‘You said four o’clock for your meeting with Xena. That’s after school. How could that work?’

‘Oh, yes. Well, it’s pretty simple, Ash. Five or ten minutes isn’t going to be enough from my point of view and that’s all the time I’d get if I did it like today, skipping out just for lunchtime. Four o’clock will give time for a decent conversation.’

‘But we’ll be going home from school then.’

‘You’ll be going home. I’ve got a meeting of the newly formed fencing club at school. You know, the kind of extra-curricular activity that our school is so famous for.’

‘But there isn’t a fencing club, Aiden.’

He laughed and put an arm round my shoulders.

‘Ah. You know that and I know that, Ashleigh. But Dad doesn’t know that, does he?’

‘He’ll find out.’

‘Maybe. But not from me and not from you. And, anyway, so what if he does? What’s he going to do to me, hey? No using my tablet for a week?’ He gave a mock shiver. ‘Oooh, I’m scared.’

I didn’t say anything else on the drive home. I was too scared to talk to my brother in case he told me other things I didn’t want to hear.

Dad swallowed the fencing club story at once. He even praised Aiden for his initiative in starting it (my brother added that little extra detail) and said he’d send the car at five o’clock. Dad also wanted to know whether I would be coming home at the normal time.

‘I think I’ll stay and check everything out,’ I replied. I was careful not to mention the non-existent club because what I’d said wasn’t strictly speaking a lie. I did want to check everything out. I didn’t feel much better about myself, though. I couldn’t ignore the fact that words can tell a literal truth, but still deceive.

‘All good,’ said Dad. ‘And we’ll maybe think about getting you all the right equipment if this is something you’re really keen on. Just let us know.’

‘Thanks, Dad,’ said Aiden. ‘That’s very good of you. As always, generous to a fault.’

Dad gave my brother another strange look when he said that.

Later, in the pool, Aiden dived beneath me and tried to pull my legs down and give me a dunking, but I wasn’t in the mood. So he bobbed at the edge next to me.

‘So you’re coming along to see Xena, Ash,’ he said.

‘Coming along to look after you,’ I replied. ‘The way you’re behaving, you really need a minder, Aiden.’

He laughed. ‘I feel safer already.’

‘You were joking about stealing stuff from Mum and Dad, weren’t you?’