He walked up to the car and Justin rolled down the driver’s window. ‘You left school,’ he said evenly.

‘Why are you here?’

‘Your mom – she called me. Apparently, you’re out past curfew.’ He laughed, Wade laughing along with him.

‘Fuck you, Justin.’

‘Get in, you big pussy and I’ll take you home to Mommy.’

‘Fuck no. I’ll ride.’

‘Just get in the car Wren,’ demanded Justin, ‘we need to talk,’ but Wren had already begun riding away. Pissed off, Justin roared past him, kicking up dust and small stones that plinked off Wren’s bike, coating him in dust.

19

It was completely dark now. Vanessa must have peered out the window beside the front door a hundred times. And when she wasn’t doing it, Ty was. He was wondering where Wren was too. Billy was doing his best to keep her calm, but she had a feeling that something bad was coming. Billy said she was seeing shadows where there were none. But something had shifted. Something with Wren.

He was shutting her out, they’d always been able to confide in each other but these past few days were hard for her to handle. He was… alone. She figured out on her own that he was either fighting with or not talking to Justin and Wade.

She was just about to look out of the window for the 101st time when she saw a small bright headlight off in the distance. ‘He’s home!’ she yelled to Billy as she saw Wren throw his bike to the ground.

‘I told you he’d be fine,’ she heard Billy yell from the kitchen. She heard his low rumble again; he must be talking to Ty.

She loved that kid so much, but right now she felt that it was Wren who needed her most.

Vanessa yanked open the door before Wren even had time to get his key out. ‘Where have you been?’ she demanded, hands on hips, brows lowered. She didn’t mean to be angry with him, but he’d scared her. Especially with the way he was acting. Distant, moody.

‘Down at the river.’

Vanessa took a deep, centering breath. ‘What were you doing at the river? And why did I get a call from school to say you’d missed afternoon classes?’

She heard Billy and Ty talking in the kitchen and caught the sound of a giggle from Ty.

‘I was thinking. I left ’cos I needed to think. Can we drop it? I’m home now.’ He walked away, not giving her a chance to answer. Calling him back and forcing him to talk to her wasn’t going to win her any prizes. She went into the kitchen where her other boys sat eating dinner.

‘Wren not hungry?’ asked Billy around a mouthful of food.

‘Yeah, Wren not hungry?’ copied Ty.