Sure enough, when I got out the back to see Dad and Caitlin, all the adults were getting into their drinks, talking and laughing. They really would be oblivious to whatever Caroline and Ashley were getting up to inside.

‘Better grab your sleeping bag and things before we go,’ Dad said, placing an empty wine glass on the table.

‘She’ll be absolutely fine with us,’ Caroline’s mum Theresa declared.

I followed Dad and Caitlin out to the car to grab my stuff. I gave Dad a kiss and waved as they drove off between the agapanthus.

Hanging out with Caroline and Ashley ended up being fun. Later in the night, we sat by the fire pit with Caroline’s brother Mitch after his friend left. We just talked and joked around. To my relief, they didn’t pressure me to drink or smoke.

Caroline was a bit tipsy when we went to bed and it got me thinking about Mum, what she was up to, if she had been drinking like everyone else around me that night.

CHAPTER 7

It’d be too far of a stretch to say that Caroline took me under her wing the following week at school, because the girls seem to make a thing of treating each other equally, but I did feel like Caroline was looking out for me a bit more. And Matilda felt a little less like a threat – not so much on the basketball court, but in class.

By this point I hadn’t seen Mum in almost a fortnight so we made plans for her to pick me up from school on Friday night.

While waiting for her to arrive, Dad asked, ‘Have you heard from your mum?’

‘What?’ I said, distracted trying to get comfy on the sofa.

‘Your mum. Have you heard from her?’

‘Yeah,’ I said, but really I hadn’t.

I put my headphones in as Caitlin went into the foetal position on her yoga mat.

I searched for Jimi Hendrix and a minute later I was loving a track called ‘Fire’. And then Mum got in my head. I wondered if she would come. I started checking the clock on the wall.

At about six thirty, Dad and Caitlin started making some food, and closer to seven Caitlin asked me if I wanted some mixed bean salad and tuna. We all had our eyes on the time.

‘If your mum doesn’t arrive soon, you’re welcome to come for a swim with us as the sun goes down,’ Caitlin said.

‘Mum will be here,’ I said, even though I was getting worried and I would have killed for a swim. Dad and Caitlin probably wanted to go by themselves anyway. Especially if they were going to that nude beach Katie and Jane had teased me about.

I wondered if Caitlin would do nude yoga on the beach. Eeewwww.

I messaged Katie and Jane:

And then I heard Mum pull into the driveway. She was only ten minutes late.