I hold back a laugh. ‘Okay, I’ll call you Daze,’ I promise, although I can’t help thinking this kid is going to get caught out on his first day of school at registration.
But there’s a confidence to him. I’m sure if he told everyone that’s what he wanted to be called, they would do it.
‘Have you always lived here?’ he says.
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I’ve lived in this yellow house my whole life. And before you moved here, my best friend lived in your house his whole life.’
‘Where did he move?’
‘Manchester.’ I sigh.
‘Like the soccer team?’
‘Kid, you’re going to need to start calling it football here. You use your feet to kick the ball, it’s football.’
‘I’m not a kid.’ He winces. ‘I’m eleven now. How old are you, anyway?’
‘Seventeen,’ I say. ‘Literally nearly an adult.’
‘My brother, Ty, is seventeen,’ he muses. ‘But the point, is I’m not a kid. I’m going to high school this year. Do you knowhow cool that is? Back home we don’t go to high school until fourteen.’
‘Talking about me?’ says the older brother, appearing from behind Daze. Like Daze, he has a lazy grin and sparkling eyes. And he’s handsome. Really handsome. Broad shoulders, tall, and he is, as Kira sussed out from my window, hot.
‘You must be Ty,’ I say.
‘I am. And who are you?’ he says, his grin getting tighter. He puts a hand on Daze’s shoulder.
‘This is Selena,’ says Daze. ‘She lives next door.’
‘Do you normally talk to eleven-year-olds over the fence?’ says Ty. His voice is still light, but I get the vibe he does not like this.
‘Your brother called me over!’ I say. ‘We’re neighbours, after all.’ No point taking offence, I’m going to live next to him. Although I miss Ollie, it’s not a betrayal to be friends with his replacement. His very hot replacement.
‘Daze, I told you,’ says Ty, putting his hands on Daze’s shoulders and turning him around. ‘You can’t talk to strangers here. This isn’t suburban San Francisco. This part of suburban London is full of drug dealers and people who have knives.’
‘Woah!’ I say. ‘I am neither of those things. And also, Croydon isn’t that bad.’
‘Really?’ says Ty. ‘Yesterday on the way downtown, we saw a woman throw a trash can at another woman.’
‘I’m sure she had a good reason,’ I say, feeling strangely defensive about it.
‘For minor assault?’ says Ty.
Who is this guy? It’s not like I agree with what he’s describing, but this is my hometown. ‘Well, I don’t think San Francisco has the best reputation,’ I say. ‘I saw a TikTok on it.’
‘There’s one shitty area,’ says Ty, rolling his eyes as if I should have known that. ‘The rest is pretty great. Much better than this place, which seems to be entirely shitty.’
‘You know what,’ says Daze, edging away, ‘I’m going to head inside and leave you guys to it.’
‘Then why did your family move here?’ I say.
‘Because my dad got transferred to a company head-quartered here and thought this was a good idea. Good for his career. Thought we should live in the suburbs so we can still have a normal life. But what’s the point of moving to London when we’re too far out to even experience it? I actually like the main part of the city: the sights, the restaurants. But . . . this whole thing has been a bunch of arbitrary decisions, with him deciding what to do with our lives.’
I blink at him. Wow, that was certainly a speech.
Ty raises an eyebrow. ‘Nothing to say?’ he says.
I feel taken aback, unable to say anything to a person who just used ‘arbitrary’ in casual conversation.
