‘That being so, we made that pact because we wanted to forget it ever had.’

There was a longer pause before Henry answered. He wasn’t laughing any more.

‘One of us made it for those reasons. The other person did it because he’d have said anything to make her happy.’

I almost sat up in shock. Hugely grateful that we were in complete darkness, I allowed my jaw to hang open as I scrambled for a reply.

‘Goodnight, Bea. Try not to worry too much about tomorrow. You’re top of the scoreboard for a reason.’

Try not to worry about tomorrow?

After that revelation, my mind was nowhere near tomorrow. Instead, it was firmly in the past, replaying every distant detail of a night eleven years ago and wondering if everything I’d assumed to be true about Henry Fairfax was wrong.

11

CHRISTMAS, ELEVEN YEARS AGO

It was three in the morning when I arrived back at the house. Not the Coach House; the Fairfaxes were having a mammoth party two days before Christmas, and, along with various other friends and relatives, our family had been invited to stay over rather than trying to find a taxi that would venture this far out into the Nottinghamshire wilderness.

The five-bedroom, brand-new eco-build had been packed to the solar-panelled roof with guests, with more of them spilling out into the freezing-cold patio area surrounding the pool.

The children and teenagers had been allocated the summer house, which was equipped with board games, video-game console, CD player, and a mountain of snacks. It also contained the crate of beer that several of the older kids had stolen from the house when the adult guests were tipsy enough to neither notice nor care.

Slipping two of the bottles into my backpack, I snuck away as soon as I could get away with it. I used the spare keys that I’d pilfered earlier to retrieve my bike from the boot of the car, having told my parents that some of the kids might be going on a bike ride in the morning. It only took me twenty minutes to cycle into Hatherstone, which was totally worth it.

Adam’s parents were out for the evening, taking his younger sisters with him. There was no way I was hanging out in Henry Fairfax’s summer house when I could be here.

Only it didn’t turn out quite as I’d expected. I’d been looking forward to cosying up on the sofa with Adam, eating pizza and popcorn and watching films, kissing and talking and exchanging gifts. The kind of properly romantic date that I’d longed for but rarely managed due to any relationship with Charis House students being strictly forbidden.

Adam had something else in mind. I’d turned sixteen a few months earlier, and at times it seemed as though he only ever had this on his mind.