Georgia swallowed hard. ‘Have you been following me?’

The boy sniffed. ‘Only enough to find out where you live, in that big fancy house. So, come on, you need to follow me. Jerome wants to talk to you. He’s over there in the car.’

He gestured towards the car park, a couple of hundred metres away through the trees. Georgia thought she was going to vomit. She looked desperately around her – the gate she’d come in was just visible, but there was no-one around, and even if she sprinted, this horrible boy would be able to catch up with her easily on his stupid bike. And he knew where she lived! She fingered the iPhone in the side pocket of her jogging bottoms – but who could she call? If she dialled 999 she’d be dropping herself right in it too. She could just hear the conversation: ‘Right, miss, so you’re saying you need rescuing from the man to whom you owe four thousand pounds for losing the drugs you were supposed to be selling for him? I see.’

‘What does he want?’ she heard herself saying. As if she didn’t know.

The boy shrugged. ‘Dunno. But he ain’t happy. Come on. You run that way. I’ll follow.’

She had no choice. He got back on his bike and jerked his head impatiently for her to lead the way.

Fuck. I’m so dead, she thought, and tears filled her eyes. Would Jerome really kill her? Of course not. She was just being a drama queen, like her mum was always telling her she was.

If I get out of this, she thought, I’ll be such a good girl. I’ll never touch weed again, let alone agree to sell it. I’ll study really really hard. Please let me get out of this.

In a way, it was almost a relief to know she was going to meet her fate. The past few days had been unbearably stressful, jumping at every knock at the door and face in the street. Things are never as bad as you think they’re going to be, she chanted in her head, a mantra her dad always used.

But it didn’t feel that they could get much worse.

In minutes they were at the car park, a large open space near an artificial lake. Georgia was relieved to see that although it was far from full, there were still plenty of cars parked and – oh thank God – a few people walking dogs in the distance. If she screamed loudly enough they would hear her.