Ged sighed and kicked the pavement. More anger. ‘I just want my dad to come home. Everything was great when he was with us. My mam didn’t have to go to work all the time and it was good having two parents at home.’

‘Lots of kids just have one parent who cares for them. If I’m being honest, I’d say over seventy-five per cent of kids coming to this school only have a mum at home, some kids don’t even know who their dads are. Imagine that, not knowing who your old man was?’

Ged digested what Donny had said. He was quieter now. ‘She has to realise that I’m not a kid anymore. I want to live my life and if I make mistakes, then I’ll have to deal with the consequences myself, not her. She’s not stopping me from having a relationship with my old man, no fucking way in this world. He’s looking forward to spending some time with me. He’s told me how sorry he is for the way things have turned out and I believe him. My mam just needs to give him a chance. He still loves her; he’s told me he’ll always love her. It’s just her being a stubborn cow.’

Donny realised that this went a lot deeper than he’d first anticipated. He could give all the advice in the world, but it seemed that this had the potential to get a lot worse before it got any better. ‘Come on then, let’s go and face the music and see if you can patch things up with your mam. Remember what I’ve just said. Your mother only cares about you, that’s why she’s stressing.’

Ged remained silent as he followed Donny back into the building.

As Donny walked back up the corridor with Ged dawdling behind him, he spotted a woman sat on one of the chairs in the reception area, with a young teenager next to her. She seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. He turned to Ged to hurry him along. ‘Come on, lad, you’ll have it dark.’

As Donny and Ged returned, Tina could tell by the head teacher’s expression that there would be no more shouting and screaming in this room today. She pointed to the chair facing her and asked Ged to sit back down. The ball was in his court now and it was up to him to make the first move. He coughed and sat forward in the chair, nervously playing with his fingers.

‘Mam, I’ll start to clean up my act and speak to you better. I need to talk to you about my dad when we get home, not here, that’s our business. I don’t think you know how much it’s affecting me; it hurts.’