I barely watched the film. All I knew was that every now and then, I could feel Annie’s arm brushing mine. One time, we both had our hands on the armrest and I could feel the back of her fingers against mine. I didn’t move a muscle. I’m not sure I even breathed for a few minutes.

‘I – I’ll see you at school,’ I said when we parted after the film.

Annie smiled at me. ‘I hope so,’ she replied and my heart leaped out of my body, twirled around a lamppost a few times and jumped back in again.

Daniel ribbed me about it all the way home. ‘Leo’s got a girlfriend, Leo’s got a girlfriend,’ he sang.

Rory and Maddy laughed. ‘Leave him alone,’ Maddy said.

But I didn’t mind. It wasn’t like the days when the boys called me names that made me feel like crawling into a ball. This was being teased by my friend and I was too full of happiness to care. And besides, I quite liked the idea that Annie might possibly be my girlfriend.

I got home and let myself into the flat.

Mama was standing in the middle of the kitchen and there were scraps of wallpaper in her hair and all over the floor, the chairs – everywhere but on the walls, it seemed.

She turned to face me, a wire brush in her hand, and smiled. ‘I’ve made a start,’ she said.

I rolled up my sleeves. ‘I’ll join you,’ I said.

‘Let’s have lunch first. You can tell me all about the film and then we’ll get stuck in.’

I told her as much as I could remember about the film. I didn’t mention anything else, though. I wouldn’t have known how to put it into words.

After lunch, I put on my scruffiest clothes and joined Mama in the kitchen. We worked all afternoon and into the evening, chatting and laughing and scraping and scrubbing at the walls.

I think it was the best day I’d had since we’d come to England.

As the room began to darken, we stopped working and cleared a space on the table. Mama lit a special candle and said the Havdalah prayer for the end of Shabbat. Then she kissed me on the cheek.

Our Saturdays were so different now – almost indistinguishable from any other day. But still, the Havdalah prayer reminded me where we’d come from, and who we still were. And those things would never change.

It was still early for dinner. ‘Shall we do a bit more before we eat?’ I asked.

‘If you’re happy to. Let’s have a little music while we work, shall we?’ Mama switched on the radio and we got back to our work, humming along with some of the tunes.