If she could skip, Alice would be skipping with excitement, but her weak leg meant skipping was not an option. She’d tried ballet once, but the wobbly left limb made her fall over at unexpected moments and she’d had to admit that ballet wasn’t the activity for her.

Alice contented herself with walking. She went along Wharf Road towards the Quay, passing the moored white yachts and rusty fishing boats. Gulls twitched to and fro on gusts of wind, screeching with the fun of it. Alice had called both Cal and Violet last night to arrange a meeting at the Quay but she’d kept the reason for the meeting a secret, hugging it to herself like a delightful present.

Alice added a sort of a skip to her stroll and managed not to stumble. She’d been planning and researching for several weeks now and finally her efforts had paid off. All she had to do now was make the announcement to Violet and Cal, then spend the afternoon celebrating with her friends. Churros, Alice decided. Yes, that was the perfect celebratory food.

She took the pedestrian footbridge, then crossed the parking lot to a cluster of wind-battered buildings: the Quay shopping mall. This was one of Alice’s favourite places, especially since Violet and Cal liked it too. Violet loved the accessory shops and using the free wi-fi, Cal liked the arcade and sharing hot chips, and Alice enjoyed the splat of the ocean against the boardwalk and visiting the gemstone store.

Life had been lonelier before she met Violet Devenish and Cal Lee – when it was just Alice, her father and their funeral home. Although she was still happy enough on her own, she liked having friends. There was a lot more fun. And noise. Both Cal and Violet talked fast, made a lot of jokes and laughed frequently, which took a bit of keeping up. They weren’t much alike, the three of them: Violet with her obsessive love of a Korean pop group called Moon Squad and YouTubers Alice didn’t relate to, and Cal with his nocturnal gaming habits and pet python named Ziggy. But they seemed to click together anyway.

Alice turned onto the boardwalk where the new bubble tea shop had gone up – and there was Violet. She was sipping an enormous, bright-green drink, the straw tucked in under the shade-veil she wore over her face to protect her from the sunlight. Violet waved…

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