And then he raises his head and full on shouts at me. “Well it’s me who’s getting left behind!” He points towards somewhere indeterminable outside and his voice breaks. “You’re fucking off to university where you’ll meet loads of new people and it’s me who’s getting left behind. We keep being like, oh, everything’s going to be fine, we’ll Skype all the time, blah blah blah, but it’s not going to be all right, is it?” He gestures wildly, his eyes darting around the room. “It’s not going to be all right, it’s going to be crap for me. I’m going to be stuck in this shitty town all by myself, but here you are, talking about it like it’s the fucking best thing ever, and you know what? It makes me feel like shit. It’s like you’re looking forward to getting rid of me, like you can’t wait to finally get out of here and get away from me—”

“What the fuck?!” I shout back, running a hand through my hair. “What d’you want me to do?! Not go to university?”

“No!”

“Because that sounds like what you’re saying.”

“I’m not—”

“You’ve got no fucking right to be annoyed with me about that. I’m a year older than you, I’m going to university in September. That’s just the way it is.”

He stares at me, eyes wide and filled with tears, and then he looks down. “Why are you being like this?”

“Mate, what the fuck am I being like?”

Charlie looks up again and when he moves his hand, his eyes are thin slits.

“Don’t call me mate. You never call me mate.”

I just shake my head and let out a huff of exasperation. “You really are being a proper dickhead tonight, aren’t you?”

“Just leave, then!” he shouts. The rain falls harder than ever – I can barely hear him over the noise. “Fuck off, then!”

“Yeah, fine. No problem.”

And that’s it. I walk out of the room.

Standing in the corridor is Tao Xu, who has probably heard every word. God, this is all his and Elle’s fault. If they hadn’t fucking broken up in the first place, Charlie wouldn’t… he wouldn’t want to… he wouldn’t have thought he’d…

“Is he… are you okay?” Tao stutters. He’s always been a weasely little prick, with his stupid beanies and stupid shirts. I’ve never liked him.

“See what you’ve done?” I say, stepping past him. “Fuck you.” He cowers back. I want to say something else to him, but I can’t think of anything, my mind’s gone blank, I’m still processing what’s just happened. What has happened? Everything was fine yesterday. This can’t be the end. This can’t possibly be the end.