Kallai wasn't in the least surprised when Kailani was the first to compliment Sage's room - he'd learnt their real names from Snapchat. To be fair, the room was pretty nice and definitely much better kept than Kallai's own. With the curtains pinned back tidily, the bed made and the clothes all hung in the wardrobe, there wasn't even a hair left on the floor, never mind those pesky rogue socks Kallai never seemed to have found the last of.

Kailani paused in the doorway, directly in front of Kallai, as her eyes roamed over the dappled grey walls, the black clock that faced them and the shadows that fought fruitlessly against the small wall-lamps at each corner. Warm orange light glowed from within the black cone lampshades, topping the neat curls of black metal that linked them to the wall.

Even from the doorway, Kallai believed he could feel the softness of the black and white ikat patterned carpet that lay across only the central area of the white wood-patterned laminate flooring. An orange desk sat on the rug, a black chair tucked behind it. Stretching along half the wall on the right was a bed donned with black covers and pillow, and two cushions - one of each orange and grey - sat on top, leaning gently on the headboard.

Decorating the other side of the room was a white wicker-style chair with a cushion matching the carpet; a grey Vasagle shelving unit, taller than it was wide and full of books; a black beanbag positioned beneath a small white-paned window; a small collection of plant pots in the corner - a large orange one tucked at the back with a range of greys and blacks in front - caring for leafy green plants.

Clearly Kailani's ramblings about interior design had become entangled with his own thoughts, as they were sure to do eventually.

Despite how clean and professional it all was, audibly stealing Kailani's breath away from her as soon as she set foot in it, Kallai couldn't find any signs of personalisation. It felt hollow.

After a minute, Kallai gently encouraged his sister through the doorway, hands on her shoulders. She stumbled a little, grabbing the door frame and spinning around it, finishing in a curtsy as Kallai and the others walked past, laughing. If anything went wrong, Kallai believed Kailani would put a positive spin on things, literally as well as figuratively. Because as she continued to remind him, she had so many things to be grateful for that it didn't seem worth her time or health to worry about all the things she could complain about. Because Jannah knew there were a lot of them.

Kallai moved over to the opposite wall, leaning on the hard surface. He remained standing, fully prepared for his next private battle against Lexis, but the girl had already gotten herself comfortable in the false-wicker chair. The girl was almost camouflaged against the white plastic, and he told her as much in a smirk - which she promptly ignored.

Kailani took a place on the floor without being asked. She'd grown to be very comfortable on floors rather than chairs, claiming that it felt humbling - a sensation she apparently thought everyone would benefit from every once in a while.

Tallie took the bed and, without asking Sage, tossed Kailani the cushions to sit on. Sage only smiled at the German girl, nodding as she always seemed to do in response to anything. His sister sat on one of the cushions and opted to hug the orange one. When she held it to her chest, her arms wrapped around it, she rested her chin on it quite comfortably.

Not wanting to stay any longer than he had to, Kallai was hugely grateful when Kailani stuck her hand in the air and waved it around a bit - even if she did come close to hyperventilating. Even if they were still in school, her over-the-top reaction hardly looked polite, but it didn't bother anyone - unfortunately - and instead set them off in controlled laughter. By Kailani's standards, Sage was very slow to nod permission to speak - almost reaching ten seconds - which didn't prove to be a problem because, however impatient her outward image was, Kallai knew his sister was only over-excited.

You knew when she was feeling impatient.

After the nod of approval, Kailani offered, "We could hold a fair! Like a car boot sale but with a lot more stalls and tonnes more pizzazz. We could make loads of games for people to play, examples could include welly throwing, hook a frog because duck will probably be copyrighted, board games, card games, wheelbarrow races et cetera. And we could make food for them to buy and eat - because what else is food for? - and we could hold a big quiz! The team with the best score gets a prize at the end of the event! I could also make jewellery and pipe cleaner animals and bookmarks and picture frames!"

There was no way she could have got the words out any faster, but Kallai was willing to bet money that she'd tried. He honestly didn't know why she chose to speak so fast sometimes and was amazed she could do so without stumbling over her words.

Sage's smile had died on her lips as her head turned down to face her almost empty A4 lined notebook. The silently elected leader wore a tight expression of concentration as she tried to keep her writing in time with Kailani's words. An impossible task.

