Chapter 1 PATRICIA
They say Newcastle’s streets are built on loyalty and pride, and I was born and bred right in the middle of it. My grandfather is the High of the Gremlins – everyone knows that name. It’s not just a title; it’s who we are. I grew up listening to stories of matches, of battles won and lost, of bonds that run deeper than blood. I wear the colours with my head held high, because being part of this family isn’t just something you choose – it’s something that chooses you.
Everyone knows where I stand. I’m one of us. So when people say our paths shouldn’t cross with certain others, I don’t question it – that’s just how things are. Lines are drawn, sides are picked, and you stay where you belong.
But then came that day at the match. The ground was shaking with noise, the air thick with passion and tension. I was standing with my people, surrounded by the chants and the roar, feeling that rush of belonging that only comes from being part of something bigger than yourself. And that’s when I saw him.
Pete.
For a second, everything else just faded away. The shouting, the chaos, everything – it all stopped mattering. There was just him. Our eyes met across the crowd, and in that one look, everything changed. I felt something hit me hard – like lightning, like fire, something I’d never felt before. It was wrong, I knew that straight away. Our worlds were supposed to be enemies, our families divided by history and pride. But I couldn’t look away. And I swear, for the first time, I wanted to step over those lines everyone kept talking about.
We started meeting in secret after that. Quiet places around the city where no one would find us, where we could just be us without any labels or rules or expectations. We talk about everything and nothing – about the matches, about what we want for the future, about how it feels to have found something that feels so right, even when everything around us says it’s wrong.
I know what people will say. I know what my grandfather would think, what the lads would say. They’ll say I’m breaking all the rules, that I’m putting our name at risk. And they’re not wrong – every time we’re together, there’s this heavy feeling hanging over me. Like I’m walking on a knife edge, knowing that if anyone finds out, everything I’ve ever known could come crashing down.
But when I’m with him, none of that matters. It’s just us, and this feeling that’s burning brighter than any matchday fire. I have to choose – between the life I’ve always lived, and this thing that’s making me feel alive in a way I never have before.
