Page 66 of When We Were Young

‘Good job we’ve got exams to take your mind off it then, eh?’

‘Yeah,’ I reply, deadpan. ‘Thank God.’

My first exam is tomorrow. I’m supposed to be revising, but I’m reading one of Will Bailey’s letters on my phone. As I squint at the handwriting, a message pops up on the screen.

Ella:Hey roomie, do you want this Beatland ticket or what?

I want to go to Beatland so much it hurts, but Mum would never agree to it – especially now. We’ve not spoken since the argument about the letters a week ago. She’d kill me if she knew I’d taken photos of every one of them.

The doorbell goes. I wander onto the landing as Dad answers the door.

I hear Mum’s voice. ‘Is she in?’

‘She’s upstairs revising. Come in. I’ll get her.’

‘No, leave her if she’s studying.’

‘Have a cup of tea, then she can take a break.’

Mum follows Dad into the kitchen.

I creep halfway down the stairs and wait until the kettle stops boiling.

Mum says, ‘She’s not going out too much or spending too much time with Nathan?’

‘She goes to Chloe’s to study, but you know Chloe, she’s a good influence.’

She’s come over to keep tabs on me. Right, that’s it. I’m taking that spare Beatland ticket.

I pull out my phone and reply to Ella:Count me in!

I’m going now, and there’s nothing Mum can do about it.

‘How was your date?’ Dad asks.Shit, when I told him about the man in Mum’s kitchen, I didn’t think he’d mention it toher.

‘She told you about that, did she? I knew she was pretending to be asleep!’

‘It must have gone well for you to bring the guy home.’

‘I only invited him in for coffee! And I wouldn’t have done if I’d known Liv was upstairs.’

‘Who is he?’

I sit down on the steps and press my head against the banister to hear.

‘One of the dads from school,’ she says. ‘He’s been… persistent. I thought I’d put him out of his misery.’

‘Persistence always pays off. Do you like him?’

Mum hesitates. ‘I suppose so.’ She changes the subject. ‘How’s Katya?’

I’d forgotten about Katya. She hasn’t been around at all, and Dad hasn’t mentioned her.

‘That sort of fizzled out.’

‘Sorry to hear that. That one lasted a long time – for you. Was the age difference too much for her?’

‘It was too much for me, actually.’