‘It’s going to be great,’ Rave said. ‘It’s only going to be good from here on in. I’m gonna paint the place, get rid of those nails and stick some posters up. In the spring and summer this place is gonna be a dream.’

‘It could be really cool.’ Jeremy found himself getting excited.

‘We’ve a year and a half left in school, Beany. I can do a year and a half here easy.’

‘And then what?’ Jeremy said. He worried about school ending. He worried that being Rave’s best friend was the best thing that would ever happen to him. He feared that once school was over and the world opened up he would lose him. He could say goodbye to the others, even Deirdre, but he couldn’t imagine his world without Rave.

‘I dunno. London maybe?’

‘Doing what?’ What about me? Where am I going to be?

‘Anything. Casey’s da says there’s loads of work on the buildings.’

‘I can’t see you as a builder.’ That seemed so bleak, not like Rave at all. It has to be better than that.

‘We could work on the boats, like you said.’

Jeremy’s heart danced in his chest. It’s gonna be OK. ‘Best idea ever,’ he said, and laughed.

‘But I’ll be the captain,’ Rave added.

‘No way. I’m the captain.’

‘We’ll both be captain and we’ll sail around the world in one of those luxury cruisers, livin’ the life.’

Jeremy closed his eyes and saw them on a beautiful boat on dazzling water under a bright blue sky. ‘OK, let’s do that. Let’s find out what we need to do that. I’ll study my balls off, man. I’ll do whatever it takes.’

Rave grabbed Jeremy’s bottle and drank from it. ‘We’ll talk to the careers guidance counsellor tomorrow.’

‘That’s what we’ll do.’ He really hoped that Rave wasn’t drunk again, or messing with him, or just high on the polish fumes of his new home. I could see myself doing that, I really could – and with Rave, Jesus, that would be amazing.

Rave jumped up. ‘Excuse me, Beany, I need a wee.’

‘Where are ya gonna go?’ Jeremy glanced around the room.