The party at Naomi's has come down. The star shaped fairy lights are flickering, close to death. Empty bottles of alcohol lie abandoned on the floor. Teenagers sleep anywhere they've fallen. The song Living In Misery by Kill Hannah quietly plays from the speakers and echoes around the silent house. The teenagers that are still awake are gathering themselves up to leave. JJ is with Freddie, who is distracted and anxious.

"Fuck's sake, where is she?" Freddie panicked, looking around. JJ closed his eyes and counted to ten. He could kill Effy and her unpredictability sometimes. "I swear J, she was with me five minutes ago! I can't find her anywhere!"

Freddie clutched his head and stormed into the bathroom. No, she wasn't there.

JJ followed him to the kitchen. No.

"OH GOD!" Freddie wailed. His heart was pounding. He'd last seen her with the bag of coke. She'd walked away from him and went upstairs. When he'd tried to follow, she looked at him with a stare that could challenge Medusa, causing him to back off and go hang out with JJ and his pack of cards. Now he couldn't find her. She wasn't upstairs any more.

"FUCK!" Freddie shouted, kicking the washing machine. JJ flinched. He didn't like seeing Freddie like this. He preferred him happy, chilled, no worries. But Effy didn't make him like that. In the past 12 months, JJ had seen Freddie practically age twenty years.

"Calm down Freds.. we'll find her," JJ assured him. "Don't get so locked on."

Freddie glared at him.

JJ shut up. Seeing Pandora, he asked if she'd been with Effy at all.

"I was doing surf and turf baby!" she answered cheerfully. Freddie resisted the urge to strangle her. Her dippiness was not what he needed right now. Where was Effy? She'd just had cocaine. Fuck knows what state she'd be in now. Why couldn't he have just stayed with her? Ignored her refusal to be with him? She was his girlfriend. No – she was more than that. In his eyes, she was everything.

"GOD!" Freddie yelled, frustrated. He HAD to find her. He wasn't leaving until he did. Taking out his mobile, he called her. She was No. 1 on his dial list.

"I'm sorry but the person you're calling is unavailable, please leave a mes-" Freddie snapped the phone shut. He shut his eyes tight, trying hard not to let tears escape. His heart was hammering against his ribcage. His forehead was burning up. Sweat broke out in the palms of his hands. Wiping his brow, he shook his head and set off in the direction of the garden. He'd looked there before, but that was when it had been full of people. Now, it was empty due to the freezing cold. He held out his phone, using the lit up screen as a torch.

"Freds, do you really think she's going to be in the garden? She's a refined girl, I'm sure she has better taste.." JJ said, now on a tangent. Freddie shook his head. "JJ, Effy is not refined. And the garden's the only place I haven't properly checked."

They walked a whole lap round. Nothing.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Freddie burst out, dropping to his knees on the wet grass. He was tired. Physically. Emotionally. This was too much. Taking out his phone, he called her again.

"Freds!" JJ cried. Freddie had heard it too. A phone was ringing nearby. "Fuuck.. where is she?.. What the hell?" Freddie muttered, desperately looking around.

"FREDDIE!" JJ shouted. Freddie turned. JJ was pointing into the garden shed. "LOOK!"

Getting up at lightning speed, Freddie ran to the shed, panting.

He wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved.

He'd found Effy.

But she was lying there motionless, phone beside her.

"Oh no.." he breathed. He hoped to God she was still breathing. Her body was curled up in the foetal position. She looked vulnerable, delicate, fragile.. she always looked like that. Goosebumps covered her pale arms that were gathered up into her chest. Freddie wanted to curl up beside her, hold her close and keep her warm. He wanted the vulnerability to leave her alone forever.

"She's ok," JJ told him, taking his hand away from her pulse. Freddie nodded numbly. JJ watched as he took off his hoodie and carefully wrapped it around the unconscious, frozen angel on the floor below them. He then picked her up, her covered body strewn over his tanned arms. "Come on honey.." Freddie whispered into Effy's ear, not caring that she couldn't hear him. All he cared about was taking her back to his house, where she would sleep in his bed, back in the warmth. Her mother, Anthea, wasn't home and Effy had no keys with her. She didn't care about anything.

Apart from Freddie, apparently.

After Freddie had dropped JJ off at his house, he carried Effy until he reached his. He struggled to get his keys out and open the door while holding her, but after a few attempts, the door creaked open and he was inside.

"Oh what the HELL?"

Freddie looked up to see his sister, Karen, standing at the top of the stairs. "Not now Karen.." he said firmly, putting his keys down and re-adjusting Effy's body. "This is getting sick – she's always passing out! God! How careless can you get?" Karen ranted. Freddie pushed past her, blocking out everything she said. He'd heard her opinions about Effy before and to be honest, he never listened. Karen didn't know Effy. Therefore, she had no right to judge or call her every name under the sun. "Freddie, when are you going to get some sense into your head and dump the girl? How can you handle her being all depressed? It's as if you enjoy it – first mum, now Ef-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Freddie shouted angrily. "JUST SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! JUST DON'T!"

Karen smirked. "Talk about who? Mum or that out of control girlfriend of yours?"

Freddie went silent. Staring over his sister with his chocolate brown eyes, he looked like he could kill her. "You're gonna regret that." He turned away, leaving Karen with the threat of tears glistening in her eyes. You've gone too far..

Freddie lay Effy down underneath the covers. Gently, he fluffed up the pillows and wrapped the covers right into her. There. She'd be warm again. She'd be safe. Taking off his shirt and jeans, he curled up beside her, like he'd wanted to in the shed where he'd found her. With him there, she'd always be safe.

He'd make sure of it.