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I might be biased, but I genuinely think Every Book when I call his name, he doesn’t even seem to hear me. Eventually he looks round, his face pale.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“I … thought I saw something weird.”

“What?”

I look through the window. The café across the road is closing up for the day, and two dog walkers have stopped to have a chat while their animals sniff round a lamp post. Nothing unusual.

“Just something – someone I thought I knew.” Neon gives a quick shake of his head. “Come on, show me the rest of the shop. I haven’t even seen the cookbooks yet.”

We hang out in Every Book & Cranny so long, the street is dark and the shops are closing by the time we leave.

Martha is coming out of Bohemian Catsody as we walk past. Neon waves to say hi, then sings the Queen song that the shop was named after all the way to our house.

A few people stare but I don’t mind too much.

I even join in with the chorus, though not as loudly as him.

“You really are good, you know,” Neon says when we reach the end of the song. “We should definitely do that Friday Showcase thing together.”

“I don’t know…” The burst of bravery I felt back at school has faded now. “I get really bad stage fright. When I was six, I was one of the Three Wise Men in our school nativity play, and I got so nervous I threw up in Russell’s hair.”

Neon laughs. “I’ll stand a couple of metres away from you just in case. But lots of musicians and performers get really nervous, you know. It’s all about practice.”

We turn the corner on to our road and walk down the long line of houses with glowing windows and cars in the driveways. In the light from our kitchen, I see a red-headed figure standing on the front doorstep: Carrie.

I spin round and shake my head at Neon. “ Hide! ”

“What?” He blinks. “Where?”

“I don’t know! In the bushes or something!”

Neon flaps his arms in a panic but dives into the bush beside us as Carrie turns round. There’s a Pyrex dish in her hands and a sparkle in her eye. I know that look – it’s her gossip glint, the expression she gets when there’s a juicy bit of gen to be sniffed out.

“Hello, lovely. I thought I’d pop over and see how you’re getting on.” She moves down from the step as I walk up the path to our house. “Everything OK?”

“All good!” I take out my keys and squeeze past Carrie to unlock the front door. “Haven’t burned the house down yet.”

“So I see. Well done.” Carrie cranes to the left to peer into the hallway. “Is it just you and Joel in there? Only I noticed a boy coming home with you after school yesterday, and I don’t think I saw him leave.”

Oh no. I swallow and put on what I hope is a confused frown. “Oh yeah, that was my friend from school. He definitely went home, though! Unless he’s hiding in the bushes or something.”

I laugh, probably too loudly, and silently pray that Neon doesn’t choose this exact moment to cough, sneeze or get attacked by bugs and come rolling on to the pavement.

Carrie smiles and leans against the wall. “Laurie, I know it must be quite fun having the house to yourselves, but I don’t think Liv and Monika would be very happy if they knew you were having boys staying over.”

My cheeks go hot. “It’s really not like that! He’s my friend. Nothing else.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve said that since Neon arrived. Why do some people have trouble believing a boy and girl can be friends and nothing else? Apart from being annoying, it seems a bit rude to assume we’re both straight.

“Honestly, Carrie, he definitely went home. It was quite late, though. We were working on something for school.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that, then?”

I should have known Carrie ‘Nancy Drew’ O’Connor would ask for details. “A song. We’re going to perform it together at school on Friday.”

“Oh, brilliant! I’ve heard you singing at home a few times.

You sound great.” She finally hands over the dish in her hands, as if it’s a reward for providing her with some vaguely interesting information.

“Anyway – shepherd’s pie. My veggie version.

I thought you and Joel could have it for your tea.

I noticed you had a delivery on Saturday night, so I figured you’d used up that takeaway money already! ”

She laughs, waves and heads back to her house. Neon has the good sense to wait until she’s safely inside before emerging from the bush. He scurries down the path and hurries through my front door. His eyes are bright.

“So we’re doing it? We’re actually going to sing together?”

“No!” I close the door and pick a leaf out of Neon’s hair. “That was the first thing that came into my head.”

“Oh, come onnnn .” Neon drags the word all the way to the kitchen. “What if Carrie mentions it in front of your moms?”

“Then I’ll lie again,” I say, though the thought of that makes me feel uncomfortable.

I’m a good liar because I have a good memory.

When I was making up my story about Neon for Caitlin and Hannah, I had to keep track of everything I’d said so I didn’t contradict myself.

But I’ve had to tell so many lies recently.

I don’t want to add any more to the list unless it’s totally necessary.

“Come on, Laurie,” Neon whines again. He puts his hands on my shoulders and pouts. “I’ll have to go back to the Realm on Saturday, so if you think about it this is my dying wish . Don’t you want to grant a fictional character their dying wish?”

“You’re not dying.” I laugh and push him away, but his pout doesn’t fade. I sigh and throw my hands up. “Fine, I’ll do it! Don’t blame me if I throw up on your hair.”