Chapter 2

"I'll take three ounces," Ezra announced and stretched out on the leather sofa.

The man grimaced and nodded. "You know the price, Ezzie. It'll be one twenty."

Ezra snorted. "A ton for cash?"

The man stood up from behind the table and gestured towards Ezra. "Yo fucking with me Ezzie? Yo do this all the fuckin' time, discount for something. What's this, a discount for cash? Yeah, 'cos I'll just go and get me card machine. It'll go on your statement as Weeds R Us," he shouted theatrically. "Of course you pay cash, you muppet."

Ezra was unfazed by the outburst. "W H Spliff, surely?"

"You fuckin' nob. It's one twenty or fuck off and buy your shit elsewhere."

Ezra put ten ten pounds notes on the table and looked at the man. "I got the other twenty, but it's in pound coins. And that'll fuck with you, right? Weigh you down when the cops come. Jingle in ya pocket. Fookin' nightmare."

He sighed and threw the bag of weed to Ezra. He never sold Ezra his best stuff and Ezra was either too naïve to know or was knocking it out at a high enough margin to care. It didn't bother him, either way. He got rid of his "crap gear" for a decent price – even with the discount Ezra always managed to negotiate.

Ezra smiled, and his dealer nodded. "Now get the fuck out of my space," he told him and Ezra, who had already got up to leave, quietly absented himself into the betting shop and onto the bright street.

He had plenty of people lined up to buy this, and needed to go make his profit. They were expecting him, and there was well over two hundred and fifty pounds waiting for him just to pick up. It seemed, quite a lot of his school year wanted something to celebrate their last exam with.

It took Ezra a few hours to distribute his wares as he walked over the city to his classmate's houses. Beth was good for another blow job, and he traded a tenner of weed for a quick screw against the park wall with Sophia, another of his ex-conquests who knew how to barter with Ezra.

By mid-afternoon, Ezra had sold almost all of the weed he had bought to his classmates, and made a tidy profit in the bargain and was now home with very little of his original purchase left. He knew Beth was always good for some weed, as she went through it like it was a packet chocolate buttons, but the walk out to her house was too far after a day traipsing around Chester!

He listened to a frantic conversation with the door ajar. Maria was vocally shouting at her boyfriend on the phone, and Ezra waited for her to finish and then announced his arrival by loudly opening the front door and sitting in the lounge. She came in, her eyes were puffy and red, and she had been crying, but Ezra pretended not to notice. She picked up her folder and sat down on the leather chairs and sniffed. "What time is Dad home?" Maria asked, and Ezra shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno. Soon, I reckon," he replied and let his response hang in the air. "Hey Maria. Are you OK?"

Maria glanced over at Ezra who was suddenly looking at her suspiciously. "Yeah, fine."

Ezra bit his lip and then idly turned a page in a book he had picked up. "It's just that you look as though you have been crying."

There was silence for a moment and then Maria spoke. "So what if I have? Like you care."

"Well is there anything I can do to help?"

Maria shook her head and replied sharply. "No."

"Oh well, if you want me, I'll be in my room," Ezra said and got up. "Of course if your problem is your boyfriend then speaking to a guy, well me, might just be what you need, right?"

Ezra left the room and counted to three in his head. He knew Maria was easily led and just waited for her to call him. She did with a high-pitched voice and came running into the hallway.

"Wait," she cried and Ezra turned around to face her, suppressing his smirk. "Gareth has been kissing Molly from the year above. Gabby saw them in town the other day. He denies it, but I know he has been kissing her. And he might have touched her down there."

Ezra hid his smile and shrugged his shoulders. "Are you giving him any sex?"

Maria looked scandalised and stared at her half-brother. "No. Of course not, I'm not a slut."

Ezra rolled his eyes and then smiled at her. "Well there ya go. He wants it, you say no and Molly says yes. Where the fuck do you expect him to go?"

Maria rubbed her eyes and scowled. "You mean to say, you think unless I give him sex I will get dumped."

Ezra nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I don't think so," Maria replied dismissively. "He knows I am not losing my virginity on a whim."

Ezra shrugged. "Well I am telling ya. I was in your year a couple of years ago. If you like Gareth, you will give him something. Start with playing with him and going down on him. Send him a dirty letter, or better a dirty video."

"I'm not sure," Maria replied doubtfully. "It seems wrong. Surely if he is faithful and good we should do that when we are both ready."

