The Inter-Schools Championship was huge, but this is even bigger. The car park was jammed with school minibuses from all over the country – places like Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Carmarthen. Every region has sent their top player and they’re here with their teachers, parents and friends supporting them. Some of them are wearing special T-shirts with the name of their school and a chessboard on the front. I haven’t got a T-shirt, but Mr Keytes did bring our school’s biggest minibus, and Mr Andrews followed in another which means all the members from chess club, including Rich, are here, as well as four students from the sixth form. For a moment, seeing the other parents makes me feel bad for telling mine not to come, but they might have embarrassed me like when Mum cried when I was a sheep in my primary school end-of-term play. But even that wouldn’t be as embarrassing as what Jake is doing now.

‘Felix, what do you think?’ He grins as he holds up a banner he’s made out of a bed sheet.

GO, FELIX! NATINAL CHESS CHAMP

He peers down at his banner. ‘I tried to put the year on, but I ran out of space.’

‘Is that why you missed the “O” out too?’ says Rich, smirking.

Jake reads his banner. His face turns red as he spots his mistake.

‘I think it’s great,’ says Rebecca.

‘Yes,’ I say, sticking up for Jake against Rich. ‘It’s cool.’

‘Brilliant,’ says Jake, wrapping it round his shoulders like a cape. Rich shakes his head. I smile to myself. Jake can be really annoying, and embarrassing, but there aren’t many friends who would cut up a bed sheet for you.

I head off through the crowds with Jake following behind. This is the second time I’ve been to the toilet since we got here. I went four times before I left home, then I had to get Mr Keytes to pull off the motorway three times so I could go in the service stations. I think it’s because I’m feeling so nervous. So many people are depending on me – my granddad, my mum and dad, Mr Keytes, the teachers, the whole school. They say they are all behind me, but being in something like this is scary. It was easier when I was part of a team and not on my own. Granddad said I wouldn’t be on my own, that he would be with me in spirit, but I can’t feel his spirit, I can’t even hear his voice in my head – maybe it’s because he’s one hundred and thirty miles away.