Holly raced around the playground. She’d been rushed when she was looking just for Lily, but now that she was looking for Lily and Oscar, she was sprinting.

She ran to the top lawn where the boys were playing football. They’d be there until the bell rang, and Oscar was always there.

Not today, though.

Grrr, of course not, Holly frowned to herself. That would have been too easy.

She thought about interrupting the game to ask one of the boys where Oscar was, but there wasn’t time. They were all yelling for the ball, and it would take ages to get their attention.

It’ll be quicker to go look for him myself, she decided. Maybe he’s having one of his chats with Isabelle. If so, they could be anywhere.

She ran from one side of the playground to the other, checking all the secret spots, seeing who was in each group of kids, and hoping she’d find Lily before Oscar.

But she didn’t find either of them.

Three minutes until Mr Mack expects me and Oscar in the classroom, she thought, feeling panicky. What am I going to do?

‘Hey, Holly! What’s up?’ Ching Ching called. She was standing with Olivia by the mulberry tree. ‘You look totally stressed.’

Holly spun on her heel. ‘Have you seen Lily? Or Oscar? I need both of them.’

Olivia shook her head, but Ching Ching said, ‘Isn’t Oscar at a computer meeting? With Mr Campbell?’

Holly clapped her hand to her forehead. ‘Gah! I forgot. OK. What about Lily?’

‘Look,’ said Olivia. ‘Here she is.’

‘Where?’ said Holly.

‘Here,’ said Lily quietly, nearly making Holly jump out of her skin. ‘Standing right beside you. Didn’t you see me walking across the playground towards you?’

‘No!’ said Holly. ‘Sorry, I was just –’

‘I know,’ said Lily, looking away. ‘Don’t worry. You were just too busy. Too busy for me, anyway.’

‘What?!’ Holly gaped at her best friend. ‘What do you mean, too busy for you? I’ve been looking for you all lunchtime!’

‘No, you haven’t,’ said Lily stiffly. ‘I’ve been watching. First you had to talk to all your fans. And then when you were bored of that, you ran off. Right past me!’

Holly ignored the crack about her fans, even though it was a mean thing to say. Instead she said, ‘But I was looking for you.’

Lily looked at Holly as though she didn’t believe her.

Holly took a deep breath. ‘Look –’ she began, but was immediately interrupted by a whistle.

‘Hey, Holly,’ called Mr Mack. ‘It’s time! Have you found Oscar?’

Holly scrunched her eyes shut in frustration. ‘I’ve got to go, Lily. You can be really mad with me if you want, but it’s not my fault. I’ll talk to you properly later.’

She didn’t wait for Lily to answer, she just took off across the playground towards Mr Mack.

Holly felt like she was a jumble of feelings. On top of everything, she was excited to be going to her first meeting as class captain. Underneath that was worry about Mr Mack being annoyed that she didn’t have Oscar with her. In the middle of the jumble, there was a little bit of guilt that she was having an exciting day when Lily was having a bad one.

And wrapped around it all like a ribbon was a big, stinky mess of annoyance that her best friend was acting so … so …

I don’t even know how to describe how Lily’s being, thought Holly as she reached the classroom. I knew she was upset, but I didn’t think she’d blame me! What am I supposed to do about that?