This is the single worst thing I could ever say to her. Sandra is a toxic cow who tells everyone Luce is a lezzer who has a crush on me, and she makes up all these stories about Luce following me and writing poetry about me and wanting to suck me out. I’ve seen Luce crying her eyes out over this, and here I am throwing it in her face.

‘Hey, at least I’ll get paid for it now,’ I say, which is pretty high up there on the scale of completely alienating my best friend. I’m not even sure if I’m just saying this to make her hate me, or if I mean it. Brian had arranged payment once before, behind the bicycle sheds with four of them whose names I don’t remember, not that I remember much after downing almost a whole naggin. He only told me after, that’s what he had done. I vowed never to speak to him again, although really it wasn’t such a big deal. I’d probably have done it anyway. And I did continue to speak to him, of course, and sleep with him.

Luce’s face is a mask of disbelief, which crumples into hurt and tears. She wipes them away roughly, turns her back, pulls her shoulders high to her ears and walks away.

7. Nico

7

Nico

The man arrives at the front door, and seems to suck all the air from the room. He stands in the exact place Luca had been, his feet planted wide apart, his shoulders squared, head nearly touching the door frame.

Papa says, ‘Come in, Petre, come in, sit down, sit down,’ and gets off his chair and offers it to him. No one has ever sat in Papa’s chair before.

The man walks in, his heavy boots trailing dirt after him. He sits on the good chair, which creaks beneath his weight, leans back and looks around the room. He has not yet regarded me.

‘Would you like some of Nicolae’s homemade wine? It’s particularly sweet this season,’ Mama asks.

He nods curtly, without any please or thank you.

Luca stands. ‘Go out and feed the chickens,’ Papa says.

‘I will when I’m good and ready,’ Luca says, staring at the man, defying Papa for the first time. ‘So, this is the man who is to marry my sister.’ He extends an arm that could be a punch, but which turns into a stiff handshake instead. Both men grip hard. I can see the skin turn red on Luca’s fingers, and white after, when the man releases his hand.