Free Split Second by Sophie McKenzie Page A

exchanged a swift glance. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, but we’re not sure you and Rosa have really hit it off like we’d
hoped.’
    I shrugged, feeling embarrassed.
    ‘If you do want to stay,’ Gail ventured, ‘we’d like you to make a bit more effort with her. You know, talk to her about school. Just . . . just . . .’
    ‘Try and get to know her a bit,’ Brian continued. ‘She’s a lovely girl and she says she’s always trying to involve you in things with her friends, chat about school
. . . like girls do.’
    I stared at the kitchen floor, a dull ache in my chest. So it was all about Rosa. For a moment I’d thought that Brian and Gail were really offering me a proper home. But a proper home only
exists when the people inside it truly love each other more than anyone else in the world. And Brian and Gail didn’t . . . couldn’t . . . love me like they did their own daughter. I
couldn’t blame them. I loved Mum more than them. That’s how it’s
supposed
to be: parents and children on the inside together, with the rest of the world on the
outside.
    ‘We don’t want you to hear this as criticism,’ Gail said softly. ‘We know this adjustment period is hard for you, but it’s a challenge for all of us, especially
Rosa. You’re the same age, though I know she’s not quite sixteen yet and . . . look, all we’re asking is that you give her a chance, maybe open up a bit.’
    ‘I understand,’ I said, looking up. ‘I’ll try.’
    Well, what else could I say?
    ‘Thank you, my love.’ Gail crossed the kitchen and gave me a hug.
    ‘Does this mean you want to make this your permanent home?’ Brian asked.
    I nodded. I knew now that I was staying for just one reason. I went over it in my head as Brian talked about dealing with social services. Thanks to the cuts he was sure it wouldn’t be
hard to get the paperwork sorted, even if it meant slipping a social worker some extra money to move things along. He and Gail were smiling. So was I. But my smile was only for my lips.
    In my heart was ice and fire.
    Living here with Brian and Gail would never feel like my proper home. I would never
have
a proper home because I didn’t have Mum. And I didn’t have Mum because of the League
of Iron.
    And because of Nat.

Nat
    I had to drag myself out of bed on Sunday morning. I had spent so much of the past six months trying to find out how on earth Lucas could have set off a bomb for the League and
it all, now, felt like a gigantic waste of time. Even if Saxon66 had admitted Lucas’s involvement, I would still never understand it.
    Everything was rubbish, basically. Dad was exhausted from trying to hold things together at the garage, while Mum remained anxious and obsessed with Lucas in the hospital. Even in the wider
world, the latest coalition Government was on the brink of collapse as the political parties failed, yet again, to agree on another round of austerity measures.
    I’d caught Charlie staring at me a couple of times at school – a fierce look in her dark eyes I was certain hadn’t been there before – but we never spoke. I assumed she
was annoyed because I’d made so little effort to get to know her. Well, I wasn’t going to let that bother me. I had enough else to deal with.
    The only person who noticed how bad I was feeling was Jas. She’d asked me what was wrong yesterday. I’d lied, telling her I had a stomach ache from food poisoning. Jas had made me a
hot-water bottle, just like Mum used to.
    I felt guilty for lying, but there was no way I could have told her the truth about how I was feeling. To be honest, I didn’t really understand it myself.
    It was almost noon by the time I got up and poured myself a bowl of cereal, then realised no-one had remembered to buy any milk. Cursing my entire family, I scraped together some loose change
and popped to the corner shop. As I walked home again a jogger barged past me, almost pushing me into the road. I swore at him, but he