From amongst the drudgery of my schoolfriends’ lives, a cobalt-blue sky caught my attention. Which of my ‘friends’ could afford a holiday abroad? I wondered. But it wasn’t any of them – it was Clio, caught as she laughed at something happening behind the person with the camera. I zoomed in on the picture. It was taken at a restaurant set high in a cliff face, the turquoise sea glistening below – Menorca, maybe, not that I’d been, but I’d pored over enough pictures to hazard a guess. Clio was wearing white, and with her expensive haircut and her healthy tan looked like she should be in a shampoo ad. For all her beautiful surroundings, though, did Clio look happy? I thought not. There was a sadness in her eyes, and her smile felt only half-formed.

Me and Clio had clicked, I knew. My gut told me that, even though it felt a bit presumptuous. I mean, we’d definitely got along, but there was more to it than that – a shared sense of . . . what? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but whatever it was, it was definitely there.

Oh, what the hell . . . I found the messenger app and typed a message.

Hi Clio. I was wondering if you’d like to meet up some time. Leah x

Then I pressed ‘Send’. As I watched the message disappear, I felt a lurch of regret. What if I’d read the situation totally wrong, if I’d just got a bit carried away by Clio’s talk of the places she’d been to? She was probably just biding her time until she could discreetly unfriend me from Facebook and sever the unfortunate connection forever.

Then my phone beeped.

Hi! That would be amazing! When works for you?

Everything inside me smiled. I knew I was right. There was something, a chemical fizz or whatever it was. The two of us had got a shared . . . thing.

This weekend? I typed back optimistically, but I was already thinking that there was no way that Clio’s hectic social life would accommodate such an impromptu appointment.

How about Sunday? came the instant reply. I know your Saturdays are busy ;) Why not come here? Bring Poppy and Noah.

Go there? Wow! That was unexpected, but I wasn’t about to turn down the chance to see Clio’s amazing house for myself.

Great. Where’s the nearest station?

There wasn’t much spare cash for random travel, but I had a family railcard bought with supermarket coupons and Noah still travelled for free.

Morpeth. I’ll send Marlon to pick you up. Let me know what time your train gets in. Shall we say around twelve and then you can come for lunch?