I lie fully dressed on my bed in the dark, Kayleigh’s soft snoring tickling my ear. I’ve been putting her down to sleep with me most nights lately, tucked in tight between my pillow and the wall. I love watching her little chest lifting up and down, her eyelids flickering with the glow stars on the ceiling as she dreams. When Ma named her I went nuts at first … Kayleigh and Carly? As if another scrounger’s baby wasn’t bad enough, after he conned her out of all our money? Now though, I love it. Kayleigh and Carly. We’re two halves of a whole, same blue eyes, same pale hair, that spooky colour somewhere between white and yellow that I’ve only ever seen on our heads. Even our star signs make a raggedy circle on the ceiling, her Aquarius pushing out to one side, lighting up my knackered old Libra stuck next to it. We match.

She stirs as the wind taps the blind against the half-open window, cool night air stroking our faces as I lean over to settle her. In that moment I can pretend the noise drifting in from the estate is a tinkly stream and not breaking glass. But then a handful of gravel hits my chin and I spot Rach, grinning up at me through the gap, white stripes of bare legs gleaming in the dark under her tiny school skirt.

Rearranging my pillow so Kayleigh can’t roll, I head out, throwing the usual glare at Jason’s empty old bed against the wall opposite. Downstairs, Ma is still heaped on the sofa where I left her, either asleep or dead. Another waste of space. Like pretty much everyone and everything else around here except Rach.

I hang around for just one more minute, hands still warm from 29Kayleigh’s little body. She’s as safe as I can make her, I think, palms closing into fists as I push my way outside. I think I might suffocate if I stayed in here any longer.

‘Hey girl. You alright? No dramas?’ Rach hands me a cigarette as I close the door.

‘No more than usual.’ Freshly painted purple nails gleam as her lighter flares into my face. ‘Wow, those look ace. How’d you manage that? Where are we going? If you tell me we’re off to meet the usual lot again I’m going back inside…’

I rest myself against the door as I say it, making sure it’s shut tight. She knows there’s no way I want to go back in there. The smoke hits my throat and I cough straight away.

‘I can’t hardly take you anywhere if you’re still doing that.’ Rach’s nails suddenly look like claws as she leans towards me. ‘You need to breathe deeper … pretend like it’s a pipe, look…’