‘Sort of.’ I let out my breath. ‘Thanks.’

‘No probs.’ Jake smiles then nods at the screen. ‘Now all we’ve got to do is work out how we’re going to get one of those Howitzer cannons up our tree!’

I smile and sit back in my chair. Thanks to Jake, it now feels like an elephant has stepped off my chest.

SCUBAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

‘Have you brought a towel?’

‘Yes, I brought a towel.’

‘And flip-flops?’

‘Umm . . . No, Granddad, I didn’t bring flip-flops. But we don’t need them. We’re going in the swimming pool, not walking along the beach.’

‘No!’ Granddad’s voice echoes in the changing cubicle next to me. ‘In Germany I always used flip-flops, or sandals, just so I didn’t catch anything when I was walking around. But here, I brought these . . .’ A pair of sandals drops like magic into my cubicle. I bend down and pick them up.

‘But these are my jelly shoes, Granddad . . . Where did you get them?’

‘Your grandma kept them after we took you on the caravan holiday in Wales.’

I lean back against the cubicle wall and close my eyes. How did I let this happen? Granddad didn’t mention scuba diving for three whole days and I’d thought he’d forgotten about it, but he must have told Mum and Dad last night because it was the first thing Mum mentioned this morning. I told her that I didn’t want to go, but she just said she and Dad thought it was great that Granddad was getting out and doing things with me.

I jump as someone knocks on my cubicle door.

‘Are you ready?’ shouts Granddad.

‘I’m coming.’ I stand up and try to put my swimming trunks on, but I’m shaking so much my feet won’t fit through the holes. The last time I was here, some boys from Year Eight laughed at me because I was clinging onto the side in the shallow end.

Granddad picked me up from school as usual, but my heart dropped into my stomach when I saw his towel and swimming trunks on the passenger seat. I tried everything to get out of it.

I told him I’d only just eaten and might get stomach cramps.

I told him I feel sick.

I’ve got earache.

I’ve got a verruca!

I tried all the excuses I used to say at primary school to get me out of swimming, but Granddad ignored them all.

‘Felix!’ Granddad knocks on the door again. ‘You need to hurry,’ he says.