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friendship I began to see my dad’s point about keeping a phone conversation going for an hour.
    ‘I know who the secret boyfriend is,’ Ti said.
    ‘No! Oh my god. Who?’
    ‘Will Fielding.’
    ‘Again?’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘Don’t tell anyone. Dad will kill her if he finds out. He caught her sneaking out the window last night.’
    Fab had only just forgiven Ophelia for stealing from the till last year. It had never happened before she got involved with Will, and so Fab had banned Ophelia from seeing him. It was kind of funny, because the Fieldings swore it was Ophelia who was the bad influence after they caught Will stealing their car in a late-night attempt to visit her.
    Even now Ophelia was only allowed to make the cakes, never to cash up or take money from customers, which maddened Ti because she had to do all the maths, and she was terrible at it.
    ‘Shit! I’ve messed everything up,’ Ti said. ‘I mean, I knew it, but I didn’t really
know
it. I’m such an idiot! Just another De Furious scratched off the register.’
    ‘Don’t say that,’ I said. De Furious was a name Alex and Charlie had made up for Ti and Ophelia recently. They said it in this awful Italian accent that was meant to sound like Fab, and it never failed to get a response.
    The two of them had been in the café a few weeks ago asking Fab, all innocent, if certain things made him
just de furious
– like when customers got melted cheese on the tablecloth or the wind blew over their sign. They’d nodded along as Fab explained how his customers could do what they wanted so long as they returned to order more spaghetti, until Ti, seeing what was going on, had ‘accidentally’ spilled their chocolate milkshake across their laps.
    ‘Charlie must be delighted,’ Ti said gloomily.
    ‘She hasn’t said anything yet.’ I’d lied again. What was wrong with me? ‘You can appeal, though, can’t you?’
    ‘I don’t know. Dad’s not exactly racing to get in front of the governors again.’
    ‘I hate this,’ I said, winding the phone cord between my fingers. ‘What can we do?’
    ‘I don’t know. I’m thinking.’
    Ti sounded squashed, like she was lying face pressed to the floor, and I knew she was upside down. I could picture her in the hallway, with the family of tiny brass horses and June’s Freddie Mercury calendar. She liked to put her feet against the wall, and rotate so that her hair trailed off the funny little pouffe they all sat on when they talked on the phone.
    I used to sit there to call Mum and ask if I could stay the night, back when I was still allowed to ask her things, and I didn’t have any secrets. Those months felt like years ago, a lovely, easy time that would never return.
    ‘Come over and see me tomorrow? They’re playing table tennis at six.’
    ‘Okay,’ I agreed, because I couldn’t bear the sadness in her voice.
    I’d done enough lying to Ti for one day. Mum and Dad would have to take a turn.

Eleven
    After delivering Mum’s tea and toast and getting Joey installed on his computer, I walked up the hill to Ti’s house. I felt bad for lying, but Ti couldn’t know that my parents had stopped me from seeing her. She’d always worried they didn’t like her, and now wasn’t the time for her to discover it was true.
    The De Furias’ battered black Fiesta wasn’t parked in its usual spot by the pavement, so I walked right up to the front door and knocked, praying Ophelia was out too. Ti came to the door.
    ‘He’s hidden the damned key!’ she shouted through the letter box, and I listened, heart pounding, while she searched for it, cursing her dad energetically.
    ‘I’m sure this is illegal,’ she said when she’d finally got the door open.
    ‘They’ve all gone to Willows and locked me in. Like an actual dog.’
    Willows was the local sports centre where Charlie and me used to mess around together while our mums played hockey.
    I’d planned to give Ti a big hug, as much for myself as for