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me want to look away – quickly. I swallow. ‘Hey, Matt. Been a while.’
    He stares for a second longer than is considered polite. ‘What are you doing here?’
    ‘Ah –’
    ‘Heard you did a runner at school today. Carter was looking for you. Are you in trouble or something?’
    A rock forms in my dry throat. I try to appear unconcerned. ‘No, I’m not in trouble. Carter’s just …’ I grimace. ‘Carter. Everyone knows he’s got it in for me. He doesn’t need an excuse to come looking.’ And quickly, before I lose my nerve, I add, ‘Is Isabel home?’
    Matt goes dead still and says slowly, ‘Yeah. Why?’
    ‘I wanna talk to her.’
    His jaw does this funny sort of slide left, then right. ‘What for?’
    Thankfully Isabel makes an appearance, pushing Matt aside far enough so she can see who’s at the door. She jerks back just slightly. ‘Ethan.’
    ‘Can we talk?’ I ask while trying not to drown in the hostility flowing off Matt’s body in pulsating waves.
    Isabel flicks a quick look at her brother that obviously says, ‘You can leave now’, but he doesn’t take the hint.
    An awkward silence follows. Matt breaks it. ‘You got something to say to my sister?’
    Isabel groans like she can’t believe how much of a moron her brother is being. Quickly I decide to get it over with. ‘Yeah, I do.’ I turn to face Isabel. ‘Wanna go for a walk?’
    ‘With you ?’ Matt says and laughs.
    Isabel sends her brother a look that could boil him in oil if she had that particular paranormal talent. A thought hits me: maybe she has. It will be fun to find out. But right now I have to get past Matt. ‘Yeah, with me. What’s so funny?’
    He laughs so hard he has to grip the door jamb with one hand for balance.
    Frowning, Isabel looks from her brother to me, then back to Matt again. ‘Oh, I get it. This is some sort of joke you two have conjured up.’
    Uh-oh. Now she’s got the wrong idea altogether and she’s starting to look really annoyed.
    ‘Is that it, Ethan?’ she demands, staring at me hard. ‘Or are you asking me out …?’ She pauses, her face going a brilliant shade of red.
    But now I’m getting annoyed. My first instinct is to lay Matt flat to the floor with my fist, but I understand that action won’t win me any bonus points. I need Matt on side so he won’t give Isabel a hard time, ’cause she’s going to be spending heaps of time with me from here in. So asking her out as if on a date obviously isn’t going to wash with him. And I don’t want to give Isabel the wrong idea either. I recall something abouthow she used to have a crush on me when we were kids. I’m sure she’s not interested in me like that any more, but all the same, I don’t want to risk hurting her feelings. I need another excuse. Fast.
    ‘He’s not asking you out,’ Matt says sarcastically, quietening down at last.
    She looks at me expectantly. I’m not sure what that look means. Does she want me to ask her out? We haven’t spoken for years so I don’t really know her any more. Suddenly I think of a reason that just might work. ‘It’s the history project.’
    ‘What?’ Isabel frowns again.
    ‘You know, the assignment.’ With my eyes I urge her to play along. ‘We have to work in pairs, remember? Probably why old Croc-face was looking for me today. We’ve got heaps of work to do on it. I just thought we could get started on some strategies early, seeing Carter paired us up together.’
    Her frown deepens but she doesn’t call me an outright liar. Matt’s jaw does that funny sideways slide again. ‘How long are you going to be?’
    Isabel glances at me for the answer, starting to look amused. ‘Ah, an hour or so,’ I say vaguely. I don’t want Matt coming looking for us on the dot of sixty minutes. ‘History, it’s a big subject.’
    Matt looks unimpressed but beaten. ‘Has anyone ever told you you have an unhealthy interest in the subject? There’s a rumour going around you get nothing