‘Actually,’ Taisie said, because she wasn’t letting her get away with that. ‘He’s been after me for ages, but I keep saying no because he’s, like, part of the family. I only have to snap my fingers, though, and he’ll come running.’ She demonstrated, laughing.

‘Alana’s into him,’ Rosa said.

‘Alana?’ Taisie felt a twinge of concern, but she managed to sound off-hand. ‘She doesn’t have a hope in hell.’

Rosa leaned back and gave her an odd look, her eyebrows raised. ‘You like him,’ she teased.

Taisie shoved her so hard that she fell off the chair. But she was secretly pleased.

Nick rang the doorbell dead on seven o’clock. Taisie and Rosa ignored it, waiting in her bedroom until Alex got off his bum and sloped out of the sitting room to let him in. Then they sauntered downstairs.

Her mother appeared and told Rosa she looked stunning. Then she remembered Taisie. ‘You look lovely too, darling.’ She went outside to speak to Nick’s dad, who was waiting for them in his car.

Their school was only a bus ride and a short walk away, but Tim insisted on getting them there in style. He drove a sports car, so she wasn’t arguing. He used to be in a rock band, like donkey’s years ago. They made one album apparently, though Taisie had never listened to it. It was only on vinyl.

Nick was wearing ripped jeans and a T-shirt and looked really good. He wasn’t exactly the best dresser normally, which was surprising because his dad always looked so cool. Maybe Tim had given him a few tips. Once she was his girlfriend, the first thing Taisie was going to do was go through his wardrobe. She glanced at Rosa. She was giggling and batting her eyelashes. Perhaps she should have been clearer. Nick was hers.

Alex went back to his TV programme, but Rory and Izzy came running out of the sitting room and stopped dead, looking up at her and Rosa and back at Nick. Izzy’s eyes filled with envy. Taisie gave her a shove. Her sister was thirteen and desperate to be going to parties.

‘You look wicked,’ Rory said.

Nick high-fived him. ‘Thanks, dude. You look pretty cool in those pyjamas.’

Rory glanced down, smoothing his hands over the picture of Thomas the Tank Engine. ‘I got them for my birthday. I’m eight now.’

‘Well, lucky you.’

Izzy was still staring.

‘You look like a frog,’ Taisie said.

She snapped out of it and stuck out her tongue.

Nick caught Taisie’s eye and smiled, his cheeks colouring, and she felt her heart give a little skip. ‘Are you ready?’

‘You’ll be the belle of the ball,’ her father called after them. ‘Knock ’em dead!’

She stuck out her tongue. ‘Embarrassing.’