Mia Evian has to piece together the mystery of Zack Maddox, the bad boy whose life she saved, while simultaneously keeping her own crumbling life together before Zack ends up in trouble again - or worse yet, dead.
...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I'm at Cerys's house a few days after the revelation of Dad's latest screw up, and I've spent the entire time staring into space. As she and Mum chat among themselves with mugs nestled in their hands, I pick at an orange I don't even want to eat. I don't know why, but I feel like I should tell Mum what I overheard the other night. They may not be together anymore, but it's like she deserves to know. Since I was born, my parents always came as a pair, and now that they don't, it's as if I can't comprehend the idea of them being individual people.
I still catch Mum's eyes glazing over every now and then, and I know she's thinking about him, but it's getting better each time I see her. She's becoming herself again.
'You sure you don't want any tea, Mia?' Cerys asks.
'No thanks, I don't really like the stuff,' I reply with a slightly forced smile.
'You've had some here before, haven't you?' she asks as she drops her empty mug into the sink. 'Or am I thinking of your friend?'
'Oh, the lad who was here about a month ago? Mia's maths tutor?' Mum chimes in.
'Ah, that's the one! Lovely boy, he was.' Cerys sits back down at the table. 'Handsome. He had a nice shirt.'
There's a gentle smile on Cerys's lips, and I swear she fancies the hell out of Preston or something, and it's just about the most uncomfortable thing ever. She's old enough to be his mother. As Mum and Cerys start discussing shirts and tea and who knows what else, it suddenly occurs to me that I never thanked Preston for saving mine and Aiden's arses the other night. The whole thing was so hectic that I didn't even think to thank him.
'Hey, Mum, would you mind dropping me to a friend's house?' I pipe up as Mum and Cerys are midway through a conversation.
'Yeah, of course, where to?'
'Cathays, please.'
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
As we're nearing the squat I spent close to an entire weekend in, I realise I probably should have checked Preston was home first. The houses we pass are beginning to look a little more disheveled, and it's not long until we're in the heart of Cathays. Most of the buildings here are student houses, so the front gardens are all a little worse for wear, but I think they're quite charming. It's as if you can tell exactly who lives in each house based on the bricks they're built with.
