‘Oh, yeah,’ Jack said. He’d rather lost track of how long they’d been in there. He was desperate to go to the window and try and pick up the WiFi connection again. His phone felt like a little voice in his ear. But now Ellen was at the window. And Jack wasn’t sure that Ellen would want to talk to him all that much.

‘I didn’t go on MSN very often,’ Jack tried again. ‘When I was at school, I mean. I didn’t use it much.’

‘It was a big thing at our school,’ Ben replied, quietly. He offered a tired smile.

Jack had talked to a few girls from his class, and from the other school near his. There had never been a girlfriend, exactly, but he’d chatted to girls – about teachers and school and football, which Jack liked, though not quite as much as everyone else in Manchester did.

‘Are you hungry?’ he asked. ‘I’m quite hungry.’

They were still muttering.

‘Starving, mate,’ Ben replied. He rubbed his hand through his hair. ‘I’m absolutely starving.’ He stretched. ‘Here’ – he beckoned Jack closer, keeping his voice low – ‘do you think I should go talk to Alexa?’

Jack felt a prickle of anxiety.

He decided to say something non-committal. ‘Hmm.’ He nodded.

Ben looked at him in confusion. ‘What do you think? I mean, that’ – he pointed at Ellen – ‘didn’t exactly sound good.’

Jack observed Ellen’s back. She was standing with one leg wrapped around the other, and was slumped forward out of the window. In turn, he peered into the clutter. He could just about see Alexa’s small blonde head. She was staring at a wall. He felt sorry for Ellen, but he also felt sorry for Alexa. Actually, he mainly felt sorry for Ben, not just because he looked really sad but because he didn’t have a T-shirt.

Jack wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be cross with Ben, but that didn’t seem entirely fair.

‘I didn’t mean to upset her,’ Ben was saying now. ‘Ellen, I mean …’

Jack gave him a shy smile. He knew that was true. ‘Maybe they’ll make up soon.’ He added, with conviction, ‘After all, they’re best friends.’

This didn’t seem to make Ben feel any better. He looked a little agitated, in fact.

‘Right. Best friends.’

‘Are you and Alexa –?’ Jack stopped.

‘We’ve been on a few dates.’

Jack felt awkward suddenly. He hoped Alexa wouldn’t be angry that he was asking Ben about her. He also wondered if she’d be more, or less, angry than Ellen about the peeing-in-a-box tweet. He shook his head.

Ben looked quizzical.

‘Sorry,’ Jack said. ‘Just hungry.’ He added, in a whisper, ‘So, will you see her again?’

‘Well, it rather depends on what happens here, doesn’t it?’

Jack could see that.

‘I’d like to,’ Ben added. ‘A lot.’