In this story, we meet three unlikely friends. Will spends a lot of his time caring for his mum and two younger brothers. He cooks, cleans, gets his siblings to school and looks after his mum, who is ill and often can't get out of bed. He also manages to fit in his side-hustle, earning him enough money to help with afterschool clubs for his brothers so that he can join the drama club again. He has attended Sherwood High since the start of Year 7, but with everything going on at home and his best friend, Liam, leaving, he is finding it harder to keep things under control.

Scarlet is new to Sherwood High. She hasn't been with her new foster family for long but knows that she wants to stay. She loves to dance and knows her new foster parents will support her with any clubs or activities she wants to do, but their daughter, Megan, is less happy with Scarlet moving in. Scarlet can put up with Megan if it means she gets to stay at her new home, but she's worried they won't want her if she gets into trouble.
Also new to Sherwood High is Robyn. She currently lives with her grandad, after her.parents separated. Her mum moved to Ireland and her dad is currently working in Italy. Robyn loves nothing more than helping out at her grandad's bike repair shop but he has started to forget things and if they aren't careful, things could become very dangerous, very quickly.

The three first meet in a detention, where none of them are really looking for friends but despite not having much in common, they learn the importance of having friends to share the difficult times with. When Acting Headteacher, Mr Nottingham starts cutting bursaries and limiting opportunities for certain groups of children, the new friends notice the unfairness of it all and end up caught up in a lot more trouble than  they were expecting.

This is a great story. I loved Runaways and the way that the author gives a voice to children we don't always see represented in books. This book is similar, in that it features children from underrepresented groups and unlikely friendships, without making things unrealistic. The characters are not perfect - they do the wrong things sometimes - but this is what makes them authentic and is what will allow real children to identify with them.

I've not yet read the author's Fablehouse books as I don't usually go for magical stuff, but on the strength of these last two books, will definitely be giving them a go.