Nerves had jittered in his belly during the train journey, the conversation with his mother, when she came to pick him up from the station, false and uncomfortable. He wasn’t even at her house and already he felt he had made a huge mistake in coming. It wasn’t even like he could ask his dad to come and get him as he lived hours away and the return train tickets weren’t until Sunday night. He had a whole weekend stuck with these people, these strangers.

He had already decided he was going to hate the Goldbergs and his first impression of them grated on him. Grant struck him as cheesy and false, while Jill was too perky and self-assured for his liking, especially as she was two years younger than him. Both of them seemed to have a different way about them, which probably had a lot to do with their accent, and they were confident, bordering on arrogant, not afraid to speak their mind. They were all so neat and picture-perfect and that made Liam feel even more out of place, with his scruffy mop of hair and his ripped jeans. The other kid, Miles, was a complete dork, all blond curls and big glasses. At eleven years old, he was four years younger than Liam and barely spoke a word to him. Miles irritated him on sight.

Although the house had five bedrooms, one was used as a study, while another had been converted into a gym. That meant Liam had to bunk in with Miles, much to his annoyance.

He had laid in bed that first night, listening to Miles each time he puffed on his inhaler and wondering why his mother preferred these kids to him and what it was he had done wrong for her to reject him.

Okay, she was making out now that she wanted him in her life, but he wasn’t stupid. He had seen how she had acted around Jill and Miles, simpering after them.

The weekend passed by painfully slowly. Jill and Miles had asked Liam if he wanted to hang out with them and their friends, but honestly, Liam could think of nothing worse than playing with a bunch of thirteen-year-olds. Instead he stuck close to the house, making painful conversation with his mother and Grant. He was made to help Grant paint the garden fence, then had to endure a visit from his mother’s friend, a woman called Kathy Finch, and her daughter, Nicola.

Nicola was about Liam’s age and looked as thrilled to be there as he did, perched awkwardly on the sofa beside her mother, sipping at a cup of tea as the two older women gossiped and tried to outbrag each other.