Ezra snorted. "Oh well, I tried to help ya keep ya boyfriend. If ya don't want to split then I will help ya with the video, but it's ya fookin' choice. We go away in four days, do ya want him to be fucking her while ya away?"

Maria stared at her elder half-brother and bit her lip. "OK. I'll make one, but only promising him a handjob."

Ezra smiled and looked at his watch. "Right, we have an hour. Quick." Maria's eyes widened, but the teenage tearaway dragged the younger girl upstairs.

"Hello Gareth," Maria said seductively. She was naked, except for a pair of stockings she had found in her mother's drawers and Ezra grinned at her through her father's smallest camera. It was still heavy, but it took mini-VHS tapes and had been used when a large camera was not practical.

"Just sayin' that I am thinking of you, and it makes me dripping wet," the girl teased and ran her hand up her tort thigh."

Ezra put his hand up and stopped recording. "Start again, only this time show more cunt."

Maria repeated her opening, her legs spread and her unshaven crotch clearly visible. She ran her fingers up and down it and licked her breast. She promised her unfaithful boyfriend that the next time she saw him, he would be coming over them.

Ezra stopped the recording, and they watched it back on the small television.

"I'll just edit it for ya on Dad's baby suite in his office," Ezra said, "and ya can get it out to him."

"Awesome. Cheers Ezra. You're a star."

Ezra's face was still thunderous as he came off the plane at Manchester Airport. His stepfather had chosen Jersey as their family holiday destination, partly because he had always wanted to go to the little island floating in the English Channel but mostly because of the photographic opportunities.

Ezra had behaved himself throughout the holiday, partly because he was given free rein at the hotel to come and go as he wanted, but mostly as he didn't have to spend much time with his family. St Helier bored him fairly quickly, but he met a lovely girl, who reminded him very much of Lydia, who was also bored and they spent most of the week frolicking on the beach and enjoying each others' company, especially as they both were staying in the same waterfront hotel.

Ezra was careful not to divulge anything about his past to Eva, she was well mannered and wonderfully polite that he sensed it would have been a problem, and as the weather was good, he spent all of it in his shorts and swimming shorts and was always very presentable to his holiday romance.

The tension between them had been growing all week ever since Eva asked her companion to rub suntan lotion on her. Ezra's hands darted everywhere, and her G-String bikini, one of the raunchiest pieces of swimwear Ezra had ever seen barely stopped Ezra's hands as he liberally and thoroughly coated her body.

Eva repaid the favour and gave Ezra a gentle massage when she coated him in Factor 20. He purred, she smiled and they shared a brief kiss before chasing each other into water.

On the last day, Eva and Ezra travelled to the far coast of the island on a tour bus, to a small beach enclosed by cliffs. Portelet Bay was quiet, but the breathtaking views and wonderfully unspoilt beach made it a romantic setting for their day.

Ezra had scrounged half-a-dozen rolls, some miniature pots of jam and butter and a couple of cartons of orange juice from the breakfast buffet, and they turned it into a picnic of sorts on the beach. For the first time, they held hands as they raced down towards the sea, glistening in the summer Sun.

Ezra put his arms around the girl and kissed her neck. She smiled and moved his hands down to her waist in the water – she wasn't wearing any bottoms!

Eva held them up in her right hand and turned on the spot to kiss Ezra. He ran his hands through her pubic hair, and she grinned. "Later," she whispered. "Later."

The hotel was holding a dance on the last night, and as much as Ezra was not looking forward to parting company with her, the promise she had made would compensate. Unfortunately, she lived in Cornwall, too far to visit, and so Ezra would have to enjoy the night with her and part.

He had especially enjoyed his time in Jersey. Maria, Michael and his mum had not troubled him during his stay, and apart from sleeping in the same room, he had barely seen them. In fact, even Michael had been incredibly low-key with him, barely uttering a single word to him all week instead of the incessant criticism. Eva had just made a good week great, in Ezra's mind.

Everything was going fine. They shared dinner together, got dressed up, came to the disco hall and danced, talked, danced a bit more, talked again and then were very close on the slow dance.

Then Michael spoke to Eva and Eva's parents while Ezra was in the toilet. In two minutes, they had his life story and Eva dragged the teenager outside.

Eva was angry that Ezra had lied, and although she accepted his explanation that he was embarrassed about his past and wanted to move on, Eva was told by her parents that she was not allowed to go up to her room with Ezra alone. She was being watched by her parents who took an interest in her friendship with Ezra, and they had to confine themselves to dancing in the disco hall.