Tallie, who had somehow taken in and memorised every word Kailani had said, relayed them back to Sage painfully slowly.

Lexis was looking at Kailani then with a question in her eyes, a smirk-like smile playing along her lips. But it wasn't her speed talking she questioned when those lips parted, "You can really make all that?"

Kailani was mid-way through nodding when Kallai cut in. "Of course she's not making all of it. You're not leaving her to do it all on her own," he snapped. His glare cut through the heavy atmosphere just as easily as it made it.

"Firecracker," Lexis taunted him. "I meant is she capable of making the different things," a laugh haunted her eyes, "Not can she make everything."

Kallai could see the hidden message in the icy eyes that, so far, only he had ever managed to melt even slightly. 'Not now. Not here.' There was something else at play. She was asking him to stop instead of challenging him further. Whatever the reason, it was enough to get him to back down. Though she was far from getting an apology from him.

He let out a half-hearted growl as he leaned backward, crossing his arms and turning away. Kallai was - if completely honest - in part thankful to have met someone who made every fight a struggle and forced him to improve and strengthen. Unfortunately, Lexis didn't just challenge him, testing his ability; she also won. It was strange to have met someone he couldn't beat - someone whom he couldn't scare.

He rolled his eyes at his sister next who was giving him that sympathetic, pitying look again. She grinned up at him. Sage was looking at her now too, waiting. After a pause, likely trying to remember what was last said, Kailani answered, "Oh! Yes, yes I can make them all. I can teach you!"

Sage nodded again, a smile warming her golden skin. "I think we should hold the fair in two weeks' time. It will give us two weeks to make everything and to get word out that it's happening. It also give us time to work out pricing because we need a lot of money for these flights. I can get them for £272 each at the cheapest but £319 ish if we want to go sooner and then the coach from the airport to Kromlau could be anywhere between-"

"We don't need all the numbers, Minion," Kallai interrupted. It was almost as if she was intimidated by his academic ability, seeing that he'd done research outside of the syllabus, and wanted to prove she deserved the title of 'smartest kid in the year' by out-boring them all with the work behind the result. None of that mattered, though, because at the end of the day, the result was what would make or break their plan.

He was this close to punching her lights out.

A nod and a swallow later, Sage was wearing the hard gaze he'd seen her use to command her classmates during group projects in school. "It comes out as £1910. It's a massive help having accommodation and food free thanks to Tallie's grandparents, but that's still a lot to raise. The average fundraiser run by people our age usually earns around £500 and that's when they're collecting for charity. We need to almost quadruple that and be open about the fact that we're taking all the money for ourselves."

It was like she wanted him to quit on them.

"We'll aim for £2000 because it's a nicer, rounder number, it's easier to do maths with and it leaves some money left over," Sage started. "If we used all five of Kailani's craft ideas as well as four games and the big quiz, we'd have a total of ten areas of income. Each would have to raise an average of £200. Does that help?" Her brow had creased as she'd struggled with numbers on her page, growing more agitated with every vicious scribble and unproductive tap.

It was totally unlike her not to have the answer immediately. Which was proven by Lexis' surprised smile and Tallie's raised eyebrow. Kallai couldn't help but add a mocking smirk to the mix. It must be killing her.

"No one of the crafts alone is going to raise £200," Tallie started, fishing around in the space between them to check there was room for her to speak. "Because by the time they got anywhere near half of that, we'd have sold out. But if we shifted some of that goal onto the games that can be played infinite times, it might work."

Kailani was smiling brightly again. Speaking slower this time, she said, "I have loads of beads, thread, metal rings and pipe cleaners at home because I asked everyone for them for every birthday for the last three years. Also, I saved up the money my parents gave me for Eid, and I was going to give half to charity and use the other half for craft things. So, we have that. And it shouldn't be too expensive to buy stuff to make bookmarks."

The hopeful look on her face was too much. Kallai looked away, realising as he did so that she hadn't mentioned the picture frames at all. He supposed they'd be paying for them, too.

