Once Georgia was sure he was OK, she gave Julius a smug grin and pushed her speed up to seventeen.

‘I’m too gangly,’ Julius explained, as he looked in the mirrored wall and saw all the guys by the chest press laughing at him.

‘The male urge to compete can be highly amusing,’ Georgia noted smugly.

Julius felt embarrassed as he stepped back on the belt and reverted to his comfortable 12.5. Georgia was soon breathing too hard to keep talking, and Julius thought about how envious Matt would be if he knew he was close enough to see sweat run down Georgia Pack’s neck.

Georgia kept going when Julius headed for a shower. They reunited with damp hair and fresh clothes outside Therapy Room B. Georgia felt comfortable settling into the therapy circle, with Alex on her left and Julius to the right.

Their moods dipped when Henry bounded in, showing his teeth to Ross and Laura. ‘Just got back from London,’ he said cheerily. ‘Got them laser whitened, and had killer burgers with this girl from my old school.’

‘How did you swing that?’ Ross asked as Tanvi dumped an armful of yellow binders and apologised for being late.

‘My psychiatrist says I act out because I have low self-esteem,’ Henry explained. ‘Teeth whitening is vital for my emotional well-being.’

‘This place is a joke,’ Alex growled, scowling at Henry. ‘Low self-esteem? You have an ego bigger than Texas.’

Henry sniffed blood. ‘You should get your nicotine-stained pegs done, Alex. People might start mistaking you for a human.’

Alex was about to bite back, but Tanvi jumped in. ‘Henry, sit,’ she said firmly. ‘Alex, that hand gesture is not appropriate …’

Tanvi allowed a moment for everyone to settle into chairs, before starting the session with a reminder of the group rules: no abusive comments, no food or drink apart from water, always stay seated and everything said in group was confidential.

‘Everyone except Henry was in the morning session, where we made excellent progress with Julius,’ Tanvi said. ‘If Julius wants to explore things further, I’ll make time later. But I’d like to begin with Georgia, who has a big day tomorrow.’

Georgia squirmed in her chair as the six others in the circle looked her way.

‘How are you feeling about going to London for sentencing?’ Tanvi asked.

‘Scared off my arse,’ Georgia said, smiling like it was a joke, while her eyes betrayed that it wasn’t.

‘Would you explain, for people like Laura who weren’t here when you last spoke about your situation?’

‘Tomorrow is my sentencing,’ Georgia explained. ‘I pleaded guilty to a bunch of terrorist offences. They’ve accepted that the explosion was an accident, so stuff like conspiracy to murder was dropped. But attacking the PM and burning the French ambassador is still kinda serious …’

An uneasy laugh went around the group.

‘What kind of sentence could you get?’ Ross asked.