I stare at her. Is this what people think? Is that what people will say about me, if I ever manage to come out? Will they think I’ve just been inspired by the penguins?

“What people do behind closed doors is their business, but leave the penguins out of it,” the woman continues.

“The penguins are gay though, innit?” Luis grins. “They love each other, man.”

The woman scowls at him. “It’s a love that will be punished.”

Luis openly laughs in her face, then stops and turns deadly serious. “Do fuck off.”

And he grabs my arm and pulls me into the zoo.

And that’s why Luis is my best mate. All the stuff I only ever do or say in my head, he actually does or says in real life. He’s epic and I love him.

When we get to the penguin enclosure it’s deserted, apart from Femi and Aaron, who are standing at the front in their zoo overalls. “If you’re here to see Kippie and Jingles, we’ve had to put them in their own enclosure,” Femi says.

“What happened?” I ask.

“They want to hatch their own egg, so they’ve been trying to steal one from the straight penguins,” she says. “The other penguins are on to them, so we’ve separated them for their own safety.”

“It’s not discrimination,” Aaron adds, like he’s been told to say that for legal reasons.

Luis grins at Femi. “Actually, I came to see … you.” He gives her a little wink.

Femi glances at Aaron, then back at Luis. “Fine. You’ve got five minutes. Aaron? Go and show Cameron the penguins.”

Aaron looks back at her. He seems almost scared.

“Go on,” she insists.

“Um – Cameron? Do you want to…?”

I nod, and let Aaron lead the way round the side of the main enclosure. He’s slightly shorter than me, with blond hair, short at the back and sides, and swept into a neat side-parting. He’s got adorable doe eyes that make my chest feel like it’ll explode … and other parts of me too. I tell myself it would be a good idea not to think about his eyes too much.

We walk in silence and I wonder if it’s because he still hasn’t forgiven me for the science project. It’s the elephant in the room … or the elephant in the zoo, which doesn’t even have any elephants, so one being present would definitely be weird.

“I’m sorry about the science project,” I blurt out.

He squints at me. “What?”

“In Year 9? The … experiment with the pendulum and … when I wrote the results down wrong?”

“Oh,” he says.

He remembers. It’s still raw. And, horrifically, he doesn’t offer any sort of forgiveness. We continue walking in silence until we get to the side of the temporary enclosure, where Kippie and Jingles are gently grooming one another, just outside the door of their little penguin house. It’s so tender, the way they nuzzle their beaks into each other’s feathers, it melts my heart and I can’t help but smile. I glance across at Aaron and find him looking at me, a slightly amused look on his face. “Cute, huh?” he says.