Cat and the other girls waved goodbye to Karol at the school gates and headed for home discussing their plans for Halloween – which neighbours they should visit (the Callanans were top of the list because they always handed out full-size bars of chocolate), and which they should avoid (old Mrs Sweeney was out. She was a monkey-nuts-and-apples kind of person and always seemed to disapprove of their choice of costume).

‘If this is our last year trick-or-treating, I want to go out with a bang,’ said Ebele. ‘No wasting time and absolutely NO fruit.’

They all murmured their agreement.

‘You should ask if you can sleep over at ours after the bonfire,’ said Sarah. ‘We can watch some scary films.’

‘Great idea!’ said Cat, already feeling a shiver of anticipation at the thought. She was never allowed to watch scary films at home, but Jess and Sarah’s older brother Conor was an avid collector of old horror movies. Last time they had a sleepover he had let them borrow Nightmare on Elm Street. Cat had nightmares of her own for weeks afterward and her mam absolutely flipped when she found out. She thought Cat was too young for those kinds of films. She was always trying to baby her.

‘Want to come in and do homework together?’ Jess asked when they reached the gate to the twin’s house. ‘Our mam won’t mind.’

‘Count me in!’ said Ebele.

‘Cat?’ asked Sarah.

It was a tempting offer. Mr Brennan had given them fractions to do over the midterm and it would be good to get them over and done with so she could properly enjoy the break. On top of that, Cat loved spending time at the twins’ house. It was as different from hers as could be. Jess and Sarah had two other siblings – their older brother Conor, who was fourteen, and their younger brother Jamie, who was five years old. Their mam was always there when they arrived home from school, ready to dole out drinks or a snack. When their dad was there, he would crack the worst jokes that somehow still had them all in stitches laughing. Cat thought he might be the best dad ever.

Granny was always telling her there was no right way to have a family, but sometimes when she looked at her friends’ lives, Cat couldn’t help feeling a pang of envy. She loved her mam and Granny – and Mikey too, she supposed. She wouldn’t trade them for the world. But her mam worked a lot and spent most of her free time catching up on college work, so the house often felt quiet and lonely. Cat wondered what it would be like living somewhere where people were always coming and going, and she never had to sit with her own silence.

‘Sorry, I can’t,’ she said after a moment’s hesitation. ‘Granny asked me to come straight home today.’

‘Are you sure? We’re having pizza tonight and Mam will probably insist you both stay for dinner,’ said Sarah.