rucksack, and he ate the whole thing in double maths.’

‘Keep him hidden, or you’ll get us all thrown out,’ Frankie hisses. ‘I want my free cake! Dan Carney in angel wings… what a laugh! Devil horns and a tail would be more his style. Seriously, this has been one crazy day!’

‘It’s not over yet,’ Kurt says, and I follow his eyes. The littlest waiter is carrying a tray of milkshakes across to our table. Someone is following him.

‘There’s a seat here,’ the boy says.

Lily Caldwell slips into an empty chair with a face that could turn milk sour.

‘This sucks,’ Lily says, looking around the table with a sneer. ‘What are you losers doing here?’

‘Nice to see you too, Lily,’ Frankie says.

Lily just curls her lip. ‘Dan said the vouchers were for special customers,’ she huffs. ‘What makes you all so special?’

‘Our wit, our charm, our sparkling good looks?’ Kurt quips, selecting a slice of cream sponge from the tiered cake plate. ‘Oh, yeah – and we’re willing to put up with you.’

‘Or not,’ Frankie mutters under her breath.

‘Don’t kid yourselves that I want to sit with you no-hopers,’ Lily snarls. ‘I’m only here for the free cake. Dan said he’d come and join me, once he managed to ditch the flyers and the cupcakes. Hopefully, you lot will have gone by then.’

My shoulders slump. Dan Carney may have given me a cupcake, an umbrella and a look that turned my insides to mush, but he definitely didn’t make a date for later. I guess that Lily, with her sparkly eyeshadow and her acid tongue, is much more his type. Anybody would be more his type, really, than me.

Silent, drenched and miserable is not a look many boys go for.

‘Pity this place doesn’t do wholemeal options,’ Kurt is saying. ‘Sugar and cream and white flour are not good for you. What this area needs is a really good wholefood cafe. You can do amazing things with seeds and walnuts and chopped dates.’

‘Get a life, freak,’ Lily snaps, her eyes skimming over Kurt’s lank hair, his skinny shoulders, the sagging school sweater that looks like it came from a jumble sale. ‘Who wants some stodgy old cake stuffed with nuts and seeds and dried fruit?’

Lily’s description sounds a lot like the cakes my mum used to make at the bakery in Krakow, and they were really popular. I’m not about to argue, though.

‘This cream sponge may not be the healthiest cake on the planet,’ Frankie tells Kurt. ‘But it looks like the tastiest… go on, one slice won’t hurt!’

Lily snorts. ‘That’s a laugh! You’re the last person who needs free cake, Frances McGee,’ she says. ‘There must be, like, a million calories in this stuff. You’ll be the size of a whale. Oh, I forgot, you already are!’

I watch Frankie’s cheeks flare crimson and wish I had the courage to slap Lily Caldwell. Frankie’s words poisonous little witch spring to mind. If nothing else, Lily is expanding my English vocabulary.

It’s a pity I don’t have a rat in my satchel to shut her up with this time, but Kurt comes to the rescue instead.

‘Just leave it, Lily, OK?’ he says.

‘What?’ she asks, raising an eyebrow. ‘Leave what? I was just saying. As a friend.’

But Kurt stares her down, and she shrugs, takes a meringue and bites into it, and slowly the sharpness dissolves from her face and she smiles, a soft, sweet, smile.

I blink, looking round the table. Kurt sighs and closes his eyes as he bites into his cream sponge. I don’t think he’s worrying too much about walnuts and chopped dates now. Frankie hesitates over her slice of chocolate cake, then she caves in and tastes it. Her eyes widen, and her lips form a little ‘o’ of pure delight.

‘What the heck do they put in this stuff ?’ Frankie whispers. ‘I never tasted anything like it. Awesome!’

Kurt sighs. ‘No wonder they call this place Heaven!’

‘I suppose Dan did us all a favour,’ Lily says grudgingly. ‘Not just with the free cake, either. His stunt with the flaming exercise book was cool. It got us out of morning lessons, after all.’

Her face darkens as she frowns at Frankie and me. ‘And then I got out of afternoon lessons as well, thanks to you two… and whichever moron stole that flea-bitten rat from the biology lab.’

‘Oh?’ Kurt asks, all innocence.

‘Didn’t you hear? Someone nicked Mr Critchley’s rat while the fire alarm was ringing,’ Lily explains. ‘Probably some animal rights nut who