I ran into Fiona's room to make sure she was up, Debbie was on her bed already. I jumped up to join them but realised Debbie was going on and on about death "yeah I am out" I said and bounced over Fi. "can't a brother get some sleep!" She moaned as I ran out of the room. "Is everyone up? I'm going to play the piano" I yell as I stuck my head into the boy's room before heading downstairs.

I had only just started on some etudes when there was a knock on the door, no one else was downstairs so I went and answered. "I think Pete's gone" Hanna said and walked past me. "Gone?" I repeated. She went to the fridge and poured herself a glass of milk. "Vans gone, and the tables and chairs they store in the alley if they are just moving it" she said. "Damn, his dad was planning on doing a robbery. Maybe shit happened?" I said as I put the milk back in the fridge. "I'm going to see what Cue knows, want to come?" Hanna said after she sculled the glass of milk. I nodded and headed upstairs to put on some clothes. "Who is here?" Fi asked "Hanna, we're going to Cues" I said. "Can you take Liam? I think Debbie needs a break from childcare and Lip and Ian have already left" Fi said. "Ok" I mumbled and headed into my room.

One of the kids rushed over to Liam and started to entertain him, Cue, Hanna and I went into the kitchen. "I hate these kids so much, I haven't been out of this house for a week. Cousin pissed off somewhere and no one else is picking up the others" Cue mumbled. "That sucks, I could come over more but got to still do practice, busking and daycare" I offered. "Thanks Luce" he mumbled. He looked older and tired, 11 years old and 6 kids under 8 to look after. "What you doing here now?" he asked as he opened the fridge but ended up getting nothing out, there wasn't much in there. "I can't find Pete, you heard anything?" Hanna asked. Cue smirked at her, "nah but he is a drifter, this is what they do. Just go" Cue said. "He didn't even say goodbye" Hanna whined, "that happens, you get used to it" I said and patted her back. "Damn" she mumbled. "Look after Liam and I'll go to the shops now and get youse some food, I got a $20" I told Cue. "I got a bit too so we can get a few things" Hanna added. Cue just nodded.

Cue poured the packet of crisps onto the table and the kids started grabbing them. Hanna gave him a weird look, he shrugged. "It's easier that way" he said. Liam waddled over and helped himself too, "which ones don't live here? We could just take them home and run off?" I suggested. "Cousin will probably kick me out if I do that and I don't want to be homeless. Dad wrote me a letter though, said he has a parole hearing soon and that he thinks about me every day. I can't wait til he gets out" Cue said. "That's awesome" I said. One of his cousins grabbed another kids hair and started pulling it, Cue went over and whacked the hair pulling kids on the arse. He let go and started screaming, "shut up and behave both of you" Cue yelled at them. Liam dropped his crisp and came over to me for a hug. "Do you have anything we could watch?" Cue asked. "Where's the last lot I gave you? I'll bring more tonight" We stayed for a bit longer and I tried to entertain the kids. "I hate how he hits them" I mumbled to Hanna as we left. "How else is he going to control them?" she said.

Ian was busy doing pull ups on the doorframe bar while I hung off his waist and Carl punched his stomach. "Ah, dude, stop" Ian told Carl "It's the best way to get abs, saw it on a you tube video" Carl said. Lip came up the stairs, "hey fuckwads" he said. "dickhead" Carl said. "twat" I replied. "Spazes" "buttplug" I added. "Do you even know what that is?" "Something to do with the butt" Carl said. Ian switched to doing sit ups. "Yo. I was at the lab talking to this Army guy from the pentagon, he's a colonel or something. I thought he could tell us a bit more about West Point" Lip said as he lit a pipe. Debbie came up the stairs and pushed Carl and I while singing off tune "get over it Debbie!" I yelled at her as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door. "What's up with Debs?" Lip asked "obsessed with death" Carl said "apparently Harry's the first person she's known that's died" I said. "No way, people around here die all the time" Ian said. "Anyway, I thought this guy might be a good lead" Lip continued "I don't know, took that practice trig test today. Only got a 73" Ian said "5 points higher than last time" "I cheated" "Why would you want to go in the army anyway? You're gonna get shot through the butt hole" Carl asked. "Hey twat, the only reason you're not in summer school is because they wouldn't have you" lip said.

