She knew what she was going to do. It took a day to figure it out, but it was the perfect thing. Nick didn’t much like being alone – growing up, he was always in their house – so they would pretend he wasn’t there. The others took some persuading, but when Taisie told Pansy and Freya what a two-timing bastard he was, they were on her side. The boys could be bribed. Izzy required more work.

‘What’s he done?’ she asked. ‘I thought you liked him.’

‘I might have done once, but that was before he decided to treat me like shit.’

She frowned. ‘Nick’s not like that.’

‘So you like him better than me?’

‘No. But it’s not fair. We’re supposed to look after each other, not leave someone out. Mum won’t let you do it.’

‘Oh, but that’s the fun of it, Izzy,’ Taisie groaned. ‘When the adults are around, we behave normally. Like nothing’s happened. You can act, can’t you?’ She heard a note of desperation in her voice and pulled it back. ‘It’s just that he hurt me a lot, and he needs to know that you don’t treat girls like that. You don’t ask someone out then get off with their friend.’

‘Did he really ask you to go out with him?’

Her scepticism was irritating. ‘Are you saying I’m lying?’

It suddenly felt overwhelmingly important that she got all of them onside. He had made her feel small and insignificant, like her mum always did. She was neither of those things; she just wanted to be respected.

Izzy scrutinized her. ‘But you told me you didn’t even want him in the first place.’

‘That’s irrelevant. Grow up.’

Izzy mulled it over, her tongue caught between her teeth, her eyes all frowny and worried. Then she took a deep breath, as if she was about to dive into the sea. Taisie loved her little sister, but she was like a nun, or a headmistress, all high principles and over-developed conscience. She nearly died when she was a baby and it made her some kind of saint or something. It was so annoying.

‘How long for?’ Izzy asked.

Taisie smiled. ‘Until I decide to stop.’

‘Tell us about Tom Gale,’ Taisie said. ‘Is he hot in real life?’

They were in the garden lying on rugs and sunloungers after a morning spent messing about on the river. She ached from kayaking and had been sunbathing. Freya and Pansy lay beside her, their whispers making her drowsy. The twins were petite and pretty, not identical but very alike. They had freckles and great figures, thin enough to have a gap between their thighs. Taisie was closest to Pansy, but they came as a pair.