Nancy edged closer, which put Ged on the back foot. It was too soon for all this, he should back off, play it cool. She laid her head on Ged’s shoulder and he panicked, embarrassed, as he caught Chelsea’s eye. She’d clocked it, she was nudging the girl to the left of her. She was going to make sure everyone else noticed too. Bloody motormouth at it again. ‘So what’s going on with you two? Ged, first day and you’re putting your mark on her. Never had you down as a player.’

That was too much for Nancy, who bolted upright. ‘It’s not like that,’ she hissed. ‘We’re just friends, so piss off.’ On any other day Chelsea would have scratched her eyes out for speaking to her like that; in fact she was lucky she wasn’t lying on the floor having ten tons of shit kicked out of her. Chelsea noted that Nancy could stand up for herself and let the comment pass – the new girl was very lucky, very lucky indeed.

Ged walked into his front room and read the message scribbled on the piece of paper on the table. His mother always left him a note before she left for work. He screwed his eyes together slightly as he tried to decipher her handwriting.

Ged, there’s a microwave meal in the fridge. Just put it in for three minutes and let it stand for one minute.

See you later,

Love Mam X

Nothing new. He tossed the note back onto the table and whipped off his coat. Bloody hell, it was cold in here today. His mam was always turning the central heating off trying to save money, tight arse she was. Ged walked over to the thermostat on the wall and turned it back on. The house would be warm soon, boiling hot, just like he liked it. Tonight, he had planned a Xbox night with his online mates. He wasn’t holding his breath that Frankie would be in touch and he settled down on the sofa ready for hours of non-stop FIFA.

The living room was neat and tidy, brown leather sofa, cream walls, basic really. Switching on the telly he suddenly thought that there’d been post on the mat. He should have a look in case there was anything he didn’t want his mam to see. He walked slowly into the hallway. As he got closer he could see that among the pizza and takeaway flyers was just one letter. A plain white envelope with his name on the front. He picked it up and slowly made his way back to the front room, unsure yet whether he wanted to open it or not. Maybe later.