The name surprises me because I recognise it immediately. It's the name Kit Lawless got me to look up at work. Spike murmurs the number to me and I jot it down.

There's a pay phone halfway down the corridor, and I push in some coins and dial the number.

"Yeah?" a girl with a bored London accent answers.

"Is that Felice Carr?"

"Why?" Her tone changes abruptly. "Who is this?"

I explain about Spike being attacked and tell her he's in hospital looking for her.

"Jesus, yeah, sure. Tell him we'll be right there."

When I get back into the cubicle, the nurse sticks her head through the curtain. Once she hears Spike's friends are coming to get him, she nods satisfied.

"Will you wait with me till they get here?" Spike croaks.

"Sure!" There's a chair beside his trolley and I do my best to make myself comfortable.

Spike can barely speak so we wait in silence. Even though it's getting close to 3 am and it's been a long, tiring day, I feel wide awake. Perhaps it's nervous energy. My mind is full of questions. This isn't the first time he's been assaulted, so why won't Spike report the attack?

It makes no sense, especially when the guards encouraged him to do so. One thing I have figured out is that Spike is eighteen, like me. Since he's no longer a minor, the guards don't need his parents present to speak to him and the hospital doesn't have to contact them either.

Felice Carr, who is she? Perhaps she's his girlfriend, but for some reason, that doesn't feel right. It's hard to say why exactly. Maybe it was the tone of exasperation in her voice, on the phone. Still, I'm a little jealous. If it was me in Spike's position, I'd be looking for my mother, because I don't have anybody else. It's not just that I'm new here. There wasn't anyone where I lived before either.

And then a happier thought strikes me. If Spike knows Felice, it's possible he knows Kit too, which means I might meet her again. For the first time, I'm almost glad I'm the one who found him and came to the hospital with him.

The clamour and din of Accident and Emergency is settling down after a busy Saturday night when the air shifts.

Boots clatter down the corridor and a bored English drawl vibrates through the space. "Where is he this time? I've got a bag of stuff for him."

"He won't be needing it," a nurse replies, "the doctor has seen him and he's not being admitted. He's over there, if you want to take him home."

A moment later the curtain of the cubicle is yanked back. Two girls rush in and lean over the bed, gasping with horror as they survey the injured occupant.

"They went for my face," Spike murmurs, his voice weak and strained.

"He shouldn't be speaking." Neither of them noticed me in the corner and they both freeze at the sound of my voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." I stand up and look straight at the second girl, the one I recognised instantly.

Kit Lawless.

"Hey, nothing scares us!" Felice tosses her eye-catching blue hair.

"I'm Tully. Tully Cabe."

Together, the girls make an intimidating pair as they stare at me, waiting to hear what happened. In make-up and a leather jacket, Kit looks older than she did earlier.

It's not easy telling the girls how their friend was beaten up and left lying on the street. I stumble a few times, getting caught up in explanations, but neither of them are as shocked as I expect.

"Well, thanks for looking out for him," Felice says when I get to the end.

"It was no trouble." Feeling awkward, I turn to Kit. "I saw you earlier, didn't I? You rented Strictly Ballroom."

"Jesus, don't tell me you paid for it?" Felice rounds on her friend, like that's a more serious offence than Spike's injuries.

"Felice is your boss's daughter," Kit explains, rolling her eyes.

"What, Andy has a daughter?" With her blue hair and heavy eyeliner, Felice must be at least seventeen. There's no way Andy is old enough to be her father.

Felice snorts with laughter.

"I guess you haven't met my dad," she says. "Andy's the manager. Dad owns the whole chain."

"Your dad is Axel Carr?" Of course, Felice Carr! I feel like an idiot for not making the connection till now. More Video 4U is all over the country, in every town in Ireland, but I'd no idea Drimshanra was Axel Carr's home territory.

"Yeah," Felice's tone is menacing, "me and my friends always get our videos for free."

"I'm really sorry." Shit, this is bad. I can't afford to get on the wrong side of the boss's daughter on my first day. I'm still on trial and Felice with her studs and spiky jewellery oozes confrontation. "I didn't know."

"It's not his fault," Kit says, "I didn't tell him."

It's nice of her to stand up for me, but now Felice glares at her friend. "Kit, how many times do we have to go through this? You have to tell the new staff, okay?"

"Got it." Kit sends me a conspiratorial look.

"So, can we leave now?" Spike rasps from the bed.

"The nurse said he can go." Felice turns from me to Kit and shrugs.

"Come on," Spike pleads, "take me back to yours."

He's in no shape to go anywhere except straight home to bed. Yet despite Felice's militant attitude, there is a dynamic between the three of them. The bond that binds them together is so strong, I can almost touch it. None of them would ever let either of the others down. At least that's how it feels to me. Not for the first time, I envy Kit Lawless.

"Alright!" Felice finally breaks the silence and the tension eases. "Let's get you out of here!"

The next few minutes are spent with a nurse who organises a taxi and makes sure Spike has a supply of painkillers to get him through the night. As I watch him being heaved off the trolley into a wheelchair, I can't help wondering if Felice is the best person to look after him. Still, Kit is there too and Spike looks a lot more cheerful now he's leaving A&E. By the time we get down to the exit, the taxi has arrived. Kit fusses over him as he's carefully loaded into it. As Felice takes off her oversized coat and hands it to Kit to cover the invalid, I catch a glimpse of a tattoo peeking out under the low waist of her shiny tracksuit bottoms.

"You did good," she says to me.

"No problem, I wasn't doing anything else. I don't know anyone here yet."

"Hey, you know us now," she replies with a smile and climbs into the passenger seat.

Kit doesn't wave from behind the window as the taxi pulls away. My final glimpse is of her profile staring straight ahead. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think she was ignoring me.