‘But you have to leave now, don’t you, Harry,’ Matt said with the subtlety of a truck crashing through a storefront. ‘Isn’t it easier to polish this up at your place, on your laptop?’

‘Uber’s almost here,’ Harry said, standing up. ‘I’ll wait out front, give you two peace and quiet.’

‘I’m frazzled after that 10K run,’ Lana said, stretching into a yawn as she pushed a foot into an Asics running shoe. ‘I’m gonna walk home and hit the sack.’

‘What about your Coke?’ Matt asked, looking distraught as Harry tried not to smirk. ‘It’s dark. Shall I walk you?’

‘It’s one block,’ Lana said. Then asked Harry, ‘Are there ever jobs at Vegas Local?’ and followed him down a short hallway to the front door.

‘Send me a few samples of stuff you’ve written,’ Harry said. ‘There are definitely times when I could do with a day off, or a bit of help. Ellie used to cover, but he’s busy running sites in sixteen other cities now.’

‘I’d be up for anything,’ Lana said.

She gave Matt a kiss on the doorstep, but there was more gusto in the smile she gave Harry.

‘See you guys at school, and don’t forget to message your girlfriend, Charlie,’ Matt said, putting emphasis on girlfriend for Lana’s benefit. ‘She’ll enjoy seeing Fawn looking like an asshat.’

27 SEXY TOAST

Charlie laughed like everyone else when someone said their goodbyes to White Boulder, only to violate early release and bounce back a few weeks later. But she couldn’t think of anyone who’d bounced in one week.

I’m gonna set a world record.

There’s only a one-in-four chance I’ll go back to my old unit. So it’ll be a new roommate. New pecking order. Please don’t let it be block C with crazy Phyllis starting fights and screaming all night …

How can I ace a college-level statistics module in three weeks, but crash and burn in the real world? It can’t all be someone else’s fault. There’s got to be something wrong with me. Something obvious that I’m too stupid and pathetic to see.

The door of the next room slammed hard, making Charlie shoot up in bed, tearful and angry with herself.

None of the boys on Charlie’s hallway had shown her any disrespect, but they were mostly a couple of years older and their slams, shouts and the ruthless bullying of Jamal set her on edge, even after she’d shut the bolt inside her door.

Charlie realised she was thirsty as she tried to lie down, and since she was failing at sleep she decided to fetch chilled spring water from the cooler at the end of the hall, rather than warm and chlorinated from her bathroom faucet.