"Hum the piano bits" Lip told me, I rolled my eyes but did as he said. He clapped when I finished the piece. "Another song down then?" he asked. I nodded. His phone buzzed, he glanced at the screen. "Carl, Ian, Debbie!" He yelled. "What?" I asked. "Put your shoes on and find V and Ethel, we are going out for dinner" he said. "Mc Donalds?" I asked. "Nope" he replied. "Dine and dash?" "Nope, Fi said it's her shout" he said as the others stomped down the stairs. "Get V" he told me again. I nodded and ran out.

The restaurant was busy, I managed to sneak a few bills from people before we even sat down. Fi said we could order anything we wanted; we even got a couple of extra plates for the table. We then got busy filling our plates with the yummy stuff from the salad bar. I came prepared with a big bag and some plastic baggies and filled a couple of them up with chicken nuggets and bread rolls. Carl was more conservative the first time and was soon up again, I took the opportunity to go up again and find a couple more bills. Our food had been served when we got back to the table "my steak is too rare" V said. "Well have this one then" Fiona said and passed over another steak to her "what was the final tally in the purse?" Lip asked "526 bucks" Fi said as she licked her fingers. "Jesus, who carries around that kind of cash?" Ian asked. Fi looked in the purse "Kim Furtado" she read. "Some rich bitch" V said. "In our neighbourhood?" Ian asked. "Nah, I was in Glencoe having coffee with a friend" Fi said. "That guy from your diary?" Carl asked. "Shut up and eat your spaghetti taco" Fi told him. "You think it's real? And if so, can I have it?" V asked and looked at the bag. "It is, the LVs are two inches apart, seams are even, stitchings yellow and the leather has turned dark brown from oxidation" Lip said, everyone looked at him. "I read a lot" he said. Fiona turned to look at Debbie who was sitting at the table next to us with Ethel and the babies. I headed up to the salad bar again to stock up on some prawns and more nuggets. "You're getting more?" a girl beside me asked. "What?" I asked. "I saw you before, you got a huge plate" "oh yeah, I'm hungry as" "nice, no way I can eat that much" 'it's a skill" She laughed and pointed to a couple of adults on a table, "that's my parents, want to join us" "I got to go finish this. But thanks" I took my food back to the table and snuck most of it into bags, Liam scored a couple of the nuggets. "Let's go and really stock up" Lip said and pulled some plastic bags from his pocket. "I heart Sizzler" Carl said. Ian and I got up too. The girl from before approached me again "do you want to have dessert with us?" She asked. I joined them, her parents were a bit quiet but nice. Her dad said I could get anything I wanted. I settled on a sundae. The girls name was Millie and she was on holidays. We chatted and played slaps then gobbled up our ice cream. Fi came over with my bag and hat. "Time to go kid." "It was nice meeting you, thanks for the dessert. I hope you enjoy Chicago" I said as I got up and left. "Who was that?" Fi asked when we got outside "Millie, just met her." Fi grabbed my hand and we all walked to the bus stopped.

It was busy so Lip, Ian and I had to stand. "What did everyone get to take home?" I opened my bag for them "good score Lucy" V said. Carl had a couple of bags of nuggets and Lip got similar to me. Fi and V both got a couple of bags of pasta and potato salad. Debbie and Ethel didn't get anything. "Poor form girls" Lip teased. The bus emptied after a couple of stops and we managed to get a seat. "And how many bills did you get Luce?" Lip asked making sure Fi couldn't hear. I pulled the cash from my pockets and he counted it. "Nearly $100" "I couldn't even tell you were doing it Luce" Ian said. "I noticed a couple of people look through their money like they had lost some so figured little miss had been busy" lip said, we all laughed.

I saw Lee walk into the yard and jumped out of the pool to meet him. He still looked sad. "She came back" he mumbled. "Damn it, we took her so far away and next to that crack house too" I said. "I need a shower" he mumbled, I realised he had his bag with him. I nodded and he headed inside.

I sat on the toilet while he showered. "Ok, ask them. I don't know what else to do. The hospital ain't going to keep her even if we can get her there. I can't deal with it anymore Luce, I don't like it" he said, he sounded so tired and stressed. "I know, we will get rid of her don't worry" I told him. He stuck his hand out from the curtain and I chucked him a towel. "I've got to go work now" he mumbled. "Can you drop some stuff to Cues?" I asked him. He nodded.

