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on the big beanbag. “What shall we make her do, girls?”
    â€œBurst into Tim’s bedroom without knocking,” Lila suggested, giggling.
    Polly paled. “Don’t make me do that. Your brother already thinks I’m mad.”
    â€œHe’s only met you once, why would he think that? Ooh, wait.” Lila sat up, her eyes gleaming. “I have a better idea. Knock on Tim’s door and tell him you have a crush on him.”
    Rhi burst out laughing as Polly groaned and covered her head with her hands. Lila looked triumphant.
    â€œCan I accept the first dare instead?” Polly begged.
    â€œIt’s much too late for that,” Eve said, grinning. “Go on. We all agreed that if we said the R word we’d pay the price.”
    Polly took a very deep breath and got to her feet. “I hate you all,” she said as she walked out of Lila’s room.
    Rhi huddled up close with the others by the doorframe as they listened to Polly’s footsteps on the landing. There was a muffled knock, and the sound of a door opening.
    â€œShe’s actually doing it,” Lila said, looking at Rhi and Eve with wide eyes. “I never thought Polly had it in her!”
    Polly was the shyest in the group. If Rhi hadn’t heard her knock with her own ears, she would never have believed Polly would rise to a challenge like this. She couldn’t think of anything more mortifying. She wriggled a little further back into the room, dreading what she might overhear.
    â€œGoing out with Ollie must be improving her confidence,” Lila went on. “Did either of you think she’d do it?”
    â€œShh,” Eve said, “I’m trying to listen .”
    The three of them were almost flattened against the bedroom wall as Polly flew back into the room again with cheeks as pink as two roses.
    â€œWhat did he say?” Rhi asked breathlessly. “No, don’t tell me, I don’t think I can stand it…”
    â€œYou seriously told my brother you had a crush on him?” said Lila, trying to peer around Polly towards her brother’s room.
    Polly went pinker. “I said what you told me to say.”
    â€œThen how come I just saw Tim walking down the street?” asked Eve, who was standing at the window. “There’s no way he could have got downstairs and out of the front door between now and then.”
    â€œOh my gosh, you liar ,” said Lila, poking Polly in the shoulder. “He wasn’t in his room, was he?”
    Rhi could hardly breathe for laughing. The ache in her stomach felt so good. She hadn’t laughed properly for ages.
    â€œI said it though,” Polly insisted stubbornly through the gales of laughter. “Just because he wasn’t there to hear it, doesn’t mean I didn’t complete the forfeit.”
    â€˜You’re forgiven,” Lila gasped, catching her breath. “But only because that was actually hilarious. Going out with Ollie suits you. I never thought you’d even knock on the door.”
    Polly beamed. “I still can’t believe we’re together. This is Ollie we’re talking about, after all. He’s like a sort of … god.”
    â€œOm,” said Eve solemnly, putting her hands in a prayer position, and making Lila laugh all over again. “If Polly and Ollie are cute, you and Josh are just completely adorable, Lila. You can’t take your eyes off each other. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy.”
    Lila gave a little twirl on the carpet. “And what about you and Becca?”
    Eve’s eyes were soft. “What about us?”
    â€œTalk about made for each other,” Polly sighed. “You’re a different person now you’re with her, Eve. So much … nicer.”
    Eve swatted Polly gently with a magazine, but she was smiling.
    Rhi tried to smile too. It wasn’t that she begrudged her friends their various happy relationships.