It was Dad’s turn to snort. ‘It’s a couple of days a week. That’s not work. But when you leave school you need to have something lined up.’

I stared at him not quite believing he wasn’t joking. The toast popped up and broke the freeze frame. ‘But I’m going to do A levels and go to university.’ I knew I needed to work hard, but still, everyone went to university these days. Didn’t they?

Dad continued to shake his head. ‘I can’t afford that.’

‘I’ll get student loans.’

‘Tom, have you any idea how much this place costs to run?’

For some reason I took a fresh look at our murky little kitchen. ‘Dunno. But if I’m not here eating stuff you’ll save loads of money.’

‘Don’t try and be clever. I work my arse off to put a roof over your head.’

‘Some roof,’ I muttered. I knew as soon as I’d said it that it was the conversational equivalent of lighting the end of a firework.

Dad took a moment to build his anger before going off on an epic rant. I kind of switched off. A bit like putting on imaginary headphones. I’ve heard it all before – it’s really boring. And I don’t like rowing with Dad.

I buttered and ate my toast, hoping he’d soon stop shouting.

‘Are you even listening to me?’ He was going an unhealthy shade of scarlet, not that any shade of red is healthy.

‘Yep. I’m ungrateful. You do everything. I do nothing. We have no money.’ A fair summary, I thought.

Stand back; rocket number two ready for launch. ‘Don’t get smart with me!’ He wagged a finger in my general direction. ‘You’re going to get an almighty shock, Tom. I don’t know how much longer I can keep juggling all the bills. You need to wise up.’ He pulled a whisky bottle out of the cupboard, scowled at the small amount of liquid in the bottom and tipped it into a glass. I tried some of it once when he was at work. It was disgusting.

He scowled at me while he drank his whisky. ‘Have you been fighting?’

‘No,’ I said it like a reflex and then realised he was studying my eyes.

‘You’ve got a black eye.’ He raised an eyebrow.

‘I fell over.’ I don’t know why I lied. I was getting the feeling I couldn’t do anything right. He made a lot of tutting sounds and shook his head.