"Marta, have you got your lunchbox?" Mum asks me as I grab my satchel and unlock the front door. 

"Yes, Mum!" I call to her. 

I shut the front door behind me. 

"Love you! Bye!" I add, and I fetch my large purple and turquoise mountain bike from the garage. Once I've done that, I cycle off to school. 

"Have you heard the news?" Jas is asking me now. 

I glance up at her and shake my head, and then return to emptying my workbooks from my satchel. 

"Well," she replies, "apparently there's a new girl in our class."

Oh. I thought so, because there is an unfamiliar face in Rajah's seat today. It just means that Rajah has nowhere to sit.

"Well? Aren't you going to ask me her name?" 

I sigh.

 "What's her name, Jas?" I ask.

Jas grins a toothy grin. I immediately know that something's up. Jas only grins like that when she knows something that is vital for me to know, too.

"The new girl's name is Nicole Slater."

I freeze and nearly choke on the apple-flavoured Starbust that I'm secretly chewing. 

Because the new girl's name is Nicole.

 I kept staring at Nicole all through class in the morning, and now Mrs Clarke has just dismissed us for break. 

Quickly, I pull my banana out of my satchel and head over to Nicole's desk. She's standing up, not quite sure what to do. 

Mrs Clarke looks up and sends Jas and me a red-lipped smile.

"Whoops!" she exclaims. "I completely forgot. Jasmine and Mackenzie, this is Nicole Slater. She's new to London and has never seen West End Primary. Can you please have the pleasure of showing this lovely new student around the school? Both of you will get two merits each!"

Immediately, I nod. Jas is about to shake her head when I poke her in he ribs. She winces and glares at me. I gesture at her to nod and so she eventually does. 

"Yes, Mrs Clarke. I shall. Don't know about Jasmine, though," I say. 

I look Jas in the eye. Say yes or ELSE. Say yes and don't deprive yourself of two merits, I plead. 

"Yes!" Jas says at once. 

She pinches my arm and I let go of her ribs. 

Frowning, Mrs Clarke nods and Nicole follows us out of the classroom and into the corridor. 

 Jas is in the lead. The first stop is the large room where the three different Year Six classes are. 

"This is 6PL," Jas says, pointing at the class next to ours. 

Nicole nods shyly.

"This is 6VS," I continue, "and finally, our classroom is in the middle - 6DC."

Jas giggles. "Want to know a secret?" 

Nicole nods eagerly, and I realise straight away that she enjoys secrets. 

"That door beside 6VS is where Mrs Clarke has a little boogie even though it's supposed to be her study."

Nicole snorts and gives a little honk. I guess that's supposed to be a laugh, and I also realise straight away that she honks when she laughs. 

I laugh. 

"Why do you honk? Ew. That's gross," I say.

Jas narrows her eyes at me. 

I look her in the eye, willing her to contradict me. 

"Just shush Marta," she snaps, "because you fart when you eat roast potatoes."

Nicole laughs and does her little honk and snort again. 

I glare at Jas. I glare at Nicole. 

And I know straight away that the new girl is my enemy.