Lucy finished gathering the discarded toys arrayed around the living room and straightened. She tucked a stray tendril of her short brown hair behind her ear and turned towards the sofa. Charlie sat perched on the edge of his seat, squinting at a rugby match on the television screen. She frowned. "Shouldn't you be wearing your glasses to watch telly?"

"I can see fine, Mum," he murmured.

She set down the basket of toys and strolled up behind him, crossing her arms. "Right. What's the score, then?"

Charlie shrugged. "Three to two?"

"Try five-all." Lucy snatched up the remote and turned the television off.

Charlie groaned. "Mu-um!"

"I'm sorry, Charlie, but you're not watching telly unless you wear your glasses. Now, Izzy will be over soon to work on your presentations. Go put them on or I'll tell her she can't stay."

The boy's eyes widened in alarm. "But…but I can't! I lost them!"

Lucy fixed her son with a hard stare. "Oh, dear. Looks like you'd better find them before she shows up." She reached around into her back pocket and pulled out his glasses case.

With a nervous gulp, he quickly snatched it out of her hand. "Wow! Where'd you find them? I've been looking all over!"

"I used my special mum powers. We can find just about anything, sometimes without even looking." She gazed at the ceiling, her brow furrowed. "The only thing I wonder is what they were doing stashed in the bottom of Molly's sock drawer?"

"She stole them from me?" He offered meekly.

Lucy turned back to him coldly. "The other thing I wonder is why you knowingly went to school this morning without them and didn't say a word about it?"

Charlie looked down at his lap, turning the case over in his hands. "Right. Um. Well…"

"Charlie, you promised us you were going to wear them whenever you needed to."

He met her gaze plaintively. "I tried to! But everyone made fun of me! They said I looked like Penfold from Danger Mouse! I don't even know if Izzy's still going to come over, she won't even talk to me anymore! And it's all because I wore my stupid glasses!"

"Well, it's too bad that nobody likes your glasses, because they're just going to have to get used to them." She nodded at him. "Put them on."

"But Mum-!"

"Put. Them on. Now," she growled menacingly.

Charlie reluctantly removed his dark frames from the case and slipped them on.

"I'll take that," she snatched the case out of his lap and straightened.

"Hey!" He yelled, scrabbling after it.

"Sorry, Charlie. You obviously can't be trusted." She dropped the case into her purse and zipped it shut. "You're keeping your glasses on tonight. And if they happen to 'accidentally' break or get lost again, you can consider yourself grounded." She slipped on her coat and looked out the window as she heard wheels turning in the drive. "Oh, good. Your father's home. Molly!" She turned her head towards the stairs. "Can you come down here, please?"

Molly bounded downstairs just as Lee entered through the front door. He stopped short and looked over Lucy, dressed in her coat and holding her purse. "What, could you hardly wait till I got home to tell me you're leaving me?"

"Molly and I are going out to buy her costume for Amelia's party," Lucy murmured, helping the girl pull on her jacket. "Benji's at football practice. We'll pick him up on our way home. Charlie's expecting Izzy over at any minute to work on their assembly projects. I want you to keep an eye on him." She lowered her voice and leaned towards Lee conspiratorially. "Make sure he keeps his glasses on. He hid them this morning and pretended they were lost. Said it was because the kids were making fun of him at school. You might want to have a word, if you get a chance."

"Right." Lee nodded.

"We'll be off, then!" She stepped back and held her hand out for the car keys.

He tossed them to her. "How was your day, Lee? Oh, it was fine, thanks for asking. I think I might have thrown my back out again after leaning over an engine for half an hour with a right prick of a customer, and I ended up having to work so late I missed having dinner with my family, but it was fine, really."

"There's paracetamol in the bathroom cupboard and a plate of spaghetti bolognaise in the fridge." She laid her hands on his chest and quickly kissed his lips. "Sorry, darling. I'll make it up to you…eventually."

"Yeah, you can pencil me in sometime next month."

"Bye!" She hurried out the door, pulling Molly behind her.

"We're going costume shopping!" The girl chirped happily to her father in passing.

"Have fun!" Lee smiled and closed the door behind them. He strolled over towards the sofa, swinging his arms. "So, what's this I hear about you pretending to lose your glasses?"

Charlie looked away and shrugged.

Lee stopped before him and cocked his head. "Eh, four eyes?"

The boy paled, snapping his head around. "What?"

"You heard me, speccy. What sort of a loser goes around intentionally losing his own things?"

"I don't know," Charlie scoffed. "The sort of loser that cries over a bad back?"

"Good!" Lee nodded encouragingly. "Just how blind do you have to be to not realize you're only hurting yourself when you do things like that?"

"So blind I can't even see Jake McKenzie's stupid face," he grumbled.

"That's it, son!" Lee smiled down at the bespectacled boy. "What did I tell you about the bullies? You've got to beat 'em to the punchline!"

"I tried to, Dad, but it didn't work! Jake started calling me Penfold, and then everyone was doing it! They wouldn't stop, even after I took them off!"

"Sounds like you need to work on your Penfold impression, then." Lee folded his arms. "Remember what I said, Charlie: if you play along, the bullies won't think it's so fun, and you'll get everyone else laughing with you instead of at you."

"It's easy for you to say," Charlie mumbled, looking at the floor. "You don't have to see Jake McKenzie every day."

"I wish I did. I'd tell Jake McKenzie where to get off!"

Charlie hung his head. "And I don't think Izzy even likes me anymore."

Just then, the doorbell rang. Lee strode over and pulled it open. He smiled, casting a knowing look at his son. "Hello, Izzy. How nice of you to come by."

The girl smiled shyly. She stepped inside and set her rucksack on the floor as she removed her coat. "Hi, Charlie's dad."

Lee took her jacket and nodded at the chain hanging over the front of her sweater. "That's a really pretty locket you've got on."

The girl touched it. "My nana gave it to me for my birthday!"

"Wow, lucky you! My nan only ever gave me stale caramels and the burnt ends of her fags to smoke." He looked over at Izzy's mum, frowning in the doorway, and shot her a sheepish grin. "Fitting, considering she's just one giant pile of ashes now."

Izzy strolled over to Charlie, who'd risen from the sofa, as Lee exchanged phone numbers with Izzy's mum. "Hi."

Charlie thrust his hands into his pockets, shifting from foot to foot nervously. "Hi."

"You're wearing your glasses."

"Yeah." Charlie screwed his face up in an ugly expression. "Mum decided to get ready for Halloween early and made me dress up like a four-eyed freak."

She giggled softly, her mouth curled in a delighted smile.

Charlie flushed, feeling a thrill of exhilaration race through his veins. He cleared the remote control, a folded Walton Enquirer, and a copy of the Radio Times from the coffee table. "Want to work on our essays out here?"

"Yeah." She plopped down on the floor beside him and opened her bookbag.

Lee closed the door and turned towards the children. A small smile played across his lips at the sight of the pair huddled together over their papers. "Doesn't like you anymore, my arse," he murmured happily to himself.