‘She can leave that school on Tuesday, I really don’t give a shit any more. But on Monday morning, you are going in there,’ she went on, addressing Beth again, ‘and I don’t care if you’re sick or dying, do you hear me? You’re going to make that apology if it damn well kills you.’

Eva heard the kitchen door close sharply, silence rising ominously from the hall below. Her heart was scudding quickly along, but she remained still, steadying herself against the bathroom sink while her mind raced. She took a few deep breaths, then washed her hands, splashed cold water on her face, before opening the door.

Corinne was waiting for her.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked softly.

Eva ignored the question, crossing the landing quickly, refusing to meet the girl’s eye. And when Corinne followed her into her bedroom, without seeking permission, Eva didn’t swing around and bark at her to get out as she would normally have done. Her heart was fluttering in a frightening way, her limbs had gone cold. She wondered if she was in shock.

Corinne closed the door gently behind her while Eva threw herself face-down on the bed, one hand sliding beneath the pillow.

‘What’s wrong?’ Corinne asked softly.

Eva turned her face to the wall.

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ she answered, the pillow muffling her voice. She could feel it in herself – the swell of emotion. Fear rising like dough in her chest, filling out to reach her tingling extremities.

Movement on the bed as Corinne came to sit beside her – something tentative about it, as if bracing herself for Eva’s anger.

It amazed her, how Corinne kept coming. In the face of Eva’s constant angry rejections, she had shown resilience. Or maybe she was just propelled by desperation – a feeling that was growing familiar to Eva now too.

Eva lay still on her side, thinking furiously. Her head was overfull, it pulsed painfully with the speed of her thoughts. She missed Alicia. The loss of her friend felt like a physical pain, twisting and tangling with her panicked desperation. If only she hadn’t pushed her away. If only she hadn’t allowed the silence to harden between them. She longed for Alicia’s presence, her honesty, her pragmatism, her love.

And then she felt a hand at the back of her head, gently drawing the elastic from her hair, loosening the knot. The ribbon of hair unravelled and fell over the sheet.