I start to tell them about the research lab and all the amazing things I saw. Then, because they’re all watching me and listening, and because somehow just talking about yesterday is making me feel better, I find myself telling them how Bella called me Mega Knickers and about going to the cafe with Ed. ‘And then,’ I say, ‘Ed told me I should let my hair down.’

Annie is outraged on my behalf, just like I want her to be. ‘He’s so smug,’ she says. ‘I hate the way he and his mates sort of roll round the school with their hands in their pockets, looking for someone to mock.’

‘Eurch!’ says Jackson, from his beanbag. ‘They put their hands in their pockets? What scum! People like that don’t deserve to live.’

‘Shut up,’ snaps Annie. ‘You don’t get it because you’re a hands-in-the-pockets person yourself. In fact, why are you even here? You should be out in the corridors with them right now, mocking!’

Jackson laughs. ‘Oh, like you don’t mock, Annie?’

She doesn’t use her words to answer him. She uses a single finger.

‘Ed didn’t laugh at me,’ says Rose. Sometimes, until she speaks, you can almost forget she’s sitting there.

‘Explain,’ says Annie.

‘Well, once I was taking a photo of an oily puddle because it had a rainbow in it and Raj said, “Do you think it’s unicorn wee?” You know, laughing at me because –’

‘You believe in unicorns?’ says Annie.

‘Exactly. Then Ed said, “I think it’s a cool puddle”!’ She smiles round at us as if she’s just proved Ed’s some sort of saint.

‘Can I see the photo?’ says Jackson, totally missing the point, and Rose pulls out her phone.

Annie turns to me. ‘So was that it? Did anything else happen?’

‘Just some mind-blowing physics.’

‘Right …’ she says, narrowing her eyes. ‘You sure that was all?’

I pause. I haven’t mentioned the whole Ed-date thing. It’s just too humiliating to share. But what Bella said about Ed asking me to that dance has been driving me crazy – even for Bella, it was a strange thing to say and kind of came out of nowhere – and I’d love to talk to someone about it. Plus Annie’s still got that knowing look on her face. What’s the point of keeping quiet if she’s already heard about it?

I glance over at Jackson and Rose, to check they’re still engrossed in unicorn wee. ‘There was one other thing.’

‘I knew it!’ she says, sitting back and smiling. ‘You’ve got this frown on your face … I mean, a bigger one than usual. So what happened?’

Quickly, I tell her about the whole Ed-dance conversation, describing exactly what Bella said and how Ed just sat there, shaking his head and laughing. And then I tell her what I said about the asteroid wiping out everyone on Earth. I even tell her about my wave.

Annie stares at me. ‘Meg, you have got to work on your put-downs.’