After recess, the children had Maths, which meant Kensy could spend more time cosying up to Ellery. When their teacher announced a new project that required the students to work in pairs, Kensy made a beeline for the girl, much to Curtis’s disappointment. She felt bad fobbing him off, but it couldn’t be helped.
Meanwhile, in 6H, Max had managed to sit across from Van and snatch a couple of quick conversations during the lessons before lunch. He asked for the boy’s help with a comprehension exercise and another activity he said he couldn’t understand, gently stroking Van’s sizable ego and wheedling his way into a friendship. As for their teacher, Max decided that Mr Hook’s reputation was far worse than the man deserved. Fair enough, he had a leery look which silenced the class in a nanosecond, but apart from that he never raised his voice. His teaching style was rather dull, especially compared to Mr Reffell’s nutty antics, and he would never have won an argument against Miss Witherbee.
As they were packing up their things, Max leaned forward and tapped Van on the shoulder. ‘What do we have this afternoon?’ he asked.
‘Do you need to get your glasses checked?’ the lad said with a grin. He motioned towards the front of the room, where it was clearly written on the whiteboard that they had a year-group meeting followed by Science.
‘Oh, sorry, that was stupid of me. Just finding my feet,’ Max said, feeling like an idiot. ‘Is there somewhere you usually sit at lunchtime? I mean, the Year Sixes?’
‘You can hang out with me, if you like,’ Van said. ‘But I have to see Mr De Vere about the cricket match on the weekend. We’re playing on Bradman Oval in Bowral against a team from Moss Vale.’
None of that meant a thing to Max and his face must have betrayed his lack of knowledge.
Van looked at the lad quizzically. ‘You do know who Sir Donald Bradman was, right?’
‘Sure.’ Max nodded, hoping Van wouldn’t ask him anything more. He’d be looking that up as soon as he got home. ‘My dad’s the new assistant coach of your team,’ he said, as the pair retrieved their lunch boxes from the lockers and walked out to the courtyard. ‘What do your parents do?’
‘Dad runs a company and Mum looks after us – when she’s not shopping or having her hair done or going to lunch with friends,’ Van replied. ‘What about your mum?’
Max shook his head. ‘She’s not around.’
Fortunately, Van left it at that. Max couldn’t work out of if the boy was sympathetic or if he didn’t really care. Either was fine as Max preferred not to weave the web of lies any tighter than he needed to. The deceit was one of the things that bothered him most about his new career path. It wasn’t something that came naturally at all; no wonder they had to have specialist lessons in the craft.
The playground seemed clearly marked by year-group boundaries. Max sat with Van and some of his friends on a patch of grass beneath a leafy oak tree while he spied Kensy with Curtis on the seats outside the entrance to the Year Five block. Ellery was nowhere in sight.
‘So, what’s your sister like?’ Van asked out of the blue.
‘Oh, Kensy?’ Max faltered. ‘She’s funny and blunt and she’s really clever. Don’t tell her I said so, but she’s probably a better skier than me – technically, at least.’
‘It sounds as if you actually like her,’ Van said.
‘Most of the time. We have our moments. Why? Don’t you get along with your sister?’
Van shrugged. ‘She’s okay in small doses, but she can be a total brat. She’s really good at getting her own way with Dad. I wouldn’t necessarily choose to hang out with her, but maybe she and Kensy will be friends.’
Max spotted Ellery and a posse of three girls heading towards Kensy and Curtis. They stopped in front of them, blocking out the sun.
Kensy looked up. ‘Hi,’ she said. She knew that one of the girls was called Ruby, another was Mia and the third was Candice. Ruby was in her homeroom class, while the other two were in Mr Percival’s Maths class.
‘Would you like to come and sit with us?’ Ellery asked.
Kensy looked at Curtis, whose blue eyes instantly brightened.
‘Sure, thanks,’ Kensy said. She and Curtis both stood up.
Ellery giggled. ‘Not you, Pepper. As if.’
The other three girls laughed.
Kensy’s first instinct was to tell them that, if Curtis wasn’t invited, she didn’t care to be with them either. She had to fight her fury as her mouth opened before she clamped it shut again. Ellery was her mission. Curtis was her neighbour and for how long was anyone’s guess. She had to rationalise it this way or else it hurt too much. Being a spy was much harder on her emotions than she’d thought it would be.
‘Well, are you coming or not?’ Ellery asked, flicking a braid over her shoulder.
Kensy hesitated, then picked up her lunch box. ‘I’ll catch you after school,’ she whispered to Curtis.
‘Oh.’ The boy quickly smiled and nodded. ‘Okay, see you on the ferry.’
Kensy waved and walked off with the girls, hating herself more than she had for a very long time. In her head, she kept repeating that this was her job and she had no choice, but right at that moment, all she wanted was to rush back to Curtis and give him a great big hug.