As we sat at the streetside table, Dad said in a weird voice, ‘I know the last week has been hard for you, and I hope you’re doing okay. You know, when I was with Mum and we broke up, I was hoping she would stop drinking. It was the worst but these days I’m much happier …’

I blocked my ears with my fingers. ‘I don’t want to hear about this.’

Dad put his hand on my arm. ‘Phoebe, please, listen a moment. I’m only trying to look after you the best that I can, to share with you the things that I think will help you, and help you to deal with Mum.’

‘Okay, I get it,’ I said to stop him from bugging me. ‘But I really don’t want to talk about this right now. Today was a good day and I don’t want to spoil it.’

His eyes softened. ‘All right, bub.’ He raised his eyebrows at me as he chomped into more ice cream.

Later that night, Mum messaged to tell me that she was still feeling unwell and suggested that maybe we could catch up during the week. No mention of eating lunch with her friend. I decided to let it go for now. I was really disappointed not to see her – or Katie and Jane either. It had only been a week, but I missed my best friends. Being so far from people who actually understood me was tough. I missed my old bedroom, too. I was still getting used to the new place and all of its creaks and groans.

Even though it was late, I sent a message to my group chat with Katie and Jane, letting them know I wouldn’t be around this weekend after all. They replied with crying emojis and thumbs down emojis, which made me smile. At least somebody still wanted to see me. That would be good enough for now.

CHAPTER 4

By the time I’d dragged myself out of bed and into the shower to get ready for my second week of school, Dad and Caitlin have already left the house. I took my new 36ers T-shirt out of my schoolbag, cut off the tag and threw it on, knowing that Caitlin would’ve had kittens if she realised that I hadn’t washed it before wearing it, to ‘remove the chemicals’.

I headed into the kitchen to make some breakfast and spotted a paper bag on the breakfast counter. It had a big love heart on it with my name inside, written in purple texta. Oh god, what’s she made me now? I opened the bag: a couple of sourdough salad sandwiches, a muffin, a banana and a mandarin. I sighed, but really I knew the food was good for me.

I was happy to zone out to the TV while I ate my breakfast in peace. Luckily, it seemed like the suspected Covid-19 strain in Belarus wasn’t anything to be worried about.