I shrugged. "Think she's getting a tent."
"She is getting a tent," Ruby said. "A big one with three rooms, I've seen the picture on the internet."
"How lovely," Mum said.
"Lovely," Dad said.
I ate my eggs.
I took the girls to the cinema for the afternoon, some magical crap film that bored the shit out of me. I ate popcorn and stared at my phone, waiting for a text from Jo that never came. I don't know what I was expecting.
Ruby was in high spirits as we left, but Mia was quiet.
"What's up?" I asked as we drove back to the village, but she shrugged and claimed it was nothing.
I had a paranoia that she knew Jodie had stayed over, that it would be weird for them. The kind of weird that no kid should have to deal with, at least not until her parents were with the fucking plot. I wondered if I should text Jodie, scope out whether I should push it with Mia and what I should say if she did know, but I held back.
I made them a cruddy sandwich at mine and they didn't seem to mind. Ruby watched TV while Mia played around on her phone. I smiled at the flashing washing machine, load completed, couldn't help but notice that there were a lot more clean mugs in the cupboard.
We were getting ready to leave for Jodie's when Mia headed off into her bedroom. I found her on her bed, scrunched into a little ball with her hands over her face.
"Mia's sad," Ruby said, like I couldn't work that out for myself.
"Why don't you go watch some Top Gear, Rubes?" I said. "I'll be right out."
I closed the door when I heard the theme tune ring out, sat on the edge of Mia's bed and asked her if she wanted to talk. My heart was pounding, guilty, like I'd been caught out doing something I shouldn't, but the truth of it was nothing like I imagined.
She twisted around and grabbed my waist, buried her face in my t-shirt. I could hardly make out her words.
"Please don't make me go to school tomorrow, Dad. I don't want to go to school tomorrow! Please, Dad, please say I don't have to go!"
"Hey," I said. "What's wrong with school tomorrow?"
I thought about homework, some shitty teacher, some cruddy sports day she didn't want to get involved in, all the usual.
"It's Tyler … " she cried. "Tyler Dean. He's really mean to me on the bus, calls me names … Says I'm ugly and stinky and makes all the other kids laugh at me. Mum told Mrs Webber and Mrs Webber told Tyler's mum, but now he's even more mean! He sits by me and pretends to smile, rubs my hair and uses his knuckles … " She let out a sob. "He says we're friends now. That he'll be friends with a slimy stinky ugly snitch like me, but I owe him now, and if I tell anyone … " She was crying too hard to make the rest out.
I could feel the twitch in my jaw.
"And what did the little fucker say will happen if you tell anyone, Mia?"
"He said he'll make life horrible! So horrible I'll kill myself and he'll laugh about it! He's been getting people to block me on Facebook. I've seen horrible things about me on other people's timelines." She gulped in a breath. "He says he'll make sure nobody likes me, that every single person on the internet knows what a stinky little snitch I am!"
"Tyler Dean?" I said. "Lanky little shit with glasses?"
She nodded. "He's so horrible, Dad. He's really horrible. His knuckles hurt my head so bad, and I can't cry because he'll get mad at me."
"And your mum knew about this, did she?"
She shook her head. "Only about the names, she went to Mrs Webber, said Mrs Webber would sort it out." It broke my heart to see the tears on her cheeks. "I couldn't tell her, Dad! Because she'll only go to Mrs Webber again and Tyler Dean will be even worse! He'll be even worse, Dad!"
"He won't be fucking worse, Mia," I said. "Don't you worry about that."
Her eyes were glassy. "You promise?"
"I fucking swear it." I brushed the tears from her cheeks. "Chin up, now. Get your things together, we're going out." I gave her a hug, kissed her head.
"Are you going to say something to Mum? I don't want her to be mad at me."
"She won't be mad at you," I said. "And I'm not going to be saying anything to your mum. Not yet."
I turned off the TV, told Ruby to get a move on through her huff at having Clarkson cut short. I smoked a cigarette while the girls got belted up in the truck. Paced up and down the street while the twitch twitched in my jaw.
