face. ‘Ten years just whizzed by, you know? When I drive off campus it scares me.’
‘It’s shitty,’ James nodded. ‘But you’ve got your whole life. You’re seventeen, you’re going off travelling which is gonna be totally amazing. Then you’ve got university which is gonna be a blast. Give it a year and I bet you’ll be wondering what was ever cool about living in a corridor with a bunch of noisy yobs like me.’
‘You’re a good friend, James,’ Kyle said, as he rubbed an eye with the back of his hand. ‘I thought you were such a spoiled brat when I first met you. I never told you this before, but when CHERUB recruited you from Nebraska House I recommended that they didn’t accept you. I got overruled by that shrink, Jennifer Mitchum. She thought you had potential.’
‘You git!’ James laughed. ‘Why am I still hugging you?’
‘Guess I was wrong,’ Kyle said, sounding more like his usual self as the boys separated. ‘And I spoke to Meryl. She says I’ll be able to come back to campus for holidays like Christmas and stuff once I start university. She’s also gonna ask about getting me some paid work in the summer, helping out at the CHERUB hostel or something; but she said it’s best to leave it a while before speaking to Zara because I’m not exactly flavour of the month after her front door got kicked down.’
‘We’ll see each other loads,’ James smiled.
‘I’d better get on,’ Kyle said, as he bent down to pick Kevin’s box off the floor. ‘And by the way, I think Dana’s looking for you. She was getting lunch downstairs when I saw her.’
‘When was that?’
‘Ten minutes, you’ll catch her easily.’
‘My mission starts on Monday, so I’ve got to cram months of red-hot love action into three days,’ James said as he started moving towards the lift. But after three paces he turned back and yelled at Kyle: ‘Hey.’
‘What?’ Kyle asked.
‘You’ve got to be here Saturday night. You’ve only got two days left to hang here and a whole lifetime afterwards.’
Kyle smiled. ‘Kevin did say that him and all the other new grey-shirts were planning to have a party. I guess I could stick around. I wouldn’t want anyone’s last memory to be that I’m an unsociable git, would I?’
*
The party started at eight and fizzled out by three on Sunday morning. Kyle spent his last night in James’ bed while James crashed on the sofa in Dana’s room. James woke with a crick in his neck and a touch of hangover. There was also a text on his mobile, telling him to call Chloe as soon as he got the message.
James called her as he sat on Dana’s toilet.
‘Good morning, James,’ Chloe said brightly. ‘How’s your head?’
‘I’ve survived worse,’ James yawned.
‘Listen, we’ve had a couple of plain-clothes cops looking into Junior Moore’s movements. It seems he’s scheduled for a meeting with his probation officer tomorrow morning. His school is oversubscribed and we’ve had no luck getting you a place there. But he’s only just been released from youth custody and he has to visit his parole officer every Monday. We think that’s going to be your best opportunity to bump into him.’
‘I can do that,’ James nodded. ‘It might be a bit of a rush if we’re moving into the halfway house in the morning but—’
Chloe interrupted. ‘That’s the thing: Junior’s parole meeting is at ten, which means I really need you and Bruce to move into the halfway house today.’
James baulked. ‘But it’s Kyle’s last day. He’s gonna have Sunday lunch with everyone …’
‘I know,’ Chloe said sympathetically. ‘If it’s really that important, I guess we can find another opportunity.’
‘No,’ James said. ‘I guess the party was the main thing. The meal’s gonna be depressing anyway.’
‘If you’re sure,’ Chloe said. ‘I appreciate your commitment.’
‘Have you spoken to Bruce yet?’
‘Yes. He said he’d go, as long as you were OK about it.’
‘Cool. So what time do we need to get on the road?’
‘Well it’s almost noon, so I reckon we should set off as soon as you’ve both had some brekky and packed your bags.’
Dana was awake when James stepped out of her bathroom. She sat on the corner of her bed, still dressed in her party clothes, with black eyeliner smudged over her face.
‘And how’s my beautiful baby?’ James grinned sarcastically.
‘Delicate,’ Dana groaned. ‘I can’t remember anything. Did you put me to bed?’
James nodded. ‘Me and the twins had to lift you. You were