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I stare at the back of Nico DiMarco’s head. I fix on his dark, blunt-fingered hand resting on the edge of his desk, and the thought of those fingers touching Maya makes me feel physicaly sick. I can’t stand by and watch anyone go out with my sister, any more than I myself can go out with Francie or any other girl and pretend she can replace her. I need to find Maya and hope to God it’s not too late. I need to tel her the deal is off. Perhaps, with time, she wil find someone she can be with. And I wil be happy, if only for her. But for me there can never be anyone else. The absolute certainty of this fact suffocates me.

Above the board, the hands of the clock are moving. Second period is almost over. She wouldn’t have told Francie yet, surely? She must be planning to wait until morning break. I feel spectacularly il. Just because I can’t go ahead with this doesn’t mean she wil feel the same way. It may have been my idea, but she proposed the exchange. Maybe she has made up her mind to give DiMarco a second chance. Maybe the agony of the past few weeks has made her realize what a relief a normal relationship would be.

The bel goes and I shoot out of my seat, grabbing my bag and blazer as I go, ignoring the teacher’s shouts about homework. There is a massive jam on staircase five. I head for the stairs at the other end. Throngs of people have accumulated here too. Except they are motionless. They have stopped in their tracks, an amoeba-like cluster, turning to one another to talk in urgent, excited tones. I push past them. Thick red tape strung across the top of the staircase brings me to a halt. As I duck underneath, I’m puled back by a hand on my shoulder.

‘You can’t go down that way,’ a voice says. ‘There’s been an accident.’

I take an involuntary step back. Oh, this is just great.

‘Some girl fel. They’ve only just moved her to the medical room. She was unconscious,’ someone else adds in a reverential tone.

I look at the tape, tempted just to duck underneath again.

‘Who fel?’ I hear another voice behind me ask.

‘It was a girl from my class. Maya Whitely. I saw it happen – she didn’t fal, she jumped.’

‘Hey!’

I dive under the tape and race down the two flights of stairs, the soles of my shoes screeching on the lino. The ground floor is crawling with pupils heading out to break, everyone moving in slow motion. I shove my way through the crowds, shoulders bruising shoulders, people jostling me from al angles, angry shouts folowing me as I force my way past.

‘Hey, hey, hey—’ Someone has me by the arm. I spin round, ready to shove them back, and find myself staring into the face of Miss Azley. ‘Lochan, you need to wait out here – the nurse is busy—’

I wrench my arm out of her grasp and she moves to block the entrance.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asks. ‘Are you feeling unwel? Sit here and let me see if I can help you.’

I take an involuntary step backwards. ‘Let me past,’ I gasp. ‘For God’s sake, I need to—’

‘You need to wait here. Someone’s just had an accident and Mrs Shah is dealing with that at the moment.’

‘It’s Maya—’

‘What?’

‘My sister!’

Her face changes. ‘Oh God. Lochan, listen, she’s going to be fine. She just fainted. She didn’t fal very far—’

‘Please let me see her!’

‘Sit down for a second and I’l ask the nurse.’

Miss Azley disappears through the door. I sit on one of the plastic chairs and press my fist against my mouth, my lungs crying out for air.

Minutes later, Miss Azley comes out to tel me that Maya is fine, just a little shocked and bruised. She asks me for our mother’s phone number – I tel her that she is away and that I wil take Maya home. She looks concerned and informs me that Maya needs to be taken to A&E to be checked for concussion. I insist I can deal with that too.

Finaly they let me see her. She is in the smal white anteroom, sitting on a bed, sagging back against a cushion, a lime-green blanket puled halfway across her lap. Her tie has been removed and her right sleeve roled up, revealing a thin white arm with vivid pink bruising. A large plaster covers her elbow. Her shoes have been taken off too and her bare legs hang off the side of the bed, a white crepe bandage enveloping one knee. Her copper hair, freed from its ponytail, hangs loose over her shoulders. Her face is drained of al colour. Cracked, dried blood surrounds a smal cut on her cheekbone, the crimson stain contrasting painfuly with the rest of her face. Violet shadows underline pink-rimmed, empty eyes. She doesn’t smile when she sees me: the light is gone from her face, a dul look of shocked resignation in its place.

As I take a step into the smal space between the door and the bed, she seems to shrink away. Quickly I move back again, pressing my sweaty palms against the cold wal behind me.

‘What – what happened?’

