I started playing truant from school regularly,so all the housework would be done long before lunchtime.Then i would go out drinking in the afternoon,with money i had earned from babysitting,or taken from the telephone savings box.I always made sure i was home in time to have a meal ready for when mother and debbie got home from work,and as soon as the old dragon went out i would run upstairs and get changed.I would meet up with a few lads who i had met in the pub,they all wore denim and rode motorbikes.They seemed to like me ,well the me they saw in the pub,the loud cocky alcohol fueled me.I always made sure i was home before mother got in though.When i was with the biker lads,it was like i was a different person,i was one of them.I drank,i smoked i took shit from no one ! As soon as i got back home i was that terrified little girl again,wondering where the next beating was coming from.One thursday night we had been to a little village pub,and got a puncture on the way home,so it was gone 10 by the time we reached our house,there was no lights on so it was safe,we had made it home before her.I walked through the front door,jesus i didn't know what had hit me.Mother was waiting behind the door.I screamed out in shock,Steve the lad who brought me home came running in.Mother stopped him in the doorway and told him i wouldn't be going out with them anymore,i was only fourteen and grounded for life.Steve tried to tell her we had done nothing wrong,we were just mates,biker buddies,but it made no difference she told him if he didn't go away,she would call tthe police and see what they thought of a guy his age taking a child out drinking on motorbikes.He shook his head and left,but not before telling mother if he ever found out she had laid a finger on me,he would make her sorry.I got such a beating once the door was closed,i couldn't let her blame the bikers,they hadn't done anything wrong,they were my saviours,my normality,my sanity.But the more i defended them,the more she beat me.