Liam, product of a broken marriage and parents who give him everything but time, walks into his new school in a highly nervous state. He quickly sees that playing up to Billy, year 8's resident bully, will make life easier, so he falls into being the clown in Billy 's gang. Being damaged himself, he has qualms about their treatment of Ella, plump, square- built, dyslexic Ella, who keeps a diary in her misery. When Liam is finally able to make friends with the quite different Ben, the two of them discuss the near tragedy that Billy's actions have brought to Ella and her family. They realise that 'Billy goes in for invisible bullying...the kind that leaves the bruises on the inside'. At the end, Liam meets Ella and gets to know her as an individual, and we see him about to 'shop' Billy. Billy, who also comes from a sad background, is a real horror - a masochist who nevertheless can be funny. Liam comes close to following him in everything, drugs included. A narrow escape for all. Grim, but realistic.