We go to a restaurant that’s a little out of my normal budget, but where I can be fairly confident we won’t bump into anyone I know. It’s not that I’m embarrassed by Laura – certainly not – but when she’s around, I like to keep her to myself. Catch up on where she’s at and also avoid her flirting with or getting off with my mates. That’s happened in the past, and it’s awkward all round. I hate it when she does that. Plus, I have something specific I want to talk to her about this evening.

‘What are you planning now you’ve finished school?’ I ask, trying to sound as if this isn’t a leading question and something I’ve been thinking about for weeks. I’m worried that with no direction, she’ll go even further off the rails, and I don’t want that to happen. I need to make sure she’s OK. Look after her.

She shrugs, taking a bite of her monkfish. ‘Not sure. Whatever gets me out of the house quickest. I might go travelling. Though I need to earn some more money first. I’ve just done a press interview which they paid me a stupid amount of money for, but I want to spend that on getting these’ – She indicates her boobs – ‘done. Your mum won’t let me have Dad’s money for that.’

The police eventually found several thousand pounds in cash literally hidden under the floorboards in the house Laura had been living in. I can never bring myself to call that man her dad. He had no family left, so after a lot of legal toing and froing, it was decided the cash would be held in trust for Laura – by Mum – until her twenty-first birthday, much to Laura’s chagrin. And while she’s managed to persuade Mum to advance her a small amount for her invisible braces by telling her it would boost her self-esteem, Mum has quite rightly (I think anyway) said no to using money for the bigger boobs or a nose job Laura is so desperate for. She’s lovely as she is, she just needs to realize that. But there’s no point me telling her; she won’t accept it.

‘But I did have an idea,’ Laura adds. ‘I thought instead of working in some dire job in a call centre or whatever for months on end, living in Catford and having to put up with your mum trying to bond with me and going on about how she’s praying for my soul every time I stay out too late, I might get a job where I can travel at the same time. Tick all the boxes at once.’

I look up. She’s going away? How far? Where to? How will she manage without me there to pick up the pieces? I try not to panic.