‘I know what I saw. She was in here, she was bleeding, she’d been beaten up. She slept in my room. I wanted to call the police, but she wouldn’t let me. When I woke up she was gone.’

Max started to get dressed. ‘Okay, let’s look for her.’

By the time everyone else had filtered down to breakfast it was clear that Zadie really had gone. They ate pancakes and drank black coffee while Chloe silently fumed. Why didn’t they care? Why weren’t they worried? Why weren’t they doing anything to help? After breakfast her anger boiled over. She grabbed Max by the arm as he walked along a corridor.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I want to call the police.’

‘The police? What the hell for?’

‘About Zadie, about what happened last night.’

‘We have about £500 worth of coke in this house, plus God knows whatever else. If you call the police, there’ll be hell to pay.’

‘I don’t care—’

Max took her arm, gently. ‘If I get in trouble, they’ll take my scholarship away. I won’t be able to go to Australia. I might not even be able to play rugby here any more. That’s my whole career – fucked. Please. Don’t do this. I promise you, we’ll get back to the house and she’ll be there, and she’ll understand.’

Chloe studied his face. He was calm, but earnest. ‘They’d really take your place away?’

He nodded. ‘It’s a morality clause. They have them for our places at uni, too, you know. We could all get kicked out. You’re on thin ice with the tutors, right?’

That hadn’t occurred to her. Was it true? Could she get kicked out? She imagined having to tell her mother that she had lost her place. Her mother having to tell everyone in their town she had boasted to about her clever, clever daughter. The first in the family to go to university.

‘And you’re really not worried?’ she asked, searching for a reason to do as he asked.

‘No. Trust me, Zadie does stuff like this all the time. She slices up her arms then calls an ambulance, takes an overdose just when you’re due to arrive home. This is who she is. I love her, but she’s a chronic attention addict. I promise, she probably just fell over and bashed herself last night, the booze made it seem worse than it was, and now she’s gone off in a huff because I took her up on her offer of a free pass.’

Max reached out and stroked Chloe’s hair. She flinched at his touch. ‘You’re a good friend. Better than she deserves.’

‘I should go home. She’ll be at the house, or in our room. I can take care of her.’