There were lots of things Megan was pleased about on her first day at her new school:

1) Freya was in her class

2) Her teacher was nice

3) She got to wear a new zip-up red cardi

4) She had cheese and cucumber sandwiches for lunch – her favourite!

‘I’m so pleased you’re in my class,’ Megan said to Freya during first break.

‘I know, isn’t it great?’ Freya said.

‘And I think I believe you about the mice,’ said Megan.

‘Oh, have you seen them?’ Freya asked.

‘Just one,’ admitted Megan. ‘But I think it woke me up this morning.’

‘One woke me too!’ said Freya. ‘I wonder why they’ve come back now, though.’

Megan was puzzled. What did she mean?

‘Which one woke you up?’ asked Freya.

‘I don’t know,’ Megan replied, wondering how on earth you could tell which one was which.

‘Well, what did it look like?’ asked Freya.

‘Little and cute and brown, with round ears, small beady eyes, long whiskers.’

‘That’ll be Whiskers,’ said Freya, knowingly.

Megan looked puzzled. ‘But don’t they all look like that?’ she asked.

‘Probably,’ said Freya. ‘But I’ve decided they’re all called Whiskers.’

The girls both burst out laughing, and when Alex, a boy in their class, ran up and asked them what they were laughing about, Freya gave Megan a look and held her finger to her mouth, just briefly, just long enough for Megan to see.

When Alex had gone, Freya whispered to Megan, ‘Don’t tell anyone about the mice.’

‘Is it a secret?’ asked Megan.

‘Sort of,’ said Freya. ‘No one would believe us. Granny says it’s best to keep these things to ourselves. She has this saying: Keep the secret in the box.’

So Megan and Freya made a plan. They would use the treehouse as their secret place and talk about their secrets there.

‘We’ll meet there later,’ Freya said. ‘I can tell you more about the mice and Dorothy, and there’s something else I must tell you too.’

Megan couldn’t wait for later to arrive!