‘Chocolate, then. Or lollies.’

Callum stared at Max with big eyes, scared for him. Max was scared too. ‘I’ll nick it from the supermarket,’ he said, relieved to think of this. It wouldn’t be too hard. Almost a cinch.

But Jaden’s eyes were sly. ‘No, you have to get it from the takeaway.’

Max felt sick. If Kurt caught him, he’d be dead. And he didn’t want to steal things from Miki because she always smiled at him and asked how things were going. ‘The supermarket,’ he said again. But he was stuck—he’d have to do it. ‘Next weekend.’ He was trying to buy time.

Jaden spat on the ground and clicked his knuckles menacingly. ‘No. Do it now at the takeaway or I’ll smash you.’

There was no way out.

They picked up their bags and walked to the shops. Max dawdled and made excuses to stop, like tying his shoelaces, but Jaden kicked him to make him keep going.

Then they were across the road from the takeaway, and Max was feeling terrible. How could he do this and not get caught? If he had money he could buy lollies then steal something while the cash was going into the till. ‘Have you got fifty cents?’ he said. ‘If I don’t have any money they’ll guess straight off.’

Callum nodded. ‘He’s right. Kurt’ll kill him. Like really kill him.’

Jaden sniggered. ‘Bad luck.’ He pushed Max onto the road. ‘You’ll think of something.’

Max went into the shop. No one else was there. Only Miki behind the counter. This was better than Kurt.

‘Hi,’ she said.

‘Hi.’ He mooched around, looking at the fridge and the shelves. Then he checked out the lollies and chocolates and bags of chips. How was he going to do this?

‘Are you okay?’ Miki asked. ‘It’s so sad about the pups.’

Max ducked his eyes away. ‘Yeah, I know.’

‘Sorry I couldn’t give one a home. But I heard Leon’s got one. That’s nice. Can you go over to see it?’

‘Yeah, every day. I’m helping him train her.’

‘I bet that isn’t easy.’

‘Yeah, she just wants to play. She misses the others.’

‘I bet you miss them too.’

Max did, but right now he had other things on his mind. He scanned the shelves as if he was going to buy something.

Miki watched him. ‘Can I help?’ she asked after a while.

‘No thanks. Just having a look.’ He peeked out the window and saw Jaden and Callum still waiting across the road. Why couldn’t they just go away? He took a can of Coke from the fridge and put it on the counter. ‘How much is this?’

‘Three dollars.’

He pretended to feel for money in his pocket. ‘I haven’t got that much.’

‘How about a packet of chips?’