Teaghan sits close to them. ‘What did they say? Do they have any leads?’

‘It doesn’t make sense. I mean, if I did have something to tell them, a secret, I wouldn’t do it with Mum and Dad there.’

‘Did I miss anything?’ Lisbeth slides onto the wall beside me. I shake my head and move over so we can both see.

Lisbeth and I have joint custody of the quad wall; sometimes we lay our sandwiches between us and swap halves. I don’t have that much in common with Lisbeth, but she’s always been friendly to me, and that counts for a lot. She doesn’t seem to have many friends and I think it’s because her family are Pentecostal Christians, the full speak-in-tongues type. Even her sandwiches taste religious.

Claire looks stunned by the attention. Her face is blotchy and her eyes puffy. Teaghan pokes her until she answers the question.

‘They asked if Yin had been upset recently, or if she’d had any fights with her parents or teachers or anyone else.’

‘See? I told you. They think she’s run away,’ says Sarah.

The Blondes, normally in their own secluded corner, sit on the bottom step. Sarah lies on Ally’s lap; Ally is wedged up against Marley. With the tree masking me, I can watch Natalia unseen. She sits slightly apart, touching no one, drawing biro patterns on her bare legs. She seems oblivious to everything around her, but something tells me that she’s listening intently. She’s still wearing her summer dress, even though we were meant to have switched to winter uniform at the beginning of the term. It’s entirely possible that cold blood runs through her veins. Natalia is like one of those ships that power through the polar ice caps. Good at everything, with zero effort. An A-student, makes sporting teams, gets leads in school plays, rules the roost.

‘And has she run away?’ Teaghan mimics a current affairs reporter. ‘Is there something you’re not telling us?’

‘They asked me if she ever talked to strangers online.’ Milla’s eyes aren’t as puffy as Claire’s but I notice her nails are bitten down so far they’re bleeding. She chews on them now. ‘One theory is that she has a secret boyfriend.’

That makes Sarah snort into her juice. She has the unusual good grace to turn it into a cough. I want to speak up, to say that doesn’t make any sense—because who trapped Yin’s mum in the bathroom?—but I don’t.

‘Has she been acting worried or scared recently? That was another question.’ Milla’s voice drops and the whole year level leans in. I almost topple off the wall. ‘Was she scared of anything?’