‘No, but he usually gets in early, he should be here soon. Going to have a word with him about not helping me?’

Donny started to walk away. ‘Yeah, yeah, if you see him can you tell him to bob upstairs and I’ll have a quick word with him.’ He turned back to face her. ‘Oh and, Rita, before I forget, we have two new starters today, a staff member and a new kid, Nancy Parker. Can you keep an eye on her at lunchtime and make sure she’s eating something? You know what the new kids are like, they just stand on their own, don’t mix with the others.’

Rita closed the fridge door and plonked a massive piece of cheese on the side. ‘It’s a wonder any new kids stay here longer than a day with this lot. Nutters they are. I don’t know how their parents put up with them.’

‘So, that’s a yes then?’ Donny chuckled.

Rita wiped the sweat from her brow with her sleeve. ‘I always look out for the new ones. I just hope this one’s not as lazy as the others.’ As Donny left the room she carried on getting stuff out of cupboards, banging the doors shut and stomping about. The students would be here soon, and they’d be wanting breakfast; there was no time to stand around. It was one of the things Donny had insisted on; that each child started the day with something proper in their stomachs. So every morning she would prepare toast, cereal – even open a packet of biscuits if they wouldn’t eat anything else. Rita enjoyed the peace while it lasted; ten more minutes and the place would be alive with the usual screaming and shouting. Every day brought a new drama – but no one ever joined Second Chance for a quiet life.

Chapter Three

Ged Grey lay in his double bed snoring his head off. His red hair was all over the place; he looked like he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. He hated being ginger, always told his mother he was going to dye his hair once he was old enough. The bedroom door creaked open and his mother walked in. You could see that in her day, Clare might have been a good-looking woman. But now she was scrawny, underweight, her once raven hair streaked with grey. She stood looking at her son for a moment in the hope that he might be awake, but the noise was a giveaway. No such luck. She’d have to wake him, which never ended well. He was a nightmare in the morning, a total stress-head. No hope of getting a conversation out of him. She took a deep breath, braced herself.