I’m standing behind the stage curtain with Rebecca, Jake and the rest of the chess team. Mr Mclugash is telling the whole school that whoever is jamming toilet rolls in the boys’ sinks and flooding the toilets will be caught and punished, so they best own up now. Then he pauses and stares like he’s expecting someone to put their hand up. No one does, so he starts talking about Year Nine’s trip to York, but his words start to jumble in my head because my heart is beating fast and my palms are sweating. I’ve never been on stage before and I definitely didn’t think I would be today – I didn’t think I’d even be in school. I wanted to stay at home, but after Dad phoned and said Granddad was doing okay, Mum said school was the best place for me, because it would stop me thinking about him. And she’s right, because all I can think about now is how to stop my legs shaking. I peer around the curtain. The whole school are in the hall, like the rows and columns of an army. I’m usually one of the pupils looking at the stage, but now hundreds of faces are looking in my direction. And it makes me want to disappear.

‘So here they are.’ Mr Mclugash holds out his arm. ‘The school chess team!’

Rich brushes his blazer with his palms and walks onto the stage, followed by Chris.

‘Go on!’ Rebecca pushes me in the back. I try to move but my feet are superglued to the stage.

‘Felix!’ Jake urges. ‘Move!’

I stumble forward.

‘They may not have won,’ says Mr Mclugash, ‘but they were runners-up against some very tough competition, so let’s give them a round of applause.’

Rich stops in the middle of the stage and we face the school. Everyone is cheering and clapping and the teachers are lined up behind us clapping too. Rebecca gives me a nervous smile. I can’t smile back because I’m shaking like a penguin on an iceberg. I look at my feet, then at Rebecca again. My face is burning, but now I can’t stop myself grinning as the clapping and whistling keeps on. This doesn’t happen to me. This happens to Hannah Mills when she collects the Debating Society trophy, and Florrie Price for winning the school writing competition, and Luke Harvey when he gets yet another certificate for gymnastics. Last time he was on stage because he qualified for the county, although Jake always says his triple flips look more like forward rolls. But now it’s my turn to be up here, to know what it feels like to be good at something, and it’s a feeling I hope I have again.

‘Okay.’ Mr Mclugash holds up his hand and the clapping and cheering slowly dies away.