It was sweet and slushy, just the way I liked it. I closed the microwave door and walked across the staffroom to my usual corner. At the adjacent table, Margery and Caroline were huddled together like the witches from Macbeth. As I ate, I overheard snippets of their conversation: ‘Can you believe it? She’s a real dark horse. She kept that very quiet, didn’t she?’ ‘Yes,’ Caroline replied in a scandalised voice, ‘but it’s always the quiet ones that surprise you, isn’t it?’ I wondered who they were talking about. Sabina entered the room with a face like thunder and made a beeline for Margery to complete their ghastly trio. ‘I can’t believe it, I just can’t believe it. I’m so pissed off. This doesn’t make any sense. How the hell could she have got it?’ ‘I know, pet, I know,’ Margery tutted. ‘But that’s why I didn’t bother applying. They never give jobs to the people who deserve it. It’s not what you know – it’s who you know. Let them stuff their job.’ My ears pricked up at this.
