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‘No, Tom.’ I have no intention of buying him bright orange sports shoes. First, I’m sure the school won’t like it. They’re very strict on dress code.Verystrict. And second, I don’t want him looking like Pauly Neilson.

‘So, what did you get for dinner?’ Tom asks.

‘Fun picnic stuff. I know it’s a little chilly but the sun’s still out. I thought we’d go to the park and eat Nutella sandwiches.’

The eldest Neilson brother, Lloyd, shoots past on a green BMX, spraying bark chips as he bikes across the flowerbeds at an insane speed.

His head has been shaved at the sides with zigzag tramlines, and he darts his bike back and forth, eyes wide and manic.

I notice a smudge behind his ear. No, not a smudge – a bruise.

Funny place to have a bruise.

‘Aall riiight, Tom!’ he yells, words a little slurred and sort of garbled. It’s the same kind of slurry speech his mother had when I met her at the school gates and I wonder if he’s on something. ‘Toooo … morrow, ye-ah?’

‘Yes, okay.’ Tom gives another meek little smile.

‘You play with Pauly’s older brother?’ I ask.

‘Notplay. Sometimes he talks to us. We’re like his foot soldiers.’

‘Broaden your friendship net a bit. Keep your options open.’

‘I don’t get to choose,’ says Tom. ‘You don’t, with Lloyd.’

‘He had a funny bruise behind his ear,’ I say. ‘Did you notice it?’

‘What?’

‘A bruise. Lloyd had a bruise behind his ear. Strange place to have one. How do you think he got it?’

‘Lloyd doesn’t like talking about that kind of stuff.’

‘What stuff?’

‘He gets in trouble with Mr Cockrun if he talks.’

‘What? Why on earth would he get in trouble?’

‘Mr Cockrun is funny. You never knowwhatyou’re gonna get in trouble for.’

‘You haven’t been in trouble, have you?’ I ask. ‘With the headmaster?’

Tom kicks a stone. ‘Nottrouble. I’ve been to his office.’

‘Why?’

‘He wanted to tell me the school rules. He said we mustn’t talk about the school to other people. I have to be a nice boy and then everything will be okay.’

‘Mustn’t talk?’

‘We cantalkbut we have to say nice things. We’re a family. You don’t say bad things about your family.’

‘This doesn’t sound right, Tom. I should talk to him again.’

‘No!’

‘But Tom—’