Finally, things at school were how I’d been wanting them to be all term. Or at least they were close enough. Lauren still had to go home at lunchtime and she couldn’t do PE, but we were chatting and sharing secrets again and it no longer felt like there was some sort of invisible barrier between us.

Walking to Dad’s on Wednesday, we were all really cheerful. Chloe was delighted because rugby was going so well and the other girls at training kept telling her how great she was for getting in the paper and making the Chiefs start the girls’ squad. Ella seemed like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. ‘How are things with Crystal?’ I asked.

‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I’ve just been hanging out with Ashandra and Kayleigh and sort of keeping my distance from Crystal. She’s got loads of other friends to talk to anyway.’

I smiled at her. I felt quite smiley towards everyone these days. I even felt more friendly towards Suvi. She was quite human and actually a little bit nice after all. When we got to Dad’s house, I said, ‘Hi, Suvi!’ so enthusiastically that Chloe and Ella stared at me.

‘Hi to you all!’ she said back.

‘How’s Kirsti?’ I asked. ‘Is she sleeping well?’

Suvi gave a rueful smile. ‘Maybe just a little better. We’re trying A Routine.’

I wasn’t entirely sure what A Routine involved, but it seemed to have given Suvi hope.

‘That’s great,’ I said and I strolled into the kitchen. Lucy was there, under the table again, eating cereal and flicking through the pages of her friends book. I was feeling so upbeat that, instead of pointing out that she had both a milk moustache and a milk beard, I said, ‘All right, shortie?’

‘Urgh,’ she spat and picked up a felt tip to scribble something out.

‘What’s the matter?’ I asked.

‘Nothing.’

She scribbled something else.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Mum said I can take two people to the play centre on Sunday.’

‘Who are you going to take?’

‘I’m counting their points.’

I poured myself a glass of juice. ‘I see, so you’re finally going to reward the top scorers, huh? Who are the lucky winners?’ Personally, I was routing for Evil Emily; at least she’d attempted to stand up to Lucy.

Lucy gave the sort of sigh that grown-ups do when they have to fill in a very long form. ‘I’m still counting.’

‘Let’s have a look.’ I took the book out of her hands and flipped through the pages. It was pretty hard to understand. ‘How come you’ve changed this bit? Mia had two points here for giving you her crisps and you’ve crossed them out.’

‘They were cheese and onion.’

‘And what about here? She got a point for sharing her pens with you and that’s crossed out too.’

‘Her green doesn’t work.’

I skimmed through the rest of it. It looked like Mia had been a clear winner, but Lucy had gone back through her book and knocked off lots of her points for silly reasons.

I crouched down beside her. ‘Do you know what I think? I think you already know who you want to take to the play centre. It’s Rose and Emily, isn’t it?’

‘But they haven’t got the highest scores.’ ‘Does it matter?’

‘But that’s how it works. The people with the most points are the best friends.’

I felt quite old and wise. ‘But are they?’

Lucy scowled. ‘I can’t just choose who I like! That’s not how the book works.’

‘It’s your book. You can do what you like with it.’

I watched her face smooth out as she took that in. ‘I can, can’t I?’

I nodded, then I took my juice into the sitting room and as I sat down on the sofa I heard the lid of the bin clang shut.