Matt Whyman - The Savages

Angelica knew he was talking about those eco-friendly cars, but was in no mood to discuss the advantages and disadvantages.

‘Go easy on her,’ she said, as if fearful that Titus might explode. ‘And let’s keep what happened today to ourselves. The model had an eating disorder, and we shouldn’t let our daughter dwell on that. She’s at an impressionable age.’

‘Which is why we need to know what kind of boy has kept her from home.’

A moment later, Sasha appeared at the kitchen door. She took a breath on finding her parents waiting for her, and pressed a hand to her chest. Judging by the state of her hair, it was also quite clear to Titus and Angelica that their daughter had been thoroughly ravished.

‘Oh,’ was all she had to say, and looked at the floor tiles between them. ‘It isn’t as bad as it looks.’ She paused there to adjust the neck of her top. ‘Well, not that bad,’ she added, and braved facing her mother and father.

A moment passed before Angelica regained the ability to close her mouth. Titus, however, appeared to see beyond Sasha’s late return and dishevelled state.

‘Hello, honey,’ he said, and stepped forward to hug her more tightly than ever before. In his embrace, Sasha looked in shock at her mother, who shared the same expression. ‘Everyone is home. Nothing horrible can happen now. We Savages are safe here. Always have been, always will.’ After a moment’s silence, Titus pulled back to look his speechless, puzzled daughter in the eyes. ‘Hey,’ he said, sounding uncomfortably bright, before smoothing her hair with his hand, ‘it was kind of Jack to make sure you got back in one piece. You really should’ve invited him in to say hello.’

‘I’m still not sure that’s such a good idea just yet.’

‘What? Are we embarrassing parents?’ Titus touched his fingers to his chest and flashed a grin at Angelica. ‘I insist, Sasha. Bring him round so we can meet him. I promise we won’t bite.’

Ivan Savage had one big regret about the death of the model. Brooding in his bedroom several days later, he wished that he had rigged up a video camera alongside the iron that killed her. Yes, it had hit the wrong target, and he never meant to kill anyone, but surely his father would calm down if he saw what an effective job his son had made of the execution?

‘Upstairs is out of bounds,’ he grumbled to himself, while combing his hair in the mirror. ‘If you come upstairs, you don’t go down again.’

What really hurt, though, the thing that really cut and stung, was his father’s reaction. Even before he spelled out his disappointment in the boy, Ivan had seen it in his eyes. There was no hint of pride at a clean and imaginative kill. It was all ‘you foolish this’ and ‘stupid that’. He had never felt so small and insignificant in his life. Nor as misunderstood. Yes, his father had cooled down on his return from the drop off, but it was hard for the boy to simply brush off that kind of criticism.

All Ivan ever wanted was some recognition for his efforts. And yet where had his pranks got him? Psychiatric assessment with some picture cards of kids crying. Nobody laughed at his efforts. Not once had he been clapped on the back or talked about admiringly, and now this. A clean kill and yet all he’d earned for it was criticism.

There was only one person he blamed for the situation. Sasha’s boyfriend, Jack. Why? Because if he hadn’t cooked for Sasha that evening, and lured her from home, then she would’ve been on the receiving end of the iron, not Lulabelle. Of course, Ivan would’ve found himself in even more trouble had he slaughtered his sister, which came as some comfort. Nevertheless, he held the vegetarian accountable for the fact that he felt so worthless just then. It also left him all the more determined to prove himself to his dad.

The first thing to enter Ivan’s head left him staring at his reflection in the mirror. After a moment, he blinked and dismissed the idea out of hand. Depriving Sasha of a boyfriend wasn’t exactly going to help him regain some standing in the family. Jack’s fate lay in her hands, not his, he decided, before leaving all such thoughts behind to answer the front door.

Before the bell summoned Sasha from her room, she had been lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Only one thing occupied her thoughts: just where things were heading with Jack.

In her mind, she had put together a list of all his good points and his bad points. On the upside, he was smoulderingly handsome and passionate about food. He drove his own car, made her packed lunches and had set a challenge which Sasha found herself determined to take on. She wasn’t really doing it for him though, as she had come to realise. Instead, the prospect of turning her back on meat for a month felt like a chance for her to strike out as a Savage in her own right. She was close to her family, and had her parents to thank for that. Even so, going vegetarian felt like a shot at independence that she couldn’t refuse.

Then Sasha had begun to compile Jack’s bad points. It wasn’t a big list, just a problem.

‘What am I dating here?’ she’d asked herself at one point. ‘And why is he dating me?’

When Jack first sprung into her life, it had been a surprise to Sasha and also a relief. Unlike Faria and Maisy, she’d never been able to say that she had a boyfriend. OK, so Faria had come home smitten from a summer holiday the year before, and then tortured herself for two months over Skype with flaky Fernando from Barcelona. Maisy had gone out with some lad who was genuine about her. The trouble with poor Daniel ‘Daisy’ Duke was his age. He was only a year younger than Maisy, but that was the equivalent of about a decade in school terms. Three weeks on, despite valiantly ignoring all the cougar comments, and the rhymes about ‘Maisy ’n’ Daisy’, poor Daniel’s fate was sealed when he showed up for a trip to the cinema in shorts, socks and Crocs. Still, at least both girls could claim some experience with relationships. So, when the hottest boy from the sixth form turned his attention to Sasha, and showed no sign of stuttering and blushing when he spoke, she really did feel as if her time had come.

In the beginning, Jack had been all over her. It had been flattering and a thrill, but as the weeks passed she wondered if he was as passionate about her as a person. Take the supper he had cooked. She couldn’t fault the effort he had made. She’d even had a good time afterwards, just making out on the sofa with a movie on pay per view. What troubled her was the fact that he hadn’t shown nearly the same interest in her mind. Everything they covered seemed to return to the same subject, which was Jack. He had talked in great detail about ethical eating, but didn’t once invite Sasha to contribute her own opinions. Of course, she had no intention of sharing how her family justified their chosen path through this topic. The point was he never asked.

Reflecting on this now, Sasha found herself coming to the realisation that Jack’s personality didn’t quite live up to his good looks. In some ways, she reminded him of a fast food burger. He looked delicious, but the content just failed to match the promise. Still, thought Sasha to herself, she was prepared to give Jack a chance. It wasn’t as if she had much experience in these matters, after all. In a way, she decided, it was a shame she couldn’t be more shallow. That’s what Faria and Maisy would advise her. For despite the lack of substance, there was no denying that the boy was a babe.

The weirdest thing about that evening had been the way her dad reacted. Having got home late, looking like she’d dragged herself backwards through the hedge to get there, Sasha found him with his arms wide open. He hadn’t pressed her for an explanation, and there was no mention of being grounded. If anything, he had seemed overjoyed at the simple fact that she was safely back at home, and equally keen to meet Jack.