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wrapping paper hiding a present. Nothing could upset her. Even Toby’s teasing about her mother’s performance atschool didn’t bother her. All she could think of was seeing Linden again and going to London.
    Finally the day arrived. The last day of school before the break. Max was waiting at the school gate for her mother to pick her up. Toby tried one parting shot before he left.
    â€˜Waiting for your mother, Max? After trying to strangle innocent children, I’m surprised she hasn’t packed you off to reform school with all the other social misfits.’
    Max wasn’t biting and besides, she could see her mother’s car driving towards her and with only seconds of Toby left in her life, she didn’t even bother coming up with anything nasty to say to him.
    â€˜Bye, Toby. Have a great holiday,’ she said brightly as she opened the car door.
    Now this did two things for Max: first, it totally freaked Toby out and, second, it looked good in front of her mother that she was being nice to the boy she was trying to strangle only days before.
    Max got in the car and kissed her mother hello. As they drove off, she watched Toby, his mouth gaping wide open in shock, get smaller and smaller in the rear-vision mirror. She thought, today is a good day.

As they drove through the rickety front gate that was only just managing to stand up (Ben and Eleanor were brilliant scientists, but they knew nothing about being handy around a farm), Max could see them all there: Ben, Eleanor, Francis and Linden. Her heart slammed in one enormous leap against her chest. She’d missed them so much since the Christmas holidays, but it wasn’t until she saw them again that she knew how much. The last few days blew away in a trail of dust behind her and Aidan, Peasers, Hollingdale and Toby went with it.
    When they pulled up, the following few minutes were pretty awkward and went something like this.
    After the usual routine of Eleanor asking Max’s mother to stay, her mother’s eyes darted all over the place while she offered a few lame excuses of why she couldn’t. Ben stood by not saying much as a few more awkward pauses made their way into the conversation before Max interrupted them all by saying goodbye to her mother and everyone waved her off. After that the car window was quickly wound up (so none of the country could creep in and dirty the polished leather seats) and Max’s mother breathed a sigh of relief as she headed back to the city.
    They all watched the car disappear down the dirt drive and Max wondered why her mother always had to make a quick exit when it came to her own family. She didn’t even say hello to Linden or Francis.
    â€˜Let me look at you,’ said Eleanor, turning towards Max with a smile plastered all over her face.
    She leant down and put her hands around Max’s cheeks, the folds of her dress sweeping around them like sails and they were both on the high seas. ‘You’re even more beautiful than I remember from the last time.’
    No one had ever said that to Max before and she’d never thought of herself as beautiful. Ben saw that Eleanor’s words made her feel uncomfortable and stepped in to save her.
    â€˜Now Eleanor, Max doesn’t need you embarrassing her in the first few minutes she’s here.’ He put his arm around her and swooped her into the air.
    â€˜Yeah,’ said Linden. ‘There’s plenty of time for Max to embarrass herself later.’
    Linden! It was so good to hear his jokes again. Only Max would never let him know it.
    â€˜Good to see you haven’t done anything about improving your sense of humour. Wouldn’t want you to change just because I’m back.’
    Linden smiled, glad to see Max could still be funny when she wanted to be.
    There was one person left. Francis. When Max and Linden first met him in London a few months ago, he was scrawny and bent-looking, with hardly enough fat