Looking at the word COWS had made me say cows first, when I should have said people. I’d memorised my speech word for word; I could see it in my mind, but my mouth mixed everything up and it came out like a long sentence in German that’s all one word. I love German but not when I want to speak English. Mr Carter cleared his throat like he was starting a car on a cold day. He does everything in slow motion because he’s older than Grandma. But before he could say anything at all, Pete LMS said, in my voice: ‘MAD cows.’

Everyone laughed except Maria, who shouted across the room: ‘Just cos you’re Pete LMS doesn’t mean we like you.’

Maria has hated Pete LMS since he wasn’t picked for the athletics team and said high jump was only for freaks. Pete LMS makes fun of people who are different, especially if they’re good at something. He calls Ben a Leaper after Big Ben let slip he was born on the 29th of February. Pete LMS doesn’t know everyone in this school is a Leapling with The Gift. When we do PPF, he does history on his own.

I went from 0 to 10 in 0.5 seconds. I felt tears coming into my eyes and my face going red, even though I’m black and it doesn’t show. But I had to do my speech. If I didn’t do my speech, I’d get into trouble.

I stared down at my phone, the word COWS, and began again.

‘Too many people in the world eat cows. They are addicted to burgers.’

‘Ever seen a cow eat a burger?’ shouted Pete LMS and banged his fist on the table. Everyone was laughing now, even Jake and Maria. But that wasn’t what I meant. I meant PEOPLE are addicted to burgers.

I tried to continue my speech but every time I started a sentence Pete LMS would say the opposite and roll his eyes clockwise while Mr Carter looked out of the window because he’s 103. Pete LMS gave me a hard time because his dad’s a millionaire factory farmer who specialises in cattle, so if no one bought meat his whole family would starve. Actually, they wouldn’t starve; they could eat the meat other people didn’t buy. They’d be eating forever!

When I got to the FISH section, I looked down so I’d say the right words in the right order and noticed my screen was flashing. I had a text. In capital letters, it said:

SOS L

Sent Tue 3 Mar 2048. 23:00.