He took off his glasses and wiped the sweat from the lenses with his T-shirt. His mum liked these glasses, said they made him look a bit like Harry Potter. Daniel liked the idea of that.

Jake said, ‘What’s it like having a sister?’

Daniel hurried to put his glasses back on.

‘Rubbish,’ he said. ‘She’s always moody and mean and never wants to play anything any more. She’d rather talk about make-up or boys or stupid stuff at school.’

‘Has she got a boyfriend?’

‘Dunno.’

‘What about that rugby lad, Alex? She liked him, didn’t she?’

Daniel nodded.

‘He came to the house a few times, before Mum and Dad were back from work.’

Jake sat up, reaching into his pocket.

‘Hey, I got something for you.’

He held it out for Daniel to see. Bright yellow see-through plastic with a silver top, see-through liquid sloshing around inside the plastic. Daniel had never held one before but he knew what it was.

‘It’s yours,’ the older boy said. ‘I got a three-pack from that cigarette shop in the village.’

He and his brother held identical lighters, in red and green.

‘The tabac,’ Daniel said, smiling broadly. ‘You got one for me?’

‘Do you want it?’

‘Yeah,’ he said. It would be so cool if they had one each, like they were equals, almost. Like he was fully one of the gang.

‘You roll the metal thing to make a spark,’ Jake said, ‘then push down with your thumb to make the flame come out.’

He demonstrated, sparking the lighter into a tall flame.

‘You try.’

Daniel took it from him and instantly burned his thumb on the hot metal where the flame had come out.

‘Ow!’ He dropped the lighter with a clatter. Ethan snorted with laughter.

Jake picked it up off the tiled floor of the gazebo.

‘If you want it, to keep for good, all you have to do is pass the test.’

‘What test?’ Daniel said, sucking his singed thumb.

Daniel produced a packet of cigarettes from his pocket of his shorts. On the front was a picture of a lady dancing in smoke, and in big blue letters the word Gitanes.

‘You have to smoke one of these.’

But I don’t want to get cancer, Daniel thought, staring at the picture on the front of the packet.

‘A whole one?’

‘Yeah. Are you up for it?’

‘I don’t really know how to smoke,’ Daniel said in a small voice.

‘We’ll show you.’

Ethan held his hand out to his brother.

‘Let’s have one, then.’

Jake checked over his shoulder and quickly shoved the two lighters and the cigarettes back into his shorts pocket.

‘Put it away,’ he hissed.

Ethan followed suit immediately.