I shake myself. Of course I’ll see him again. What was that? He just said he’ll be back after work. There’s no need for me to feel devastated. It was a dream. A girl in a cupboard. A head injury. A dream.

I walk with Troy. He’s nice to me, even though I stole his football trophy, because he doesn’t know it was me. He makes me laugh all the way to school. I’ll try to put it back into his bag and then we won’t ever have to talk about it. I try to avoid Lucas. I see Jemima from a distance and, though I know I had a huge crush on her, I feel disconnected, still living in the aftermath of my nightmare. I think I glimpse the back of Marco’s head in a corridor, and remember the friendship that became so secret, so intense, that we couldn’t even look at each other any more. Again, it doesn’t feel like something that happened to me.

I try to ground myself. I want to remember yesterday, but can’t make it come into focus. What the fuck has happened to my brain? I feel like I might have got paralytically drunk. Did I? Was there beer? Vodka? What else could have done this to me? Drugs?

I hide it, overcompensate by being loud.

After school I go to the secret room at Beachview. I don’t know why. My legs just walk me there. I buy a drink that I don’t want. I walk into a man who swears. I swear back at him and walk off. He shouts, but I don’t listen.

I’m wrapped in Mum’s pink blanket when the door opens and a girl comes in. She looks half familiar, but not. She’s fit. I fancy her at once, then congratulate myself for feeling something so straightforward. Things shift and become a little bit better.

I stand up.

‘Sorry,’ I say, producing my most charming smile. ‘I don’t think I’m meant to be in here. I’ll leave.’

She frowns and then gives me a massive smile.

‘Joe!’ she says. ‘Hey! How come you’re not in France?’

‘I’m off in a few hours,’ I tell her. ‘How did you know?’ She knows my name. I should know her. She’s tall and fit. I’m sure I’d remember her.

‘You told me,’ she says. ‘I thought you were going last night. You told me you were going last night, in fact. You did.’ She seems to think about it for a while, then shrugs. ‘Anyway, whatever. This is nice. How was your day today?’

Girl in cupboard. This is kind of a cupboard. It’s definitely a girl.

‘I think I might have seen you in my dream,’ I say.