Dermot coughed, and then asked, ‘Is it my imagination, Shona, or does everyone seem to work harder when I’m around? It might sound odd, but it seems as though everyone seems to leap into action when I walk in.’

‘It’s not your imagination,’ Shona said. She added wryly, ‘You must have great motivational skills.’

Pam approached the window seat, fluttering prettily, ‘Here you are, Dermot. Just the way you like it, strong with two sugars.’ She handed it to him, and as Dermot thanked her again, she looked for somewhere to sit down and join them. The window seat, however, was unavoidably contained, and there were no other seats next to it. She hovered for a moment, saying coyly, ‘You really should look after yourself and cut down on all that sugar. You can get great substitutes now. I don’t have any sugar any more, haven’t done for years. Neither does Shona,’ she added, generously including Shona in her conversation.

‘Ah, but unlike yourself and Shona, I’m certainly not sweet enough already,’ said Dermot charmingly.

‘Would you like my seat, Pam?’ offered Shona, keen not to be gooseberrying in on a flirtatious encounter.

‘Shona, if you don’t mind, I wanted to ask you something about one of your classes. Could you stay a moment?’ Dermot interjected hurriedly, before Pam could accept.

‘Well, I’ll leave you to it, if you’re talking shop,’ said Pam, bravely hiding her disappointment. ‘I have the most horrendous stack of assignments to sort out myself. Better get on with it, eh?’ She walked off quickly and sat down with her papers, her back to the window seat so they wouldn’t see her pouting.

‘Well?’ asked Shona, looking at Pam’s too straight back, and feeling a little sorry for her. It wasn’t nice of Dermot to flirt and then pass her over immediately afterwards.

‘Could I sit in on a couple of your A level French lit classes next week? I have some free periods, and I’ve not yet had a chance to acquaint myself with your teaching methods. Just to see how you do things here.’

‘Of course,’ said Shona. ‘You don’t have to ask. I’m surprised you haven’t sat in on my classes as yet. You’ve been to Mrs Cellotti’s Italian class, and Miss Taggart’s German class. I was beginning to feel rather left out that the evil eye of the new broom had managed to evade me.’

‘Evil eye?’ laughed Dermot. ‘Very good, I like that.’ He lowered his voice, and said a touch conspiratorially, ‘The truth is, Shona, I’ve been a little embarrassed to attend

‘Oh,’ Shona said, nodding with understanding. It was because she had gone for his job. It might feel a bit awkward for him to throw his weight around where she was concerned.