‘If only I hadn’t gone to an all-boys school and they’d played it.’ He stretches his arms out and shuffles sideways, blocking my attempts to escape. ‘I learnt my excellent defence moves one summer when there was a superyacht that had a basketball court moored nearby the one I was working on.’

‘It did not.’ I put my hands on my hips, not knowing if he was trying to distract me.

‘It did too.’

Miles is blocked into a corner and he throws the frisbee to Layla.

Joel takes his eyes off me for a second and I double back and run into a space. ‘Over here.’

I’m waving my arms and shouting, but Verity’s got other ideas.

‘Oh no you don’t,’ she cries.

I jump to catch the frisbee, my fingers making contact, but she does some kind of Michael Flatley leap and slams straight into me and we crash to the ground. Neither of us can stop ourselves, and I tumble over backwards with her almost on top of me.

‘Shit, I’m so sorry. Are you OK? Have I hurt you? Did you hit your head?’ she asks, scrambling off me. ‘I think you broke my fall.’

My body is aching everywhere. The ground’s rock solid thanks to a summer of little rain.

‘Edie, Edie?’ Her voice is sounding more frantic.

‘I’m OK,’ I say, wincing in pain. ‘I didn’t hit my head.’

‘I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.’

‘I thought Douglas was the competitive one on your team.’

‘You guys OK?’ asks Joel, squatting down next to us. Verity and I attempt to get up. I sit up and bend my knees towards my chest, and I wrap my arms round them. Everything aches.

‘I got a bit overenthusiastic with my jump; it was like I was doing some Hail Mary. I smashed straight into Edie, poor thing.’

‘I’ll live, but I might need to sit out for a bit.’

Douglas is over and the rest of the players crowd around whilst he squats next to Joel.

‘How many fingers am I holding up?’

‘It’s so bloody dark I can’t see … I’m kidding, two fingers. I didn’t hit my head and I’ve got no double vision.’

‘OK, well, perhaps we should call it a night anyway,’ says Joel, and Verity reaches out and takes his hand. ‘To be on the safe side.’

‘But it’s tied at ten all,’ says Douglas. Jake gives him a nudge. ‘But your health is obviously more important.’

‘Why don’t Verity and Edie just sit this one out?’ says Aaron. ‘Seems a shame to get so close.’

‘That’s a good idea.’ I wrap my arms tighter round my legs. I think I’ve had enough.

‘I can sit it out too.’ Soph scans the park, looking for Brett whose turn it is to walk the pram around.