Georgia caught her mug with her cuff, making it clatter as she turned round and saw Maya Norris from school. She wore black leggings, a furry jumper and too much make-up.

Maya and Georgia had spent seven years in the same class at primary school, during which they’d been friendly, but never friends. Now in year ten, they only shared one top-level maths set and fell on opposite sides of a social divide.

Kids like Maya came from the estates and their parents worked at the airport or the Amazon warehouse. Estate kids tended not to hang with slightly posher kids like Georgia, who lived in semi-detached houses and mostly had parents who commuted to better-paid jobs in London.

‘I didn’t want to stick my nose in,’ Maya began. ‘But I heard what happened and I saw you through the glass, looking sad.’

Georgia smiled. ‘My sister’s in our school admissions brochure, as a shining example of an ex-pupil.’

‘Guess they’ll have to reprint,’ Maya said, pointing at the empty chair opposite. ‘Can I?’

Georgia felt strangely refreshed, realising how much she needed to talk to someone other than family. ‘My parents were at each other all day,’ she explained, making mouths with both hands. ‘I had to get out before my head exploded.’

‘You’re alone?’

‘Sure,’ Georgia said, trying to make out it wasn’t a big deal.

‘It’s dodgy round the station, especially after eleven when the Railway Arms kicks out,’ Maya warned.

‘You’re alone,’ Georgia noted.

‘Came out with Rolf Santos,’ Maya explained. ‘He said he’d treat me to Cineworld and Nando’s. But he rocked up a half-hour late, saying there’s no time to go to the cashpoint. So I shell out twenty-two quid for tickets and popcorn. After, we stop at the ATM and he gives me some shit about the magnetic stripe on his card not working. You pay for Nando’s and I swear I’ll pay you back. But that scrounger never paid back nothing, so I was outta there!’

Georgia only knew Rolf by reputation. He was a handsome, cocoa-skinned Venezuelan. He looked fine in football shorts but was part of a sleazy clique of year-twelve boys who relentlessly hit on younger girls, and Georgia felt disappointed that someone as smart as Maya had given in.

‘Sounds a dick,’ Georgia noted.

‘All guys are dicks,’ Maya replied knowingly.

‘You want a coffee or something?’ Georgia asked hopefully as she held up a fiver. ‘I do have money.’

Maya checked the time on her phone before shaking her head. ‘There’s a bus from the terminal at ten twenty-two. The one after that isn’t until ten fifty and that’s when the creeps start coming out of the woodwork. You live two stops after me, but I’ll take you home. I don’t mind walking back.’

Georgia looked surprised. ‘You know where I live?’