‘Thank you.’ My voice was gruff. I hadn’t realized till that moment just how much I needed someone to believe me and be on my side when it came to Sonny. The thought of him someday marrying my mum when he’d killed my dad had been eating away at my brain like steady drops of battery acid.

‘If we can get him to agree to meet you at a restaurant – no, too noisy – or a library or somewhere relatively quiet, we can set it up beforehand so you can come straight out and accuse him and then see what he says.’

‘I did that before, in front of Mum and in private. All he said was, prove it. Sonny’s not an idiot, Libby. It won’t be that easy to set him up.’

‘Yeah, but there’s only one of him and there’s two of us.’ Libby smiled. ‘I know we can do this.’

‘One slight problem …’

‘What’s that?’ She frowned.

‘Er, we’re stuck in here. Remember?’

Libby looked round in surprise, like she’d forgotten we were locked in a cellar with no way out.

Lips pursed, she said, ‘Give me ten minutes for the pain in my hands to subside. Then we’ll get back to digging.’

‘But you said—’

‘I know. But we need to get out of here so you can stop Sonny marrying your mum. We can’t give up.’

In that moment, I was so grateful for Libby. Her positivity that we could escape and then do something about Sonny was almost infectious. Almost.

‘What about you? What one thing would you change?’ I asked.

‘One thing when I have so many to choose from?’ Libby scoffed. ‘Well, if I can only change one thing, I would hang on to my best friend in Year Seven and I wouldn’t let my mum or my pride or anything else come between him and me. Ever.’

My face began to burn again as Libby looked me in the eye and carried on speaking. ‘Then I would’ve had someone to tell about my mum’s put-downs and abuse, how her boyfriend Pete wouldn’t leave me alone and how they both made my life a misery. I would’ve had my best friend to share all that with. And I would’ve been in his life to tell him how sorry I was when I heard his dad had died. That’s what I would change.’

Damn it! What was wrong with me? Every time this girl opened her mouth, I had to swallow real hard to stop myself from doing something really embarrassing.

‘You and me? We could start over from here if you like,’ I suggested.

‘I would like that. Very much.’ Libby put out her bandaged hand. I shook it.