‘Your friend want to stay for dinner?’
‘No,’ said Tokes quickly.
I glanced at him. He was looking uncomfortable again. ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s find somewhere else to film.’
I filmed Tokes as he checked out our house. I’ve got footage of him pushing open doors and peeking into other rooms. The toilet made him laugh. ‘It’s the size of a footie pitch,’ he said, taking in the golden taps and the black-and-white pictures all over the crimson red walls. ‘Who needs a loo this big?’
He reckoned my mum’s office looked like something from a stately home. Then he opened the door to the sitting room, which is all leather sofas and glass tables and two walls covered from floor to ceiling in books. ‘Whoa!’ He stood staring at the bookshelves. I caught his face on camera – eyes lit up like the words were pouring out of the books and making his skin tingle. ‘It’s like having a library in your own house.’
‘My mum gets mad because I never read them,’ I said as he ran his hands up and down the leather spines.
‘You don’t like reading?’ He pulled his eyes away from the books for a second to look at me.
I shrugged. ‘I don’t get on so well with books.’
‘My dad is like that,’ he said. ‘Me, I love them. Better even than doughnuts, you know!’ He grinned.
‘You want to borrow one?’ I asked quickly.
He glanced at the books again, a look of longing in his eyes. ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘I’m OK.’
‘But nobody reads them – it seems a shame.’
He stared at the shelf. Some of the books looked so old they must have been printed a hundred years ago. They were sort of beautiful – all the shades of fading leather and gold embossed lettering. My dad ordered them alphabetically and I remember my mum calling him obsessive-compulsive. I think they had a big row about that too.
Tokes pulled out a copy of a leather-bound book which said Great Expectations in gold lettering along the spine. ‘Miss Kayacan said I should read this,’ he said. ‘I tried to take it out of the library.’ He looked up, his eyes distant, underwater, like he was already thinking about somewhere else. ‘Are you sure your mum won’t mind?’
‘You can keep it for all she’ll notice.’
‘No, I’ll bring it back,’ said Tokes firmly. ‘As soon as I’ve read it.’
Just then my phone beeped and I looked down at it.
‘It’s a text. From Pea,’ I said.
‘How did he get your number?’
‘I have no idea.’ I remembered Pea saying he knew everything that went down on Coronation Road, but no one around here even knows my name, let alone my number.
‘What does he say?’ Tokes looked worried again.
‘He says he’s set up some stuff for us to film.’
Tokes rolled his eyes. ‘Should have known.’
‘He wants us to meet him tomorrow,’ I added. ‘Apparently, he’s got some well good news to tell us.’
‘So much for keeping out of trouble,’ said Tokes.
‘Do you think we should go?’
‘We’ve got to, haven’t we?’ said Tokes with a shrug. ‘He’ll tell Shiv about your film otherwise.’
‘You don’t have to come though.’ I looked at him nervously, remembering what he’d said about keeping out of trouble.
‘I can’t let you go on your own,’ he said. ‘You don’t know how it works with kids like Pea and Shiv.’
‘I don’t need you to look after me,’ I said.
‘I know,’ said Tokes. ‘But neither of us wants any trouble. And we’re mates, aren’t we?’
My stomach contracted oddly and I looked at him hard to see if he was kidding. ‘I guess,’ I said.
‘Well, mates look out for each other,’ he said with a smile. ‘So we’re in this together, OK?’
I nodded. And I think I felt happier in that moment than I had for months.
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