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me.
    ‘I can’t stay here any longer,’ he said. ‘Mum’s working nights this week. I have to get back before twelve-fifteen or else Caitlin and Siobhan’ll be on their
own.’
    I wanted to ask him why Siobhan couldn’t look after Caitlin. Why she couldn’t stay on her own. But his eyes were stripping me of the power of speech. Or maybe it was all the beer and
rum.
    ‘Promise me you’ll go straight inside and find Grace and James,’ Flynn said. ‘Tell James I want him to take you home, to make sure you get back all right. And promise me
you’ll go soon. Okay?’
    I nodded. He pointed towards the house. ‘I’ll watch you back inside. Go on.’
    I walked carefully back along the pavement, feeling ridiculously happy. At the door I turned. Flynn was still watching me. He raised his hand in a wave, then spun round, shoved his hands in his
pockets and vanished into the night.

 
10
    I went straight up to Grace and James when I got back to the party. They were all over each other. I had to stand right next to them for about ten seconds before they even saw me.
    ‘I’ve just been sick,’ I said.
    ‘Oh, Riv.’ Grace made a sympathetic face. But I could see she was in no mood to leave. James said nothing. I turned to him.
    ‘Flynn saw me being ill. He’s gone, but he said I should ask you . . .’ I stopped. Apart from not really wanting to talk about Flynn in front of Grace, it struck me that there
was really no need for James to come home with us at all. Emmi, Grace and I were perfectly capable of making our own way back.
    But James was already nodding. ‘He wants me to take you home? That’s fine,’ he said.
    ‘What?’ Grace was looking at him, horrified.
    ‘Both of you, I mean,’ James said hastily.
    Grace frowned. ‘Are you really feeling ill, Riv?’
    I swallowed. I wasn’t too bad, not any more. But I’d promised Flynn I’d let James make sure I got back okay. And I’d said I’d leave soon. I frowned. Something about
the leaving soon thing didn’t quite make sense, though I couldn’t put my finger on what.
    ‘Grace, why don’t you find Emmi? Tell her River’s not well. Needs to go,’ James said quickly. ‘I’ll get her a drink of water.’
    Grace looked at him, then nodded. She disappeared out of the room. As soon as she was gone, James grabbed my arm. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
    I stared at him. ‘I’m fine, look, Flynn was just suggesting you might take me home. He wanted me to go soon. But there’s no need – I feel okay now. And I’ll be with
Emmi and Grace when I do leave.’
    James shook his head. ‘He’ll be really annoyed at me if I don’t do what he said. Anyway,’ his face reddened, ‘Grace is staying with you, isn’t she?’
    I frowned. ‘How d’you mean, “really annoyed at you”? Why would he be? I don’t understand.’
    ‘Me and Flynn have an agreement. He lets me copy his English and history homework. Then, if he asks me to do something like this, I do it. No questions.’
    My frown deepened. ‘How often does he ask you to walk his . . . his friends home?’
    ‘He hasn’t before. But sometimes he asks me to meet his sister from work. If he has to be somewhere else. Once I was late and he was so mad, I thought he was going to hit
me.’
    ‘Why does he always meet his sister?’ I said.
    James shrugged. ‘Dunno. He’s never said. He only says that he has to look after her.’ He paused, blushing again. ‘Look. It’s no big deal,’ he said.
    ‘Okay,’ I said slowly, my mind whirling. Why was Flynn so protective of his sister? And why, now, was . . .
    ‘Why’s he doing this for me?’ I said.
    ‘He’s probably worried about you going home drunk,’ James said. ‘He’s got a massive thing about alcohol. All drugs, but alcohol especially. Never touches
it.’
    ‘I know,’ I said. ‘What’s that about?’
    James shrugged again. ‘No idea. But I’ve never seen him have so much as a sip of beer and he gets really angry if you