Our teachers handed out bright orange life jackets that we’d carry.

‘Do not put them on until we get there,’ said Mr Meredith. ‘It looks like it’s going to be another hot one today and we don’t want anyone passing out with heatstroke. And, as always, drink lots of water, and wear sunscreen and hats all the time.’

We all joined in on a chorus of those last three words. The whole sentence was something that you could put on our gravestones.

Charlotte wanted me to walk with her when we set off, but I told her I had to talk to my brother about something important. I promised I’d walk back with her though, but she still didn’t look very pleased. So Aiden and I took up our position at the back, which was getting to be a bit of a habit for me. But it was a good place to talk without being overheard, and I needed to run a few ideas by him.

‘Kayaking, hey, Ash?’ he said after a hundred metres of silence. ‘I’m looking forward to that.’

‘Me too, Aiden. Should be fun.’ I wiped sweat from my forehead with my sleeve. Mr Meredith was right. It was another hot one today already. ‘Aiden?’ I said. ‘Do you think we’re spoiled brats?’

‘What makes you ask that?’

So I told him about what Charlotte and I had overheard on the trail yesterday. I kept my eyes on his face as I talked, just to see if he was still a mirror of my emotions. This time, it seemed, he wasn’t, because his expression didn’t really change.

‘Don’t you think that’s unfair?’ I asked, when the story was told. I didn’t tell him about the talk we’d had with Mr Meredith afterwards.

‘Maybe the brat bit,’ Aiden replied. ‘Not sure that’s a conclusion he could come to with the information he’s got.’ ‘Mum called us that after we went to the park. She said we were selfish brats.’

‘Yeah, but she did have the evidence. I don’t think this guy knows us as well as Mum.’

‘But he also called us spoiled. Spoiled?’

‘Oh, yeah. That’s a fair comment.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Of course, seriously. There’s no way you could argue we aren’t spoiled, Ashleigh. I mean, come on. You must know we’re crazily privileged.’

‘But that’s something Mum and Dad have worked very hard for. Well, Mum, I mean. She’s obviously the one bringing in the money.’ Dad didn’t work. As he liked to remind us almost constantly, he is the househusband charged with keeping everything and everyone neat, tidy, fed and watered. Mum had offered to provide household help with the latest AI devices her company produced, but he’d turned them all down. What would I do then? he’d asked. Lie around and get fat? He saw Mum open her mouth, so he added, fatter? She just laughed and let the subject drop. Sometimes, though, I wished Dad would let her bring some of her inventions home. By all accounts, they are incredibly cool. I was so busy thinking all this that I missed Aiden’s reply.