I was out of breath by this time, and my side was aching, but I couldn't stop, not in the dodgy alley. I forced myself to keep running until I'd got to the other side and well away, though I felt like I was going to faint now. I was fit enough, but even using the short-cut it was too far to run all the way to the school, as I was learning. I stood for a moment, catching my breath, then remembered Jody and started running again, though my legs felt like lead. It was like that dream people get, where you're being chased but can't run, can't get your legs to move. Only for me, it was real, in every way.

I finally got to the school about twenty minutes after leaving the dumping ground, and by that time I could barely walk. I staggered the last few steps, breathing in desperate, thirsty lungfuls of air and struggling not to keel over, around the back of the school to the back of the playground, facing the tower of scaffolding looming high above me and the rubbled remains of what had once been the staircase.

I hadn't registered the sheer height of the scaffolding the previous day, but now I realised just how high it was; the damage in the area must have affected the whole wall because the scaffolding stretched three floors up, to the top of the school building; much higher than the rungs on which Thomas Fletcher had sat with Sean and Matt the day before. When I'd got my breath back just enough to look around, though, I suddenly noticed that the whole area appeared to be deserted. Something was definitely wrong.

"Jody?" I gasped, still wheezing but trying to make my voice heard. "Are you there?"

For a second there was no response. Then I heard her call, "Tee!"

She sounded scared, but there was another edge to her voice, which I hadn't expected. I peered round again, and through the scaffolding, below the staircase, and then I saw her. The door underneath the stairs, leading to the cellar in which me and Jenny had spent the afternoon on Monday, was open, and at the entrance of the cellar, just behind a load of bricks that had fallen off the stairs, I could see Jody inside. And standing beside her was Thomas, with Matt... and Luke.

Without stopping to think, I ducked underneath the scaffolding and strode over to the rubble.

"Leave her alone!" I yelled at them. As I shouted, the stairs shook slightly. I stopped in my tracks; if they were so dangerous that shouting made them shake, what would happen if I actually walked underneath? Then I remembered Jody, in way more danger underneath it all; if the staircase fell, the whole cellar would fall in, crushing anyone inside. I had to get her out.

Taking a deep breath, I tiptoed forward, careful not to touch the stairs, stamp or do anything that might make them vibrate and fall. I ducked underneath, holding my breath, and stepped out, watching as the tiniest sprinkling of dust fell, but nothing else.

I stepped towards Jody, unsure what Thomas and his friends would do, but they stood back, doing nothing to stop me. This should have worried me, but I was too distracted to notice.

"Are you okay?" I demanded to Jody. "They'd better not have done anything to you..."

She didn't reply, which was also weird; she looked away edgily, looking uncomfortable.

"Jody?" I repeated. "What's going on?" I looked round, following her gaze, and realised that the boys had walked away and were now just in front of the stairs, standing on top of the rubble. I looked back at Jody, and now she looked really frightened. She gave what seemed to be a pleading look to Thomas, who in return shook his head threateningly.

I watched as she gave him one more begging look, then walked back through the door. And I suddenly realised what Thomas was about to do before he stepped forward, holding my tablet in one hand, and a key in the other. I raced forward, but I was still out of breath and a second too late; waving the tablet menacingly, he slammed the door.

I jumped back just in time as a chunk of the ceiling directly next to the door fell in front of me, showering dust in my face as he locked the door. Light streamed in through the gap where it had been, and as the dust settled I tried to fight my way forward, but the bricks off the ceiling were in my way and the dust had gone down my throat and was choking me; I coughed, trying to breath, but it was almost impossible; I couldn't speak anyway.

"Why did you make me do that?" I heard Jody cry, furious. "Tee's my friend! And what she wrote about you lot on Facebook was true! You're all bullies and cowards!"

"Shove off, or you know what'll happen to you," Thomas replied, and I heard her leave. "Now, let's see what's on this tablet."

My heart pounding with a mixture of exhaustion and desperation, I tried again to climb over the ceiling, hammering on the door as hard as I could without making the whole building fall down, but eventually I fell back, shattered, and admitted defeat; it was no use. They had my tablet... and I was trapped.