He tried to remember if he’d ever seen Claire hanging around with Gavin or his friends. He couldn’t be sure, but he didn’t think so. Paul closed his textbook knowing he wouldn’t get any more work done. He thought of Claire and the sliver of silver chain around her bare neck and knew with certainty that not even the thought of a beating from Gavin would stop him meeting her on Friday.

*

‘Is that you, pet?’

Crap.

Even though Paul had closed the front door as quietly as he could, his mum had still managed to catch him.

‘Yeah,’ he shouted back. ‘I’m going to do my homework.’

But before he got a chance to put his foot on the stairs, his mum appeared in the hallway, her hair a halo of frizz around her plump face.

‘Wait! I made some cake – would you like some?’

It was impossible to ignore the desperation and Paul hated himself in that moment. He looked at his mum, her face eager, her fingers playing with the pocket of her apron. He was about to say no but he found himself pausing. Maybe it was his conversation with Claire or the fact that he’d escaped a beating on his way home from school that day, or simply because the smell of baking was so good.

‘Chocolate?’ he asked.

‘Yep!’ His mum’s smile was instant, and he felt an odd mix of guilt and pity. He knew he’d become distant at home. Just a few weeks ago, he’d heard his mother trying to seek reassurance from his dad whether it was normal for a teenage boy to be so sullen and quiet.

‘We used to have such a good relationship,’ fretted his mum. ‘Now I don’t even know what’s going on with him. I’m worried it’s more than just teenage hormones, Bill.’

Paul hadn’t stayed around to listen to his father’s response. He had crept back up the stairs then, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping. His mum was right though – he had been close to his mother, telling her anything and everything. At thirteen, he’d still used to hold her hand. She had been his best friend and she always said he could talk to her but how could he tell her that the boy he grew up with – Gavin, whose parents were friends with his own – had turned half the class against him? If he told her, she would start talking to Gavin’s parents, to the school and that would just make everything worse.

As Paul followed his mother into the kitchen, he noticed a can of Coke waiting for him along with a large slice of chocolate cake. He was never allowed Coke and as he sat down he saw his mum had her ‘we’re going to talk everything through’ face on. He was beginning to regret not going straight up to his bedroom.