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Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Title Page
  5. Intoroduction
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EITHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. THIRTY-TWO
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. FORTY-FIVE
  51. FORTY-SIX
  52. FORTY-SEVEN
  53. FORTY-EIGHT
  54. FORTY-NINE
  55. FIFTY
  56. FIFTY-ONE
  57. FIFTY-TWO
  58. FIFTY-THREE
  59. FIFTY-FOUR
  60. FIFTY-FIVE
  61. FIFTY-SIX
  62. FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. FIFTY-NINE
  65. SIXTY
  66. SIXTY-ONE
  67. SIXTY-TWO
  68. SIXTY-THREE
  69. SIXTY-FOUR
  70. SIXTY-FIVE
  71. SIXTY-SIX
  72. SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  74. CLIMATE EMERGENCY
  75. Copyright

I let her cradle my head as she asks about the cuts on my face, feeling like a little kid again. It’s so comfortable on her lap. I tell her I was texting Jamie, fell up the stairs and hit the banister. She jokes that we can’t have two of us coming apart at the seams. Mentioning Jamie was a good idea. She says she’s glad I’m talking to people again, and I let her dab some anti-germ cream on the cut and the worst of the bruising. I notice she’s crying a little as she does this.

My eye is still half-closed when I wake up for school the next morning. Again, Mum’s hand holds my face before I leave.

*

The Biology test isn’t going very well. It’s stuff I know, but my concentration is waning, and my cheek pulses, hot and urgent. Quite a few people have noticed it. It’s hard not to, to be honest. Jamie sought me out before the first bell and asked me if I was OK. And Louisa said she’d seen my trail of peas when she’d walked home on Saturday morning. Her smile widened when she realised how embarrassed this was making me.

I’m not sure what people want to ask me about more, the fact that I got drunk, or being punched by Dana’s boyfriend. Will says he used to be in the army, that I should count myself lucky to still have a head on my shoulders at all. Someone punches him on the arm, as if he’s made a distasteful joke.

Mr Walters has seen me too. He’s watching me from the front of the room, and I know he’s picked up on the gossip in the corridor and on our way in.

I want to crawl under one of the big wooden benches.

As he collects up the test papers at the end of the lesson, he looks at me for a long time, as if he’s about to say something. I keep my head down and shuffle things around in my bag. After what seems like ages, he moves on.

*

The rest of the day goes by slowly, but every time someone stops me in the corridor, or whispers across a desk about Friday night, it slows down even more. People run up behind me and clap me on the back, or half spin me around to ask what it felt like to get punched, whether I’m going to get him back.