Zadie kept repeating how sorry she was. Chloe sort of wished she was less sorry, so that she could vent her frustration. But Zadie was so abject in her apologies that saying anything other than ‘It doesn’t matter, it’s not a big deal’ felt unreasonable. So she reassured Zadie over and over again. Zadie didn’t seem quite herself. She was unfocused, unable to follow the thread of the conversation. It was as if there were music playing that made it too loud for her to hear much, but she was the only one who could hear it.

Later, Zadie decided to stay at home rather than going for a walk. So Chloe stayed with her. She watched the others tramp off, wearing the wellies provided by whoever owned the beautiful house. Their figures grew smaller from her bedroom window as they walked away and she felt a surprising pang of jealousy. If she weren’t here with Zadie, she could be with them. Getting to know them. Making them into proper friends, instead of people she had merely spent a weekend with. Zadie was lying on the bed, playing with her phone.

‘Who are you texting?’

‘No one.’

‘You can’t text no one.’

‘I’m not texting anyone. I’m playing a game.’

It was a lie, unquestionably. But Chloe didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. ‘Why don’t you have a nap before everyone gets back? So you can be on sparkly form later.’

‘I’m not tired.’

‘You seem a bit …’ What was the right way to tell Zadie that she seemed weird? ‘Not yourself.’

‘I don’t feel like myself,’ she said, her head lolling on the pillow. ‘I feel heavy. And strange.’

Chloe’s hackles went up. ‘Did you take something?’

Zadie shook her head, but seemed to regret it immediately. ‘No, no.’

‘You know you really can’t do that tonight? It’s Max’s birthday. We have to make him the centre of attention.’

Zadie’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t want to be the centre of attention. Why do you always say that?’

‘I’ve never said that.’

‘Fine. Not you, everyone else then. They all keep saying that. I don’t want to be. I just want to have a nice time like everyone else. But you’re having a go at me.’

Chloe got up. ‘I’m going to go and read my book.’

‘Oh, great, leave me on my own, just like everybody else does.’

‘Who else? Max just went for a walk.’