Chapter 3

“Here,” he said, flicking his towel in the new kid’s direction. “Jack, ent it? Punch Aaron for me when he gets out of his locker.”

The kid—Jack something—blinked. “Er.”

“Go on, sock him.”

The kid shrugged, and obligingly flipped the locker door shut against the back of Aaron’s head.

“Hey!”

“Look at that, Az, I don’t even have to cross the fucking room,” Luca jeered, and got shoved on his way to the showers. “Perv!” he yelled over his shoulder.

The chatter died down a bit in the showers, and started up again as they wandered through to the pool. It was booked out for a bunch of swimming clubs, the little tots in their armbands bobbing around in the kiddie pool, and a few hot blokes and birds bouncing on the diving boards. The girls’ swimming team were doing a relay, almost finished, and Samantha Marks from the end of the road pinked and waved shyly at him where she was waiting for her partner to reach the pool wall.