It was like a huge weight on her shoulders. She was dreading it. She stopped listening. She thought about Robbie Williams instead. Later, the teacher told the class to take out their maths books. Ciara always felt like a dunce when she tried to do maths. She was going to stay with her friend Sara this weekend. She’d ask Sara’s dad to explain Simple Interest to her. Mike was very good at explaining maths. She was glad to be staying with the Stuarts this weekend. She didn’t want to go to Kilkenny with Alison and her new boyfriend. She hated seeing her mother in bed with another man. And she hated seeing her dad in bed with Brenda of the knitting-needle legs. Ciara bit her nails. They were down to the stubs. They looked awful. No matter how hard she tried to, she couldn’t stop biting them. Biting her nails made her think of food. She hoped Kathy would cook chicken and mushroom pie for the dinner. It always tasted mega. Everyone thought that she was dead lucky to have a mother like Alison.
