Kat huffs, but keeps walking in the direction of Ade’s house, so I take that as a win. Ade lives on the big road that makes up one of the borders of Karim’s estate, so we cut through Two Rivers on a rough diagonal, weaving in and out of the little cul-de-sacs, leaving curtains twitching behind us. I’m acting like I’m sure everything’s gonna be ok, but when we get there, I’m nervous to knock on Ade’s door. And for totally different reasons from when I was scared to knock on Kat’s. But Karim’s never really met her, and Kat’s not gonna do it, so I step forward and knock. With fake confidence.

Ade’s mum answers the door, holding Ade’s baby sister, Callie. She’s got so much bigger since I last saw her, which makes me a bit sad. Her face is covered in dribble and what looks like Bolognese. Neither of them look especially buggy. ‘Lance and Katja!’ She looks totally surprised to see us. ‘I didn’t know you guys were all friends again.’

169 ‘We’re not,’ Kat says, tickling Callie and making her chuckle.

‘But we’re hoping to be,’ I add.

‘Well, if anyone can get through to her, it’s you.’ Ade’s mum smiles. ‘And I don’t think we’ve met?’ She looks at Karim.

‘This is Karim, a friend from school,’ I say. ‘I hope you don’t mind us coming over.’

She opens the door and steps back to let us through. ‘Oh god no, it’s great to see you, especially if you can talk some sense into Adrianne.’

I go in first, wiping my feet on the mat, and walking through into their front room where Ade’s other brothers are having a pretty violent game that involves volcanos and dinosaurs.

‘Just ignore the twins,’ Ade’s mum says. ‘They’re having one of those days. They’ve already broken a chair and knocked the Christmas tree over.’

Ade’s house is always chaotic and messy. There’s stuff literally everywhere cos they don’t have enough room for everything, and it’s full loud all the time. They’re all crammed in together, so they argue a lot, but they also have the most fun. I used to love coming here. I’m relieved to see 170 that their Christmas tree is a plastic one, covered in homemade decorations. No spores here.

‘She’s up in her room, as you can probably hear.’ Ade’s mum closes the door behind us. ‘Go up, and see if you can get her to turn the music down.’

‘Thanks,’ I say, and start up the stairs, with Kat and Karim behind me.

‘Oh, sorry, do you want a drink?’ she calls from the kitchen.