Ally—I could kiss her—joins in. ‘It’s a student-led thing. We’re being involved citizens, or something?’

‘We just don’t think that one person’s opinion should override what the rest of us think.’ I stare right at Petra when I say this, and to my surprise she meets my gaze.

‘Why are you doing this, Natalia?’ asks Petra. She’s not being defiant, she seems genuinely puzzled. Realising her hand is hovering, she puts the chess piece down on the board.

‘Do you think it’s fair?’ I throw back. ‘That one person thinks they’re so important and so right, that they’re going to make everyone else suffer?’

‘I’m not suffering,’ whispers a girl to her neighbour, confused.

‘Is it that you think you’re above us, Petra?’ I can’t help raising my voice and banging my hand on the table. I’m on a roll again; pure lightning runs through my veins. ‘Are your precious little feelings more important than Chloe’s hard work and talent?’

Petra has gone super-red in the face, and I can see she’s surprised because I’m one hundred per cent right and she can’t deny it.

‘Individual rights should be balanced against what’s best for the group,’ she has the nerve to say. ‘And if I’m so coldhearted, then why am I the only one who thought about how upset the Mitchells would be if they saw a photo mocking the whole idea of kidnapping up on the school wall?’

This is enough to take my breath away, for real. I understand for the first time what seeing red means. Who was it that let Chunjuan snot on her shoulder?

‘Mocking? You don’t know anything about how the Mitchells feel. Why do you get to decide what’s right?’

Petra clears her throat.

‘I didn’t decide. Mrs Christie did. But do you want to know what I think?’ Her voice is low but there’s total hush in the classroom so it rings out. ‘I think you’re using Chloe for attention. And you’re using me as an excuse to be angry.’

She’s in tears which is just a cheap ploy to get her nerd friends to turn against us. I open my mouth to respond but she gets in first.

‘You think no one remembers Junior School, but I do. So I don’t get why you’re defending that photo! Or why you would do it in the first place. Where’s your heart?’

That is like a punch to the face and I’m actually reeling backwards but I try to control it, try to wipe any expression off my face and stay strong. I’m so mad and frustrated I can barely see.

‘My heart is broken…’ I start, but a torrent of tears threatens to overtake me and I won’t let anyone see me like that.