"I have two footballs, a rugby ball, a hockey ball and two hockey sticks, two pairs of wellies - four if I borrow my parents' - and basically every board game you can think of," Lexis said, but she couldn't have sounded more reluctant to speak if she'd tried, her voice quiet and weak for the first time. The White brat was spoilt rotten! How could she be miserable about that?

Sage wrote it all down, barely raising her eyebrows at the new information. Kallai would have burst out, questioning why she never reacted to anything, if Lexis hadn't noticed and shot him a look that chilled him to the bone. 'Not now. Not here.'

Tallie looked like she wanted to speak and, sure enough, once she'd made sure everyone else was done, she said, "Races don't require anything but a finish line and we can just use traffic cones for that. My dad's got plenty in the garage from work. They're the broken ones, but it's only the lights that have stopped working or there's a crack through the side. Nothing bad."

Well, that certainly helped.

After deciding how much they'd be charging for everything and what decorations, tables and gazebos they'd need, the group were able to hand out jobs and organise deadlines (courtesy of Sage). Not a minute later, they had the timetable saved to their group chat and were heading out the door.

Kailani had been the only one to say goodbye. Maybe they were booking a magical, top secret team mission abroad, but they weren't friends yet. And if their parents found out about it, there would be no chance of that happening at all.

As a small child, he had always been quick to make friends and popular with the other boys his age. Boys only, because they had still been at the age where they believed there were boy things and girl things, and girls were 'gross'. Or something like that. But then he'd made the mistake of inviting his friends to his house.

It had never come up in conversation what colour skin they wore - that had never crossed his mind. They were fun and good to him and that was all he saw.

The same could not be said for his parents.

All they saw was their Black son playing with White influence - the enemy in their imaginary war. It had all seemed crazy at the time and he'd cried when they'd sent his friends away and removed him from the school, but he had grown to realise that parts of what his parents claimed was true. Things had never been right in the war of skins, and they probably never would be. His parents taught him to hate those with white skin because with it came an unfair advantage and power that would be used against Black people like himself.

Kailani had never believed a word they'd said. Even in understanding the history, she had claimed things could be equal, that not all White people would put us down. Perhaps she was right. If so, it would tear at him to know it had taken him almost his sister's whole life to see that.

Maybe a little tear in his pride would be worth the extra support on his heart. But he couldn't put faith in them yet. Sage was much too arrogant and self-indulgent to be reliable, Lexis had proven that all she wanted was a fight and Tallie made herself seem so basic. Kailani, clearly, thought differently.

It would take time for him to throw off the weight of his parents' teachings, but he was open to giving it a chance. After all, he put faith in physics, and new discoveries were made in that field all the time.

Walking his sister back to their house, he finally accepted his part in this probably doomed adventure. What he couldn't accept, was that over the last day, he had grown so used to arguing with Shadow, sharing glares and trading insults both face to face and over text, that he'd been looking for a fight at Sage's house.

Lexis had barely bothered with him and that in itself had frustrated him. Was he suddenly not worth her time? And then she'd given him that all-important flick of the eyes. Following her invisible map, he'd spotted the small, round indentations in the laminate flooring. When joined together, including the one that she had confirmed was buried under the flowerpots, they made a rather large rectangle. And then there were the thin scratches moving in the direction of the door, away from them; made by dragging a rather heavy object.

There used to be a bed there.

Reading the message in Shadow's - Lexis' - eyes, 'Not now. Not here,' Kallai had backed down immediately.

﹌﹌﹌

Lexis was smiling when she left Sage's house a few minutes later than the other three. She gave Kallai a silent thank you that he'd never know, and walked the distance to her own house, taking the long way. Making a stop off at the park to sit on a swing and - without swinging - think. She wondered how late she could leave it before heading home. Hell, her parents probably wouldn't care if she turned up first thing in the morning stinking of alcohol and weed.

With a deep sigh shortly following the roll of her eyes, she kicked off from the tarmac floor and set her legs in motion. Though swinging took no brain power, it seemed to clear her head a little. A little was better than not at all, so she kept it up in the hope that eventually, all those little bits would add up and she could go home with an empty mind, as cloudless as a summer's sky. She even tried moving faster, reaching the highest point the swing could go in a matter of seconds.

It was midnight when the front door slammed shut behind her, her mind still alive and buzzing.