They’re off the seafront and on to the marshes by the time Danny agrees to stop. He bounces the car over the kerb.

‘Fucking state of me,’ he says, pointing at his bloodied face. ‘What I get for defending you. Shit …’

‘Next time,’ April says, already out of the door and staring back in at Danny, ‘don’t fucking trouble yourself. All right?’ And she’s walking away before Danny can answer.

‘Think I might walk from here, too,’ Will says, easing himself out.

‘Fucking right you can. Haven’t you forgotten Beppo, you little weirdo?’ There’s raw hate in how Danny spits the words.

Will says nothing, walking away in the opposite direction to April. There’s a roar of engine and a squawk of wheelspin. Will listens to the rise and fall of exhaust as Danny accelerates flat out through the gears. He watches as the tail lights shrink to nothing over the marshes.

And he turns on his heel, and picks up his pace.

Straight Through

‘I don’t need walking home, Will,’ April says. ‘Thanks all the same and that.’

‘Not safe. Girl on your own,’ Will mumbles, struggling to keep up without breaking into a jog.

She scowls at him over her shoulder.

‘Because I need a man to look after me?’ She stops dead. ‘Because that’s worked out well so far this evening, hasn’t it? Thank God! Thank fucking God I had a man to defend me! Where would I be without that? Let me think. That’s right, home fucking hours ago, and nobody hurt. What a disaster that would be!’

‘It’s …’ Will can’t bear to return her stare. Instead he looks out across the darkness of the marshland behind her, the sea a shiny ribbon of black in the distance.

‘Just let me be, Will. I’ll see you around at school tomorrow. Or maybe not. Don’t imagine you’ll want to know me after what you heard tonight.’

‘What a bitch. Why would she say something like that?’

‘Oh, Will. Don’t make me talk about it.’

‘Did you leave your old school because she was bullying you?’

The question sounds silly to Will even as he utters it, childish somehow. He’s doing what he hopes looks like an understanding face.

‘Her? She’s a nobody, Will. I wouldn’t leave a room because of her, never mind a school.’

‘Why’s she making up shit like that, then?’

‘Fuck’s sake, Will. Let me just go home, yeah?’

Will stops and lets April walk away. His quickest route home involves walking the same way as her as far as the level crossing, but he figures he’ll wait till she’s got a decent lead before he starts moving again.

‘Sleep well,’ he says, almost laughing at how silly the words sound.