‘I’m going to get dressed and head back out,’ I tell them, heading for the stairs with my eyes as high as I can force them.

‘Not so fast,’ Ali says. ‘Where were you last night?’

‘Why don’t you come with me while I get dressed and I’ll tell you?’ I suggest.

Ali looks over at Max, then back at me.

‘Hmm, okay, he’ll keep,’ she says.

We head up the stairs, to talk more comfortably – without the prying eye in the room.

‘So, spill,’ Ali demands as I riffle through a pile of clothing on the floor, looking for my nice sundress. Freddie looked amazing, so I want to try and scrub up as well as possible too.

‘Well, Freddie and I won the competition last night – the first round of it anyway – so we’re going to keep playing, see if we can win.’

‘That’s amazing,’ she says. ‘So, you had a good night?’

‘Until we got back here, and we could hear you two… So Freddie said I could sleep with him.’ I instantly regret my choice of words. ‘In his bed. Without him.’

‘You spent the night with Fit Freddie?’

‘I spent the night in his bed,’ I correct her. ‘He spent the night on his sofa.’

‘We only spent the night on your sofa,’ Ali says. ‘Well, on and around.’

I’m terrified to think about what would happen if you shone a UV light in that room right now.

‘You two hit it off, then,’ I say, hurrying one dress off and another one on. I can’t wait to get back to Freddie, to see what he has in store for us today.

‘He’s a bit of me, that Max,’ Ali says, sounding so impossibly Essex. ‘A proper sort.’

‘You seem… well suited. You certainly sounded it.’

‘Were we that loud?’ she asks.

‘They heard you back in London.’

‘Oops,’ she says, not sounding all that much as if she means it.

‘I’m so lucky Freddie let me stay with him.’

‘Do you think he’d let you stay with him again tonight?’ she asks. ‘After Max’s shift is over, we were talking about hanging out again, and I’m not allowed in the staff quarters.’

I’m not at all surprised.

‘Erm, I can ask,’ I say. ‘But you’ve got to promise not to use my food.’

‘Deal,’ Ali says, offering me her hand to shake.

‘Too soon,’ I tell her, looking at her hand as if I know exactly where it’s been.

I feel bad, imposing on Freddie, and I’ll feel so cheeky asking him if I can stay with him again… It’s so unlike me, but I don’t care. I want to stay with him again, even if it isn’t quite as it is in my dreams.

24

As Freddie leads me into the woods, this time for real, I feel my face flush. I can’t stop thinking about my dream and this absolutely isn’t helping. And, of course, my stupid writer brain is running away with me, wondering what we’re doing here.