Sean hugged Katie, ruffled her hair and smacked her vigorously on the back as if he was trying to save her from choking. Then he suddenly stood back and looked at her suspiciously. ‘Hey, it really is you, isn’t it? You’re not about to peel off your face to reveal one of Enrico’s Security Thugs?’

Katie pinched her cheek. ‘There’s only me in here.’

But she did look different. There were shadows under her eyes and scratches on her face. Her clothes were wet and dirty. Her new short hairstyle made her neck seem longer and changed the shape of her face. Even though she was filthy and obviously exhausted, she looked somehow more confident and mature than the old Katie.

‘Nic, ask her a question only the real Katie could answer,’ ordered Sean.

‘Oh, um, I can’t think of one.’

‘Okay, how’s this?’ said Katie. ‘When we were in kindergarten, Tyler, Nicola and I made a really embarrassing secret pact we’ve never told anyone –’

‘QUIET!’ shouted Tyler and Nicola at the same time. ‘It’s the real Katie!’

Nicola introduced Katie to Topaz, Serena and Joshua. ‘

I’m impressed that you managed to escape from Enrico’s hostage room,’ said Topaz.

‘Oh, well, I had a lot of help,’ said Katie.

‘Have some hizza and tell us about it,’ offered Joshua.

‘Hizza!’ said Katie. ‘I was just thinking I could smell hizza!’

Gosh, thought Nicola. She sounds as if she’s been living on Shobble for years. It gave her a sad, almost jealous feeling thinking of all the things Katie had experienced without her. Would their friendship be different now?

‘Katie, your hair looks great!’ said Shimlara. ‘We were so upset when we heard Enrico had cut it off but it really suits you.’

‘He didn’t cut if off,’ said Katie with a mouth full of hizza. ‘That’s how all this started. I was just so sick of the whole “hairity” business, I asked Joy to cut it off for me. You see, I found out there was a Katie Hobbs fan club and that was just too much. Can you think of anything worse – a fan club just for me!’ She took another huge bite of hizza.

‘I’m pretty sure the girls at school have a secret Sean Berry fan club,’ said Sean. He ran his fingers through his hair like a rock star. ‘It doesn’t worry me.’