Fiona's door was closed, "knock first" Lip told me as he walked down the hallway. I knocked on the wall "give me 5" she yelled out. I didn't move "Lucy!" Lip said from the stairs. "What you want her for anyway?" he asked as I squeezed next to him as he went down the stairs. "No tells ok?" I told him. "What?" he asked as he sat on the couch. "You can't tell anyone" I clarified. "Oh, sure. What is it?" he said as he grabbed a smoke from the pack on the coffee table and lit it. "How do you get rid of an addict?" I asked him. "Are you talking about Frank, 'cause we haven't really figured that one out" he said. Debbie shushed us "I'm watching this movie, be quiet" she snapped. Lip nodded towards the kitchen. I followed him in there. "Not Frank, there's a new druggie chick hanging around Lees and she's annoying him, we need to get rid of her" I told him. "Annoying him how?" Lip asked as he got a beer from the fridge, he pointed at the bottle of pop. I nodded and he grabbed it out and poured me a glass. We drank in silence for a bit. "How bad is it?" he asked very carefully. I just shrugged. I knew what was going on and Lee had said I could say if I had to but I didn't want to, and I didn't think I would need to either. "What have you tried?" He asked. "He told her to go away, took all her stuff and we shoved her in a wheelbarrow when she was unconscious and dumped her in Brighton park near a crack house there. She still came back" I told him. "That's a pretty good effort. Might have to take her out further, or get her committed . Let me think" Lip said and lit another cigarette. I sat on a stool and watched him smoke.

"Who knocked on my door?" Fiona asked as she came downstairs. "Me. Can Lee stay for a bit?" I asked her. "Lucy" she sighed. "He won't be here much, he is always working. Just needs somewhere to sleep between work" I said. I noticed she glanced at Lip, but he stopped whatever he was doing when I turned around. I watched Fi as she walked into the kitchen. "Fine, just for a couple of days" she said. I ran over to her and hugged her. "Eww, you're really sweaty" I said. "It's really hot upstairs" she said. "Sure" Lip scoffed "shut up Lip" Fi snapped back. There was a knock on the back door, Lip answered it. Jasmine strolled in and went straight over to Fi and kissed her on the cheek "please tell me you're free for a drink?" She said. "What are you doing here?" Fi asked her. "I needed to get out of the house, the kids are driving me crazy" she said as she helped herself to a beer from the fridge. "So you came to a house with even more kids" Lip joked and walked over to me, he put a hand on my shoulder "come on" he said to me. "Wait, I need to change that dressing" Fi said. Lip squeezed my shoulder then left.

I held my pants down so Fiona could remove the bandage. "Ouch, how did you do that again?" Jasmine said as she squatted down for a closer look. "Don't ask" Fiona said. "Hope it doesn't leave a big scar, you'll hate that when you get older" she said as she stood up again. "I won't care anyway" I said. "Good, if you grow up to be anything like your sister you're going to be one hot babe, hey!" she said and slapped Fi on the arse. Fi chuckled but didn't look to sure about the comment. "Don't look like that" she whispered to me, I hadn't even realised I was pulling a face. Fi cleaned the wound and put a new bandage on, Jasmine watched and downed a beer. "Your hair needs a brush too, go grab one and I'll do that" Fi said. "She's old enough to do that herself. Go get out of here so we can have some girl time" Jasmine said as she slung an arm around Fi's shoulder. Fi gave me a pleading look but I didn't want to spend anymore time with Jasmine so headed up stairs. "Have fun!" I yelled out to her.

I started the piece again and went over the sheet music as it played. I had my earbuds in and didn't hear Debbie. She grabbed my foot which I had been swinging in the air. I rolled onto my side and took the ear buds out, she looked sad not angry so I relaxed a bit. She sat down next to me, "that the next song you're going to learn?" she asked. I nodded, I don't think she had ever asked me about my music before. "What wrong?" I asked her. "I can't stop thinking about Harry, how can people just die like that?" she asked. I didn't know what to say but Debbie didn't wait for an answer anyway. "What if someone else dies? I don't know if I could handle that. You've had it happen how did you not think about it all the time?" she asked. "I did for a bit but … I don't know, friends come over, other stuff happens and you just got to focus on all that instead" I said. "But don't you worry it will happen to another person you know? What if Fiona died? What if everyone dies and leaves me alone?" Debbie said, "I don't think we will all die" I said. "Eventually you will" she said. I shrugged. "How can you not be worried about that, it's all I can think about" she said. "There's so many other things to think about though and you just got to focus on that stuff instead" "I can't Lucy" "you just have to Debs, that's just how it is"

