The whole country had endured a full week of snow, but now it was almost gone. In the back garden, the odd leftover patch of silver-white crystals reflected the moonlight, but the rest of the garden was just a wash of darkness, only one small part illuminated by the kitchen light that was still on downstairs. Dad was home for the weekend and I’d left him in the kitchen making Callie a cup of one of her assortment of herbal teas. I’d tried a couple of different ones and they were nasty. Closing my bedroom curtains, I climbed into bed.

Wasn’t it strange how life worked out? A few months ago, I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror without hating what I saw. Now I was OK with what shone back at me. I was definitely a work in progress, but I liked the direction in which I was travelling. My life wasn’t perfect, but it was so much better than it used to be. Even Troy seemed happier these days. Less restless, more focused. And he and his sister were talking again – thank goodness. For a while there, after Callie and Dad’s wedding, Troy didn’t have much of anything to say to anyone. I was so glad he was coming round to the idea of the two of them being together.

Every time Dad came home, he was always so happy to see all of us – but mostly Callie. Sometimes I caught him looking at her with an amazed smile on his face like he genuinely couldn’t believe his luck. And the two of them were always cuddling and kissing. Every time Troy saw them, he’d gag and say, ‘Get a room, you two!’ Dad just laughed and told him to get used to it, which would make Troy gag even harder.

So this was what living with a real family was like.

Look at my bedroom. It was all mine, with no lock on the door because none was required. No one ever entered without knocking and waiting for an invitation to come in first. I was loving my new home and because of that even Heathcroft High wasn’t so bad. When Troy and I first returned to school, it hadn’t taken long for his friends to notice the change in him. In fact, it hadn’t taken long for most of our year to start whispering about him and me behind our backs. And Troy ignored it all. He’d grown good at that. None of them knew what had happened to us. It had been very discreetly hushed up. No news, no interviews, no drama. All they knew at school was that Troy and I had disappeared around the same time and then reappeared, also around the same time.