The path winds through the woods a short way and opens out into a clearing. The annex is just suddenly there, in front of you, like it’s part of the forest. When Mak has family over from Lithuania, they stay in the annex, but his parents let him sleep out here sometimes, too. It’s big – 182 maybe the length of a couple of trucks, with a circular bit at one end, and a rectangular structure coming off that. The circle part has floor-to-ceiling glass all the way around it, which looks luxurious, but I think is more to do with being able to see in every direction, cos they call it the Lookout. From where we’re standing, I can see Mak slumped on the sofa in the middle of the Lookout, shoving handfuls of crisps into his mouth while watching TV.

‘You can go first, Lance,’ Karim says, as we all look at Mak like we’re watching a sad gorilla in the zoo. He looks like he hasn’t changed his clothes in a while, and his normally super-short hair has got longer, and messy. It’s not long enough to cover that earring, though – the diamond in it is so big that I can see it winking at me from here. I crunch across the ground towards the door, half afraid that it’s protected by tripwires and automatic weapons. I’m still a few metres away when Mak jumps up off the sofa, and looks out at me. I wave and mouth ‘hi’ and I really don’t know what his reaction is going to be. I haven’t spoken to him in a while. His gaze drifts behind me to the others, and then down to his stained, crusty clothes, and 183 he looks gutted. But he walks over to the door, and opens it.

‘What are you guys doing here?’ he says. ‘Something’s happened, hasn’t it?’

‘Yeah, something’s happened,’ I say. ‘Look, I know you’re busy with other stuff, but we could really use your help.’

‘Of course,’ he says. ‘Come in.’

I turn and nod to the others, and they follow me into the annex. Mak rushes over to the remote control to turn the TV off, but not before I see that he’s watching a Christmas love movie, like the ones my mum likes. Mak really has changed.

Me, Kat, Karim and Chets squash onto one sofa, while Ade perches on the edge of a chair. Mak just stands there, and there is the most awkward silence ever, as nobody knows what to say.

‘You alright, Mak?’ Chets chirps up after a painful minute. ‘How’s things?’

‘Yeah, you know, same old. You?’

‘All good. Just rollin’ with my homies.’

This obviously makes me laugh, and Karim and Kat too. Mak smiles, and the corner of Ade’s mouth flicks up a tiny bit like she’s trying not to smile too. 184