It wasn’t the strangeness of her surroundings in the thin light of early morning, or the tackiness in her mouth, the unfamiliar blur in her head.

‘I was lying on the couch and there was this pull deep in my insides, this unfamiliar ache.’ Her voice trembled a little, thinking back on it. Nerves twisting in her stomach. ‘Without thinking, I just rolled over and sat up and that was when I felt this dampness and I looked down and saw what had happened.’

A smear of brownish blood screamed from the soft white fabric of the upholstery, the same blood plastering her pyjamas to her skin. Her instinct was to hide it, but when she attempted to flip the cushion, she found it was sewn to the frame. A small whimper escaped her lips – panic rising inside. She needed to clean herself up and change, and she needed to escape from that house. But the stain on the couch—

‘Oh. Sweet. Jesus.’

Nicole Nash – her small eyes screwed up into a perfect sneer. Sasha behind her, saying:

‘Nic? What’s hap—’ Words cut from her mouth as she caught sight of Beth. ‘That’s fucking disgusting!’ she shrieked. ‘My mum’s gonna kill me!’

Beth fled the room, Sasha’s voice ringing in her ears – ‘Use a fucking tampon, gimp!’

She had grabbed her bag and locked herself in the bathroom, the tears coming uncontrollably as she dressed. By the time she emerged, the others had all assembled in the sitting room – she could see them gathered there, surveying the damage, hands clapped over their mouths in horror or disgust. Lisa was among them. She looked up and caught Beth’s gaze, returning it with a fierce little look of her own. But she made no attempt to approach with any words of comfort or solidarity. She had picked a side and in that moment the world around Beth went cold.

‘Hey, don’t do that to yourself.’

Corinne’s voice shook her back to the present. She looked and saw the French girl’s expression and then followed her gaze to her own arm which she had been absently pinching. A neat little row of pink welts lined the skin of her inner arm. She hadn’t even noticed she’d being doing it.

‘Sorry,’ she muttered and moved to pull down her sleeve, but Corinne grabbed her arm and drew it towards her for inspection.

‘Some of these are deep. Look – you are bleeding.’

Beth pulled her arm away and folded her legs up so her knees were under her chin, resting her cheek against them.

‘My period ruined my life,’ she said softly. ‘How pathetic is that?’

She sniffed and felt the breeze lifting her hair, waiting for Corinne to say something, shamed by what the French girl knew about her now.