Monday lunchtime, I was walking across the cafeteria when I spotted Chloe with Thunder. Thunder was clearly in the middle of telling a story. He was on his feet, miming throwing a rugby ball. As I got closer, I heard Chloe say, ‘That’s awesome. They’re definitely going to pick you for the match team.’

She sounded happy, but when I looked at Chloe’s face I could see that, even though her mouth was smiling, her eyes weren’t. She was really trying to be pleased for Thunder, just like Mum had said. As I walked past, I gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. She looked up and smiled, a real smile, but there wasn’t time to say anything because the bell rang and I had to get to my next lesson.

I wasn’t much looking forward to physics without Lauren again but, just after I’d sat down, Bartek came up to me and said, ‘Can I sit here?’

‘OK,’ I said.

He grinned at me and I smiled back, but then I had to pretend to look for something in my pencil case because I was worried that I was blushing, which was silly because what on earth was there to blush about?

We didn’t actually get to chat much because Mrs Padley is pretty strict, but Bartek did show me a cartoon he’d drawn of Mr Garcia with steam coming out of his ears. He’s nearly as good at drawing as he is at singing.

At the end of the lesson, he said, ‘I’m looking forward to singing with you at rehearsal.’

And I realised I was looking forward to it too.

When Mum and Lucy got home that evening, Lucy was unusually quiet. She didn’t jump on anything or shout at anyone; she just sat on the sofa with the corners of her mouth turned down.

‘Are you OK?’ Ella asked her.

Lucy didn’t answer.

Personally, I think that when Lucy decides to keep her mouth shut we should all just be grateful for the peace and quiet, but Ella seemed dead set on getting her to talk.

‘Do you want a biscuit?’ Ella asked.

Lucy shook her head.

‘What would you like?’

I could see the struggle on Lucy’s face; she was obviously determined to keep her silence up, but she couldn’t resist the offer of whatever she wanted. I wondered what Ella would do if Lucy said she’d like a puppy.

Lucy opened her mouth, paused till she was sure she had mine and Ella’s full attention and then announced, ‘I want to be a bat.’

It’s not just hedgehogs and rabbits that Lucy likes. She’s also very fond of bats and her idea of having a good time is hanging upside down on the climbing frame in the skatepark down the road, pretending to be a bat.

‘Will one of you take me?’ Lucy asked, fluttering her eyelids in what I think she imagines is an appealing way, but really just makes her look like she’s got something in her eye.

I waited. If you wait long enough, someone else will always volunteer.

Ella sighed. ‘I could take you quickly, but I have got a lot of homework to do.’

‘I suppose I could go,’ I found myself saying.

‘Why don’t you both go?’ Mum said from the hall. ‘That way you’ll have someone to talk to while Lucy is getting battish. Tea will be on the table in twenty minutes anyway.’

So we put on our coats and went down the road to the skatepark.

Lucy swung into position on the climbing frame and wriggled with pleasure. Weird.

‘Do you feel better now?’ Ella asked her.

‘Yes,’ Lucy said. ‘Because bats don’t have rubbish friends that say their secret friends book is stupid.’

‘Maybe that’s because they’re not silly enough to have a secret friends book in the first place,’ I said.

Lucy put her fingers in her ears and swung about a bit. Ella and I stood shoulder to shoulder for warmth.

‘You never told me what you did at Princess Crystal’s house on Saturday,’ I said. I’d asked her twice, but she’d managed to change the subject both times.

Ella rubbed at the ground with the toe of her boot. ‘We played table football and made cupcakes.’

‘Wow, don’t tell Chloe! If you throw in some wrestling and a farting competition, that’s her idea of heaven.’

Ella didn’t look like she’d had a heavenly time.

‘Was Crystal a brat again?’

Ella rubbed her mittened hands together. ‘She’s nice to me,’ she said. ‘She let me choose what kind of cupcakes to make and she said I was the best at icing.’

‘What’s the problem then?’

Ella looked like she had a pain in her stomach; she hates criticising anyone. ‘I just think she’s a bit rude. The lady who cleans her house was doing the hoovering in the games room when we wanted to play in there and Crystal said, “You’ll have to do that later,” to her like she was a servant or something.’

Frankly, I was just amazed by the idea of anyone having someone else come to clean their house and I wondered if I could convince Mum that a cleaner was a good way to spend her money, but I tried to focus back on what Ella was saying. ‘You know you don’t have to go there, don’t you?’ I asked.

Ella didn’t answer that. ‘I talked to Kayleigh about it. She thinks that maybe Crystal will get better and not be so rude,’ she said. ‘Or maybe I’ll stop minding.’

I didn’t think either of those things was likely to happen, but I decided that Ella probably had to work that out for herself.