I sat down opposite her, waiting for her to add something, but nothing came.

‘I’ve been really looking forward to seeing you,’ I said. ‘The whole thing with Sophie…’ I waited for my inevitable tears, but it seemed I was too tense for them to flow. Who knew that grief could be constipated? ‘It was so awful. I just wanted to hug her, to force her to see that we’re still us, despite all the horrible stuff with our parents, but she was so angry with me.’

Amber’s face remained a rigid mask.

‘And, Amber, she said they went to the police. Separately from me. Like, two days before. You didn’t know that, did you? The police didn’t contact you? I know how sometimes you’ve tried to protect me from the way they bully me, but…’

I petered out, waiting for her to come back to life, but she simply stared at me blankly. It wasn’t safe here now, which made all the questions I was refusing to speak shout so loudly I knew I couldn’t block them out much longer. Still, I tried to bring her back to me.

‘Have I done something?’ I stammered.

‘I don’t know, Rachel. You tell me. Tell me about your week in a little more detail.’

Ice slithered down my spine. I knew where this was going.

‘Have you seen Hannah?’ I asked, as if I didn’t already know the answer to that question. I was as angry with myself as I was with her. Of course she’d run straight to Amber.

Amber cocked her head, giving nothing away. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘I just…’ My heart was fluttering like a trapped bird, my teeth chattering. I was irrationally terrified. ‘I just… I wondered what she’d said.’

‘What do you think she might have said?’

‘I wanted to tell you – I just… I didn’t know if you’d approve, and your approval means so much to me. You mean so much to me – you know that, don’t you?’

Amber held up a slim white hand, the rainbow of stones in her rings catching the light.

‘Slow down, Rachel. Spit out what it is you want to say so we know we’re on the same page.’

I was trapped now. What if she didn’t know, and I was unnecessarily dropping a bomb? A bomb Arthur had specifically asked me not to detonate.

‘Me and Arthur…’ The words were thick in my throat, hard to put together. ‘We’ve been seeing a bit of each other.’

Amber steepled her elegant fingers, pausing before she deigned to reply.

‘As friends?’

Was it a genuine question? Her expression was inscrutable.

‘N-no.’ I stammered. ‘We’ve been seeing each other – romantically.’