When I open my front door I'm greeted with chaos, my sofa's turned over and my TV is hanging off the wall. The creaking of the backdoor tells me the culprit didn't leave very long ago and I sprint through it to see the familiar figure stumbling through the back gate. "What did you take?" I ask, leaning against the fence and peering at the pathetic excuse of a man who's tripping over his own feet. "I din tek nuffin'." He slurs, falling backwards as though the effort to stay upright as well as talk is too much effort. "Dun push me lad, I coul' still giff you a gud hidin'."  "Whatever, Dad, just fuck off so I can clear up the mess you've made." I say, holding the gate so he can crawl through it.  He's so focused on moving, he doesn't realise he's dropped the money he's stolen from me. I wait until he's through the gate before locking it and scooping up the notes. He's broken a window in my back door to get in, so I cover it with cardboa

I'm a dick, I know it and it's never more apparent than when someone's doing a shit job at actively avoiding me, like Ricky Jensen is right now. He's got his hood up and is standing behind a telephone pole only looking over when he thinks I'm not looking and it's fucking hilarious. "You want to scare him a little bit?" Billy chuckles, staring at Ricky and waiting for him to look over. When he does, he pales slightly, shifting on his feet and I must be going soft because I actually feel sorry for the little shit. "Oi Ricky, here a minute." I call over and he swallows so hard, I actually see his Adam's apple bob up and down, before he's walking over to me as though he's on a funeral march. "Fucking hell, he's bricking it." Billy flicks his fingers in and out, readying

"Knock knock." Shane's mum calls seconds before appearing in the room, her arms ladened with bags of shopping. "Sorry I'm so late, I knew you were out and I wanted to see you." Immediately Shane and I jump up to take them from her and she smiles lovingly at us both, shoving Billy with her hip to make him move along the sofa so she can sit down. "So, I had a little phone call from the school earlier, apparently my darling son and his friends were in a fight today. Is there a good reason or am I going to have to be serious, angry mum for a moment?""Um…" The three of us look at one another, feeling like naughty kids under her stern gaze."Tell me quick, don't try to think of something I'll accept." She raises both eyebrows, her mouth pulling into a frustrated pout and her toe tapping a rhythm on my floor as she looks at each of us in turn.

I type the names onto the screen and look around, Billy and Jenny are placing drinks on the centre table and Aurora, Rae and Cleo have all disappeared somewhere else."Fag before we start?" I ask Shane and Billy. They nod and we push through the crowd queuing at the entrance so we can get outside."Nah, no way, it's too fucking cold." Billy announces, turning on his heel to go back inside.I pass the lighter back to Shane once my cigarette is lit and stuff my free hand deep in my pocket, because Billy's right, it's fucking cold."Luke, oh em gee, you haven't been around recently, I thought maybe you were dead." I suppress the tiny shudder that goes through me and turn towards the voice. Cally stands there in a skin tigh

"Darling, you're here." My mother's voice has changed since she's been with Trevor and I hate it, she used to be so normal, but now she puts on this voice as if she's trying to speak like the queen. It's just not her and I don't think she should have to pretend to be someone else just because the bloke's got a lot of money."Hi, Mum." She grabs me into a cuddle and holds me for a few seconds before tugging me towards the living room where Trevor is sitting with Cally and her brother Stephen, all of them sitting upright as if they can't allow themselves to be comfortable, even at home."Luke." Trevor stands to shake my hand, trying to hide the fact that we both know he can't stand me. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm a living reminder that my mum had a life