Awkwardly, with her right hand, she sent a series of Don’t forget …! texts to various members of the Middletones then ran upstairs, where Carola did her hair for her, talking about the day to come as she brushed the long blonde tresses and deftly wove them into a French plait, all the while shouting up the stairs to Charlotte and Emily that they’d better get up now and one of them could use the shower in the en suite to save time. Sitting meekly as her hair was done, Lily felt like Carola’s third child.

Granola was all they had time for for breakfast then Lily and Carola hopped into Carola’s car and they drove to The Three Fishes where Isaac waited outside, his breath hanging in a white cloud before his face and frost twinkling around him.

‘Morning,’ he said, sliding into the back seat. ‘Yes, Lily, I’ve got my driving licence and I’ve also sent a scanned copy to the insurance company email address you gave me, yes, my packing is done, and yes, Doggo will be ready when we come back for him.’

Lily giggled. ‘Sorry about all the texts. I just wanted to be sure.’

Carola whizzed the car out of the car park, up Main Road into Great Park Street and a mile up Port Road to Acting Instrumental, nosing the vehicle slowly under the black arch and up the drive because students were arriving already.

Don came out and as Isaac had confirmed he’d driven a comparably sized vehicle before, talked him through the minibus handover and helped scrape the ice from the windscreen while Carola turned her car round and spun off home where the Middletones were to assemble. Lily, pacing up and down by the hulk of the minibus, waited in the insurance company telephone queue. Finally she got to speak to an actual person, the formalities were completed and Isaac held the door while Lily scrambled awkwardly into the front passenger seat.

He ran around the big vehicle and hopped up behind the wheel. ‘Wagons roll!’ He lifted a hand to thank Don and grinned at Lily. They swung by The Three Fishes – pausing in the car park long enough for a few kisses while nobody was looking – to pick up a bouncing and excited Doggo and his and Isaac’s things. Isaac hefted Doggo’s crate into the back of the bus and got Doggo into it and they rumbled up outside Carola’s house in the white minibus at eight forty-five.

Carola, Charlotte, Emily, Neil, Eddie, Warwick and Alfie were scuffing about on the drive, shoulders hunched against the cold, suitcases lined up ready. While the excited teens tried to talk over each other, Neil and Isaac began slotting suitcases into the luggage compartment with Carola advising.