Blaise Fox strode in, wearing a ski suit, yelling, “Good morning, sensation seekers. This afternoon you’ll show me your works of genius but for now let’s go for the burn!!! I’ve got my big drum—let’s get moving!!!”

To warm up we had to be horses. Trotting round the hall. Then light cantering. The drum got quicker as we did galloping, slower as we did “dressage,” then back to banging and pauses as we did galloping again. For the horse finale we did the Grand National and Blaise shouted, “And OVER the hedge!!!” leaping.

Then we did the Grand National again as different animals. Blaise shouted out, “Cows!! Run run LEAP over the hedge. Moooooo-ve, girls. Hahahahahaha! Now then, it’s the ferrets! Scamper scamper scamper and OVER the hedge!!”

Flossie pretended her ferret couldn’t get over the hedge and had fainted. Blaise shouted, “Come on, you ferrets, help your furry pal over the hedge!!”

So we had to gather round and try to pick up Flossie. And try to get her over the imaginary hedge. It certainly made us warm.

Finally, as the bell rang and we were almost on our knees with exhaustion, Blaise shouted, “Last round . . . stroppy teenagers. Leaping over the hedge!!!”

So we all ended up stamping about, refusing to get over the hedge and storming around and complaining that it wasn’t fair. Blaise said we were “terrifyingly lifelike.”

Jo turned into a madwoman at lunchtime. She was yelling, “Come on, come on, stop tarting around! Let’s get to the tree.” Pushing us out of the loos quite violently.

Vaisey said to me, “Gosh, I’m excited about seeing the boys. Are you excited about seeing them? Well, especially Charlie, Lullah?”

I said, “Yeah, it’ll be nice to see him, because he’s, er, a nice mate, isn’t he?”

Vaisey said, “I think he’s more than nice. I think he’s yummy. Do you think he’s yummy? Do you think about Charlie? Did you think about him in the holidays? You like him better than Batboy, don’t you? He says quite funny things to you, doesn’t he? He said, ‘Praise the knees.’” And she started giggling and waggling her curls about.

She was right; he pretends he’s a knee worshipper, which makes me feel quite nice.

We put our coats on and left through the front doors. Everyone else is huddling round the radiators, which is a bit pointless as they aren’t on.

We trudged along through the woods in the cold. As we passed the big oak tree, Jo said, “I’m going to be quite standoffish with Phil at first to teach him a lesson. He was the one who got himself sent back to ordinary school for being too good and that split us up. I think a cool approach will teach him some respect and—”

Phil crashed down onto Jo from a branch above us. They rolled and shrieked around. Then out from behind another tree popped Jack and Ben. Vaisey went bright red when she saw Jack and waved at him. He waved back.