We help Season put coconut cream and white sugar in a bowl, then sift in white flour and lots of baking powder to make it rise. The baking powder is instead of eggs. The cake is totally vegan and made of all white ingredients! I’ve never heard of a cake like that before. We all have a go at making the cake because Season says food made with love tastes better. Season tells us what to do but sometimes forgets the right words and we help her fill them in. She says it’s her age. She does lots of meaningful pausing when she speaks. And she gets power surges. Her body gets so hot she can burn toast.

‘It’ll be brown on top when it’s cooked,’ Season explains as she puts the cake in the oven, ‘and a creamy colour inside, but we’re going to cover it in white icing.’ She smiles at me. ‘I hope you’ll have a slice when it’s finished!’

‘Maybe,’ I say. Maybe it would be OK to eat a different colour food here. It’s so different here in 2048 – not being bullied by Pete LMS, my words coming out the RIGHT way. It’s nice being with the 2048 pupils too. Ama’s telling me all about her school.

‘We don’t have bullying,’ she says, ‘because everyone knows the cameras record it as evidence.’

‘Don’t the bullies steal your phone?’

‘Nah.’ She shakes her head. ‘Overhead cameras. Concealed, like CCTV. They know they’re being filmed, so they don’t try.’

‘Why didn’t any of your Leaplings come on this trip?’

‘They leapt to 2096! I don’t know where they went. Not here.’ She smiles, showing her gap. ‘You’ve got flour all over your face.’

It must have been when I opened the packet. It came out in a cloud.

‘Are you a Vegan?’

‘No.’ She laughs and lowers her voice. ‘I eat meat on a Sunday, so I can’t call myself Vegan. My parents don’t believe in Veganism.’

‘You make it sound like a religion?’

‘It is for some. Strict Hindus don’t eat meat. We’re Christians. Kind of.’ She raises one eyebrow; I don’t know how she does it. ‘You?’

‘Grandma’s Christian to the power of 3!’ I brush the flour off my face and sneeze. ‘If you’re not a Vegan, what are you? A Vegetable or a Meathead?’

Ama laughs. ‘You know about the Meat Wars? Not everyone falls into those two camps. We’re Omnivores, aka Omni, I suppose. We eat meat but keep to the rations. Mum’s worried it’s all GM. Used to eat fish on Fridays but fish are retro.’

‘We learnt that in PPF.’ I stir the flour into the mixture. It looks like it’s curdled so I use the whisk. I learnt THAT in cookery. But I don’t want to think about school.