Page 121 of Good Sisters

On and on the messages went. I turned off my phone and spent the day watching the clock until it was time to pick up the boys. Harry spent the day trying to talk to Liam through his locked bedroom door and getting nowhere.

Luke and Leo flung their bags into the car and slammed the door.

‘Fuck Sebastian,’ Luke said.

‘He’s a scumbag,’ Leo added.

‘I need to know what happened. What did Sebastian do?’ I asked.

Leo and Luke looked at each other.

‘Boys, your brother is in big trouble and getting blamed for everything. It’s not fair, but I can’t help him if I don’t know what Sebastian did to wind him up. If I know what happened, maybe I can plead his case to the headmaster.’

‘It’s embarrassing,’ Leo said.

‘Embarrassing? For Liam?’

‘No,’ Luke said.

‘For Sebastian?’

‘No, Mum,’ Leo snapped.

‘Well, for who, then?’ I was so frustrated. ‘Spit it out.’

‘Fine then. Jess,’ Luke told me.

‘Jess? What do you mean? Did Sebastian say something about Jess?’

‘Kind of.’

‘It was worse than that,’ Leo muttered.

Jesus! What the hell had gone on in the changing room that morning?

‘Guys, I know it’s hard for you to tell me, but I need to know everything. It’s the only way I can help Liam. I know he’d never punch someone without good reason.’

Leo and Luke looked at one another. I could see they were weighing up how much to say. I stayed quiet, even though I wanted to roar in their faces to tell me.

‘He was saying stuff about Jess and … he had a photo.’

I felt like my heart had actually stopped in my chest. The air in the car felt dense, like it was pressing against me, suffocating.

‘What kind of photo?’

The boys shifted about.

‘One of her with no top on,’ Leo muttered.

Oh, God, no. ‘The bastard,’ I hissed.

‘And he was saying that she, like, does stuff,’ Luke said.

‘What stuff?’

‘Stuff,’ he said, looking mortified.

‘Luke, I need the full story.’

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