Chapter 9: “They don’t take your heart out when you become an adult, you know.”
It—didn’t happen.
Whatever had gone down between Jack and Luca at the leisure centre, there was no sign of it when Mam caved in under the pressure of Tav feeding his youngest sister Amy packets of sweets and letting her bounce off the walls. By the time he was released—both from Mam and from endless lunchtime and after-school detentions at school, it was early December, and Jack Collins was apparently steering well clear of either of them.
Good decision, far as Tav was concerned.
Sure, Jack glared across corridors and classrooms if they did see him, but he didn’t approach, and Luca’s good mood just kept getting better as Christmas approached. He liked Christmas—that little-kid glee hadn’t worn off, Tav reck