She blinks a couple of times and studies me wearily for a moment. ‘It’s al right. I’m al right—’

‘Just t-tel me what happened, Maya!’ There is an edge to my voice that I can’t conceal.

‘I fainted while I was going down the stairs. I skipped breakfast and I was dehydrated, that’s al.’

‘What did the nurse say?’

‘That I’m fine. That I shouldn’t miss meals. She wants me to go to the hospital to be checked out for concussion but there’s no need. My head doesn’t hurt.’

‘They think you fainted because you missed breakfast?’ My voice begins to rise. ‘But that’s absurd! You’ve never fainted before and you hardly ever eat breakfast.’

She closes her eyes as if my words are hurting her. ‘Lochie, I’m fine. Realy. Could you please just persuade the nurse to let me out of here?’ She opens her eyes again and looks troubled for a moment. ‘Or – or have you got classes you can’t miss?’

I gape at her. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m taking you home with me right now.’

She gives me a little smile and I feel as if I’m faling. ‘Thank you.’

Mrs Shah cals a cab to take us to the local hospital, but as soon as we’re outside the gates, Maya sends the driver away. She moves away from me along the pavement, her hand trailing the wal for balance. ‘Come on. I’m going home.’

‘The nurse said you might have concussion! We’ve got to go to the hospital!’

‘Don’t be sily. I didn’t even bump my head.’ She continues her unsteady path down the road, then half turns, holding out her hand. At first I just stare at it, uncomprehending.

‘Can I lean on you a bit?’ Her eyes are apologetic. ‘My legs feel kind of wobbly.’

I rush to her and grab her hand, wrapping her arm round my waist, putting my arm around her.

‘Like this? Is – is this OK?’

‘That’s great, but you don’t have to squeeze me so tight . . .’

I loosen my grip fractionaly. ‘Better?’

‘Much better.’ We move off down the road, her body, leaning against mine, as light and frail as a bird’s.

‘Hey, look at this,’ she says, a hint of amusement in her voice. ‘I got us both a whole day off school and it’s not even’ – she lifts my hand from her waist to get a look at my watch – ‘eleven o’clock.’ With a smile, she raises her face so that her eyes meet mine and the late morning sun washes across her colourless face.

I force an uneven breath into my lungs. ‘Crafty,’ I manage, swalowing hard. We walk on for a few minutes in silence. Maya is holding onto me tightly. Now and again she slows to a halt and I ask her if she wants to sit down but she shakes her head.

‘I’m sorry,’ she says softly.

God. No. The air starts to shudder in my chest.

‘It was my idea too,’ she adds.

I take a deep breath and hold it, turning my head away. If I bite my lip hard enough and force myself to meet the stares of curious passers-by, I can keep myself together for a bit longer, just a bit longer. But she can tel. I feel her concern permeate my skin like a gentle warmth.

‘Lochie?’

Stop. Don’t speak. I can’t bear it, Maya. I can’t. Please understand.

She turns her face towards me. ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it, Lochie. It wasn’t your fault,’ she whispers against my shoulder.

Maya goes into the kitchen while I hang back, pretending to sort through the post, trying to pul myself together. And then, suddenly, I’m aware of her silhouette in the doorway. She looks battered, with her tangled hair and crumpled clothes and bandaged knee. A burgundy stain is spreading beneath the skin of her cheekbone: in a couple of days it wil have bloomed into a large bruise right across her cheek. Maya, I’m so sorry, I want to say. I never ever meant to hurt you.

‘Would you mind making me a cup of coffee?’ she asks with a tentative smile.

‘Course . . .’ I glance down unseeingly at the envelopes in my hand. ‘Of c-course . . .’

She smiles at me properly this time. ‘I think I might curl up on the couch in front of some crappy daytime TV.’

There is a silence. I flick through some junk mail and take a moment to reply as a pain, like a sliver of glass, slowly pierces the back of my throat.

‘Come and keep me company?’ She is hesitating now, stil waiting for my reply. An invisible noose tightens round my neck. I cannot answer.

‘Lochie?’

I don’t move. If I do, I lose. ‘Hey . . .’ She takes a sudden step towards me and I immediately back up, banging my elbow against the front door.

‘Lochie, I’m al right.’ Slowly she holds up her hands. ‘Look at me, I’m fine. You can see that, can’t you? I just slipped, that’s al. I was tired. Everything’s al right.’

