‘Are you game?’

Holly giggled and scratched behind her dog Leo’s ears. ‘I don’t know. I will if you will.’

‘Yes!’ Lily cheered. ‘Then you are, because I definitely am!’

Holly laughed again. She hadn’t seen her best friend this excited in ages!

‘What are you two on about?’

Holly and Lily both jumped, and Leo gave a little bark of surprise. Holly looked up and saw her big sister standing in the doorway, smirking.

‘Faith!’ Holly said crossly. ‘Were you spying on us?’

‘No, you dope. You’re making so much noise, I came in to ask you to be quiet.’

‘Hi, Faith,’ Lily said, smiling charmingly. ‘I’m sorry we’ve been so rowdy.’

‘Hey!’ said Holly to her friend. ‘You don’t have to –’

‘That’s OK, Lily,’ Faith interrupted, smiling back at Lily. ‘It’s just I have a lot of homework to get through, especially because I am, you know, in –’

‘In year six,’ Holly finished for her. ‘Yeah, don’t worry. We all know.’

‘You’re so rude, Holly,’ said Faith. ‘You should try to be more like Lily sometime.’ She arched her eyebrows meaningfully at them, and then swished away back to her bedroom.

Holly watched her go. ‘What. A. Pain.’

‘No way,’ said Lily. ‘She’s so cool. I’d swap her for my big sister any day.’

Holly threw her pillow at Lily’s head. ‘Cool? She wishes! And anyway, you’re supposed to be my best friend, remember?’

Lily laughed and threw the pillow back. ‘Only if you promise you’re going to do it.’

‘I already said I would.’

‘Promise,’ Lily insisted, crossing her heart to show Holly exactly how to do it.

‘Yes, OK. I promise,’ said Holly.

‘Then say it properly.’

‘Fine,’ said Holly, sighing and smiling at the same time. ‘I, Holly Grundon, promise to run for class captain.’

‘Awesome!’ cheered Lily. ‘This is going to ROCK!’

She jumped up on Holly’s bed and did a little dance, which made Leo bark and run in excited circles. Holly laughed and clapped to make him bark again.

The next second, though, Faith banged on the wall between their bedrooms.

‘Uh-oh,’ whispered Lily, landing heavily on the bed. She quickly pulled a pillow onto her lap and smoothed back her hair, trying to look as innocent as possible, just in case Faith came in again.

Holly giggled. ‘Sorry, Faith!’

‘This is awesome, though,’ said Lily, trying to speak more quietly. ‘Seriously, it’s going to be the best fun!’

‘I hope so,’ said Holly. ‘But you’re the one who’ll get nominated. I’m just keeping you company, OK?’

Lily shrugged. ‘Sure, OK. But if I do get voted captain, you can be my unofficial vice-captain, all right?’

‘All right. That’d be cool,’ said Holly.

It was all settled.