‘It would help her out a lot,’ Mum says, then she pulls me into a hug, pressing my face into her hair and I smell the sandalwood incense she loves so much.

I put up with it for a moment then wriggle out of her arms. ‘OK,’ I say.

Mum’s face lights up. ‘What would I do without you?’

Over Mum’s shoulder, I see Elsa crawl towards the edge of the sofa, reaching for Pongo’s tail. ‘Mum!’ I say, but already Elsa is losing her balance. She wobbles for a second then tumbles forward, landing on the floor with a thud.

There’s this moment of silence before the screaming starts. Mum darts across the room and scoops Elsa up. ‘Poor baby!’ she says, showering her with kisses. Pongo jumps up and tries to stick his pointy nose between them.

‘I’m going now,’ I say, but they don’t hear me. Now Pongo’s been pulled into the hug too and his excited barks rise over Elsa’s screams. I slip out of the flat and shut the door behind me.

Immediately, I’m hit by the quiet, the bright cold air and the view.

Our flat might be small and damp, but it’s got the best view in town. I stand on the balcony and look from the houses of the estate to my school. Beyond school, I see the hotels, the sea and the pier. Then I look up at the sky, higher and higher, until I find the moon. It’s a white smudge that’s disappearing fast.

I turn and run down the concrete stairway, my feet ringing out with each step.

I’ve got to get to school. I’ve got so much to do.

THREE

School’s good. I get one hundred per cent in a maths test, finally learn how to conjugate German verbs and spend lunchtime in the library researching my favourite star, Alpha Centauri B.

When I know the canteen will be quiet, I go and get some lunch. It looks like almost everyone’s been chucked out, but some students from my year – Bella Lofthouse and her friends – are still sitting round a table while the lunchtime supervisors clean up. As I walk past, they glance over at me, and I see Bella’s lips curve up in a smile. Quickly, I turn away. Bella is always laughing with her friends and she finds me particularly funny. The longer I hang around the more likely it is that she’ll say something to me and somehow I’ll end up looking stupid. I grab the first sandwich I see – egg mayonnaise – pay for it, then walk straight out of the canteen.

It’s at times like this that I miss Harriet. She was my best friend at school. OK, she was my only friend in or out of school, but that didn’t matter because we were soul mates, and we did everything together – walking to school, eating lunch, talking for hours on the phone, sleepovers … Harriet even went camping with me and Mum every summer. Then, one day, she told me that her mum and dad were talking about moving to New Zealand. Five months later, she was gone.