake.
    â€œAnd yellowy.”
    We were burbling rubbish; we couldn’t seem to stop. “Look, cut it out!” said Shane. “This is a business deal, not a flaming tea party. You brought that ring?”
    I said, “You brought the money?” I was pretty scared, I don’t mind admitting it. But I didn’t want him to know; I had to stand up to him.
    â€œKeep your wig on,” said Shane. “I did a bit of asking around; I got the money. But I don’t want your mum coming down on me like a ton of bricks!”
    He glared at Cupcake as he said it. Cupcake clutched nervously at my sleeve. I said, “What’s her mum got to do with it? It’s my friend’s ring, it was left to her. She can do whatever she likes