‘And he just happens to be the school champion!’ Bits of pastry fly from Jake’s mouth.

‘I know,’ Rebecca sighs. ‘But, Felix, you’re not going to get anywhere like this.’ She suddenly sounds serious like a teacher. ‘You need to relax. Take deep breaths, like my mum does when my dad gets on her nerves.’

‘Mine just screams and tells us to get out of the house.’

‘Jake!’

‘It’s okay, I’m leaving if all you’re going to do is talk about chess.’ Jake pushes back his chair and stands up. ‘Are you going to stay here with Brains or are you coming to shoot hoops?’

I shake my head. I’d love to just get out of this, but Rebecca is right. I can’t just walk away because I don’t like doing something. That’s what I always do in science, in maths, at home with Mum and Dad. That’s what I do with everything.

I look out of the window and watch Jake run into the quad. It would be easier to go and join him, but Granddad said I should never choose the easiest option, and after all the practise I’ve put in it would be silly to do that now.

‘Felix . . . Felix!’ Rebecca waves her hand in front of my face. ‘I said, we’ve not got long before we go back to lessons.’

‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘I was just . . .’ Jake shoots a hoop and high-fives with Liam.

‘You were just learning some deep breathing exercises. Look, it’s like this. Just take a slow deep breath, count to five, then let it out again.’

‘I can’t,’ I say. ‘It reminds me of scuba diving.’

‘Oh,’ says Rebecca, ‘then try something else. Something your granddad taught you. What about the rules he gave you?’

‘They’re on my bedroom wall, but my mind’s so frazzled I can’t remember them.’

‘Try,’ says Rebecca. ‘Before the bell goes.’

‘I am,’ I say. ‘I’m trying now, but all I can remember is the last one.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘He just wrote “Trust me!” ’

Rebecca rests back in her chair.

‘Then that’s it.’ She smiles.

‘What is?’

‘He said to trust him.’

‘Well, yeah.’

‘Then maybe you should.’

Revenge?

The corridors seem twice as long when they’re empty.

My footsteps echo as I walk and in the distance I can hear a teacher shouting to someone to be quiet and go home. Rebecca’s walking beside me and I think she’s as nervous as I am because we’ve hardly spoken since we left class. She didn’t put her hand up to answer a single question in geography, and we both left Jake to mix the fruit cake in cookery.

I take a deep breath as I pause outside the library door. Rebecca looks at me.

‘This is it,’ she whispers.

‘Yeah,’ I sigh.