“So this month’s star for Most Well-behaved Pupil … Well! You’re not going to believe this, Bracket Wood!”

Everyone in the assembly hall at Bracket Wood raised their eyes to heaven. Because the same thing happened every month.

“Yes! It’s a tie: between the twins from 6D – Isla and Morris Fawcett!!”

Mr Fawcett – if you’ll remember, Headmaster Mr Fawcett – finished his speech and started applauding. His applause was very gradually – and never entirely wholeheartedly – taken up by the rest of the school.

Meanwhile, Isla and Morris rose from their seats and came up to the podium, where their father – who never acknowledged he was their father at school – stood, beaming with pride.

“Well done, Isla! Well done, Morris!” he said.

“Thank you, Mr Fawcett!” they said, also pretending he wasn’t their dad.

“It’s your fifteenth star for good behaviour!” said Mr Fawcett. “I really don’t know how you manage it!”

“We just love being polite and nice and doing our best to make everyone else at school have a good day!” said Isla.

“And not bully them …” said Morris.

“No …” said Isla, looking a bit annoyed. “That’s right.”

“Good!” said Mr Fawcett. “Let’s have another round of applause for Isla and Morris!”

And, once again, he started clapping. And, once again, the rest of the assembly hall joined in, very reluctantly.

Later that morning, at break-time, there was a big football match in the playground. All the Year Six boys, a few of the girls and some of the Year Fives were playing. It was fast and furious, which is an old-fashioned phrase, but, in this case, true: everyone was running and pushing and jumping and shouting and trying to score as fast and furiously as they could.

Fred was running down the right wing, chasing a loose ball. He had never actually scored a goal at school, even in the playground. But he could run fast and most of the players were on the other side of the pitch. If he got to the ball, and kicked it as hard as he could, he had a chance of a goal this time, he was sure.

Or he did until, about a metre away from the ball, and with his right foot already drawn back to kick it, he fell – tumbled over in fact – head over heels down on to the asphalt. “Ow!”

“Well, well, well!” said a voice behind him. Fred looked up to see the ball being taken away by a huge mob of children. “You really must learn to do your shoelaces up, Stone …”

Fred looked down at his trainers. His shoelaces were done up. They had Ellie’s triple knot on them, which of course might have been a problem if he had actually got to kick the ball.

“Yeah. Stone …” said another voice. A deeper – but more hesitant – voice.

Fred got up, brushed off the two leaves that had got stuck to his top and turned round.

“Hello, Isla. Hello, Morris.”

“Hello, Fred.”

“Don’t say that, Morris.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s too friendly. Hello, Fred. It’s not very on-message for us, as bullies.”

”Oh, OK, Isla. Sorry.”

“You tripped me up, didn’t you?” said Fred.

“Yes, I did,” said Morris.

Isla sighed. “Again, Morris, you’re not supposed to say that.”

“Oh. What should I say?”

“I dunno! Something like …” And here Isla lowered her voice, to sound more like a boy, “I don’t think I did, Stone. Yes, my leg may have been sticking out slightly from the sidelines. But I think you ran into it.”

“Oh, I see.” Morris turned to Fred. “I don’t think I did, Stone. Yes, my leg—”

“Oh, it’s too late now, Morris!”

“I think you should give that good-behaviour star away!” someone else interrupted. Ellie appeared from behind the goal, holding her bag.

Morris and Isla both frowned. Morris, it was true, had been holding their joint Most Well-behaved Pupil star throughout this altercation. He had even been holding it when he’d stuck his leg out to trip Fred up. But he looked now as if he’d forgotten it was there.

“Give it away?” said Morris. “Who to?”

“I don’t know …” said Ellie. “To someone who really deserves it! Who’s really nice! Like …” She looked around the playground and caught the eye of someone standing by the climbing frame, in the school’s (slightly dodgy-looking) play area. He seemed to be watching her. But he probably wasn’t; he was probably just looking over her head. Ellie wasn’t sure whether she should say his name, but then she did anyway.

“… Rashid … I suppose.”

“OooooOOOOooooo!” said Isla and Morris.

“Can you stop doing that, please?”

“Rashid and Ellie sitting in a tree,” sang Morris. “K … I … S … Y … um … W? B …?”

There was a long pause.

“… G.”

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen!” said Isla. “Ever! To a girl who wears glasses and braces and pigtails and dresses like she’s still in Year—”

“All right then!” cried Ellie, very embarrassed. “You should give it back! To the headmaster! Your dad. Perhaps with an explanation that you don’t deserve it and to make sure it goes to someone who does next time.”

“Oh right …” said Isla. “And are you – and your brother,” she said this as if it was an insult – “going to make us?”

“Yeah, make us?” said Morris.

A small crowd had now gathered. Even the football match had paused, as more and more children started looking over nervously. Stirling and Scarlet even stopped what they were doing – discussing which app on the phones they didn’t own was best for Photoshopping – and looked over.

“Well,” said Fred, “if we have to.”

Isla looked to Morris; Morris looked to Isla. They shook their heads and tutted. Isla gave her brother a nod and Morris moved forward, rolling up his sleeves.

“How long did it take you to rehearse that series of moves?” said Ellie.

“A week. I kept on getting it wrong. Rolling up my sleeves and then tutting …”

“Shut up, Morris!!” said Isla. “Hang on, where’s Fred?”

Morris stopped. He looked around. “Yeah. Where’s Fred?”

“Here!” said a voice behind them.

They turned round and frowned.

“How did you get there …?” said Isla.

A glance passed between Fred and Ellie. Ellie had opened her school bag and taken out: the Controller. But she had a casual look on her face, like the device was just there because she liked holding it, or because she’d brought it in for show-and-tell, or something.

And not because, in fact, she was very carefully thinking about Street Fighter as she flicked the control stick upwards, and pressed the silver and gold buttons at the same time.