‘Good thing we’re not going out.’

‘Yeah, Rave is a cool name though.’

‘It’s cause of me black hair. John became Raven and Raven became Rave.’

‘Fuck, that’s even cooler.’ Dave had been purposely keeping his head down because his ma had warned him that the first month in a new school was the hardest. ‘Don’t make it harder on yourself, son,’ she’d said, which was code for ‘Shut your mouth.’

‘D’you want to hang out with me and my mate Jeremy?’

‘Are you messin’?’ Dave felt like he was going to cry again.

‘No, course not.’

‘Cool! Great! I’d love that.’

After that day, two things happened. Dave had friends for the first time in his life, and somehow Hayley Farrelly became affectionately known as Bush by all of Tallaght.

Dave secretly thought that Jeremy had never really warmed to him the way Rave had. He was nice to him, he put up with him, he even laughed at him, but they didn’t have a particularly close relationship. They never spent any time alone together, and that was all right. He wasn’t that pushed as long as Rave liked him, and no matter what Dave did or said, even if it pissed him off, Rave was always quick to forgive.

He knew he’d really angered Rave on Sunday night and wanted badly to make it up to him. It had been a blow when he hadn’t turned up to school. He wanted to say sorry, but more than that, he just wanted Rave to say everything was cool. Jesus, Rave, I’m so sorry. Without Rave he felt he was the most expendable member of the group. Rave and Jeremy were thick as thieves; Mitch and Jonno lived in one another’s pockets. He was the spare but at least he was there. He’d die if he lost his friends. It would kill him to be alone again. Mitch didn’t mind him so much – he laughed at him more than the others did – and they hung out alone together when Jonno’s mother had grounded him for some stupid reason. Jonno had probably hated him for a while because, to be fair, he was the butt of most of Dave’s jokes, but when he needed someone to time his sprints at the crack of dawn three times a week, Rave had suggested Dave do it.

‘Fuck that!’ Dave had said at the time.

‘He’d really appreciate it.’

‘Five o’clock in the morning? In the freezing cold? Why doesn’t Mitch do it?’

‘’Cause Mitch has breakfast in bed at eight. He’s a lazy bastard and he doesn’t make Jonno want to punch him in the face every day of his life.’

‘Right, yeah, I see your point.’

‘It would be good for you two to hang out together.’

‘OK, I’ll do it.’