Even Jenny had her head down, wary of catching anybody’s eye. Most of the kids were watching them – and those who weren’t were soon told why everybody else was. They walked a gauntlet of gossip and stares along the footpath from the gates to the main block. It prickled Tim’s skin worse than goose pimples. Someone called his name. He flinched. But the girl was smiling at him, even if it was in a nervy kind of way. ‘What d’you want?’ he said, a bit too sharply, making her flinch. She was in his year, but he didn’t share any classes with her and couldn’t remember her name. She hovered, looking awkward, and with one hand pushed her long fringe out of her eyes. In her other hand she was holding a supermarket carrier bag. ‘My mum’s sent this for you.’ She held the carrier bag out to him – Tesco’s. He stared down at it, then looked for Roddy Morgan. Where was he? He had to have something to do with this, right? But although there were plenty of other kids hanging around, curious about what was going on, Roddy was nowhere to be seen.
