Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Charlie was busy in the kitchen on his laptop, glumly designing a 'Missing' poster for the Great Catsby (who still hadn't turned up) when his parents dropped their latest, and worst, bombshell. SmoothMove was sitting next to him, playing Zelda on his Nintendo Switch, when their mum and dad walked in, solemn looks on their faces. 'Guys,' said Dad. 'I've something to talk to you about.' What now? thought Charlie. From his dad's tone of voice, it sounded like more bad news and Charlie didn't think he could face more bad news. 'So,' continued his dad. 'I've been looking for somewhere to live once I move out and I've found a nice flat. It's happened a bit quicker than I'd have liked but I didn't want to lose it, so I've put the deposit down.'

SmoothMove said 'Great' sarcastically under his breath and turned back to his Nintendo. Charlie sat in stunned silence. He had a million things to say but knew if he started speaking, the words would break up in his throat. 'It's a new build,' his dad continued. 'On the estate on the other side of town.' That's miles away! thought Charlie. I'll be miles from my friends when I'm staying with him. 'It's right by a lovely park.' 'When are you moving out?' SmoothMove asked. 'April 21st,' their dad replied. 'You'll both be spending every Wednesday night and weekends with me. And you'll get to share a bedroom. Which will be fun,' he finished, unconvincingly.

Again, Charlie wanted to say so much: That's the day after the school dance! How am I supposed to enjoy that now? And, If I'm at Dad's every weekend, how can I play with my friends? And, Have you even thought about me? And, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? WHY? Charlie couldn't bring himself to ask any of those questions, though. He could only turn back to the laptop, hiding his face from his family, blinking back tears. His mum came up behind him and placed a soft kiss on the top of his head. Try as he might, Charlie couldn't stop the tears beginning to roll down his

cheeks. He wiped his eyes, hoping no one had noticed. Charlie knew he wasn't in danger of changing: he wasn't feeling stressed or afraid or anxious or even angry. Right now, he was just feeling hopelessly sad. Please stop being kind to me, Charlie thought. If you don't stop, I'm going to cry again and I don't want to do that in front of Dylan. Charlie was in the playground, his friends huddling round him. 'There's nothing wrong with crying,' said Flora, seeming to read his mind. 'I know,' said Charlie. 'It's just–' Mohsen nodded. 'Flora's right. I cry all the time. Like when my grandma died.' 'And like when my older brother went to university. I cried loads,' said Flora. 'Yeah!' said Wogan. 'And like when I went to the toilet last week and caught my winky in my zip. I cried for ages then.' 'Wogan!' gasped Flora. 'What is wrong with you?' 'Yes, what's wrong with you, Wogan?' said Mohsen. '"Winky"? That's a very babyish name for it. It's called your "dangly-wangly".' 'No, it isn't! It's called a "winky"!' shouted Wogan. 'Although my cousin calls it a "ding-dong",' he continued thoughtfully. 'So I–'

'Can you STOP talking about winkies and danglywanglies and ding-dongs?' blurted Flora. 'What is wrong with you? We are trying to make Charlie feel better, if you hadn't forgotten!' 'What are you four imbeciles talking about then?' Dylan had sidled up without anyone noticing. He still had a plaster on his face. 'Nothing!' they all replied instantly. 'Yeah, that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Anyway,' said Dylan, 'Charlie, I want a word with you. Alone.' Charlie shrugged at his friends and walked into the corridor with Dylan, who Charlie noticed was limping. 'Why are you limping?' 'I… erm… don't know.' 'What do you mean, you don't know?' 'I mean, of course I know! I have a sore leg because… I fell off a… unicycle.' 'You fell off a unicycle?' 'Look, it doesn't matter. That's not why I wanted to talk to you.' 'Yeah, what do you want, Van der Gruyne?' Charlie eyed Dylan suspiciously. 'I just heard your parents were separating.' 'And?' 'Well, I know what it's like.' 'How?' Charlie snapped. 'Your parents are still together.' 'I know. But sometimes I don't think they should be.'

A long look passed between them, deep and unspoken. 'Oi, Charlie!' Wogan shouted suddenly, breaking the silence, his head poking out of the classroom door. 'When you've finished talking to that useless sack of soggy broccoli, can you help me with the spellings?' Dylan was back to sneering at Charlie, as if he had just remembered he hated him. 'But don't think this changes anything between us, McGuffin,' Dylan snarled, extra venom in his voice. 'We're still mortal enemies.' 'But why?'