In the end, he’d completed the project by himself. Of course, they had got an A, because he’d done all the work and then Charlotte had sat there preening, not even bothering to thank him, just looking at herself in a stupid sparkly mirror that she carried everywhere with her. Some people had it so easy. He’d wanted to push her then, off the stool and onto her skinny arse. He wanted to watch the mirror smash into a thousand pieces, to watch her stupid, ignorant face look up at him – to finally acknowledge him.

Paul sunk lower under the covers and thought about Claire again. Thank God it had been dark in the cinema otherwise it would have been very embarrassing. After they’d kissed, he could only stare into her eyes, oblivious to even Charlotte and her witches. He remembered the look on Claire’s face.

Desire.

As the lights came up, he’d quickly pulled his jacket over his lap. But then Claire’s attention had been caught by Charlotte and he wanted to shut them down. To obliterate them. Anything just to have that moment back with Claire. He thought about her, the softness of her lips, the gentle probing of his tongue, and he reached under the covers.

*

‘You seem different,’ said Brian, a few hours later. They’d ridden their bikes down to the woods as usual where they’d set up what they grandly referred to as an army assault course, but that wasn’t really much more than a series of ramps to practise their stunts on. For over an hour, they’d gone up and down the makeshift slopes, trying to get higher and higher with every attempt but then Brian had turned his front wheel too far, landing awkwardly, so they were sitting on a log taking a break, their bikes abandoned at their feet.

‘Do I?’ said Paul. ‘You mean because I was able to do the rear peg wheelie three times in a row and you couldn’t even do one?’

Brian looked up and grinned from his hunched position on the end of the log where he was using a small branch to make circles in the soft ground.

‘No, you prick. I don’t know – I can’t put my finger on it.’ Brian continued prodding the ground, the stick jabbing. Paul waited, wanting to be asked, but he couldn’t help himself.

‘Last night I went out with Claire,’ blurted Paul proudly. ‘She asked me out at school last week.’

Brian looked up in surprise.

‘What? Don’t look so shocked!’ said Paul.

‘You little shit. And you didn’t tell me!’ But Brian was impressed, Paul could tell.