Ged growled back at her. ‘He’s getting fuck all from me. That’s one thing my dad and I agree on. And I have to tell him that too. Frankie needs to know I don’t owe him a penny. Who would do something like that to a mate? I could be fucking dead. It’s bang out of order. But I need to find out who decked Frankie. If he’s a marked man in a turf war, I don’t want the fight coming to me. I’m not making a habit of getting stabbed.’

Nancy loved a drama. She hated Frankie with a passion and couldn’t have been more delighted that he was no longer stuck to Ged’s side. She rubbed her hands together against the cold. ‘You getting shanked is old news in this place. You’ve missed loads of drama in school. Chelsea has been caught sleeping with some girl’s boyfriend. The girl came to school looking for her. On my life, Chelsea shit her knickers, she wasn’t mouthy when she was thought she was going to get her head kicked in, let me tell you. She was sat in the head’s office bawling her eyes out. Fucking mard arse, that one. She’s a dirtbag and everyone knows that. Oh,’ she was on a roll now, ‘guess who’s gone missing?’

Ged sucked hard on his cig and blew out a cloud of smoke. ‘Who?’

‘Amelia, she’s been gone a few days now. We’ve all been interviewed by the staff. The dibble are involved too. A few of the kids are saying she’s ran off with an older man, she was always talking to older guys online, that’s public knowledge. So, it wouldn’t surprise me.’

Ged shook his head. ‘She seemed alright, her. She never said much but a few of the lads said she puts it about. I thought they were chatting shit, but Liam showed me a video of her getting shagged at some party. Nasty it was.’

Nancy reached over and took the cigarette out of his mouth to have a blast before they went into school. ‘You shouldn’t watch that shit. Fucking jealous is what most of the lads in this school are. Spreading that kind of rubbish just coz they’re not getting any. Anyway, if you go by that rule, you’d be calling most of us girls slags. And the boys are worse – dick pics, hassling girls for porno selfies, fucking upskirts – and then they call a girl a slag as revenge for getting turned down. Sodding pathetic, the lot of them. I think I’m the only one who doesn’t have a new bloke every week. I’ve only ever slept with you. You was my first.’ She was looking at him with puppy dog eyes. Mesmerised. ‘You know I only have eyes for you, don’t you, Ged?’