Page 49 of From Now On

‘It means he can go now and tell himself he tried.’

Duke has to half-run to keep up with his sister.

‘What was that stuff about Charlie’s dad?’ He’s never thought about him before, even when Charlie called Dad ‘Bo’, he’d never really wondered where Charlie’s real dad was.

‘I dunno. Mum said he was “troubled”, whatever that means. I think the scars on Charlie’s wrist are something to do with him.’

‘What did he—’

‘I don’t know!’ Nina shouts. ‘I don’t know anything except we’re stuck at Aunt bloody Violet’s forever. Christ, I’d rather have drowned too.’ The minute she says this she clamps her hands over her mouth as if she wants to stuff the words back in but Duke’s ears can’t unhear them.

‘It’s okay,’ Duke says quietly. ‘I know you didn’t mean that.’

‘Shut up, Duke,’ she snaps.

He swallows back his tears as he trots after her into the playground. Nina never used to be so mean. Before Mum and Dad died she used to sometimes laugh at his jokes and Duke wishes he can make her happy again but he can’t do that when he has forgotten how to laugh too and can’t think of anything funny to say.

‘Don’t walk with me now,’ she hisses, shoving him away. Duke thinks that sometimes Nina is embarrassed to have him as a brother and that makes him sad because, although Nina looks odd now, a bit like a clown really with her thick make-up, he knows that inside she is just the same and he loves her anyway.

The second he is on his own, Jayden saunters over, flanked by Luke and Brandon. Duke no longer uses his satchel because he got laughed at; instead, today, he has an old black rucksack that Aunt Violet used to keep her swimming kit in. It smells a little of chlorine but Duke thinks it’s cool.

‘What’s this piece of shit?’ Jayden wrenches it from his shoulder and tosses it to Luke who turns it over in his hands before saying,

‘It ain’t even branded.’

‘Branded with what?’ Duke asks. He thought only cows were branded.Is it kinder when they have a tag through their ear rather than when they are marked with a red-hot iron? Duke imagines branding Jayden’s forehead with ‘idiot’, and he begins to smile.

‘Freak.’

A hard shove sends him sprawling to the floor. His knees and palms sting.

‘You, boy!’ The deputy head is crossing the playground and Jayden quickly offers his hand to Duke and pulls him to his feet.

‘He tripped, sir.’ Jayden smiles.

The teacher walks away and Jayden moves his fingers onto Duke’s wrist, twisting, hurting. He struggles to be free. But then, suddenly, Nina is there, and Duke doesn’t see her school uniform but a mask and a cape.

Super Sister to the rescue.

‘Oi. Dickhead.’ Nina slaps Jayden around the head. ‘Leave him alone.’

Jayden releases his grip and slinks away.

Duke puts his arms around Nina’s waist but she pushes him away. ‘I’m sick of sorting your shit out.’ She stalks away. Hero to zero in seconds.

Tutor time is awful. Terrible. Horrible.

Everyone traipses to the front and hands in their school trip money to Miss Greenly except Duke who hadn’t given the letter to Aunt Violet because the thought of being stuck on a coach for hours with Jayden is not fun even if Evie would be there. She’s at the dentist this morning and she’s the only one that Jayden, Luke and Brandon seem to be scared of.

Miss Greenly asks him to stay behind after the bell has rung.

‘Duke—’ she smiles ‘—we don’t want you to miss out on the trip. Is there a reason why you haven’t brought your slip in?’

He shrugs.

‘The school can help out families if they can’t meet the cost. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.’

‘It isn’t that.’

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