Normally, Zoe thought the sick bay was boring. It was the smallest, ugliest room in the school. There were no pictures to look at, no books to read, and nothing to do but lie there.
On any other day, Zoe would have done anything to get out of there, but right now it felt safe and cosy.
Every now and then, Ms Kyle would come in and ask, ‘Are you feeling any better? Shall I call your mum?’
Each time, Zoe shook her head. She wasn’t feeling better, but she couldn’t call her mum, either. She knew her mum couldn’t take any more time off work.
Zoe was stuck at school. Eventually, the bell rang. She gave a huge sigh and went back to class.
It seemed like a miracle to Zoe that she made it through the whole day without crying. She concentrated as hard as she could on her work, hoping it would block out all her unhappy thoughts, and somehow she survived until the home bell rang.
By the time she got home and changed out of her clothes, she was feeling angry as well as sad. And it wasn’t Isabelle she was most angry at. It was Iris!
She decided to call her.
Iris answered the phone straight away.
‘Hello? This is Iris.’
‘Hello, Iris,’ said Zoe.
‘Zoe! Hi –’
Zoe interrupted her. She didn’t want to hear what Iris was going to say. She just wanted to know one thing.
‘Why didn’t you stick up for me at school? You’re supposed to be my best friend, but you didn’t even talk to me!’
There was a silence, and then Iris said, ‘I’m sorry, Zoe. I am still your friend, but now I’m Isabelle’s friend, too.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘When you were away,’ said Iris, ‘I had no-one to play with. And Isabelle had noone either, so we ended up playing together.’
‘Right,’ said Zoe. ‘So?’
‘Well, now you’re back, and you have lots of other friends you can play with. Lots of people know you, but Isabelle has only me. Isabelle really needs me, Zoe. More than you do.’
‘What are you talking about?’ asked Zoe. ‘It doesn’t make sense. Why can’t you play with me and Isabelle at the same time?’
‘You wouldn’t understand,’ said Iris. ‘It’s really hard for Isabelle, being new. She says she needs me all to herself until she settles in.’
So that’s it, thought Zoe, when she hung up the phone. Now Isabelle is Iris’s best friend, and there’s no room for me.