‘Maybe your uncle can explain why you’re getting an early mark.’ Ben made for the door. Carl was still at Ms Oxenford’s window. Ben waited for a minute but then, confusingly, Ms Oxenford closed the door on him. Had he been given an early mark or not? The principal’s assistant wasn’t here to clarify. He couldn’t go back to class—there would be too many questions to answer, too much attention grabbing—so he sat tight.

Uncle Carl had been back in his life for four weeks. Ben would have liked to travel home independently, but one afternoon he was bailed up by kids who stole his wallet, leading to Ms Oxenford decreeing that he be collected by an adult unless he was going straight to cricket practice. Uncle Carl didn’t live at The Lodge yet, and was sleeping on the floor of one of the rooms in the Hilton during the redevelopment, but Ben’s mother was crazy with work while Ben’s dad was on the run doing things for Grandma and Grandpa, so it had been kind of good timing that Carl was around to do pick-ups. Ben’s uncle had become part of the furniture, dropping by The Lodge most days to hang out. And he had a car. And he was all right. He knew a lot about the world outside Bluebird, which was more than Ben could say of his mum and dad; no offence, but compared to Carl they hadn’t seen anything.

Hearing raised voices, Ben put his ear to Ms Oxenford’s door.

‘Are you going to report it?’ he heard. Oddly, it was not Uncle Carl asking this question but the principal.

Uncle Carl’s reply, soft and spongey as his skin, was inaudible. Carl’s voice often sounded like it was caught behind cheesecloth at the back of his throat.

‘I offer you an unconditional apology on behalf of the school,’ Ben heard Ms Oxenford say. This was weirder still. Apology for what? The exterior door to the principal’s anteroom squeaked and Ben jumped. Escorted by the principal’s assistant, looking dishevelled and resentful, was Daniel.

‘What are you doing?’ the assistant, Ms Agostini, asked Ben.

‘Wait, what?’

‘What are you doing?’

Ben mumbled something.

‘What?’ Ms Agostini said.

‘I’ve been told to wait here.’

Ben was staring at Daniel, whose eyes were on a square of carpet just like the one that had preoccupied Uncle Carl.

‘Is your uncle still with her?’ Ms Agostini asked.

Ben nodded.

‘We’re going to have to wait somewhere else,’ Ms Agostini said to Daniel, and nudged him towards the exit.

‘I think they’re almost finished,’ Ben said.

‘Safe spaces,’ Ms Agostini sang. ‘We have to provide a safe space for the student and the … the other.’