I spent the next few days at home as school was still closed. The cold weather just got worse and my grandpa moaned about having to walk to work because the buses weren't running.

"It's mad," he said. "you'd think they could clear the roads."

I was eating toast and peanut butter and wondering when Teà would come round.

"What have you been doing with your time off?" Grandpa asked me.

"Nothing much," I said. "I've not got any homework and there's nothing much going on."

He looked at me and smiled.

"Try and go out," he said. "You can't stay cooped up here all day."

"I have been out," I told him.

"Good. At the weekend we'll do something, OK?"

I shrugged. "I'm not ten years old anymore, grandpa. You don't have to do stuff with me just coz I might get bored."

He shook his head and set down his coffee mug.

"That's not why I do it," he said. "We should spend more time together - that's what families do. I know things haven't been easy since..."

I watched his face turn red and thenhe swallowed like there was a lump in his throat. I knew that he was trying not to cry. I didn't say anything.

"See you later," he said at last. Then he rushed out to work.

I sat and thought about what had happened to our family. How we'd supported my dad through a big mess he'd been in after mom died, only for him to leave us as soon as he was sorted. And he left us in a total mess, with no money and stuck on this grotty estate. I was only in Year 5 when it all happened but I wasn't stupid. I knew that my dad was a waste of space.

I was still thinking about my dad when Teà turned up.

"You OK?" She asked, as soon as I let her in.

"Yeah," I said. I didn't mean it.

Teà could see I was in a state. She asked if i wanted to talk.

"It's..." I began to try to tell her about it, but then I started to cry. I got angry with myself for being such a baby and that made me cry even more. I only stopped when Teà kissed me.

"Shhh..." She whispered.

The touch of her lips lingered on mine. The kiss was ice cold and sweet, but so light that it felt like it wasn't real. I stopped crying and wiped my eyes on the sleeve of my top.

"Tell me," she said. "That's what friends are for."

"Is it?" I asked. "I don't have any friends."

"Apart from me," she said.

I nodded, and felt myself break into a little smile.

"Apart from you," I repeated.

When I was a kid my dad had been a science teacher. We'd lived in a different part of the city, in a nice house with a garden and lovely neighbours. I grew up around books and music and that's why I love them both now. My parents seemed to get on fine but then one day everything changed. I was about eight. I heard them arguing in the kitchen. I walked in and my mom was crying. She took me by the hand and said I had to go to my room. When I asked what was wrong, she just shook her head and told me not to worry.

The next day, I was in school, in the middle of a maths lesson, when I got told to go to the headmistresses office. When I got there, there were two police officers, one man and one woman. The head teacher took me by the hand andsat me on a chair next to her. And that's when the police told me that my mother had died in a car crash. Some drunken idiot had swerved in the road straight into her car.

My Grandpa moved in with us the day after as my dad was never home to look after me properly. Always at the pub, drinking to forget.

A week later the police came to our house and took my dad away. He looked angry and upset and kept telling them they had made a mistake. But the police took him anyway and my grandpa sat and cried. My dad was away for a long time. Any time grandpa and I went to the shops or the cinema, people would shout at us and swear. I didn't know why they were doing it but it really got to my grandpa and he got really depressed. Then, about a year after my dad was taken away, we had to leave our house. My grandpa promised me it would be like an adventure, and we packed some of our stuff into boxes. That's how we ended up on the estate, stuck in our crappy flat.

At first it wasn't too bad because no one knew us, so people didn't shout at us in the street. But soon that changed and my grandpa started to get sad again. Some of the older lads started to all me names and no one would be my friend. I got bullied and beaten up and had things thrown at me - and all because of my dad.

I mean, I don't think my dad did anything. The police didn't charge him and he didn't go to jail. It was all a big mistake. But even after he was released, people were still mean to grandpa and me. I still get loads of grief - like the lads who called me names and bullied me. That's how it's been ever since. Only now we can't move again because we'vegot no money. So we're stuck and my dad has just abandoned us, even though he's not in trouble any more and everything is OK. I don't even know what he does any more. See, it might be fine for him but it's not fine for us. I hate him.

When I finished telling Teà all this, she held my hand.

"Do you still see your dad?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"I don't ever want to see him," I told her. "He's a bastard."

"Don't you miss him?"

I shook my head.

"I was only little when he went," I said. "And he's never even sent me a birthday card since."

"Are you like him - like, do you look like him?"

I shrugged. "Dunno," I said. "And I don't care either. Why do you want to know?"

Teà shrugged back at me.

"No reason," she told me. "What about the bullies - do they hang around the estate?"

I nodded. "You know how we took the long way round, to get to the park?" I said.

Teà nodded.

"That's why," I told her. "The worst one is called Rafael." I rolled up theleft leg of my jeans.

Teà gasped when she saw the scar on my shin. It was about two inches long and thick.

"What the...?"

"It was a broken bottle," I told her. "Rafael told me that if I told anyone he'd kill my grandpa. I pretended that I'd scraped my leg falling off a wall."

"Oh my God!" Teà said.

"He takes my money too," I told her.

Her face changed and I could see that she was angry. "How old is he?" She asked.

"Dunno - he's not at school any more, so he's maybe about seventeen?"

"He's two years older than you!" Teà sounded really angry now.

I shrugged and rolled my jeans down again.

"We're gonna get him." Teà said.

I felt my stomach sink and I shook my head. "How can we get him?" I asked. "He'll just beat us up."

Teà looked into my eyes.

"Do you turst me?" She asked.

I nodded.

"So if I tell you we can get Rafael, you believe me, OK?"

"But..."

Teà told me she had to go.

"But I thought we were going to.." I began. She cut me off.

"I'll be back tomorrow - promise," she said in a stern voice that made me nervous.

"OK," I mumbled. I wished that I hadn't told her about the bully. He would kill me for sure.

"But there's one thing, Yugi," Teà added. "If I help you, then you have to promise to help me."

"Help you do what?"

Teà shook her head.

"You have to promise, and not ask any questions."

"But..."

"Just listen, Yugi!" she shouted. Her face was even paler and her eyes blazing with anger.

She startled me. I shrugged and moved away from her.

"Sorry, Yugi," said Teà. "I didn't mean to shout. But if I get rid of your problem with Rafael, for good, will you help me?"

I thought about my life without the bullies in it and how much easier it would be.

"OK," I said.

"No questions asked?"

"Agreed."

Teà leant over and placed another kiss on my lips. It felt as strange as the first one - almost as light as air.

"I'll be back tomorrow," she said.

Now I look back, I should have seen what was happening. Teà had me in a spell and I was blind. Maybe if I hadn't been so into he, things would have been different. I didn't know it at the time, but being with Teà was going to turn my whole world to crap...

Dun Dun Duuuuuhhhhhh

Sorry I took so long to upload the next chapter my laptop died. R.I.P. It tookme this long to get a new one but now I can write now so yey.