“Is it really that bad?”Mandy realized that she was staring, and quickly looked up at his face.“Oh, no!” she said. “It’s not bad, not at a...l! It’s just… whow! And it’s not even hard!”“It doesn’t get much bigger, only more straight,” David said.“Let me see how it looks like hard!”“What?” You want me to—?”“Do you want me to fix you up or not?” Mandy cut in , trying to look stern, which wasn’t easy since she had a big, fat grin over her face.Blushing like a fire engine, David sat down next to her. I christened the rebuilt new one ‘Blackie’ – for obvious reasons, and the original red one was called ‘Bluey’.“Why Bluey?” Gunter asked.“Because that’s the nickname you give a redhead,” I replied.He just shook his head, muttering how he would never understand how Aussies spoke.By lunchtime we had decided to take ‘Space Truckin’ out of the list, and replace it with ‘Gloria’; we felt that made a better transition from the heavier rock into the soul pieces. We reworked some of the horn parts for. And I know you do. Believe me, if you weren’t, I’d soon hear about it.” Mum glanced at her phone as though expecting a WhatsItApp warning message from my girlfriends imminently, complaining about my behaviour.“Sam, something serious, though. I’m getting tired of eating my way through all this Ragu. I know you’ve basically moved out, but you are sixteen. Can you kind of contribute to the rent and stuff?” Mum watched me warily, “Sorry.”I smiled, suddenly pleased to be given a way to help someone.. “Are you sure that’s what you want, Nicole?”“I know your appearance belies what you have down below, but I’m good with that. As long as you like girls, I think we can have some fun.”“I like girls, I just never had much luck before.”“So maybe you never met the right girl before. As long as you’re open minded and flexible, I think we can have lots of fun.”I felt a little uncertain. Nicole was pretty and she seemed willing. I just didn’t understand why she’d have any interest in me – not after.