‘Prick,’ I mutter, adjusting my leather jacket. I didn’t think I’d said it loud enough for Mr Moreno to hear, but he turns to me with a fierce frown that lets me know that he doesn’t think it’s a proportional response. Now it’s my turn to apologise, which is deeply unfair given that I nearly just died. I mutter one anyway, which he acknowledges with a nod before ushering my classmates who gathered to see what’s going on towards the gangway that leads to the boat.

‘You OK?’ Adara asks as we follow, albeit with less enthusiasm.

I nod and she knows me well enough to leave it at that.

My legs are still shaking as we walk over to where everyone is gathered in a horseshoe around Mr Moreno at the foot of the gangway, his face back to its normal colour. He must have been waiting for us, because when Adara and I stop, lingering at the back, he holds his hands up. ‘I know we’re all excited to learn about the marvel of renewable energy.’ There’s a collective groan, which he ignores. ‘But you’re representing Whitehawk High School this afternoon, so please try to remember that, OK?’

He tilts his head and raises his eyebrows at Dan McCarthy, who looks back at me and laughs.

‘Ignore him,’ Adara tells me as Mr Moreno claps his hands and turns to lead the way up the narrow gangway towards the waiting boat. ‘You know what Dan’s like.’

‘He’s kind of hard to ignore when he’s trying to throw me in the sea, Ad.’

‘I know, but he only does this stuff because he fancies you. You know what boys are like. That’s how they show their affection.’

‘He’s not my type,’ I remind her with a sour smile.

She laughs. ‘He doesn’t know that, though, does he?’

‘First of all.’ I stop to smooth the palms of my hands over my scalp, trying to tame the fine hair that has escaped from my ponytail thanks to Dan’s grand romantic gesture. ‘He doesn’t fancy me, he’s an asshole. And even if he did, we’re sixteen, Ad. Aren’t we beyond boys pulling our pigtails in the playground?’

She goes quiet and when the skin between her precisely drawn eyebrows pinches, I know that she’s asking herself whether all the boys who teased us over the years, who tried to pull off her hijab and told us that we smelt like curry, were just ‘showing their affection’ or if they were assholes, like Dan.