—

Debbie was tidying up the kids table when Carl came over and dumped a bag of blocks on it "nice one" I said as I gave him a high five. Debbie raged "I will stab you until you bleed to death if you don't quit it". Lip quickly intervened and pulled Carl and me away. "Carl, you need to get a summer job. Contribute to the fund so we can make it through the winter" "I've been helping with daycare" Carl said. "Eating all the Mac and cheese is not helping" Ian said and roughed up Carls hair. "Need to put a thousand bucks in the squirrel fund before school" Lip told Carl. "What about Lucy?" Carl said and pointed at me. "I could put a thousand bucks in there by the end of the week" I said. "Help please" Fi yelled and I heard the front door bang closed. "Go help your sister" Lip said, Ian kicked Carl in the arse on the way out. I followed him into the lounge room, Fi had her arms full of boxes and bags of food. "Is this from the purse windfall?" Lip asked "the gift that keeps on giving" Fi said. "Waffles!" Carl yelled as he grabbed a bag. "Blueberry pancakes in there. French toast and scrambled egg whites with sausage for Lieutenant Gallagher" "thanks Fi" Ian said and grabbed the bag she was holding out. "newspaper" which she handed to Debbie "thank you." "New socks, Carl. Throw out the ones with the holes in them" Fi threw them over the bench to Carl. I opened the box with the pancakes in it, they came with a huge container full of maple syrup. I smothered them in the syrup and rolled one up. Lip sat next to me and started eating them with a fork. "19 people died in Chicago yesterday" Debbie read from the paper. "Carton of smokes for you Lip" Fi threw them at Lip. "Wow, this guy died of heat exhaustion, he was only 54" Debbie continued to read aloud. "Put this stuff away, I've got to go meet the rich purse women" Fi said as she heard out of the kitchen. "Take Carl and Lucy. Please. They are so annoying" Debbie begged "no way. That's going to be boring" Carl said. I went to protest too but Fi cut me off "Lucy you're coming". I moaned "get your guitar, I'm working at the salon afterwards, you can busk out the front" I ran to get my guitar. "make sure you get $200 off her for the bag" Lip yelled as we left.

"Your hands are sticky" Fi said as we walked down our street. "Lick them clean before you get it all over your clothes" she added, I started sucking my fingers. She grabbed the guitar of me then pulled a face when she realised the handle was sticky too. She spat on it then wiped it off with her top, she then pulled at my top. "Wow didn't get any on your clothes. It's all over your face though" she licked her finger and started rubbing my cheek. "The romper looks cute on you by the way" she said and played with the straps. "It was the only thing that was clean" I told her. I had managed to avoid it all summer, it was a light blue romper with clouds on it, the bottom was a loose pair of shorts and the top looked similar to overalls but the straps tied up. It was one of the first outfits Debbie chose for herself when she was 6, I didn't fit into it last Summer and was hoping to avoid it this summer. She grinned at me and scrunched up her nose. "You suck" I told her and sulked. She slung an arm around my shoulder, I licked her arm and she quickly took her arm away. "Stop licking me" she said. I held up my hand to her face, "they are still sticky" I said. She grabbed it and stuck my finger in her mouth. "Ewww" I said as I pulled it away. "See not that fun, hey?" I pushed into her, she laughed. "Tastes like the proper maple syrup, fancy" she added.

I was watching my feet swing in the air and hadn't seen Leo approach. "Hi Lucy" he said. I looked up and smiled at him, he had on a Hawaiian shirt and bright yellow sneakers but he wasn't wearing his glasses and it looked like he hadn't shaved in ages, I wondered if he was still at the home but didn't want to ask. "You're not meant to be on the L" I told him. "I know" he said with a grin. "Cheeky" I teased. "Yeah, I won't get off though" he said "good, stay on until you get back to western. You don't want to get beat up again" I said. "Where are your friends?" Leo asked "working" I said. "Do you have candy?" he asked. "Yeah" I said and pulled a lollipop from my pocket. He grabbed it and walked off. I glanced at Fi, she was staring at me. Eventually she just shook her head and went back to looking at her phone.

