Free You Against Me by Jenny Downham

questions. And you know what that means, don’t you?’
    Holly nodded, her eyes wide with the thought of children’s homes. It worked every time.
    She followed him down the stairs and sat on the carpet in the hallway. In the lounge, the TV was blaring. At least Karyn had managed to get out of the bedroom.
    Mikey sat on the bottom stair to put his trainers on. ‘If Mum comes back, tell her to text me.’
    ‘Will she come back soon?’
    ‘Maybe.’ It was the closest to the truth he could manage.
    ‘What if she doesn’t?’
    ‘Well, then you get to watch TV all day with Karyn. Tell her you get to choose half the programmes, OK?’
    ‘You tell her.’
    But he didn’t want to go in there in case she tried to stop him leaving. If he was going to fit Sienna in before hooking up with Jacko, he had to go now.
    He kissed the top of Holly’s head. ‘I’ll be back later with some shopping. I’ll get us some nice things.’
    ‘What if a bus hits you?’
    ‘It won’t.’
    ‘But what if it does?’ She looked at him with serious eyes. ‘Please don’t go.’
    But he had to. It was only fair. He pulled on his jacket, did up his zip and smacked his chest like a gorilla. It usually made her laugh, but not today.

Ten
    ‘Karyn McKenzie’s a slut and everyone knows it.’
    Ellie didn’t know this girl, or any of the other kids who sidled up to her in the playground and stood around in small groups listening in.
    ‘She started having sex in Year Eight,’ the girl said. ‘She bragged about that for weeks. And remember the rumour about her and that boy from college?’
    Ellie nodded. Karyn was a liar who came from a crazy family. She got wasted and slept with Tom, then changed her mind in the morning. Ellie wished she’d come back to school days ago. She’d never been so popular.
    ‘I heard she’s gone really weird,’ another girl said, ‘all agoraphobic or alcoholic or something.’
    ‘It’s guilt,’ the first girl said. ‘If you turn up uninvited to a boy’s house dressed like a ho, it’s not a total surprise when he jumps you, is it?’
    A couple of boys laughed. One of them patted Ellie on the back as if they’d been mates for years. ‘So, did your brother get charged twice?’
    ‘Um, sorry, what do you mean?’
    ‘She’s only fifteen, yeah?’ He leaned close, grinning. ‘Did he get charged once ‘cos she’s too young, and twice ‘cos he never bothered asking if she wanted it?’
    But before she could tell him to piss off, Rebecca and Lucy from her tutor group ran over. Lucy took her hand. ‘You came back!’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘We didn’t think you would.’
    They asked question after question – Were you in the house when it happened? Is it true you spoke to Karyn in the morning? Did she tell you she was going to the police?
    Ellie tried to stay calm. She felt as if she’d been running up stairs, or as if she’d suddenly become asthmatic. It was one thing listening to other people talk, but she didn’t want to go into details herself.
    ‘I’m not allowed to discuss it, sorry.’
    Rebecca looked disappointed. ‘We won’t tell.’
    She grabbed at the best excuse she could think of. ‘The police said I shouldn’t.’
    Lucy put an arm round Ellie’s shoulder. ‘We’re all friends.’
    Ellie cast a quick look round. A boy gave her a wave as their eyes met, a boy next to him shook his head as if he was disappointed. A girl sucked her teeth, leaned back and said, ‘Ellie Parker, you’re so up your own arse.’
    Laughter rippled through the crowd as Ellie moved away.
    Maybe this was what it was like to be famous – not knowing what was real and what was fake, just grinning and trying to let everything wash over you.
    She walked the playground to kill time, head down, eyes on her shoes, one step at a time. Soon this would be over, soon the bell would go and she would be in her tutor room and there would be teachers and work to do. In a few days the great gossip machine would move on. She