“Oh, you know, it’s just awkward talking to a robot,” I said.

Mum was frowning as she looked left and right for a parking space. It was hard to get parked at the supermarket sometimes.

“Ha! Look,” Mum said. “There’s a space! Excellent!” She put the indicator on and pulled into a gap between two white cars.

Mum turned to face me.

“Just be yourself, Anna,” she said. “That’s always good enough. OK?”

I nodded. It didn’t sound good enough to me.

“Come on,” Mum said. “Let’s wake your brother up and get shopping, shall we?” She had a huge smile on her face. I sighed and climbed out of the car into the pouring rain. I couldn’t see much to be so cheerful about.

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The supermarket was fine until Henry got his finger trapped in the bars of the trolley. His cries were so loud you’d have thought he was having his arm sawn off. Everyone was staring at us. Mum took him out of the seat and carried him around, blowing raspberries on his cheek. Before long, Henry had forgotten all about his finger and was in fits of laughter. Mum was good at distractions.

When we got home, Dad was at the door to help with the shopping. Henry trotted up the path and Dad scooped him up under one arm.

“Ah, and where does this bag of shopping go, I wonder?” he said.

Henry started giggling and kicking his legs under Dad’s arm as Dad walked into the kitchen with him. I followed them and Dad gave Henry a big kiss on his cheek before putting him down. Dad began to butter a slice of toast. He worked nights as a security guard and so he had his breakfast when we were thinking about dinner. He slept during the daytime.

“Nice day, Anna?” Dad said.

“Yes, fine,” I said. “I’m going to go and do my homework.”

I went up to my room. On my desk was a collage that I’d started about a month ago. I’d seen a post online from a girl who had made one and put it on her wall. I thought it looked amazing, so I had a go at doing my own version.

I’d found a large piece of paper and drew the outline of a heart in pencil. I then cut out pieces of coloured paper from some old magazines that we had in the house into small petal shapes. Then I dabbed some glue at one end and layered the petals like feathers in the giant heart shape. I’d been trying to blend the colours so that it looked like the heart was fading around the edges, but I had only got about halfway.