But Zayn turned out to be incorrect. They saw Louis in the middle of the week, a Wednesday, at the Doncaster skatepark. About an hour after school finished, he turned up, skateboard in hand. Everyone was overjoyed to see him, especially Leo, who hero-worshipped Louis. Harry and Leo clung to either side of Louis as he told the skate boys about his tribulations in Sheffield.
"Their skateramp during the weekdays is really territorial,"said Louis to the boys gathered around him. "There's this group of Sixth Formers who control the ramp, who get to say who goes on and who doesn't. It's not like Sunday when it's free-for-all. They really think they own the ramp."
"Do they let you on?" asked Leo.
"After I kept turning up, they let me on for a trial. I passed, and so now I'm one of them. Only I let slip that I knew a guy who could get them drugs, so I think that's really why I'm in."
"What drug dealers do you know?" asked Leo.
Darren hit him. "Adam, idiot."
"Look at this." Louis pulled something out of his back trouser pocket. It was a wad of several hundred dollars.
"Wow," said Darren. "Whose is that?"
"A bit from each of the gang. I'm going to hit up Adam, see what he has."
"I don't know if Adam can furnish you with that much. He's got whatever he's got."
"They're not fussed. Their dealer was recently arrested so they need someone else."
"But Louis," said Harry, "it's illegal."
"What else am I supposed to do?" said Louis. "Skateboarding is all I have. I got stir-crazy at my dad's house; I spend every moment I can at the skatepark. If I want to skateboard, I have to do what these guys want."
"You don't," said Harry. "You could keep coming here."
"Haz, it takes me an hour to get here, another hour to get back. I'm lucky if I've got an hour, an hour and fifteen, to spend here. I have a curfew; 6:00pm. If I'm not home by then, I'm grounded. The bus is touch and go. If I skateboard all the way home, I can get back by six. If I miss the bus, though, the next one's not for half an hour."
"I hate your dad," said Zayn.
"I'm not fond of him either," said Louis.
"So you've only got an hour or so here?"
"Yeah. Then I have to head back." Louis stood up abruptly. "There's Adam. Watch my board."
They all watched him go over to Adam and have a short discussion, before Adam beckoned him off to the toilet block.
"He's really going to do it," said Darren.
"Shit, he must be desperate," said Cameron.
"Wouldn't you be, moved to another town, away from all your friends, away from those you've known as family?"
"I know. I know what's happened to him. But shit, he must be desperate."
Harry thought about Cameron's words. He was right, Louis was desperate. Stuck in a house with strangers, forced to go to a foreign school, the only outlet he has was skateboarding, and if his right to skateboard meant pleasing these other boys, then that was what he had to do. They watched as Louis came back. His right hoodie pocket was zipped over something bulky, something that hadn't been there before.
"You did it, didn't you?" said Darren.
Louis picked up his board. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't affect you."
