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"Sorry," Josh says quickly His voice turns strained He sits, and the jovial hAs fierce and powerful as ever

I look away, not wanting hiain And then I discover a strange apparition outside the restaurant’sI blink It’s still there In the winter, the streets of Paris are grey and the coats that walk them are black

So this…this is like…

"The circus," Josh says, finishing ht out loud "It’s like the circus has come to town"

"Brilliant," St Clair says "That irl enter the restaurant The boy is ridiculously tall and skinny – far more extrehtness of his pinstriped pants He could alht blue military jacket, and his wrists are covered in rainbow-coloured bracelets and rubber bands The girl is wearing a gigantic, poufy skirt with pink and yellow and turquoise crinoline peeking out from underneath She also has a reen, but hers has been decorated with pink glitter And she haspink hair

"Hi!" Lola plops down beside me, and her skirt fwoomps up and onto my lap "Yikes Sorry about that" She smiles as she jae to fit all of that into a suitcase?" I’rows from ear to ear "I’m a chaht three tie as the rest of us"

"But she is a good packer," Cricket says "You’d be aed to squish into those extra suitcases"

He pulls out the chair beside her, and she reaches up with both ar, but because they’re clearly in the earliest stages of love She simply needs to touch hi as I reives Cricket a kiss, square on the lips, and he looks as if he ht explode fro Josh "I think I saw you on TV a few o"

"It’s possible," Josh says

"You must be Isla and Josh," Cricket says

I almost correct him – Oh, no, we aren’t a couple – when I realize he means Isla and Josh Not Isla-and-Josh I shake his extended hand, feeling sad "And Meredith," he says, leaning over me to shake hers

"I like your hair," she says

"Thanks," he says It stands on end, further adding to his ht

"So none of you have to ask," Lola says "Six four Without the hair"

"Étienne is five four," Anna says "With his boots"

"Without," St Clair protests But his grin tells another story

"You’re shorter than I thought" I say it without thinking "Sorry" I wince "I only ain

"Confidence, darling" He leans across the table and touches a finger tofrom me, you know"