Realising she was the centre of attention, Charlie proved her point by taking another slug. There was a roar of approval. Juno and Brad clapped, and a couple of randoms getting out of a car laughed too. The only disapproval came from the driver, who snatched his bottle and checked the level.

‘Give you a ride and you drink my liquor,’ he moaned.

‘I’m sorry – I’ll pay,’ Charlie said, reaching down her skirt pocket and pulling a crumpled ten-dollar bill.

But Brad knocked her hand down and scowled at the driver. ‘Joe’s a tight ass. Charlie just got out of juvie, bro. It’s her night.’

Charlie felt a glow of approval and wobbly from booze as she followed bodies moving into the desert park. The destination was a large outdoor pool, which had officially closed two hours earlier. Charlie guessed she was committing another crime as she walked over a section of wooden fence that looked as if it had been torn down deliberately.

There were at least sixty kids around, aged thirteen to eighteen. There were skaters doing tricks over the far side, some dripping from tumbles into the water. A few people sat on loungers poolside, while others paddled in shallow water, surrounded by bobbing beer cans and Pringle tubes.

‘I haven’t been in a pool for years,’ Charlie said, abandoning her sandals amidst dozens of others and holding her beer high as she waded out until her skirt almost touched the water.

‘It’s freezing,’ Brad said, splashing out behind, as Dodge gave Juno a massive shove that left her soaked and screaming.

‘You’re dead,’ Juno screamed, trying to push Dodge back, but just bouncing off his muscly little body.

Charlie dumped her can and some random guy waded off to get her another. Someone parked a car with a big sound system outside the fence and started blazing EDM. There was drama as a girl cut her foot on broken glass in the bottom of the pool and Charlie got a damp butt as she sat poolside with her feet dangling. She was properly drunk, giggling helplessly as the skateboarders at the far end gave up on staying dry and started riding boards off the diving platform.

An hour passed. As younger kids drifted home, the crowd got drunker and hornier. None of the attempts to break into locked pool toilets were successful, so Charlie had to squat and pee behind an ice-cream stand. On her way back, two young teens groping passionately made her think about all the stuff she’d missed. She felt like she’d made the leap from ice cream and sleepovers to beer and blow jobs in a single night.