When we got to Dad’s house the next day, Suvi had put up the Christmas tree, but waited for us so we could decorate it. Which I thought was brave of her given that Suvi likes brown and grey things and Lucy’s favourite colour is ‘rainbow’.

‘Is this all you’ve got?’ Lucy asked, looking at the box of wicker stars and felt birds.

Suvi nodded.

‘Don’t worry,’ Lucy said. ‘I made an angel at school. You can have it for your tree.’ She beamed at Suvi. ‘I used half a tub of glitter on it.’

‘Thank you,’ Suvi said, and I have to give her credit for completely sounding like she meant it.

Suvi handed Chloe candlesticks for the mantelpiece. ‘How’s your rugby?’ she asked.

‘It’s brilliant. Coach says I’ve got great power so now I just need to work on my speed.’

Suvi smiled. ‘This is fantastic. So you’re getting the same treatment as the boys?’

Chloe’s screwed up her face. ‘Well, it’s not exactly the same as the boys. But I’m sort of trying to forget about that and concentrate on the training.’

Suvi tilted her head to one side. ‘You should enjoy what you’re doing, yes, but for me, I wouldn’t forget about these other things.’

That got Chloe’s attention. ‘Really? Because the only difference is that they get to play at the stadium. And they got some free stuff. I mean, I do really like free stuff, but, when you think about it, it’s only some drinks and a shiny shirt.’

Suvi shook her head. ‘When you give something to the boys that’s not available to the girls, it’s never just a little thing. It’s part of a much bigger thing and you should always fight it, right down to the bottles of drinks.’

I hadn’t thought about it like that.

‘Are you telling Chloe to fight?’ Lucy asked with round eyes. ‘We’re not supposed to fight. Except Chloe does sometimes, and once her and Thunder were fighting and they didn’t see the stairs and they rolled all the way down, but it was all right because Chloe landed on Thunder and he’s quite like a cushion.’

‘I don’t mean fighting with fists, I mean fighting with words and actions.’

Lucy’s face lit up. She was clearly delighted by the idea of new ways to do battle.

‘I’ll think about that,’ Chloe said and she went back to decorating the mantelpiece.

My phone rang during tea and, even though Suvi scowled a bit, when I told her it was Lauren’s home number, she said I should answer it.

‘Amelia, it’s Lauren’s mother. I was wondering if you were still free on Saturday to help with her room?’

‘Yes, definitely.’

‘Marvellous. Could you come over around ten?’

‘OK.’

‘I’m going to buy some paint tomorrow. I don’t know what your thoughts are, but colour-wise, I was thinking . . .’

‘Purple,’ we both said together. Lauren is crazy about purple.

‘Yes!’ she laughed. ‘But then I thought purple might be too dark for the actual walls.’

‘How about a paler shade? Like lilac?’

‘That’s a good idea. Then perhaps we could get some purple accessories?’

‘Great. I’ll see you on Saturday.’

After tea, Chloe and I did the washing-up. At least I did the washing-up while Chloe made us secret sandwiches. No one has ever actually forbidden us from making sandwiches immediately after tea, but I sort of get the idea that Dad might think it looked a bit rude when Suvi has cooked for us. The thing is that I don’t mind Suvi’s vegetably, grainy cooking that much, but it doesn’t always fill me up. So I made lots of splashing noises to cover the sound of Chloe opening the fridge and dropping the cheese on the floor.

‘Don’t put anything weird in mine,’ I whispered. Last time I bit into a sandwich that Chloe had made, I got a mouthful of marmalade and egg. Now I inspect everything she makes for me.

‘It’s cheese and ham,’ Chloe said, putting down a plate next to the sink. ‘And here’s the ketchup bottle so you can add your own.’

‘It’s fine as it is, thanks.’

That didn’t stop her from adding a large dollop of ketchup to her own sandwich. And a squirt of brown sauce. I looked away as she took a bite and chewed squelchily. ‘You know what Suvi said about rugby?’ she asked me.

‘Mmm-hmm.’

‘What do you think? Because Mrs Henderson said that she hoped I wasn’t going to continue making a fuss now that I’d got what I wanted.’

‘I think that “making a fuss” is what they call it when a girl points out that she ought to be treated equally with the boys.’

Chloe raised her eyebrows. ‘You sound like Suvi.’

‘I can think of worse people to sound like.’

She swallowed a large bite of sandwich. ‘I do understand what Suvi means, but I’m really happy with training. It’s what I wanted and I don’t know what more I could do, even if I decided that I should do something.’

‘Mmm. It’s tricky; concentrating on the training seems right, but now Suvi’s saying you can’t let people treat girls differently just because they’re girls, even when it’s only a little thing. And that seems right too.’

‘Can they both be right?’ she asked.

I nodded. ‘I suppose so. It depends on the thing that’s happening. And it depends on the person. Some people are good at fighting over everything and some people have to . . . pick their battles.’

‘So what do you think I should do?’

‘That’s the point. I can’t tell you. You have to decide what you think yourself.’

Chloe wiped up a blob of sauce with her finger. ‘Urgh. Why does everything have to be so complicated?’

‘I don’t know. But I think you’ve done a good job so far.’

‘Are you giving me a compliment, Amelia Strawberry? No way!’

‘Shut up!’ I flicked soapsuds at her. ‘Do you want me to call you a hairy-faced baboon to reverse the effects?’

‘Nothing can reverse the effects. You said something nice! You love me!’

I sloshed a whole handful of water at her and she squealed and splashed me back.

‘What? What is it, girls?’ Dad called and we heard the sitting-room door open.

Then we had to shove all the sandwich stuff back in the fridge as quick as we could while we fell about laughing.