‘I’m still planning to visit space,’ I say, my voice steady and certain. ‘A countdown to lift-off is running through my life, like a heartbeat. This countdown started when I first looked at the moon through the binoculars Grandad gave me, and I can’t imagine it will stop until the day I leave Earth.

‘When I hold my baby sister in my arms and show her a twinkling star, I’m showing her where she came from. We come from elements that were formed at the heart of stars. The stars exploded, stardust was scattered across the universe and eventually formed this planet. Stardust made my sister. It made me and you. I don’t need to leave Earth to see the wonder of space because I am living the wonder of space.’

I smile. It seems so obvious now that I’ve said it. ‘And that,’ I say, ‘is what space means to me.’

Applause sweeps across the hall and I do a weird half-bow thing that I instantly regret, and as I walk back to my seat, I feel so light and free that I could be walking on the moon.

FIFTY-FOUR

Ms Edgecombe grabs me as I walk off the stage. ‘Meg, you gave me goosebumps on my face!’

‘Is that good?’ I say.

‘Definitely. The only other time it’s happened was when I saw Benedict Cumberbatch at Luton airport.’

Mr Curtis joins us. ‘That was an awesome – if slightly nerve-racking – improvisation, Meg.’

‘Sir! I forgot you were coming.’

‘I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, although I’m slightly disappointed that I learnt how to manipulate fractional indices for nothing … Maybe it will come in handy one day.’

‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘I didn’t mean to waste your time. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing.’

‘Don’t apologise. Your speech just proved, once and for all, that Biscuit Club is not a waste of time.’ He passes me the box of broken biscuits. ‘Here. You deserve these. Go and celebrate with Annie.’

I push through the crowd to the back of the hall, and find Annie sitting next to Elsa’s empty pushchair.

She smiles up at me. ‘You just made me utterly happy,’ she says. ‘But for the record, it’s you, Jackson and Rose who are in my Earth crew.’

‘I know that,’ I say. I open the box and take a handful of broken biscuits. Suddenly I’m starving. ‘Biscuit bits?’

She peers into the box. ‘An entire corner of a Bourbon cream? Yes please!’

‘So I have a question,’ I say. ‘What have you done with my sister?’

‘I gave her to a small, sunburnt hippy. I assume she was your mum.’

‘Sounds about right,’ I say. ‘Did she have Poyekhali! tattooed on one shoulder and a badly drawn Dumbo on the other?’

‘That’s the one.’ Annie goes back to rummaging around in the box. ‘So the big news is your grandad’s fine. He’s sprained his ankle but he’s back home and being cared for by Rose, Jackson and Ed.’ She looks at me. ‘Bit weird?’