“Her treatment has meant that her immune system was badly affected. This meant that she has been at risk of catching an illness and getting seriously unwell. That’s why she used Ellie-bot to join our class.” Miss Burnell turned and pointed to the robot on her shelf. The sight of the robot’s back facing the class made me want to cry. I closed my eyes tightly. This was awful.

“Ellie had an appointment at the hospital yesterday to see how her immune system was coping,” said Miss Burnell.

As she spoke, I heard the classroom door open, but I kept my eyes closed.

“And I’m pleased to say that Ellie’s doctor has said that she can return to school part-time!” Miss Burnell continued.

I opened my eyes and blinked. What?!

I turned my head and saw Mrs Watson and a small girl standing in the doorway. She was wearing school uniform and she had a pale blue scarf tied around her head.

“Ellie?” I whispered.

“Come on in,” said Miss Burnell, smiling. “Come and meet your classmates!”

Ellie looked around at all of our faces. She looked really nervous, but I could tell from a twinkle in her eyes that she was also excited.

Miss Burnell put a hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “This is your seat right here – next to Anna and Nia,” she said.

Ellie looked at both of us and smiled. “Hi, Nia. Hi, Anna,” she said.

“Hi, Ellie,” I said, smiling back.

Chapter Fourteen

It was lovely having Ellie at school. She still had to take it easy, as it was going to be very tiring to return to school, so at break-time we went to the library. We sat in the corner on some beanbags and the warm sun shone through the window onto our faces.

“Ellie?” I said. “I need to talk to you about what I did and why I lied to you.”

Ellie frowned. “OK,” she said.

“The thing is, when I started talking to you through Ellie-bot, I felt like I didn’t have anything to say,” I said. “All the other girls in the class do so much, but I don’t do anything.”

I felt like I was going to start crying. Ellie just listened.

“That’s why I made it all up,” I went on. “About going to the ice-cream parlour and the ten-pin bowling. And about the ice skating and football training. The truth is, I don’t go to any clubs like everyone else does. My family can’t afford it. I made those things up as I was worried I didn’t have anything interesting to tell you.”

Ellie looked down at the book she was holding, then back at me.

“Why couldn’t you just be honest?” she said. “I don’t care about if you can ice skate or not.”