‘Never – ever – try to contact me again. You cunt.’ She was grateful to Sienna for making the word come more easily to her lips than it might have otherwise.

And she walked out of the door with her head held high.

Once she had descended the wrought-iron spiral staircase, though, she allowed herself to cry. Sobbing so hard she could hardly breathe, she stumbled through the downstairs bar until she had made her way outside. The sun was still hot and she just wanted to go home, to have a proper, comforting hug, but she knew she couldn’t burden her parents with her trivial problems, when they had so much more on their plate. Not knowing what to do for the best, she just stood there and let herself cry for a bit.

Bella and Andy, enjoying an early evening drink at one of the mismatched tables outside Divine Comedy, both saw Sam at the same time. She cut a woebegone figure, standing against the wall on her own, sobbing her little heart out. Bella jumped to her feet and ran over to her.

‘Sam, are you OK? What is it, sweetheart?’

‘M … M … Mark … Karolina … He’s been fucking some porn-star bitch called Karolina … While I was doing my exams …’ Sam sobbed some more, and Bella gave her a hug – a big, proper, comforting hug, just like the one she’d been longing for from her mum.

Bella, who remembered all too well the pain and humiliation of being cheated on, turned and raised her eyebrows at Andy, mouthing, ‘Shall we get her out of here?’ Andy nodded. Their planned night out could wait.

Over Sam’s shoulder, Bella could see Mark inside the bar, looming towards the open door, his features contorted in dismay. She shook her head violently at him, then gave him the finger for good measure.

God, you dick, Mark, she thought, steering Sam gently away from the door. She had always had a certain tendresse for him, and he’d been very kind to her in the past. But seeing this sweet, pretty, clever girl go to pieces over him was a different matter entirely.

‘Listen, Sam. Andy and I only came here for a quick drink anyway. Do you want to come back with us for supper at our place? I was going to make some yummy salad-y stuff and we can all bitch about Mark and his ridiculous slapper to our hearts’ content, if you want …’

Sam laughed a little maniacally.

‘Oooh, yeah, I’d like that.’

Realizing that Sam was trying to be cool (cooler than Bella had ever been), and was possibly still a little in shock, Bella guided her towards Andy’s car, an old but spacious and very comfortable dark green Renault.

By the time they’d arrived at Portobello Road, Sam had poured out the whole sorry story, displaying some of the grit and courage that had got her out of Romford in the first place.