Roger Dean lived up Elmgrove. The house with the green painted fence. He drives a Rover, I did his tyres the month previous.
I didn't say a word as I drove up the hill and past Jodie's turn off. Didn't say a word as I took the road up to Elmgrove. I parked the truck right outside Roger Dean's house, left the engine running and told the girls to stay put.
Roger was in his yard by the time I reached his gate.
"Trent," he said, and he was smiling. "What brings you up here?"
I spotted the dipshit in the doorway, his arms folded, face white as a fucking ghost. I jabbed a finger in his direction and the red mist exploded.
"Your cunt of a son," I barked. "That little fucking wanker of yours has been bullying my Mia." Dipshit went to dash into the house, but his dad called after him, stopped him in his tracks.
"Tyler! What the fuck is this? Is this fucking true?"
The kid looked like he was going to crap his pants.
"We're friends now … " he said. "After Mrs Webber said … "
His dad took a step towards him. "What do you mean after Mrs fucking Webber said? Have you been bullying Mia Trent?"
"Mrs Webber called his mother," I grunted. "He knows just what the fuck I'm talking about."
"Christ," Roger said. "That fucking woman. Dawn's too fucking soft with him, lets him get away with fucking murder. I knew nothing about this shit, Trent, I swear."
That made fucking two of us.
"Little cunt knuckles her hair, says she should kill herself." I lit up a cigarette. "She's been crying her fucking eyes out this afternoon."
He rubbed his eyes. "Fuck, Trent, I'm so fucking sorry. She ok?"
"She will be now." I shot him a glare. "You gonna sort this shit out, Roger, or do I have to?"
He gave me a nod. "I'll sort this shit out, Trent, don't you worry about that."
"If I catch wind of any more of it … "
He slapped my arm, tipped his head. "Understood, mate. I'll sort it. I'm not like his fucking mother."
I shot Tyler a glare, flicked my cigarette away. "Stay away from my fucking daughter," I snapped.
The girls were watching through the truck windows, eyes like saucers. I climbed up into the driver's seat, watched Roger go storming down his garden path after his dickhead son.
"Thanks, Dad," Mia said.
"Should have punched him in the mouth," Ruby said. She showed me her fist. "POW!"
"No need," I grunted. "Not yet anyway. Lad's got his old man to answer to now."
The girls were quiet as I drove back to Jodie's. They piled out of the truck and gave her a hug in the doorway. She smiled at me but I didn't smile back.
Then she saw Mia's face, her puffy eyes. She wiped her cheeks, and I could see the fear in her eyes. "What the hell happened?"
Mia started crying all over again. "Sorry, Mum," she said.
"Go inside," I said to the girls. "Watch TV with Nanna."
Jodie stepped out, closed the door after her. "Darren? What..?"
I lit up a cigarette. "Tyler fucking Dean!" I snapped. "That's what!"
Her face turned pale. "But that's sorted … Mrs Webber … "
"Mrs Webber didn't sort shit, Jodie. Mrs Webber told the lad's fucking mother who lets him lord it around like little lord fucking muck."
She stared at me. "What did you do?"
"What fucking needed doing! I went to his fucking father, sorted this shit out man to man!"
"Did you hit him?!"
I stared right back at her. "No, I didn't fucking hit him. I didn't need to fucking hit him, Jodie, he just needed telling like it fucking is."
She let out a breath. "Good," she said. "Is Mia alright?"
"No," I snapped. "She's not fucking alright. Hasn't been fucking alright for weeks from what I can fucking make of it."
She held up her hands. "I thought it was sorted. I sorted it, Darren. With the school. Mrs Webber said they have a zero tolerance policy on bullying. I told her everything! She said she'd sort it!"
"Yeah, well, what about telling me, Jodie? What about what I'd have to fucking say on it?" I took a drag. "I guess that didn't mean shit to you, did it? Keep fucking Trent out of it, he'll only cause fucking trouble."