As soon as he was out of sight, I felt the keen chill of the night air as though the temperature had suddenly dropped by ten degrees. There were inconspicuous heaters dotted around everywhere, but it was quite obvious the reason most people weren’t worred about the cold was because they were extremely drunk. Cosying up to the bear, I watched a fresh batch of partygoers pile onto the Ferris wheel, squealing with delight as an attendant lowered the safety bar across their laps before they were swept off their feet. It looked like a normal fair, it smelled like a normal fair, and, aside from the fact they had an actual ride imported from actual Disneyland, it even sounded like a normal fair, but it really wasn’t normal at all. A normal fair had goldfish in bags on the hook-a-duck stall, not Tiffany trinkets, and no one went on the waltzers in Chanel haute couture round my way.

Without Evan by my side I felt exposed. People didn’t bat an eyelid at a happy, laughing couple, but it seemed as though everyone had time to check in on the woman shivering alone beside a giant teddy bear. Which was fair. But it wasn’t until I saw a certain shock of blond curls heading in my direction that I began to panic.

‘What do I do?’ I asked the bear as I pressed myself up against him. But all he offered was a zen-like grin and middle-distance stare, the big fuzzy wanker.

Andrew stumbled onwards in my direction, occasionally stopping someone for a high five only to completely miss the other person’s hand, and I cowered behind the bear, peeping out from under its armpit as he came closer. I was crouched down so low, I was little more than a big ball of blue tulle with a head poking out of the top when I heard someone loudly clearing their throat above me. It was an older couple I didn’t recognize. He was tall and tuxedoed, a well-coiffed sweep of silver hair capping a slightly too tanned face, while she had the look of a hot mum, the one all the boys in the sixth form fancied.

‘Hello?’ I said politely, looking up at them from my hiding spot.

‘Good evening,’ the man said as his partner clung tightly to his arm. This conversation was clearly not her idea. ‘Do you need some kind of help?’

‘Quite possibly,’ I muttered, sneaking a look underneath the bear’s pit to see Andrew fighting his way to the front of the queue for the Ferris wheel. ‘No, really, I’m fine. Just, you know, resting.’

‘On the floor?’

‘Really wanted to, um, connect with the earth,’ I replied, patting the grass with one hand. ‘I think it’s important to stay grounded, especially at events like this.’