The doors slide open and the guard is right in front of us. He has a walkie-talkie on his hip. It’s crackling loudly and I wonder why I didn’t notice it before. A charge is running through my body like I’m waiting for the gun to go off in a big race. The security guard puts his arms out like he’s going to grab us both around the waist to dance.

‘Run!’

I don’t need to be told. I dash to one side and then dodge and weave and am almost past the guard when I feel my hoodie being pulled at the back and I realise he’s grabbed it. In a second I zip the front down, shrug the jumper off and run. I hear him yell and I expect to be chased, but I’m fast. I make it to the street corner without looking back. My legs could keep going forever.

A hand grabs mine and pulls me down a laneway. It’s Matt. He’s red-faced and grinning.

‘We’re safe,’ he says.

I inhale.

‘You okay?’

I nod.

‘Your hoodie?’

I shrug. I’m going to have to lie to Dad. That was a new jumper.

‘Hot chocolate?’

‘If you pay.’

He laughs. ‘Pay? Who said anything about paying?’

I must look alarmed because he smiles and then winks at me and I realise that he’s winding me up. I take a deep breath and try to settle the charge in my body.

‘That was nuts,’ I say to Matt.

‘Yeah.’

As we walk down the street, the storm passes. The rain stops and the sun is out again. The roads shine with dampness, and sunlight reflects off the puddles. I can’t walk at Matt’s slow pace. I seem to be dancing around him, my legs going faster than they should. Matt grabs my arm and I feel a tiny electric spark when his fingers touch my skin.

‘Ow,’ I say, pulling away.

‘Sorry. But calm down.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Okay, sit there. I’ll go get us some drinks,’ he says.

I sit down on the concrete steps outside the library. I stretch out my legs and then tuck them up again. I try standing, but that doesn’t work either.

There are people everywhere. Little pockets of groups sitting and eating their lunch undercover. None of them have any idea that I’ve just been swimming on a rooftop and that I’ve escaped being caught. I wonder if that’s what Matt means by feeling free.

My phone beeps. It’s Ellie. Where r u?