Chapter 17

“Alright, then,” Emma said quietly, then squeezed her arm in a tight hug. “Our secret, if you want. But I promise, Anton, Jude’s not going to give you any hassle for it. And I’ll punch anybody who does, okay?”

Anton cracked a smile, then they both sniggered when the game was decided, in very unsportsmanlike fashion, by a muddy fight in the centre of the makeshift pitches between the two captains.

“Come on,” she said, “let’s go kidnap him and the other two idiots and go get snacks or something.”

As they clambered out of the bag nest, and Anton found Jude’s for him, Emma caught his arm and leaned in close.

“Are you gay, then?”

Anton paused.

“I won’t tell anyone!”

And he believed her. Something about the open look on her face, or maybe the way Larimer and Jude had twigged and apparently not told the whole class either…

“Maybe.”

“So…look, there’s this huge argument amongst the girls, and me and Isabel argue about it all the time, but—d’you reckon Will Thorne’s fit or not?”