I look up to see Raj and Ed strolling towards us, hands in their pockets, their trousers narrow and their hair defying gravity.

‘Bella, you troll,’ says Raj. He comes up behind her and starts patting her down. ‘Give me my phone back!’

‘Oh my God!’ Bella shouts. ‘Get off me, you perv! Miss, Raj’s touching me up again!’ But Ms Edgecombe doesn’t even look up. As they carry on fighting, and Ed starts getting his stuff out and dropping it on the desk next to me, I feel myself almost shrinking into the corner, trying to make myself invisible.

Ed King takes the seat next to me. He’s so tall it’s like a shadow’s fallen over me. ‘She’s not got it, mate,’ he says in his deep voice. ‘You’re wasting your time.’ He shares a quick smile with Bella and she winks back.

Suddenly, Raj’s phone is forgotten and Bella’s talking about some picture she put on Instagram. ‘Show Meg,’ Raj says, and Bella’s phone is pushed in front of me. I can never stay invisible for long. ‘What do you think of Bella’s selfie?’ he asks, watching me closely and smiling in anticipation about what I might say.

I glance at the photo. From all the bubbles surrounding Bella’s face, it looks like she’s in the bath. I try to work out the right thing to say, the thing that won’t make them a) laugh or b) think I’m weird. I shrug and say, ‘She looks clean.’

‘Clean?’ says Bella, bursting out laughing. ‘Classic Megara! I’m putting it in the comments.’

OK. I failed.

Raj rocks back on his stool. ‘Do I look clean, Meg?’ he says with a grin.

‘Right,’ says Ed firmly. ‘I want to work, so it’s time for you two to shut up,’ he points at Raj and Bella, ‘and for Meg to lend me a pen.’ He holds his hand out, just like he does every lesson.

I find a biro in my pencil case and hand it to him.

Ed studies it. ‘Haven’t you got a gel pen?’

Across the table, Bella giggles.

With a sigh, I swap the biro for one of my beloved inky gel pens.

‘Thanks, Meg,’ Ed says, whipping the pen out of my hands and turning straight back to his work.

Halfway through the lesson, Ms Edgecombe starts handing round dominos and ping-pong balls. ‘We’re going to recreate the nuclear fission process,’ she says, ‘and I want you to work –’

‘In groups,’ says Bella. ‘Please, Miss.’

All around the room, students demand to work in groups while I silently beg for ‘alone’.

‘I want you to work with the person sitting next to you,’ says Miss.

‘What?’ says Bella, scowling at Raj. ‘But I want to work with Woody!’ This is another of Bella’s special names – Edward – Woody – but unlike my Megara, when she calls Ed ‘Woody’ you know it’s one hundred per cent friendly.

‘Well you can’t,’ says Ed, clicking the lid down on my pen. ‘I’m with Meg.’