Fiona and I were looking at all the fancy houses as we walked down the street. Her phone buzzed. She smiled as she read it then text back. "Is that your boyfriend?" I teased her. She stopped in front of one of the houses "I think it's the basement" she said then went and knocked on the door. A lady answered, I could here kids yelling in the apartment. I walked back out to the street and waited for Fi. It didn't take her long to come back up. "It's Fiona, right?" the lady yelled after her. "Yeah" Fi stopped and turned around "we just moved in, the neighbours aren't pleased with the noise. I thought you might be one of them" "oh god no, I live on the south side" Fi said. "Oh, I'm from Kenwood" "back of the yards" "shoot. You didn't see any money in here, did you?" "No, I just looked for your license and cell. That's it" "what a drag, I had like 500 bucks, my rent" "that sucks" "bet some derelict on the train snagged it" "yeah, I'm sorry" "do you wanna come in for coffee?" "I can't, I've got to get to work" Fi said and started to walk away. I followed her. "Well, it's nice to know there's kind people out there." "Don't" Fi warned me. "What? I wasn't going to say anything. Who leaves their bag on the L? And Lip said it was a fancy bag too, she can sell it if she's so desperate for money"

I had noticed the guy staring at me straight away and decided to just ignore him. Others watching were enjoying the music but he was different. I had noticed guys with a similar stare before, Cue and Lee once yelled at a guy with a similar look on the bus. I chose my songs more carefully and didn't move around as much. People walking by dropped some money into my case. I smiled at them. Someone went into the salon, and I caught a glimpse of Fi and V inside. Mr Jenkins stumbled up and sat on the bench near by, I finished a song. "Want me to play your song again?" I asked him, he nodded and closed his eye the moment I played the first cord. Creepy guy continued to stand there and stare. When Mr Jenkins left he came closer, "could you play me a song?" he asked. "I don't know many other songs" I said and nodded at a family that had dropped some bills into the case. I wanted to leave but there was also a crowd of people approaching and I didn't want to miss out on potential money. "What's your name?" Creepy guy asked. "I'm not stupid. You're a creep. Get lost" I told him and started to sing a pop song that was sure to grab the attention of the people approaching. Creepy guy just smiled.

I kicked the ball as hard as I could at Des's cousin, it bounced off his leg. He winced but quickly took off after it. "Stop being an arse" Des told me, "He started it" I mumbled. The ball came flying back onto the road and another kid tried to stop it and kicked it at Des. I noticed Kev coming over to us with a bunch of coconuts. "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts!" I yell out. The other kids laughed. "Having a beach theme at the bar tomorrow" he said. "Really? Can I come?" I asked. "If you help me, you can. Come over to mine in the morning" he said. "Can we come?" Des asked. "No way, it's a bar and I don't want you ferals around" Kev said and walked off. One of the boys threw the ball at Kevs back, Kev just grabbed it and continued home with it.

—

"You have to make a hole in the top so we can use it like a cup. Like this" Kev said as he banged a screwdriver into the coconut, the coconut flew of the table. I ran after it. "What the hell, Kev?" V asked as she came downstairs. "Oh, shit, baby, I'm sorry. I was trying not to wake you" Kev said. "What are you doing up? And what's Lucy doing here?" V asked. "Morning V" I said and brought the coconut back to the table. "Getting ready for the Beach Party at the Alibi room" Kev said to her. "Lucy keep banging the coconuts" he said to me and joined V in the kitchen. They started arguing. "I'm going to the bar to blow up the beach balls" Kev yelled and headed to the door "come on Lucy, bring the coconuts" I gathered them all into a bag and followed Kev, giving V a quick hug on the way out.

Kev went all out at the bar and the rest of the morning was spent putting up decorations, pouring sand on the floor and trying to keep the drunks from ruining it. Kev got me a grass skirt and a flower necklace. I kicked the beach balls at people until V and Debbie arrived. "Hey, look at my skirt" I said as I danced. "Very nice Lucy. Did you help with all this?" V asked. "I did" I said as I spotted a guy about to wee on the sand "hey that's not a toilet" I yelled to him. Thankfully he stopped. "I need a drink" Debs sighed and sat at the bar. V went to talk to Kev. I danced around for a bit. Frank appeared looking miserable and pulling a flat screen in a trolley. "You look like you've seen a ghost" Karen yelled out to him. Frank threw something at Jody. "Ring" he said. Karen screamed and started hugging Jody. Debbie was holding Franks hand. ''Will someone dance with me?" I whined. "Come on Debbie, you just do it like this" I said. "Like this?" V asked as she joined me. Debbie was soon talked into dancing too and we were all soon laughing, a few of the guys joined us too. Frank got up too and started twirling Debbie and I around.

"Did she die?" I asked Frank. "I fucked her to death" he mumbled. "What?" I asked shocked. "She asked for it, knew it would kill her and it did" he said. "I'm going to pretend I don't know that" I told him. "Good idea, tv is yours too" he said. I patted him on the back. "Thanks Lucy" he said.