She pulls on the red ribbon and lifts off the lid. As she switches on the oven to warm them through, Luna tip-taps along the floor and stands beside her. ‘Do you think I can survive this?’ Beth whispers as she slips four mince pies onto a tray. ‘Navigate my way past an obsessed dog walker and a neighbour who knows too much?’ Luna drops her head to one side and wags her tail. A bell pings. There’s a melody now. Beth slides the tray into the oven. Then she sets the timer for five minutes and waits.

April 2003

April 2003

Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Katherine

Katherine’s eyes swim. It was all such a big mistake.

How could she have been so stupid? Thinking that Becca might be interested in her?

She throws some cold water on her face, then reaches for a paper towel. It’s hard and it scratches her skin. Good.

She needs the letter back. Before it’s too late, before Becca shows it to Mr Thomas and someone else reads her words, an old, staid teacher peering into her soul. The idea is too sickening; she can’t let it happen.

But that means asking Becca for the letter back. Begging her to pretend she never found it in her satchel in the first place. To roll back time.

She might do it, Katherine thinks. She heard kindness in Becca’s voice earlier, when she was talking to Clara, Katherine eavesdropping from inside the toilet cubicle. She hasn’t got Becca completely wrong. But Clara won’t let her. Katherine knows the bitch is just jealous. She doesn’t like Becca having other friends, good friends like Katherine.

But are they even good friends? She’s not sure anymore. It’s all so confusing.

She needs to see Becca. Get the letter.

The quickest way to the sixth form centre is across the playground. Katherine heads down the long corridor, walls lined with noticeboards and artwork, towards the main doors. But as she gets closer, a barrage of students surges in the opposite direction. Maybe break time is over. She doesn’t care about missing her lesson, but is she too late to stop Becca? With rising urgency, she jostles against the tide until she reaches the exit. She looks out of the window and discovers the reason for the sudden influx. It’s pouring with rain. A proper spring deluge that she knows will be over if she waits for five minutes.

But she hasn’t got five minutes.