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Back The Library Save as PDF
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. THE LIBRARY
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. Questions for your Book Club
  55. Acknowledgements
  56. About the Author
  57. Become an Aria Addict

‘Good. Come on, Tom, they’ll be wondering where we’ve got to,’ said Maggie her voice back to normal. Tom shrugged his shoulders at Kemp with an “I did warn you” look on his face and Maggie strode off like nothing had happened.

45

TOM

Dad’s gone all quiet since the demo. Even quieter than usual, which means it’s basically silent all the time. I don’t know if that’s worse than him ranting at me. I can tell he’s disappointed that I chose to go to the demo rather than the interview and it’s eating away at me like a zombie. If I don’t get decent GCSE results then I’ll have to retake them and he’s gonna be all “I told you so” and “You could have been earning good money at the factory” and it’s going to proper do my head in because worst of all he’ll be right.

It was weird waking up and realising that there’s no more GCSEs and no more school until September. I’m not sure what I’m going to do now. Some mates are doing National Citizen Service, which sounds cool but it costs fifty quid. With money tight there was no point asking Dad if I could do it. I’m back doing a weekday paper round but that doesn’t pay much. I should probably get a job for the summer. I’ll have a think about that but for today, at least, I’m going to chill out.

I heard Dad sneaking about. It was well early for him. My stomach clenched. What was he up to now? I’d had a good check around the house last night for any stashed booze and couldn’t find any. I tried to look in the shed but it was locked up and the key wasn’t in the drawer where we usually keep it. I tried looking through the shed window but all I could see was the lawnmower and spider’s webs.

I crept out of bed, slung some clothes on and went downstairs. Maybe I should try talking to him. If he’s having a relapse and he needs to get help, I could suggest that. I’d do pretty much anything to avoid him going back to how he was. I stuck my head around the living room door and then in the kitchen but there was no sign of him. He couldn’t have vanished. I put my shoes on. If I left now I might be able to do a better job of following him. Last time Farah and I were useless. This time I needed to do better.