Téa told me her plan afterwards.

"He lives on another estate," she said. "The one opposite the football ground?"

"I know it," I told her, only I couldn't look her in the eye. Not after what we'd just done. I was embarrassed. I'd never felt anything like it. It was like I'd never felt anything like it. It was like I'd had the maddest dream and then woken up. Only it hadn't been a dream because Téa was right there, and I could still feel her touching me.

"He goes to work - driving a taxi," she said. "He'll be out."

"What - we need to go now?"

Téa nodded.

"Why aren't you looking at me?" she asked.

I was going to lie to her but something stopped me. I decided to be honest instead.

Téa listened to me and then sort of smiled. "I like you, Yugi," she said. "You're not like him."

"Like who?" I asked, confused again.

"The one who hurt me," she said.

"But why would I be like him?"

Téa went back over to the window.

"No reason," she mumbled. "I'm just... I need to rest, Yugi. And I can't do that if he's out there, getting away with it. He might hurt someone else too."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, deciding that I would help after all.

Téa turned to me and smiled. "Thank you," she said. But her eyes didn't smile along with her mouth. They just looked sad.

"I'm not hitting him or anything," I told her. "Not like Rafael. I won't do that again."

Téa nodded. "I promise you won't have to hit him," she told me. "We just need to get something from his flat."

"His flat?"

she nodded again.

"Don't worry," she said. "He won't be there. You just have to break in and take what I want and that's it."

I started to feel uneasy. What did I know about breaking into flats? I wasn't a thief.

"But how do I get in?" I asked her.

Téa came and sat down and explained everything to me. When she was done, she took my hand.

"Do you promise?" she asked, looking into my eyes. "Please, Yugi."

"I really, really like yo," I said. "You know I do."

"So promise," she repeated.

"Are we, like, together, then?" I asked. "Like you're my girlfriend?"

Téa half-smiled. "If you want me to be," she replied.

"And if I do this - is that it? No more dodgy stuff?"

She nodded. "Promise," she said. "After this I won't ask you for anything else, ever."

"OK then," I told her. "I'll do it."

The flat Téa wanted me to break into had a grubby, stained door with peeling blue paint, and a panel of glass in the middle. I stood on the landing and tried not to panic. I was alone. Téa had gone off again, telling me that she had something else to do and would see me back at my grandpa's. I wasn't happy, but I'd agreed to break in on my own. I waited a few moments, just to be sure that no one would appear. There were ten doors on the landing, five on each side. That was nine other residents who might catch me at any time. As fast as I could, I took the small hammer I'd borrowed from my grandpa's tool kit, wrapped the head of it in my scarf and broke the glass. I held my breath.

The scarf muffled the sound of the glass but my heart still beat faster and I still expected someone to catch me at any moment. But when no doors opened, I calmed down a bit. I reached through the hole and tried to find the handle. I was wearing my gloves and had my hood pulled up over a beanie hat. If anyone did see me, they'd call the police for sure.

At last I found the handle and the skanky door fell open. I darted inside and shut the door behind me. The flat was even smaller than ours, with one small hallway, and three doors leading from it. I opened the first one and saw a tiny bathroom, which stank. On the other side there was a kitchen, with just enough space for a cooker, a small fridge, and a worktop. The sink was coated in grime and there were empty fast-food cartons piled up on the floor. It smelled worse than the bathroom. The last door was a combined bed and living room, with two big windows that looked out over the city. The floor was covered in a nasty brown carpet, and the bed was unmade. Three ashtrays sat on a small wooden table, each of them overflowing with butts. There was an old telly, a mini stereo and a pile of clothes as well. It was nasty. Whoever lived in the flat was a lazy dirty slob.

Téa had told me that the thing I was to get was taped to the back of the cooker. I went into the kitchen, kicked the empty food cartons away, and looked at it. It was covered in a layer of grease and something furry and mouldy sat in one corner. I began to pull it away from the wall, glad that I had gloves on.

It took a few goes but at last the cooker came forwards. A load of cockroaches scuttled out from their hiding place under the bottom. I ignored them and leant over it, but I couldn't see anything. There was a pipe and a wire, but nothing else.

I leaned further across to look again, and the grease got onto my jeans. And that's when I saw it, right at the base of the cooker. A plastic bag like you'd get at the supermarket. I reached down and pulled it away, standing right on my toes. It came free after a couple of tugs and I stood up. I wanted to see what was in it but I decided to wait until I got back. I shoved the package under my top, pushed the cooker back and left the flat. My heart was racing now and I could hear the blood pumping around my head. I had to hurry.

Back on the landing, I shut the door as quietly as I could. Suddenly I heard a voice - a man. Then one of the other doors began to open. Panicked, I sprinted towards the stairs and only just made it. The man's voice was followed by a woman's - both of them speaking in loud African accents. I ran down all ten flights of stairs, until I was outside in the snow again. There were very few people around and I set off for the bus stop, praying that I wouldn't get caught. The bus turned up soon and before I knew it, I was back on my own estate.

But when I got home, Téa hadn't come back. I waited for her to show up, but she didn't. By the time grandpa got back from work, I had realised that she wasn't coming.