That evening, Iris called Zoe.

‘Um, Zoe? It’s Iris.’

‘Hi, Iris,’ said Zoe, carefully.

‘I just spoke to Isabelle …’

‘Yeah?’

‘She said you were really nice to her, and she felt bad about how mean she’s been to you.’

‘Oh, right,’ said Zoe, wondering what was going on.

‘I’m really sorry too,’ said Iris. ‘I got all caught up in being friends with Isabelle and I pretended I didn’t notice how horrible she was to you. I was a bad friend, and I don’t blame you if you’re mad with me.’

The funny thing was, even though Zoe had been very angry with Iris, as soon as she said she was sorry, Zoe forgave her entirely. She just wanted to be friends again.

‘I really missed you, Zoe.’

‘I missed you, too,’ said Zoe.

Next Monday morning, Zoe felt nervous and excited at the same time. What if Isabelle had changed her mind over the weekend and decided to keep on being mean to Zoe?

There was only one way to find out, but Zoe couldn’t stand the suspense.

As her mum pulled up outside the school gates, Zoe could see Iris and Isabelle sitting together on a bench, talking. Zoe bit her nails nervously.

‘Are you getting out?’ asked her mum.

‘I suppose so,’ said Zoe.

Oh well, she thought. I can always go back to the sick bay.

She picked up her bag and got out of the car. She walked over to the others. Isabelle was chewing her hair, looking like she was waiting for something bad to happen. When she saw Zoe, she gave a little jump and then stood up.

‘Hi, Zoe,’ she said shyly. ‘Um, I have something for you. I made it with my mum yesterday.’

As Isabelle went to her bag, Zoe looked at Iris. Iris smiled, but didn’t say anything. Isabelle brought out a plastic lunchbox and handed it to Zoe.

‘Here,’ she said.

Zoe pulled off the lid. Inside was a square cake, about the size of a very fat sandwich. It had thick chocolate icing with ‘SORRY, ZOE’ spelt out across the top in tiny, blue sugar stars.

‘It’s a mud cake,’ said Isabelle. ‘My mum baked it, but I decorated it myself.’

‘It’s great!’ said Zoe. ‘When can we eat it?’

‘It’s all for you,’ said Isabelle. ‘You can eat it whenever you like. You can even keep the lunchbox, if you want –’

‘Oh, no,’ said Zoe. ‘We should definitely eat it together. And in fact, we should eat it right now!’

‘Zoe!’ laughed Iris. ‘We’ve only just had breakfast!’

‘So?’ said Zoe. ‘This is a special cake. I don’t think we should wait around.’

Iris and Isabelle didn’t need much convincing. Zoe cut the cake into three rectangles, using the ruler from her geometry set as a knife.

Quick as anything, before the bell rang for class, they each took a piece and scoffed the lot!

It really was the most delicious cake. Zoe couldn’t think of a better way to start a brand-new week. A new beginning with the new girl, making up with Iris, plus the tastiest chocolate mud cake, too.