‘No way!’

‘Yep, he’s grown a foot and gained.’

‘Gained?’

‘Got ripped,’ Katie explained.

Jane said, ‘Wait, I’ll show you.’ She scampered to get her phone from the outdoor table and then came back to show me a photo of Cody.

‘Go Cody,’ I laughed, finding his transformation almost unbelievable. Puberty was wild.

We continued shooting hoops and I hit about five shots in a row before Katie’s mum came out of the house carrying a plate of sandwiches.

‘Oh, hi Phoebe,’ she said. ‘How is it going at the new place?’

‘It’s fine,’ I answered with a smile. We walked over to the outdoor setting at the end of the pool.

‘I’d soooooo love to live down south,’ she said. ‘I love all of the amazing wineries down there.’

‘And the beaches,’ Katie added. ‘Can we move down there, Mum?’

‘I wish, I’m still waiting for your dad to move the dishwasher that we bought a year ago into the house from the garage.’ We laughed and she left us to eat our sandwiches. We spent the next couple of hours talking rubbish about teachers and kids at my old school, basketball, everything. Even though I’d started making new friends, it was so good to catch-up with Katie and Jane. I’d really missed them.

Later in the day, Katie’s mum came out to us holding a glass of champagne. She was all dressed up in a pair of bright, patterned silk pants, a long white shirt and a pair of strappy petite leather thongs.

‘Okay, girls,’ she said, ‘Katie needs to get ready to go out for dinner now.’

‘What dinner?’ Katie asked.

‘Your grandad’s birthday,’ Katie’s mum said sternly.

‘Oh, right.’ Katie giggled and we moved to the edge of the pool to climb out.

As soon as Jane was dry she reached for her phone and I knew that she was contacting her parents to pick her up. I messaged Mum, too.

We headed into Katie’s bedroom. ‘You want to watch something while I get ready?’ she said, throwing me the remote control.

‘Sure.’ I placed my towel beneath me and flicked on the NBA replays.

‘See if there’s any highlights from the Nets vs Golden State game,’ Jane said.

We watched a Patty Mills highlight reel first and then I checked my phone to see if Mum had replied. She hadn’t, so I called her. I let the phone ring for a while, hoping that she would pick up. Finally, she answered. ‘Mum, are you there?’ I said. All I could hear were people talking and music in the background and then she hung up. I rang again, but this time she didn’t pick up at all.

I felt pins and needles pass from my head to my hands and the tightness in my stomach again. I also started to feel really hot.

And then Katie’s mum walked into the bedroom, spraying perfume on her neck. ‘Are your parents on their way, girls?’