I take a deep breath and tell Rebecca everything – how me and Jake followed Granddad through the park, how Jake told him he was a spy when all he was doing was putting flowers on Grandma’s grave, and how now he won’t talk to me any more. I pause and wonder what Rebecca is thinking, that maybe she thinks I was silly to follow Jake’s plan, or she’s even mad with me. But she just smiles kindly and says she thinks it’ll be okay because her mum and her nan didn’t talk for two years, but they get on like best friends now. I tell her that I know she’s only trying to help, but to me two years without talking to my granddad feels like a really long time. I tell her it’s not just that, that I’m missing Grandma, that I’m missing Mum and I’m even missing chess. Then she smiles and I look at the ground until she says, ‘Felix, it’s okay to be upset. Sometimes you don’t miss things until they are gone.’

‘But then it’s too late,’ I say.

‘No, it’s not.’

‘I think it is.’

‘Look.’ Rebecca puts her hand on my arm. ‘Why don’t you come to chess club with me? You might not be talking to your granddad, but at least you can play chess.’

‘No,’ I sigh. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Chess club isn’t as bad as you think.’ Rebecca smiles. ‘There’s Richard – he’s the club leader and is a bit of a twerp – but Chris, Tom and Leah are okay. We’re all at different levels, but we still have good games. And Mr Keytes helps run it. You like him.’

Playing chess is the last thing I want to do, but I need to go somewhere to calm down. I start walking with her. Maybe the next best thing to being with Granddad is to play chess.

We turn at the end of the corridor and stop. Jake’s running towards me with a huge grin on his face.

‘Hey, Felix,’ he shouts. ‘Where were you this morning? And why aren’t you replying to my texts?’

‘I’m not talking to you,’ I say.

‘What? Because I said your granddad was a spy? It was just a bit of fun.’

‘But it wasn’t,’ I say. ‘Not for me, and definitely not for my granddad.’

‘Oooooh,’ says Jake. ‘Somebody’s stroppy.’

I stare at Jake. Feel my fist ball. My heart is jumping, even though I don’t know what will happen next.

‘We need to go, Felix.’ Rebecca tugs my arm, like she senses my anger. ‘Or they’ll start without us.’

‘What? Where are you going?’ Jake asks.

‘Chess club,’ says Rebecca.

Jake laughs. ‘Felix, are you serious?’

‘If it means getting away from you.’