Courtney smiled at me in recognition as I passed her, and as I made my way back to my seat I looked at the other kids. They were all watching the film, none with their phones out, and I cursed them for being so polite. Normally when I was in the cinema there was at least one teenager with their phone out the whole way through, if not a whole group of them. It was a wonder why they paid the extortionate ticket prices if they weren’t going to bother watching the thing.

I managed to sit through the rest of the film trying to think of reasons why Courtney would have a second phone. As we walked out, I found myself steering through the crowd until we were behind the school group. I wasn’t sure if Anna noticed, but I saw her raise an eyebrow at me as I moved nearer to them. With a slight shake of the head, I let her know to just follow my lead.

Out in the lobby, the kids were hanging around and waiting for Sasha. Mike was standing nearby, staring at the floor and brooding. I stood at the side of the room and took my phone out, pretending to scroll through it whilst watching the kids. My focus was on Courtney, wondering if she was going to pull out that second phone. Some of the things that had been happening at the school were perhaps making me more suspicious, but I had a feeling something wasn’t right.

My patience paid off, but not in the way I expected. As I watched, Kian pulled a phone out of his pocket, shortly followed by a second phone. I thought I was mistaken for a moment, as his both had blue cases, but they were two different makes. Bradley spotted what Kian was doing and elbowed him, causing Kian to slip both phones back into his pocket. Did they all have second phones? Surely the school didn’t have enough money for all the looked-after kids to have two phones each? Or was it a coincidence that Courtney and Kian both had two?

What are we doing, Paige? Anna asked, staring at the school group. Is it something to do with Mike?

I shook my head. Why would a teenager have two phones? I asked her.

She shrugged. Maybe they thought they’d lost one, got a replacement, then found the old one.

But then wouldn’t they just keep using the better one? I asked. Rather than carrying two around and using both.

Yeah that sounds right, she replied. Two phones would be confusing.

Exactly. So, I don’t understand it. I looked down at the floor with a frown, trying to work it out.

What are you talking about? Anna asked, confused.