Lizzie is in charge of Lenny and three other boys, whose names she knows she is going to forget because she wants to remember them so much. Luke is in full teacher mode. ‘Come on, kids, coats on, zipped up. Arms inside your sleeves, Sebastian. Whose packed lunch is that? I’m not carrying it.’ He turns to Lizzie and grins. ‘They’d forget their heads if they weren’t screwed on. I do hope you’ve remembered your packed lunch.’

Lizzie, who doesn’t normally eat much but doesn’t want to appear as anything other than normal, panics at this simple question and mumbles something about an Austrian croissant. Luke must notice her discomfort because he leans in and says, ‘Don’t worry, you can share mine.’ Lizzie wants to tell him it’s not because they’re poor that she’s come empty-handed, but a voice in her head tells her not to.

In her group, Sebastian turns to Henry and says, ‘Ooh, Henny-poo, you can share my packed lunch,’ and Henry swoons in return, bats his eyelashes and croons, ‘Why, thank you, good sir.’

They carry on like this and Sebastian is halfway through a sentence about laying down his coat over a puddle when Luke finally snaps, ‘One more word from you and no ice-cream. Outside, now.’ His voice has lost its playful tone and Lizzie can see the tops of his ears are pink. He soon recovers himself, however, and within minutes the group is marching along to his version of the hymn ‘Bringing In The Sheaves’: ‘Macaroni cheese, macaroni cheese, we shall come rejoicing, macaroni cheeeeeese.’ Then, in a quiet voice, he says to Lizzie, ‘What are sheaves anyway?’

‘Bundles of corn.’

‘Oh,’ Luke says, not expecting an answer.

‘Did you know that an ear of corn is actually female?’ Lizzie adds.

Luke looks impressed. ‘You’re really clever.’

‘I know.’

Luke smiles at her and says, ‘So—’ but he’s interrupted by Lenny, who marches over, shouting, ‘Macaroni cheeeeeese!’ as loudly as he can.

Luke rolls his eyes and shrugs, then moves to the front of the group to break up a scuffle. As he breezes past her, Lizzie notices that he smells nice. She hasn’t noticed how anyone smells in ages. Only herself and Lenny, who smells of boy-sweat and Marmite and her heart. Why have her nostrils noticed Luke? Why does she want to inhale him deeper, chase that woodsy peppermint?