But it’s not, it’s not, because I’m slowly being torn in two. You stand there, covered in cuts and bruises that I might as well have inflicted on you with my own hands. And I love you, so much that it’s killing me, yet all I can do is push you away and hurt you until eventually your love will turn to hate.

The pain wels up in my chest, my breathing starts to fragment and scalding tears force their way into my eyes. Abruptly I crumple up the glossy ads in my hands and lean heavily against the wal, pressing the shiny paper against my face.

There is a moment of shocked silence before I feel Maya by my side, gently puling at my hands.

‘Don’t, Lochie, it’s al right. Look at me. I’m fine!’

I take an uneven breath. ‘I’m sorry – I’m just so sorry!’

‘Sorry about what, Lochie? I don’t understand!’

‘The idea – last night – it was so awful, it was so stupid—’

‘It doesn’t matter about that now. It’s finished, OK? We know we can’t do it so we’re never going to think about doing anything like that again.’ Her voice is firm, reassuring. I throw down the paper and bang my head back against the wal, rubbing my arm savagely across my eyes. ‘I didn’t know what else to do! I was desperate – I’m still desperate! I can’t stop feeling like this!’ I am shouting now, frantic. I feel like I’m losing my mind.

‘Listen . . .’ She takes my hands and rubs them in an effort to calm me. ‘I never wanted Nico or anyone else. Just you.’

I look at her, the sound of my breath rough and uneven in the sudden silence. ‘You can have me,’

I whisper shakily. ‘I’m here. I’l always be here.’

Her face floods with relief as her hands reach for my face. ‘We were stupid – we thought they could stop us.’ She strokes my hair, kisses my forehead, my cheeks, the edge of my lip. ‘They’l never stop us. Not as long as this is what we both want. But you’ve got to stop thinking it’s wrong, Lochie. That’s just what other people think; it’s their problem, their stupid rules, their prejudices. They’re the ones who are wrong, narrow-minded, cruel . . .’ She kisses my ear, my neck, my mouth.

‘They’re the ones who are wrong,’ she repeats. ‘Because they don’t understand. I don’t care if you happen biologicaly to be my brother. You’ve never just felt like a brother to me. You’ve always been my best friend, my soul mate, and now I’ve falen in love with you too. Why is that such a crime?

I want to be able to hold you and kiss you and – and do al the things that people in love are alowed to do.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’

I close my eyes and press my hot face against her cheek. ‘We wil. We’l find a way. Maya, we have to . . .’

When I push open her bedroom door with my elbow, a glass of juice in one hand, a sandwich in the other, I find her fast asleep, sprawled out face down on the bed, the duvet kicked back, arms circling her head on the pilow. She looks so vulnerable, so fragile. The bright midday light iluminates the side of her sleeping face, a strip of her crumpled, oversized school shirt, the edge of her white knickers, the top of her thigh. Navigating the discarded skirt, socks and shoes strewn across the carpet, I place the plate and glass beside a stack of papers on her desk and straighten up slowly. I watch her for a long time. After a while my legs begin to ache and I slide down into a sitting position against the wal, arms resting on my knees. I’m afraid that if I leave, even for a moment, something might happen to her again; I’m afraid that if I leave, the black wal of fear wil return. But here beside her, the sight of her sleeping face reminds me that nothing else matters, that in this I’m not alone. This is what Maya wants, this is what I want – fighting it is no use, can only hurt us both. The human body needs a constant flow of nourishment, air and love to survive. Without Maya I lose al three; apart we wil slowly die. I must have drifted off, for the sound of her voice sends a jolt through my body and I straighten up, rubbing my neck. She blinks at me sleepily, her cheek resting on the edge of the mattress, russet hair brushing the floor. I don’t know what she said to wake me, but now her arm is outstretched, her palm turned towards me. I take her hand and she smiles.

‘I made you a sandwich,’ I tel her, glancing up at the desk. ‘How are you feeling?’

She doesn’t reply, her eyes drawing me in. The warmth of her hand seeps into mine and her fingers tighten as she puls me gently towards her. ‘Come here,’ she says in a voice stil scratchy with sleep.

I stare back at her, feeling my pulse quicken. She releases my hand and moves back to the far side of the bed, leaving a space for me. I pul off my shoes and socks and stand up unsteadily as she holds out her arms.

As I lower my body onto the mattress beside her, I inhale her smel and feel her legs entwine with mine. She kisses me gently – soft, whispery kisses that make my face tingle and send tremors running through my body, creating instant arousal. I am acutely aware of her bare legs caught between mine –