‘Thanks,’ I said, and Mr Dean started walking around talking about atoms while everyone except the new girl (who just carried on reading) watched me gathering my things together. There were fifteen minutes until the end of the lesson and I could sense a lot of people with no real problems wishing they were the ones leaving early. I wanted them to stop looking. My hands were shaking as I picked everything up. I almost kicked my chair over, but Izzy caught it and put it upright.

Mr Dean walked over to Aisha, and sat down next to her to look at something in her book. He had sat down where the new girl was and she suddenly wasn’t there any more. I didn’t know where she’d gone. Aisha turned to stare at me, ignoring Mr Dean and her book, and I wanted to ask what had happened to the girl who’d been beside her, but I didn’t.

What was going on? I refused to lose my mind as well as everything else.

I looked at the boys instead, silently begging one of them to do something stupid and take the attention away from me. I focused on Jack, with his messy dark hair and sharp cheekbones. Go on, I thought. Do something. Do it for me. Drop your book. Throw something. Fight with someone. I wasn’t being sexist: it was almost always boys that arsed around in lessons and, although Jack and I broke up when Mum got ill, we’d never stopped being friends. He would have done it if he’d realized I needed it.

As it was, though, no one did anything. I made it to the door. Jack said, ‘Bye, Ariel!’ as I left, and when I looked round the whole class was waving stupidly at me, and Izzy was mouthing, ‘Good luck.’

I’d always had friends, but everyone except Izzy had melted into the background since Mum got ill. I knew I’d changed, and everyone else had carried on without me, but Izzy had been there, at the end of a phone, or right next to me, throughout. She had her own stuff going on, but she’d always drop it when I needed her.

I’d needed her a lot.

I texted her as I walked slowly through the silent school: You’re literally the best person in the world.

Then I called Sasha and slowed my pace still further.

‘Mermaid!’ said Sasha. She and Mum were the only people who were allowed to call me that. I hated it if anyone else tried. The baby could do it, though, if he wanted to. ‘Thank God. So I had a call from school wanting to talk to Dad, and I told them he was at work. Have they spoken to you?’

‘On my way. They just pulled me out of physics to go to the office.’ I quickly hung up and shoved my phone away.