Cataindar

CHAPTER ONE

"Oi gal, y'know what?" Stacey had a playful smile. "Just a few more days of this shi' 'til summer 'oliday, then we getta go 'n have some fun! Boys, parties, sleepovers in da week, everyfin'. Den we gonna be year ten's, gurl! Year tens!"

Luisa bit her lip. She hadn't quite plucked up the courage to tell Stacey, but she wouldn't be around this summer. Her summer was going to be the pits.

"Actually, Stacey, I'm..."

Before Luisa could finish Stacey had turned and was sauntering off to her part of the council estate. She stopped just before disappearing round a corner and called back. "Oi Luisa! Don't forget to do my maff'matics!"

Great.

Luisa wasn't even good at maths, but she was better than Stacey. What had started as an offer of help had quickly elevated into Luisa doing Stacey's maths homework every week.

She won't learn a thing if I keep doing it for her.

But Luisa knew she shouldn't complain. Stacey had shown a sort of kindness to Luisa in White Manor. No, maybe that was too strong a word; an absence of dislike that could be mistaken, occasionally, for kindness. After some reflection Luisa realised that Stacey was probably the best friend that she had.

Luisa blew into her cheeks and pushed her key into the lock.

She thought back to her time in primary school, before White Manor. It seemed so idyllic now, prim to the point of cartoonish; milk and biscuits at break-time and reading in the snug with Mrs. Cornick, who performed all the character's voices. She had been very, very lucky to get in to that school.

Luck's pendulum had swung and smashed into her life. She had been the only one from her primary school to be sent to White Manor School. Their little house was square in the catchment net for the school – no escape. Now it was up to her to survive the experience and make the most of it.

Luisa and Stacey lived in the same council estate; it was made up of rows and rows of small, simple, government-funded houses that went on for a mile in each direction. They were lucky, their area was safe... well, safe-ish. The estates close to theirs, like the Flower Bridge Estate where Terry lived, were a different ball game. Luisa wasn't allowed to go near the Flower Bridge Estate. High-rise complexes with high crime rates, filled with gangs of hooded youths who were herded into White Manor like animals, to be hot-branded with a no-frills state education before being unleashed on society.

Her mum called it an area of "social decay".

When Luisa thought what it must be like there, she knew she had it a lot better than most.

Turning the key, she entered her home.

Home safe. Now I just have to survive four more days until the end of term.

She could hear her little brother Max making the sounds of explosions and machine gun fire. He was locked in a magical world of heroes and villains. He wore his mucky t-shirt and he had his back to her, standing atop the backrest of the sofa, applying his full concentration to Action Man. Apparently Professor X and Action Man were going to fight to the death but decided to get married instead.

Her mother entered the room and welcomed her home with a big hug. Her mum had a lovely motherly smell, a blend of vegetable soup and incense, which Luisa had always acquainted with security and calm. Stacey said her mum was a 'posh hippy', with her love of the arts, charity work and her penchant for wearing slightly oversized patchy fabrics. But Luisa loved her Mum's un-straightened, untreated tousled almond hair, twinkling blue eyes and soft face made for supportive expressions.