On Saturday afternoon, Mum took us Christmas shopping. Lucy had been going on about it forever.

‘I don’t know why you’re so bothered,’ I said, once we were all crammed into the car. ‘You don’t normally give much thought to our presents; last year, you gave me one of Chloe’s T-shirts. I wouldn’t have minded, but you’d got it out of the washing basket and it had ketchup all down it.’

‘I’m not doing shopping for humans today,’ Lucy said with more scorn than I think a seven-year-old ought to be using.

‘What do you mean, not shopping for humans?’ Chloe asked. ‘Who are you shopping for then? Aliens?’

‘I am shopping for my animals,’ Lucy said.

Chloe pulled a face. ‘Well, I’m not buying you a present until you buy me one.’

‘I’m not sure that’s really in the spirit of Christmas,’ Mum said.

‘I’ve got enough Christmas spirit to pretend to like it when Lucy gives me a washing-up brush, but I haven’t got enough to be happy when she takes my good present and gives me nothing at all in return.’

Then there was a bit of a row while Chloe and Lucy debated whether various gifts they’ve given each other, including a tin of cat-shaped spaghetti, a selection of pebbles and a home-made jelly mould, were worth anything at all.

When we actually got to the shops, I was already quite tired.

We worked our way up the high street and by the time we reached the clock tower we were all carrying several bags. Mum said she needed a break so we were heading up in the lift to the café in the department store when the doors opened and Mum’s ‘friend’ Greg got in.

‘Louise!’ he said to Mum. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’ He tore his eyes off her to notice the rest of us were there and said, ‘Hello, girls!’ His eyes widened as if he couldn’t quite believe how many of us there were. Although he must have known how many kids Mum’s got because obviously she must talk about us all the time. Maybe he couldn’t quite believe how much space we were taking up. That’s because Lucy had insisted on bringing her entire hedgehog family in a huge old hiking rucksack of Dad’s. That, plus all our shopping and Chloe’s ginormous behind, pretty much filled the lift.

‘How are you, Amelia?’ he asked. He seemed pleased with himself that he’d remembered my name.

‘I’m shopping with my little sisters,’ I said. ‘So obviously I’m in heaven. Any second now I’m going to break into an uplifting musical dance number.’

He snorted. It’s nice to finally meet someone who appreciates sarcasm.

‘You won’t think it’s funny when she actually does start singing,’ Lucy said.

‘You must be Lucy,’ Greg said.

‘Of course,’ Lucy said. ‘What would you buy a hedgehog for Christmas?’

‘Er . . .’

‘I’m Chloe,’ Chloe said, elbowing Lucy out of the way. ‘I’m getting an England shirt for Christmas. Did you know that I helped to persuade the Chiefs to set up a girls’ youth squad?’

‘I did not know that. Congratulations.’

‘Thank you. If there’s something you think is really sexist, you can write to the newspaper about it if you like.’

‘Oh.’ His eyes slide sideways to Mum. ‘Well, I’ll certainly consider that.’ He turned to Ella. ‘Have you bought anything nice?’

Ella nodded and turned bright pink.

There was a long pause while everyone waited for Ella to tell him what she’d bought, but she didn’t, so eventually Mum said, ‘Which floor did you want?’

‘Ah, the third. I’m looking for gloves for my sister.’

So Mum pressed the button and up we went again.

‘Gloves wouldn’t be very good for hedgehogs,’ Lucy said scornfully as if Greg had suggested them.

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘A scarf might be better for a hedgehog.’

The lift stopped and the doors opened. Greg smiled at Mum. ‘Best get on then.’

‘Yes, nice to see you.’

‘I hope you find your hedgehog scarf,’ he said to Lucy. ‘And good luck with the rugby . . .’ He hesitated. I think he’d forgotten Chloe’s name.

‘Thanks,’ Chloe said.

‘Sorry to miss that musical number, Amelia.’

I grinned. I couldn’t help being pleased that I was the one whose name he got right.

He stepped out of the lift and turned back to look at Ella. ‘Enjoy your shopping.’

Ella said nothing.

‘Ella,’ hissed Chloe.

But still Ella didn’t say anything.

‘Right,’ Greg said. ‘I’ll, er, OK, so . . . bye again.’ And he backed away, giving a little wave, until he bumped into a mannequin dressed in a fluffy coat.

Lucy cackled with laughter.

‘Lucy!’ Mum said in a low voice.

‘I’m just laughing. You can’t keep laughs in. Or farts. If you do, you explode.’

‘Shhhh,’ I said. Seriously. My sisters are so embarrassing. Fortunately, at that point, the doors finally slid shut.

‘At least I say things,’ Lucy snapped at Mum, who was holding a hand to her forehead. ‘Ella didn’t say anything. That’s actually really rude.’

Ella was staring at the floor. ‘Perhaps Ella was feeling shy,’ Mum said. ‘Now who thinks we should have a doughnut in the café?’ My mum is very good at changing the subject. If you mention doughnuts, no one in my family can think about anything else.

When we finally got home, I watched Chloe stowing her presents away under the bed.

‘Do you think Ella hates Greg?’ I asked her.

