‘Never you mind,’ Angie said mysteriously. ‘It won’t be a surprise if I tell you beforehand, will it? Got any money on you to help out with the fares? I’m a bit…well, sort of short this week. I had an account I had to pay up or else.’

Abjectly he drew out the sixty cents which was all he’d managed to scrape together, going through every pocket he owned. It was in small pieces, mostly copper, and he looked at it sadly, wishing it were a hundred times that amount. So that he could not only pay for both their fares, but lunch, too, and maybe buy her a chain-of-hearts plant, if they just happened to pass a plant nursery.

‘Last of the big spenders, eh?’ Angie said. ‘Oh well, we’ll manage somehow.’

People glanced at her as they boarded the bus and the glances turned into open staring. Seymour stood a little taller, proud to be seen with such a spectacular grown-up girl. He hoped that some of her glory was spilling over upon him, that they’d all think she was related to him, his big sister, maybe, or a very young aunt. He knew without a doubt that she was the most glamorous person on that whole bus and probably in the whole world. She paid Seymour’s fare, then flashed both an enchanting smile and a little perspex card at the driver and said ‘Student concession’ when paying her own fare.

‘Student concession? Don’t you have to be at university or a college or something for that?’ he asked when they found seats up at the back and she’d put the card away in her handbag. ‘I thought you said you…’

‘Look at those boats on the river, Seymour!’ she interrupted. ‘Wow, don’t those guys all think they’re Superman! Though it’s not all that marvellous, that crew rowing stuff. Jas, that’s my boyfriend I told you about, he knows how to shoot rapids in a canoe and things like you see on telly. He was into martial arts, too, got as far as brown belt. You name it—boxing, rock climbing, Jas can do all of those things!’