‘I hate that she makes you feel that way, Annie. I really do.’

‘You’ll love Freddie, though.’ I didn’t want his pity. New Annie wasn’t for pitying, if she could help it. ‘You’ll get on like a house on fire.’

‘I look forward to it,’ he said, and my heart beat in double time at what was to come. I couldn’t hide Patrick away forever though, could I? And anyway. It was time I stood up to Mum, once and for all. Worrying about her was boring, at best, and downright debilitating at worst.

‘Goodnight,’ I said, switching off the light.

In the darkness his voice echoed again: ‘I meant what I said. You really can stay with me if you want.’

I kissed him instead of verbalizing a reply.

34

I was right about Freddie and Patrick: they got on like Patrick had been part of the family for years. I’d spent a lifetime second-guessing my own judgement, but I’d never for a single moment doubted Freddie’s. She was like a sniffer dog for good intentions. Hearing them talk so easily warmed my heart.

‘And so now,’ Freddie concluded, halfway through an anecdote about a pupil-teacher stand-off she’d spearheaded at school, playing Mum’s hostess-in-training and carefully handing Patrick a beer, ‘they said they’re going to officially review school policy on it. Mum told me that I was making a big fuss out of nothing and not to make a name for myself as a troublemaker, but Dad came into my room and told me not to listen to her and to do what I thought was right. But I obviously was right because they’re going to change it. So I hope Mum will say sorry.’

She hadn’t taken a breath since we’d arrived, and Patrick indulged her friendliness fervently.

‘Wow,’ he said, genuinely impressed. ‘That’s … badass.’ He swiftly turned and looked at me. ‘Wait. Can I say badass?’

I nodded. ‘If that’s what it is,’ I answered.

Freddie beamed at him, satisfied at his compliment, and the fact that he’d used a ‘grown-up’ word to articulate it.

‘It really is badass,’ I told her, Carol happily snuggled into my lap, thrilled to be reunited. ‘You’re so brave, Froogle. It’s much easier to keep the status quo than to challenge things, especially in big institutions like schools.’

‘What’s status quo?’

‘Oh, um, where people keep things as they’ve always been, because change can be scary.’

‘Dad says the only constant is change.’

I smiled. ‘He’s not wrong.’