Marcus ignores her. He pulls himself up and heads for the fence, with his head tipped back and his hand still over his nose. ‘Ahh,’ Julia says with satisfaction, turning her back to the guys. ‘You know something? I needed that.’

‘Here,’ Chris says, holding out Becca’s phone. ‘Are these them?’

‘OhmyGod!’ Becca yelps, on a wild rush of relief. ‘Yeah, they are. That’s them. How did you . . . ?’

‘You just moved them to the wrong folder. I put them back.’

‘Thanks,’ Becca says. ‘Thank you.’ She’s giving him the smile she never normally gives anyone but the three of them, a huge shining monkey-crunch. Selena knows why. It’s because if Chris can do something like that, just out of niceness, then not all guys are Marcus Wiley or James Gillen. Chris has that knack: turning the world into a different place, one that makes you want to take a running dive right into the middle.

Chris smiles back at Becca. ‘No hassle,’ he says. ‘If it gives you any more grief, you come find me and I’ll have a look, yeah?’

‘Yeah,’ Becca says. She’s mesmerised, face upturned to his, radiant in his light.

Chris gives her a tiny wink and turns away, and for a second Selena can’t breathe, but his eyes go right over her like she’s not there. ‘I like your new pet,’ he tells Julia, nodding at the front of her jumper, which has a stoned-looking fox woven into it. ‘Is he housetrained?’

‘He’s very well-behaved,’ Julia says. ‘Sit! Stay! See? Good boy.’

‘I think there’s something wrong with him,’ Chris says. ‘He’s not moving. When was the last time you fed him?’ He throws a marshmallow at the fox, out of his pick-and-mix bag.

Julia catches the marshmallow and tosses it into her mouth. ‘He’s fussy. Try chocolate.’

‘Yeah, right. He can buy his own.’

‘Uh-oh,’ Julia says, ‘I think you’ve pissed him off,’ and sticks a hand up her jumper to send the fox leaping at Chris, and he mock-yells and jumps up. And then somehow he’s next to Selena and the air has turned into something you can feel on every inch of your skin, lifting you, irresistible. His smile feels like she’s known it by heart forever.

‘Want one?’ he says, and holds out the pick-and-mix bag.

Something in his eyes tells Selena to pay attention. ‘OK,’ she says. She looks into the bag, and in with the powdery bonbons and the dried-out fudge is a small pink phone.

‘Actually,’ Chris tells her, ‘you have the rest of them. I’ve had enough.’ And he leaves the bag in her hand and turns away to ask Holly what she’s doing for Easter.