(900 words) “Hey, Johnny, Billy Stone’s going to get you after school.” It was Tony ‘Smiffy’ Smith. “What?!” “Says you’ve been messing about with his sister and he’s going to give you a fat lip.” I felt a sudden queasiness in the pit of my stomach. “I talked to her at the bus stop. That’s all.” Susan Stone was pretty, intelligent and friendly, everything her brother wasn’t. I often wondered if they had the same parents. “Says he’s going to knock your teeth so far down your throat you’ll have to stick a toothbrush up your arse to clean them.”