Chloe picked her stuffed gorilla up off the floor and returned him to her pillow. ‘Dunno. Ella doesn’t normally hate anyone.’

‘But she won’t talk to him.’

‘She doesn’t like talking to strangers.’

‘I know, but she does do it normally; she says “yes” and “no” and “school is lovely” and all that sort of thing.’

‘Maybe she was just in a bad mood. Shall I tell Lucy that I’m only getting her stupid hedgehogs presents if she buys one for Bananas Gorilla? And that he only likes chocolate? Real chocolate, otherwise she’ll just draw a bar of chocolate. She did that the year I wanted money.’

But I was still thinking about Ella. It seemed like either she hated Greg or she was just being spectacularly rude, but neither of those things seemed very Ella-ish. I’m not always great at understanding other people’s feelings. I thought I knew how Mum felt about the divorce and that she hated Dad, but it turned out that I was mixing up my own feelings in there. I think I sort of expect people to think the same way I do; but not everyone’s like me.

I remembered Ella’s face in the café. She was obviously unhappy about something. She’d even let Lucy finish her doughnut so there must be something wrong.

I left Chloe attempting to juggle two pillows and Bananas Gorilla and went into Lucy and Ella’s bedroom.

Ella was lying on her bed, holding a book, but I don’t think she was really reading it.

‘Are you worrying about Crystal?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she said.

‘Really? You can tell me if you are. Has she been mean to you?’

‘No, honestly, she hasn’t said anything to me and I’m glad I told her the truth.’

If it wasn’t Crystal then it had to be Greg.

‘Ella, I’ve got a problem; I want to help someone, but I don’t know how. You’re the best person I know at understanding people, apart from Mum, and I can’t ask her about this so I need your advice.’

‘You want me to advise you?’

‘Yep. So there’s this girl. This really nice girl who’s kind and polite and hard-working. She’s totally lovely. Sometimes she’s so good that it makes her evil big sister feel a bit queasy, but basically she’s nice.’

‘Okaaaaay,’ Ella said slowly.

‘But recently this girl has been a bit rude to her mum’s new boyfriend.’

‘He’s not her boyfriend!’ Ella said. ‘She called him her friend. He’s not her boyfriend, is he?’

‘Do you mind if he is? Don’t you want her to have a boyfriend?’

Ella squirmed with misery. ‘It’s not that I don’t want her to have a nice time.’

‘I know. You’re always telling her she should go out more.’

Ella scrubbed at her eyes with her fists. ‘When I said that, I thought she’d go shopping with Susan or visit the museum with one of the other teachers.’

‘Why do you mind if she goes with a man instead? You don’t mind about Dad having a girlfriend. You like Suvi.’

‘I do like Suvi.’ She hesitated. ‘But,’ she lowered her voice, ‘I wasn’t sure at first. I’ve had time to get used to her.’

‘Well, you’ll get used to whoever Mum picks as a boyfriend. It might not even be this one; she might try lots of different ones.’

Ella looked like she might be sick. ‘Do you really think she’s going to have loads of different boyfriends? Will they all come round and have coffee? In our house?’

‘Why do you care if they visit our house?’

She looked at me and I stared back at her. I was lost again. I could understand that Ella might not like Mum having a boyfriend, I still wasn’t super keen myself, but I didn’t see what all this business was about our house. It’s not as if Ella liked to lie around in her underwear, eating tuna straight from the can like Chloe did.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ I said eventually. ‘I’m trying to cheer you up, but I’m not doing a very good job, am I?’

Ella took a deep breath. ‘It’s hard to explain. If Mum really has to have a boyfriend, I’d rather she did it at a restaurant. Our house is for us.’

‘He’s not going to move in or anything.’

Ella’s eyes widened in horror.

‘I just mean that if any of Mum’s friends come round they won’t be here for long and you’re right, it is our home, so we can just carry on doing whatever we want to.’

Ella pressed her lips together.

Then I got it. Ella can’t be herself when there are strangers around. ‘Do you feel uncomfortable when there are other people in the house?’ I asked.

‘Sort of. I mean, I don’t mind Susan or Lauren, I don’t even mind Thunder so much now because he’s not as scary as he looks, but . . . when Greg was here, I just sort of froze.’

‘It must be difficult for you,’ I said.

‘I just can’t help it. I don’t want him to think I’m mean. I’m sure he’s very nice.’

‘Yes!’ I said. ‘I bet he is and do you know how I know?’

‘How?’

‘Because Mum likes him and I think she’s a pretty good judge; she wouldn’t bring anyone horrible into our house. And you know the way that you got used to Suvi and Thunder? That will happen with Greg too if he keeps coming round.’

‘Do you think so?’

‘I’m sure of it. You’re nice; he’s nice. I think eventually you’ll get along.’

‘But what about now?’

‘If you feel shy now, that’s OK. We know you’re shy. I think even Greg must have realised that. If you just try to say hello and goodbye to him, I promise you that your big-mouthed sisters can fill in all the gaps for you.’

Ella smiled. ‘Thank you. I think that would be a big help.’

And the crease between her eyes finally disappeared.