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Sarah had been trying to finish a TV show before she had to drive Nick to this party, but the disturbance upstairs kept distracting her. At last she went to the bottom of the stairs. "All right, Nicky?"

"Yeah, Mum. Only—" He came out of his room in a blue shirt she'd always liked on him. "What d'you think, is this too small?"

"I'd say so, yeah." He liked fitted clothes, but this went beyond fitted. She hadn't realised quite how much he'd grown this year.

Nick groaned in frustration. "I have literally nothing to wear!" he cried as he hurried back into his room.

Sarah smiled to herself. So, he'd reached the having to look nice for parties stage. Well, she'd known it was coming. Not that Nick ever went out looking awful, but he'd always been pretty satisfied to pick a shirt out of his closet and wear it, without fussing about it.

Not tonight, it seemed. Another groan of frustration, and then the bathroom door slamming shut.

Sarah went back to her show, but she kept an eye on her watch. It was going to be time to take him to the party soon enough, and he'd be late if he didn't hurry.

She went back to the bottom of the stairs. "Nick?"

No answer. The bathroom door was still shut. Ordinarily, Sarah wouldn't have pushed him—people were always late to parties—but she had her own plans after she dropped him off, and she didn't want to be late for those.

She went halfway up the stairs. "Nicky? You about ready?"

"No!"

"How much longer, do you think?"

Another groan of frustration. "As long as it takes to get my hair to do—something. Anything!"

Sarah went the rest of the way up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Can I see?"

He opened the door and looked at her. Sarah frowned, trying to decide what he didn't like. "It looks the same, Nicky."

"I know!" He turned back to the mirror, lifting his bangs and letting them fall. "See? Boring. I look … just like everyone else."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far." She edged into the bathroom next to him. "But if what you're looking for is some body, we could—do you mind if I try something?"

He frowned at her in the mirror, then nodded.

Well, this was serious. If a teenaged boy was willing to let his mother do his hair, there was clearly someone special he wanted to impress. "All right, then, let's see here."

She managed to feather it a bit, give it a bit more lift than usual, and Nick studied himself critically in the mirror before nodding. "Thanks, Mum."

"Of course. Now, let me look at you."

He turned, and she surveyed him. He was wearing khakis, and a white T-shirt with a patterned short-sleeve button-down over it.

"Whoever she is, if she doesn't think you look good, she's not worth worrying about."

"MUM!" he shouted, outraged. "What makes you think—"

"That there's someone you're trying to impress? Take a look at your room. How many shirts did you try on?"

"Only a few. Seven."

"Seven?" Sarah smiled, teasing him. "Must be serious."

He rolled his eyes, pushing past her. "Can we just go?"

"I've been asking that for the last half hour."

He was very quiet in the car on the way over. She wondered if whoever it was he was trying to look good for tonight was the reason he'd been so preoccupied and perturbed all week. She'd kept surprising him with such a distressed look on his face, but he would always say everything was normal when she asked about it. Sarah had assumed he'd had a fight with Charlie, since he'd come home from Charlie's last weekend acting distant and distracted and she hadn't heard Charlie's name again all week, but maybe it was something to do with a girl. If this went on much longer, she'd have to get some answers.

Sarah wanted to say something to Nick before she dropped him off, to remind him that he was a teenager, and things that seemed like life or death at sixteen turned out to pass by so quickly. But he was still sixteen, after all, and that was wisdom for another age entirely. She decided to make sure she got here right on time to pick him up, just in case.

"I'll be here at 11 sharp, all right?"

"All right." He had perked up some as they got closer.

"Have fun, Nicky." It was as much a wish as anything else. Sarah shook her head as she drove away. You couldn't pay her to be a teenager again.

Sarah and her friends were just leaving the restaurant when Nick texted her unexpectedly. "Mum, can you pick me up?"

"It's so early—you okay?"

"Yeah, just not feeling well."

She made her excuses to her friends and drove over to the party. Nick was waiting outside, by himself. He got into the car, not looking at her. "You need anything, Nicky?"

"No."

"Did something happen at the party?"

He made a strangled sound she couldn't interpret. "No!"

It was clear she wasn't going to get any answers, so she stopped asking—but that didn't keep her from hearing the way he sniffed or seeing the hasty swipe of his sleeve across his eyes. Nick was trying his hardest not to cry. She had seen him that way so many times when he was younger, but the last time had been years ago. He hated to cry and rarely let anyone catch him at it.

Whoever the girl was, something must have gone terribly wrong. Sarah didn't push, in the car, but when they got home and Nick made to run straight up the stairs, she stopped him, looking up into his face. "You going to be okay?"

He pressed his lips together, looking so distressed it hurt her heart. "Fine."

"You'd tell me if there was something I needed to know?"

Nick nodded. She could tell he was losing the fight with his tears, so with a final pat on the arm she let him go. Holding him there would only make him hold the crying in until it made him sick, she knew that from long experience. It hurt her heart to let him cry by himself, but he didn't want her to see him like that, so she had to just let him work it out … and be grateful that he had Nellie to hold on to.

He was downstairs and dressed and drinking a cup of tea very early the next morning, especially given how long she'd heard him crying in his room the night before. "Nick?"

"Okay, Mum. I'm just … um, running over to Charlie's quickly."

"All right." It was pretty early—they didn't usually see each other before noon. Maybe Nick was going over to get Charlie's advice on whatever had happened last night.

Then, as she watched him run out into the rain in only a jumper, as though he didn't even realise it was raining, Sarah had another sudden thought. What if whatever had happened the night before had involved Charlie?

No. Surely not. Charlie was on the rugby team, so maybe he had been invited, but she had a hard time imagining him at Harry Greene's party. But if he had been there … after Nick had acted so strange after coming home from his house … after Nick had clearly dressed up for someone last night … and she'd never heard Nick mention a girl's name …

She told herself firmly to stop right there, that if Nick had something to tell her he would.

Sarah went back to her coffee, but the half-formed idea remained in the back of her mind.