Leo woke early, before the sun lit up his room. He opened the curtains, pressed his face to the window and looked up. The sky was half-asleep, dreaming of a colour between black and dawn blue. Any moment now, the white balloon would swing into view and Ralph would be holding on.

But he never came. Leo waited by the window until Mum said her early goodbye, then he raced out to the yard and spun round, trying to scan the whole sky at once. Still no Ralph. He started to sweat. His throat dried up. Maybe Ralph would meet him at school.

With bags on backs, he and Peg rolled their bikes down the driveway and turned onto the road. Dad was with them, pedalling a cobwebbed mountain bike he had hardly used. The streets were wide, like flat grey rivers lined with tired trees. Every surface was sapped by the sun, and even the houses and street signs seemed to lean in the heat. Leo kept his eyes up, searching for a white dot on that big canvas of blue. But he had never seen anything so empty.

They parked their bikes in the racks at school.

Dad hugged them. ‘You’ll be okay riding home by yourselves?’

‘Yep,’ said Peg, unclipping her helmet.

‘Yeah,’ said Leo, looking up.

They walked to their classrooms and Leo tripped a few times as he tipped his head back, scanning for Ralph.

‘Who’s that kid?’ whispered Peg. ‘He was just looking at you.’

He turned from the sky. The big shape of Gus wandered towards their classroom.

‘That’s Gus.’ Leo looked back up at the sky. ‘All he talks about is—’

Soccer. That was what he was going to say. But when he glanced again at Gus, his whole body was hunched and there was no ball at his feet. It was still missing. The thing he cared about more than anything in the world wasn’t there. Leo knew how that felt.

‘He’s huge,’ Peg said. ‘Are you friends?’

‘No.’ The answer came out faster than Leo expected.

He spent the day staring out the window and listening for a thump on the side of the classroom. The other kids paired up to talk about ideas for the pool, but Leo stayed at his desk, scribbling a picture of Ralph. When everyone else ran out to lunch, Ms Pengari asked him to wait. She wore a black witch’s hat and carried a plastic wand, ready for the next lesson about the magic of measurement.

‘Hang in there,’ she said. ‘The first week at a new school is always hard. And Dundle’s different from the city. It must feel like another planet.’

Leo scratched his leg with his other foot. Another planet sounded like a good idea.

She propped her witch’s hat higher on her head. ‘How did you go with the buddies last week?’

‘There’s – well – not really anyone I could – could be friends with.’ His words were limping out. He faced the carpet.

‘You mean, there’s no one like Ralph?’

His eyes flicked up.

‘There’s nothing wrong with feeling like you don’t fit. Look at me!’ She should have been scary with the hat and black lipstick, but there was too much kindness in her face. ‘It won’t be long till someone likes the way you don’t fit.’

There was only one friend like that – and he was supposed to be floating into town right now. Leo had to get outside to check. He drifted to the eating area and lay on a seat so he could see nothing but sky. A noisy handball game bounced around nearby. A small voice asked what he was doing, but he didn’t answer. Everything sounded far away, like he had fallen under water.