‘Was your dog OK?’ asks Ed.

I look up. For a moment I don’t know what he’s talking about. Then I realise he’s talking about Pongo’s dash along the sea front. ‘Oh, yes, he’s fine. Have you brought your stuff with you?’

‘You had to look after your sister again, didn’t you?’ I nod and Ed plays with the wrapper on his sandwich. ‘I didn’t realise you were friends with Jackson and Annie.’

I look at him. ‘We’ve not got long. We should get on with this.’

He starts to open his sandwiches, then puts the packet down. ‘Look, Meg, are you angry with me, or something?’

I feel my cheeks start to go red so I stare out of the window. The whole of the university is stretched out in front of me. I watch a girl and boy kick a football backwards and forward across a road. When I can be sure that I can speak in a normal voice, I say, ‘I suppose I didn’t like what Bella said.’

‘Oh,’ he says, ‘the Mega Knickers thing.’

‘Right. Mega Knickers.’ I look back at him. ‘I mean, did you tell her everything?’

‘About Saturday? Um …’ Now it’s his turn to look embarrassed. ‘Quite a bit, but I didn’t know it was some kind of secret.’

‘You didn’t think she might go on about it?’

He opens his crisps. ‘Well, I know she’s got a big mouth and she likes making people laugh, but –’ he shrugs ‘– she usually knows when to stop.’

‘She never stops. She’s been saying stuff like that for years and you laugh along with her.’

He sits back in his seat. ‘If it bothers you so much, why do you never tell us to shut up?’

‘That’s easy for you to say!’

Something about the way I say this makes him put down his crisps and look up at me. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you go around school with your friends, laughing at people, and –’

‘No we don’t!’

I can tell he’s getting angry, but I’m angry too. He didn’t call me ‘Mega Knickers’ back in the lab, but he might as well have. ‘You laugh at me in science all the time!’

‘That’s called trying to be nice, Meg. You never speak to us so what are we supposed to do? Just ignore your silent, lurking presence?’

‘My what?’

A man at the next table turns round to stare at me; Ed leans back and does this smug smile. ‘Bella’s right about you.’

‘Why? What does she say?’

‘That you’re uptight. I told her you’re not – or at least you weren’t when you were running around that tent throwing things in flour – but at school you never even crack a smile. You need to lighten up, Meg, and …’

‘And do what?’ I say loudly.

‘Let your hair down!’

A rush of irritation sweeps through me. ‘Yeah? Well, Annie’s right about you!’

He raises one eyebrow. ‘Go on.’