Alice-Miranda took the last bite of her vegie burger. ‘That was delicious.’ She wiped the crumbs from her lips, folded her paper napkin and placed it on her empty plate.

‘Yeah, it was okay, but next time we have burgers I hope they use meat,’ said Ava, wrinkling her nose.

‘I need to take some books back to the library before the end of lunch,’ Quincy informed her friends. ‘Who’s coming with me?’

Ava, Alice-Miranda and Lucinda all agreed to go. The girls were finishing their hot chocolates when, from the far end of the hallway, came a roaring voice.

‘Lucinda Finkelstein, where are you?’ it bellowed.

Lucinda froze. ‘That’s my father. If he sees me with all of you, I’m done for.’

‘I wonder what he’s doing here,’ Alice-Miranda said.

Before anyone had time to answer, Morrie Finkelstein arrived in the cafeteria. His face was red and he was snorting and blowing like a raging bull. Silence descended on the room. Girls chewed and swallowed but no one said a word.

Lucinda slumped down in the booth, willing herself to be invisible.

‘Where is my daughter?’ Morrie demanded as he searched the room. ‘Lucinda Finkelstein, you come out here NOW!’

Alice-Miranda leaned across the table and patted Lucinda’s arm.

‘Don’t worry,’ she whispered. ‘I can’t imagine what’s upset your father so badly, but I’ll talk to him.’

‘No!’ Lucinda objected, but before she had time to say anything more, Alice-Miranda leapt up from the booth and walked across the open floor to meet Mr Finkelstein.

‘Hello Mr Finkelstein.’ She looked up at him and smiled. ‘My name’s Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones and I’m very pleased to meet you.’ She offered her tiny hand.

‘You! What have you done with my Lucinda?’ he demanded.

‘Nothing, Mr Finkelstein, but you do seem rather upset.’

‘Really? Do you think so? Why, you impertinent little brat!’ he roared.

‘Now, Mr Finkelstein, with all due respect, you don’t even know me. I can’t imagine you could make your mind up about someone when you’ve not spent more than a minute in their company,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

The rest of the girls and staff in the cafeteria stared.

Lucinda stood up. She smoothed her skirt, gathered all her courage and emerged from the booth to face her father.

Her father’s eyebrows furrowed together like a pair of knitting needles, but this time his voice was calm. ‘Lucinda.’

She walked towards him.

‘Hello Papa. Why are you here?’ she asked.

‘We are leaving, Lucinda. You have lied to me about your friends. I forbade you to continue any contact with those two –’ He pointed at Ava and Quincy as they walked up behind his daughter – ‘and now I find that you have fallen under the spell of this child. A sworn enemy of the Finkelsteins!’

‘But Papa, Alice-Miranda is not my enemy. She’s my friend, a very good friend.’ Lucinda looked at Alice-Miranda, who reached out and slipped her hand into Lucinda’s.

‘Stop that nonsense.’ Morrie leaned forward and tore the children’s hands apart. ‘Get your things, Lucinda. This is not negotiable and you will not speak back to me. You are leaving Mrs Kimmel’s right now and I am hiring a tutor this afternoon.’

‘No! That’s not fair!’ Lucinda screamed and ran past her father into the hallway and up the stairs.

Morrie turned on his heel and took off after her with Alice-Miranda and a stampede of girls and staff behind.

‘Mr Finkelstein, please wait,’ the tiny child called.

Morrie stopped in his tracks. He turned around and held out his hand, like a policeman on traffic duty.

‘Enough of this nonsense. Do not follow us. Lucinda is my daughter and she will do as she is told. I will not have any of you interfering.’

Miss Hobbs and Mr Staples arrived on the scene. Morrie directed his rage at the headmistress.

‘Miss Hobbs, if you want this school’s reputation to remain intact then I advise you to tell these people to leave me and my daughter alone. I am taking Lucinda with me and there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it.’ Morrie’s eyes drilled right through the headmistress.

‘All right, Mr Finkelstein,’ Jilly conceded. ‘Children, staff, please return to the cafeteria or whatever else you were doing. Do not try to stop Mr Finkelstein. I am sure that he and I will speak later and sort out this small problem.’

Morrie rolled his eyes.

‘Mr Finkelstein, please, I think you’re being awfully unfair,’ Alice-Miranda spoke.

‘Unfair? Oh, that is rich coming from a Highton, but then I suppose your family knows all about being unfair,’ he spat.

Alice-Miranda remained calm. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about Mr Finkelstein, but I’m sure that it’s all just a dreadful misunderstanding.’

‘There is no misunderstanding. I’m taking my daughter and she will never ever see you again. You can stop pretending to be her friend.’ Morrie looked at Miss Hobbs. ‘Now get Lucinda and bring her to reception within the next five minutes.’

Morrie stalked off towards the front of the school.

‘Poor Lucinda,’ Quincy sighed. ‘What can we do?’

Jilly Hobbs surveyed the forlorn group. ‘Girls, I’m afraid there is nothing you can do at the moment. Mr Finkelstein needs some time to calm down and I need to get Lucinda. You three, come with me. I’m sure you’d like to say goodbye.’ Jilly looked up and raised her voice ever so slightly. ‘Everyone else, please go back to what you were doing.’

The group found Lucinda clearing out her locker. Her face was streaked with tears.

‘There’s no point making things any worse,’ she sniffed. ‘He’s not going to change his mind.’

‘Lucinda, you’re right about your father being a bully.’ Quincy patted her shoulder.

‘You know I asked you all not to give up on me,’ Lucinda said. ‘Well, you might as well. I can’t ever escape.’

‘Lucinda.’ Alice-Miranda grabbed her friend’s hands. ‘There has to be a reason why your father doesn’t like my family. If I can find out what it is, then surely we can put this silly feud behind us and your father will realise that whatever our great-great-grandfathers did to each other, it doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the family.’

Lucinda leaned forward and hugged Alice-Miranda tightly. ‘I wish you were right. But I don’t think anything you say will ever change his mind.’

‘Come along, Lucinda.’ Jilly Hobbs picked up the girl’s backpack. Tears welled in the corner of the headmistress’s eyes too.

Quincy and Ava embraced Lucinda.

‘Don’t forget to look across the road when you visit the Met. I’ll be in the window, like a canary in a gilded cage.’ Tears now streamed down Lucinda’s cheeks.

‘Lucinda, we’ll find a way to make your father see sense,’ said Alice-Miranda and hugged her again. ‘I promise.’