Daniel tutted.

‘Nooo,’ Oli shouted, as he overhit a corner. ‘This game is a pile of junk. It just does random bloody …’

Oli thumped the controller into a cushion then looked at Leon. ‘You wanna take this over? I’m 3–1 down.’

‘Give us,’ Leon said.

Oli was a clammy beast, and Leon found it gross taking a controller smeared in sweat.

‘Tackle!’ Leon said, as he took the ball off Daniel and passed out wide before starting a run on goal. ‘Come on, come on … Shit!’

‘So I never finished my story,’ Oli said.

Leon and Daniel both groaned internally. But Oli was their target so they had to listen.

‘So I go into this McDonald’s,’ Oli said. ‘And they’re giving away free breakfast vouchers. But they’re really busy and I can see the whole pile of vouchers. So I jumped across the counter and grabbed the book. And I had like, two hundred vouchers. And I was eating free Big Macs for like, two months.’

‘I thought they were breakfast vouchers,’ Leon pointed out.

‘Yeah …’ Oli said. ‘I mean, they were mixed. Four different ones. Some were for Big Macs and apple pies and stuff.’

‘Right,’ Daniel said. ‘Cool beans.’

Leon reckoned Oli was one of those guys who’ll top any story you tell, and decided to put his theory to the test.

‘Our older brother and his mate robbed a Burger King one time,’ Leon lied. ‘He got over eight hundred quid. Cops chased him and everything, but he got away with it.’

Oli nodded enthusiastically. ‘I’ve been chased by cops so many times when I’m bunking school. One time me and this friend of mine took an iPad out of Selfridges at the Bullring. Sold it for four hundred.’

‘Nice,’ Daniel said. ‘You should show us how you did it.’

Leon nodded. ‘We could go robbing shops.’

Oli’s bluff had been called and his smile vanished. ‘I have to be so careful now though,’ he blurted. ‘Cos … Like, the store detectives all know me and shit. They’ve even got a special file on me.’

‘Special file,’ Daniel said, trying not to smirk as he caught his brother’s glance. ‘Wowee!’

‘But I’d like to hang with you guys, for sure.’

‘You seem cool,’ Leon said, which made a huge smile erupt across Oli’s face.

Leon was dominating at FIFA, but only got the score back to 3–2 before time ran out.

Daniel looked at Oli. ‘You wanna play Leon?’

But Oli was looking out the door down the hallway. Abigail – the girl who’d been sobbing when the twins arrived – had been to the office to get a shower key. Now she’d emerged from her room with a towel and a bundle of clothes under her arm.

‘I overheard Gurbir say that Abigail’s mum was in a big car smash,’ Daniel said. ‘Touch and go whether she’ll live.’