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Leigh left the bathroom and went downstairs to see if anyone was about. She had to talk to them. She was scared, but she needed to put her foot down. In the grubby kitchen, all three guys were in various stages of toast production, banging on about some night out.

‘Joe was on a winner with that one with the blonde hair,’ said Jamie, popping bread down in the toaster.

‘No, that wasmyone,’ frowned Jacob, pushing back his newly purple shoulder-length hair and buttering his round.

‘She wantedme, mate,’ Joe told Jacob smugly, eating a jam-loaded slice. ‘I thought the brunette was yours.’

‘I don’t even remember a brunette,’ Jacob complained.

Leigh cleared her throat, and everyone turned to her.

‘Leigh! You missed a blinder last night,’ Joe said. ‘I was this close to pulling.’

Leigh smiled, knocked immediately off track. This was the trouble. The boys were quite nice to her. It made it hard to talk to them about their thoughtlessness.

‘Yeah, man. You should come out tonight. I could do with a female wingman,’ Jacob added.

Jamie nodded enthusiastically. ‘Right! You could be chick bait!’

‘I don’t think I want to do that,’ Leigh said.

‘Why not?’

Jamie tutted. ‘We’ll pay it back. Get you some man meat. And if we don’t, I’m sure one of us could…’

She couldn’t let this sentence get any further. ‘Umm, I don’t like man meat.’

Jamie, Jacob, and Joe all swapped looks. ‘Oh,’ Jacob said. ‘You like girls? Like we do?’

Leigh nodded nervously.

Joe jumped up. ‘Guy’s! She likes the boobies! Awesome! Let’s go out tonight and get boobs!’

Leigh, as a boob-haver, wasn’t keen on hearing it put like that. But she appreciated the support. ‘Yeah, OK.’

‘Yeah! Boobs all round!’ Jacob yelled.

‘BOOBS! BOOBS! BOOBS!’ the boys chanted.

Leigh realised she’d gotten completely sidetracked from the talk about cleanliness. But maybe it wasn’t the time. Maybe things had turned around now? Maybe they’d start seeing her as a person like them. Treat her with some respect.

***

Leigh was at some filthy rock club. The boys were nowhere to be found. They’d all found girls to talk to and left Leigh to it. She’d never felt so alone.

She kept thinking, ‘Just go home.’ But somehow, she felt that would be even worse, alone in the silence of that house. So she watched everyone dance and snog and drink. She wasn’t sure how much time went by. She had to go soon. She didn’t belong here. Not at the university, not with these people, not at this club, not in her own home.

Feet had been going in and out of her vision for a while, but she suddenly realised that a pair had stopped in front of her. She looked up at their owner.

It was girl about her age, with long raven hair. She was cute, but she had a lot more going for her than that. If she had to say what it was, it was in her eyes. She had the kind of eyes that could make you join a cult. But cute girls with hypnotic eyes didn’t approach Leigh, and she was suspicious right away.

‘Hi,’ the girl said.

‘Hello?’ Leigh replied anxiously.

‘Can I buy you a drink?’ the girl asked.

Now Leigh was sure this was a prank of some sort. Maybe the boys had sent her over to make her look silly? ‘Why?’