When she’s finished I toss her a fresh towel and my most comfortable pyjamas. My cousin has gone above and beyond for me today, and the guilt is catching up. I pull out dinner while she dresses. As expected, there’s heaps. My throat closes and I blink back tears while I divide up the food and set the kettle off. Thankfully Rhi is quick so we dive in.

‘Want to stay over tonight?’ I ask between mouthfuls.

‘Yeah cool.’

After we clean up the kitchen I go for my shower. Despite the heat, I turn the water to hot. I need to beat some of the aches out of me.

Still, I never linger in the shower. I can hear Nan going off about water wastage even now. I dry off, dress and call out to Rhi to help me with the Savlon. While I wait I stare at the bruises and scrapes all over me. Mum is going to kill me.

Rhi busts in and takes over. She does the clucking thing a lot better than me, so I let her fuss. It feels nice. She checks that each cut is clean before pasting me up. I can’t help but wonder who’s helping Sam with his cuts.

‘Ya could always go help im,’ Rhi says sweetly. ‘I’m sure he’d love that.’

I roll my eyes and damn myself for saying my thoughts out loud. ‘You’re a dickhead.’

She laughs at me but lets it go.

As soon as she’s happy we go to my bedroom, crawl into my double bed and lie on our sides, whispering to each other like we used to.

‘Were you scared?’ she asks.

‘Yeah. You?’

‘Yeah, but ya didn’t seem scared.’ She hesitates. ‘I … I’m not a coward normally.’

My heart softens. ‘I know that and ya still aren’t.’

‘But—’

‘But nuthin. Ya jumped on Dan Potter’s back for me, nough said. What’d ya do to him anyway?’

Rhi blushes and my eyes go wide. Rhi never blushes.

‘I … I um, I poked im in the ring.’ There’s a long pause.

‘What?’

She cringes. ‘I poked my finger up his ring.’

Laughter rocks the bed as I lose my mind. Tears stream down my face and I roll around, clutching my stomach. Rhi whacks me on the side in offence, but it isn’t long before she joins in. We laugh long and hard till our sides and throats ache.

‘It hurts, it hurts,’ Rhi groans through her guffaws.

‘You’re a mad bitch,’ I gasp. ‘You wanna go wash your finger with Dettol.’

‘Nah, I already found Aunty’s bleach.’

That sends us off again.

I fall asleep with my cousin, both of us chuckling, sometimes sending us off into more laughter. I can’t wait to tell Laney.

Day 4, Midnight

Day 4, Midnight