‘Why’s your brother sitting by himself?’

I glanced over at Aiden. He was about ten metres away and he was alone because everyone else was as close as possible to the fans. He doesn’t seem to care about the heat. He just sweats and mops his face with a handkerchief. Sometimes, when we go for a walk around our garden, he gets big circles of sweat under his armpits. That’s more than a little gross.

‘He’s a bit of a loner,’ I said.

I didn’t tell her that he was under strict instructions to keep his distance while we were in school. Everyone thinks that just because we’re twins we’ve got this kind of crazy bond between us. I mean, we do. We do have a bond. But it’s not one that means we have to spend every second of our lives together, despite the fact that Aiden would be happy if we did. He’s needy. Me too, I suppose. But the difference is I need my own space and I need my own friends. It’s Aiden’s problem if he can live without either.

‘I’d love to have a twin brother,’ said Charlotte. ‘It’s horrible being an only child.’

Everyone said this and I’d learned not to argue. I didn’t tell them that they didn’t have to share parents’ affection or that sometimes being by yourself was a kind of heaven, that if they knew the problems they probably wouldn’t be so keen to grow up with someone who looks just like you and has similar ways of thinking and speaking. Having said that, I’m a different personality to Aiden. Totally different. He’s quiet and he’s always considerate of my feelings. I’m not so quiet, though I am considerate of my feelings. I told him that once but he didn’t get the joke.

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s cool. But we are identical, you know.’

Charlotte shook her head.

‘You may look very similar, but you can’t be identical. Trust me. I know about these things.’

Dad personally picked us up from school. Mum was away in Melbourne at a business conference. She’s often away, which is a bummer in one way but good in another. Dad is a much better cook than Mum and he doesn’t mind baking chips. Mum is very anti chips. In fact, she’s anti everything except vegetables, which we grow in our vegetable plots behind the house. I’ve pointed out that chips are vegetables, but it makes no difference because she thinks veggies have to be green (with a few exceptions, not including chips). I don’t mind green vegetables, but I’ll have them fried given half the chance. Aiden doesn’t care one way or the other, since he doesn’t eat anything. Well, he does, but it’s not food as we know it.

Aiden and I went for a swim in our pool, while Dad made dinner. Vegetable frittata and chips, he said. One of my favourites.