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and the odd creak of a settling house.
    It’s not fair.
    I lie in bed and the smell of the room is giving me a headache. I think about Demi and the sleepover. What they might be doing. But it is too painful and I try to think of anything else. I think about how Cassie was whisked into the bedroom – my bedroom. I think about the chicken I didn’t eat because Fern and Mum were busy with Cassie and it became clear that nothing was going to happen – no chatting with the new arrivals about their journey, no communal eating of the takeaway. The idea of eating by myself was too depressing
    I’m Holly Holley and I’m short, I’m ugly, and I’m overweight. I have only one friend in the world and she cares more about books than boyfriends. And now I’m lying in a strange room while strangers lie in mine. And they’re the reason I’ve blown my chances with Demi.
    It’s not fair.
    Cassie
    This room reeks of unhappiness and not all of it is mine.
    Some of it is hers. Holly. The girl with worry stamped on her face. She doesn’t want me here. I don’t want me here either.
    I am empty now. When Mum touched me, brought me back from sleep, I saw the rain against the windscreen, the world pressing in on me and I was full. Something burst inside then, a bubble pricked by sharp images of Dad, my old house, and faces slipping away forever. And what was burst, swelled into a dark tide. It swept me away.
    This is what I was moving towards. This unhappy room.
    And though I am empty now of everything but weariness, I cannot think it will come to good.
    It’s not fair.

3
    Holly
    When Holly’s sleep was broken at six-thirty by the sound of tinkling bells, her first reaction was to wonder what kind of deranged person would be cleansing the house of negative energy at this time in the morning. Her mother was the prime suspect. Actually, her mother was the only suspect. But then she realised it was an entirely different sound. This wasn’t a continuous hum, but rather a series of notes, gentle and insistent. She pondered the mystery briefly before falling back asleep.
    When she woke again, the sun was filtering through curtains and it was eight forty-five. Her new bedroom didn’t look any better in daylight. Thank goodness for Action Plan 2 , she thought. Though Holly’s shift at the cinema didn’t start until eleven, she got dressed immediately and was out of the house by nine o’clock. She didn’t have breakfast. She didn’t even take the time to weigh herself. She could hear the mutter of voices in the kitchen – but she didn’t have the energy to face them. So she yelled a quick goodbye and slipped through the front door, ignoring her mother when she called out her name. She was probably going to offer a lift. Holly hurried down the path and along the street to the bus stop, praying her mother wouldn’t come after her. It was only when she’d boarded the bus that she was able to relax.
    Her shift ran from eleven to five. Normally, she’d be home by five-thirty. Not tonight. Tonight, she was going to watch a movie at her own cinema. She did get free tickets, after all. Two, to be precise. She pulled her phone from her pocket.

    Even if she didn’t get a reply, she’d still go by herself. It wouldn’t matter that she’d seen most of the movies before.
    She was just in the mood, that’s all.
    Ivy
    â€˜I don’t know what’s got into that girl,’ said Ivy, returning to the kitchen. ‘She’s taken off like a scalded cat.’
    â€˜Being a teenager. That’s what gets into them,’ said Fern. She gathered the last of the scrambled egg and spooned it into Cassie’s mouth. ‘I’ll tell you one thing, Cass,’ she said. ‘That journey has done nothing to dint your appetite. As my grandmother used to say, “I’d sooner keep you a week than a fortnight.”’
    Ivy sat