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said?”
    Zoran said that was none of my business, but I bet he did. I can just imagine them, Zach laughing his head off, Zoran choosing that exact moment to tell him how stupendously gifted he is.
The thing with Zoran is he’s so nice, when he wants something you never even realize what you’ve agreed to till it’s too late.
    â€œI suppose I should be grateful to the little beasts,” Zoran said. “It’s the first time I’ve heard Zach laugh about anything since he got here.”
    Jas is acting like she did the whole thing on purpose.
    Â 
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
    It’s weird being at school without Jake. Today in English Miss Foundry was talking about the Brontë sisters. “The Yorkshire moors!” she cried. “The tragedy of tuberculosis! The horrors of contemporary education!” except she has a lisp so it came out as
twagedy
and
howwors of contempowawy education.
    Tom asked, “Miss, how do you spell
Bwonte
?”
    Miss Foundry, who is oblivious to teasing, said with two dots over the
e
.
    â€œExactly as I have
witten
it on the whiteboard,” she said, and Tom and Colin both collapsed. I know it’s mean, but it gets them every time, and there’s something about the way those boys laugh. It spreads, and soon the whole class was shaking. That’s when I thought of Jake. Normally there would be three of them messing about in class, but the place right in the middle of the front row where teachers always make him sit, because he is always either asleep or laughing, was empty. Suddenly I could picture exactly what would happen if he had been here, how he would have turned around and grinned at everyone behind him, like making fun of Miss Foundry’s lisp was still the best joke in the world.
    I do kind of miss him, in spite of his unromantic e-mails.
    Â 
    SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16
    Zoran came around this afternoon to ask me if I would film the concert. He said it would mean a lot to him.
    â€œI would love to,” I said, because films and their transcripts are an important part of my diaries. Ever since I got my video camera, my plan has been to record my life in words and images, but I don’t often get the opportunity to film anyone other than my family.
    Flora asked if he had heard from Zach’s mother yet, and Zoran said that she had been in touch with her father, but there was still no news of when she was coming home.
    â€œYou should tell her about the concert,” I told him. “She’d probably come for that.”
    Flora said, “Do you really think she’d come for Zoran’s concert when she’s not even been to see her father?”
    â€œShe might,” I said.
    Zoran said he and Zach had both written to her about the concert.
    â€œDoes
he
think she’ll come?” I asked.
    â€œThat’s not really for me to say,” he replied.
    Flora said Zach’s mother sounded like a total witch.
    Mum made pizza this evening for the first time in ages, which meant the kitchen was even more of a mess than usual. She was humming to herself as she cooked, with her hair full of flour. I went straight up to her when she called us down for supper and gave her the biggest hug.
    â€œWhat’s that for?” she asked.
    â€œJust for being you,” I said. Behind me, Twig made a puking noise, but Mum looked really happy. Then Dad came in and she went back to being cross again.
    Â 
    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17
    Twig had a football match this afternoon. Mum and Dad had one of their “you go, no you go, why me, you go” arguments about it, until Flora got involved and informed them that they were
both
going, because today was his first time playing for a real team against another school.
    â€œThis is a very important day for him,” she said. “So whatever is going on between the two of you, you have to get over it.”
    There was this moment of shocked silence, and then Mum said, “I’ll