Lola kicked off her school shoes and lay back on the couch. There was a major hole in one of her socks. She poked two toes through the gap, and gave them a wiggle.

As Lola flicked on the TV, the song from Neighbours bounced around the lounge room.

Just then, Will kicked his way into the room.

‘Hi-ya!’ he yelled as he karate-chopped Lola’s mermaid statue off the table. Luckily it didn’t break. Lola picked it up and tried to squeeze it up with all the other statues and photos on the mantelpiece, but there was no room. She had to put it back on the table. With Will around, that was definitely a worry.

‘Sorry about that Lola. Did you make that statue?’ Will asked.

‘Yes, I made it in art,’ Lola said.

‘It’s really good,’ Will offered. ‘All your statues are pretty cool.’

Lola smiled. Will could be very nice sometimes. But he was also very noisy. She turned up the volume of the TV and settled back into the couch.

‘Do you actually watch Neighbours?’ Will asked as he crouched on his knees in the armchair next to the couch. Lola noticed that his nostrils were flared like he was annoyed. One of his eyebrows was raised so high that it looked like it was going to jump off his face.

Lola pulled the sock back over her toes so that Will couldn’t see the hole. ‘Yeah,’ she said quietly.

Will dropped a foot onto the ground and started tapping the floorboards. ‘It’s a bit lame, don’t you think?’ he asked. ‘Like, as if your neighbours are going to be your best friends.’

Lola bit her lip. Her best friend, Abbey, actually did live next door on the third floor of an apartment building next to Lola’s house. But somehow, Lola didn’t feel like saying anything about that.

‘Hey, wanna come outside for a kick?’ Will asked. Lola really just wanted Will to be quiet, so she tried to ignore him and just watch the screen. But in seconds he was back with a football. He handballed it to Lola and it hit her in the chest.

‘Outside with the ball, guys,’ Lola’s mum called out from the kitchen.

Lola sighed, switched off the television, pulled her school shoes back on and went into the backyard with Will.

‘Mark this one!’ Will called out as he kicked the ball.

Lola put her hands up. She watched – as if in slow motion – as the ball flew through the air towards her. She tried to catch the ball, but it flew straight through her hands and landed on the ground.

Lola picked up the ball and tried to kick it back to Will. But she missed it with her foot. The ball bounced and rolled forwards a couple of metres.

Will flared his nostrils and raised his eyebrows again. It made Lola feel nervous. He raced up to the footy, and handballed it to Lola.

Lola concentrated. She fumbled it a couple of times and then … dropped it again! She then tried to handball it back. This time it went over Will’s head, and into the shed behind him.

‘Geez,’ Will said from the shed.

Lola heard him rustling around. When he came out, he had dust and cobwebs all over his jumper.

‘OK, kick it to me,’ Lola urged. She was determined to catch it this time.

‘Actually, I think I’ll go inside now,’ Will said.

‘But I was just getting good!’ Lola insisted. Will just shrugged and turned to walk into the house.

His eyebrows were raised so high that Lola could have sworn that one of them was missing.