But Corinne didn’t speak. There was the sudden catch of a lighter, the smell of tinder, and when she turned her head to one side, she saw Corinne’s eyes narrowed against the film of smoke exiting her mouth, the joint in her hand held out for Beth to take.

‘Go on,’ she urged. ‘It will be good for you.’

‘No, I—’

‘Go on,’ she repeated, calm but insistent.

‘Where did you get this?’ Beth asked, glancing around before bringing it to her mouth, the dank taste of it, the dry crackle of paper as she inhaled.

‘Skateboarders.’

For a few minutes they just sat there, staring at the sea, passing the joint back and forth between them, ignoring the long looks from middle-aged women speed-walking in their joggers, the loud tutting of an old man ambling past with his dog.

After fleeing Sasha’s house, Beth had run to her aunt’s house, letting herself in the front door. She had sought comfort, the warmth and familiarity of an embrace. It’s a thing of beauty, Beth. It marks you out as special. The smell of Melissa’s breath, still sour with sleep.

A calmness came over her, the weed working through her. All the little knots and pressure valves inside her seemed to release. She was filled with serenity, like an empty church hall with all the radiators on, rain rattling distantly on the roof.

‘It’s stupid to hurt yourself,’ Corinne said now, straightening one leg out to gently kick Beth’s shin. Something teasing in the gesture, in the playful smile on her face.

‘I suppose,’ Beth said.

‘You should hurt those bitches. Not yourself.’

The anger was always inside her – the low hum of it there in her thoughts, her feelings, weaving through her dreams as she slept. But here with Corinne, she felt not free of it but a little unburdened. She felt like she could cope.

Corinne ruffled her pink hair, leaned back on the rock and Beth watched her, awed, sensing something pulsing between them, a charged mist. Corinne was brave in ways she could never be, but when she said this out loud, Corinne just laughed.

‘Courage is a choice,’ she declared happily.

And Beth thought: I can learn from this girl. Eyes hungrily eating her up.

11

Mark found the letter on Good Friday.