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Mum put a hand on my head. “Why don’t you two go and play?” she said.
“Mu-um,” I complained
I saw her and Frenella exchange a look.
“Sorry,” Mum said, failing to hide a smile. “You’re far too old for playing.”
“What are you going to do?” Frenella asked.
“Ice cream eating competition!” Apollo cried excitedly.
I looked at him and we shared a grin. “Do you have rainbow?” I asked as we ran towards the kitchen.
“Won’t it be cute when they’re welcoming us into their home?” we heard Mum say to Frenella.
“Aw, their first dinner party,” Frenella cooed.
Apollo and I grimaced at each other and stuck our tongues out. It was no secret that our parents thought we were going to get married. It was also no secret that Apollo and I disagreed.
“You better have rainbow,” I told Apollo.
Apollo rolled his eyes. “Rainbow’s just vanilla with colours.”
“Don’t ice cream shame me, Apollo Callahan,” I told him. “The colours are the best bit!”
His side eye as he pulled the freezer open told me what he thought about that. “Yeah, we have rainbow. I made sure Mrs Mack got you lots.”
“The colours–” I started.
He finished for me, “...make you happy. I know,” he said with a big smile. “That’s why I got it.”
Apollo Callahan had the unfailing ability to make me smile, big and warm. The kind that gives you a happy bubble in your chest and makes your cheeks ache.
He was my best friend. The person who knew me best in all the world, and I knew him the best. We spent almost every school holidays together and talked almost every day but, in just under a week, we were going to the same boarding school. Everything was going to change, and it was going to be the best day ever, every day.
An hour later, once two litres of ice cream had been butchered and the both of us were feeling very ill, we had to finally concede a draw.
“On the face of it,” Apollo said as we kicked off our shoes in preparation for stage two of the competition, “starting with the ice cream might have been a poor choice.”
“But it goes ice cream, sock skating, then mattress surfing.” I stopped to consider it. “Actually, yes. Starting with the ice cream seems like the worst choice.”
“Okay, tomorrow,” Apollo said, “let’s do it backwards.”
I nodded. “Okay.” Then as fast as I could, so he had the least amount of time to react, I said, “Readysetgo!” and took off down the passage.
“No fair,” he laughed, and no doubt hurried to catch up.
As Apollo and I skidded into the front hall, I saw Archer at the door to his study. Frenella was coming down the stairs. There was something about the atmosphere between them that I didn’t like. Especially since neither of my parents were in sight.
“Apollo,” Archer said smoothly. His tone told us he wasn’t well pleased about us skidding around the house in our socks.
Imagine if he’d witnessed stage three.
Apollo pulled up short. “Sorry, Dad.”
Archer shot a look to Frenella, who came to stand by me, but his words were directed at Apollo. “There’s someone you need to meet.”
“Who is it?” I asked.
