The audience did as they were told. Parents were hugging their kids, teachers were congratulating each other, toddlers were running wild with bits of leftover paper snow stuck in their hair. The hall buzzed with victory. Out of all the strange and unwieldy plays that Mr Hargreaves had come up with and the inhabitants of Fox Bay had patiently sat through, this was the only one that had been an unqualified success and the audience could hardly believe their luck. Lou bustled in with trays of pizza and Simi poured glasses of wine.
With great care, Fin directed a team of eight people carrying in a long trestle table that bore an enormous, burnished Cornish pasty. They all gathered round and watched with bated breath as it was measured.
‘Only thirteen-and-a-half feet,’ said Kate, shaking her head regretfully. ‘And the entry in theGuinness Book of Recordsis fifteen. Sorry, Fin. There’s always next year.’
‘Oh well,’ said Fin, sighing. ‘It’s good to have dreams.’
‘And I bet it tastes amazing,’ said Josie loyally, slipping her hand into his.
‘We have,’ Mr Hargreaves bellowed from the stage, ‘done the final count of the ticket takings and we’ve officially smashed our fundraising goal, people! In fact, it’s nearly double what we needed. The library is saved!’
‘Who needs public funding when you can exploit child labourto raise the money,’ muttered Ivy, but she couldn’t help smiling at the look of joy on Melissa’s face.
The party wore on and Ivy quickly lost Trip in the crowd of well-wishers. She was hearing all about dinner with Cleo’s parents from Raye when a sudden, delighted squeal rose up from the corner. She looked over to see Lou, cheeks glowing, standing with one hand protectively over her belly, and Simi beside her, grinning like she’d won the lottery.
‘You’re pregnant?’ cried Kate. ‘That’s so exciting. We all thought you were hiding a secret wedding.’
‘Yeah, I can’t believe you thought we’d get married without telling anyone,’ Simi was saying. ‘We’ve been having IVF. We didn’t want to say anything till we had the twelve-week scan – you know what this place is like.’
‘A summer baby!’ cried Josie mistily. ‘Oh, this will bewonderfulfor the psychic energy of Fox Bay.’
‘Let it Snow’ was playing and Ivy found herself beaming.
Raye darted into the crowd to introduce Cleo to her parents. Ivy glanced over to see that Mei, Erin and Callum were sitting on the edge of the stage, sharing a bag of crisps and giggling at something on Callum’s phone. Ivy watched them, their heads bent close in the way of old friends. She hesitated a moment, then took a breath and walked over, nerves tugging at her stomach.
‘Hey,’ she said. ‘Can I … interrupt?’
‘Of course you can,’ said Mei, looking up. ‘What’s up? Relieved that it’s over?’
‘I guess. But I’ll miss it, in a way.’ Ivy scratched the back of her neck, feeling intensely awkward. ‘I just … I wanted to say sorry.’
‘Sorry?’ said Callum, frowning.
‘Yeah. I know you guys always tried to be friends at school and I shut you out. I tried to tell myself I was a loner, but the truth is … I was being defensive.’
Callum raised an eyebrow. ‘She admits it.’
Mei elbowed him. ‘Shut up, Cal. It’s fine, Ivy.’
Erin shook her head, smiling her megawatt smile. ‘Yeah, it’s totally fine. You don’t have to apologise.’
‘I do, though,’ Ivy said. ‘And I know I’ve been rude all holiday. To be honest, it was hard seeing you all settle in so fast at uni. You sounded like you were having the best time ever and I—’ she took a deep breath, ‘I’ve beenhatingit.’
‘You have?’ said Erin, frowning.
‘Big time. I’m lonely, I have zero friends, I had one relationship that lasted a fortnight and I think I’m going to fail the year because my marks are so bad. It couldn’t really have gone worse. You guys seemed really happy so I felt embarrassed admitting it’s been a disaster. Especially when I made such a big thing out of leaving Fox Bay to go to art school.’
For a moment, the gang were silent.
Then Mei spoke, her voice gentle. ‘Ivy, you’ve got it all wrong. Uni hasn’t been easy for us, either.’
‘Seriously,’ Erin nodded. ‘I felt totally out of place for the first month. I didn’t know anyone. I missed home like mad. Ispent Fresher’s Week alone eating brie in my room. I cried to my dad nearly every night. I nearly dropped out.’
‘Same,’ said Callum. ‘I mean, I like the course but … I still think about being here. Working at the shop, biking around the cliffs, playing football. Everyone knows me here. It’s safe, you know?’
Mei sighed. ‘And I’ve been juggling way too much. Classes, societies, the bar, trying to keep up with everything and everyone. Sometimes I feel like I’m barely holding it all together.’
Ivy looked at each of them, surprised. ‘You’re struggling too? Why didn’t you say anything?’
