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old-fashioned pinball machine called King Pin, where kids would spend hours in fierce competition, sending the tiny metal balls flying up and down ramps, trying to knock over all the pins. It made the most horrendous ping, ping, ping sound, which formed part of the background noise at Hoolio’s. There was also a very loud frappé machine used for crunching ice, the ear-splitting espresso machine, blaring music from the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties and noughties, and even louder boisterous teenagers, who would whoop, holler and dance on tables.
    Hoolio, the owner, had been a well-known pop star in the eighties. His hit single ‘Diggin’ It (In the Mood for Love)’ appeared every couple of years on compilation albums. He was famous back in those days for wearing extra large trousers made from parachute material that hung down from his crotch like a big nappy, and a black string vest from which his chest hair would poke out in clumps. Apparently there was noshame in a hairy chest in those days.
    Hoolio’s was the only place in Baywood that still sold vinyl records. Hoolio refused to get a CD player in his ‘establishment’, as he liked to call his café. He encouraged the kids to get up on the decks and spin tunes, so the music was always eclectic. It was almost an obsession for kids all over Baywood to hunt through their parents’ old records or garage sales for cool old tunes to play. Sometimes Hoolio would drag a piece of lino out from the store room, crank up some old school hip-hop and do the windmill – spinning around on his back, or on the crown of his head, which was perhaps the reason he had a small bald patch on that very spot.
    As usual Wanda and Maggie were first to arrive and they took a side booth that looked over the park and on to the river. Last night, after a great deal of fast talking, Wanda had persuaded the other girls this project was too important to fail, and she was praying that her plan would work. Maggie was still feeling nervous about the whole idea – her, as editor? It was a joke really.
    Cat arrived next and slid into the red leather banquette next to Maggie. She didn’t bother with a hello but instead launched straight into a tirade. ‘I can’t see how we can resolve this. Those other two are impossible to work with. I’ve resigned myself to repeating Year 10.’
    â€˜Does it really have to be that dramatic?’ said Wanda,craning her neck to read the blackboard menu. The triple chocolate cheesecake sounded sensational.
    Then Belle arrived and slid over next to Wanda, saying hello to her and Maggie, but completely ignoring Cat. Mand finally turned up with a face like thunder and slid into the booth without saying a word to anyone.
    â€˜Right,’ said Wanda, taking control of the situation. ‘We’re stuck with each other, so whether we like it or not we’ve got to resolve our differences. Obviously, not everyone can be editor, so I think we should take avote.’
    â€˜A vote?’ said Belle. ‘What’s fair about that?’
    â€˜It’s called democracy,’ said Maggie, feeling she could only take a pinch more of Belle’s stuck-up attitude before she lost her patience. ‘You know, what this great country of ours is founded on?’
    â€˜Okay, brain box,’ said Belle. ‘No need to be a smartarse.’
    â€˜Let’s get on with it,’ said Mand, trying to suss who Maggie and Wanda would vote for. Surely they wouldn’t want to be patronised by Belle or bullied by Cat. So that meant she had a pretty good chance of winning.
    â€˜And the decision is final,’ said Wanda, eyeballing each of the girls to make sure they understood. ‘Okay, let’s all shake on it.’
    The girls reluctantly shook hands. Wanda pulled a bright pink notepad out of her bag and peeled off fivepieces of paper, handing one to each of the girls.
    The girls wrote down who