For a moment, Dave was silenced. Then he lost his cool. “This is just willful ignorance!” he said.

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that.”

“Not only are you ignorant, you’re a racist!”

Furbelow stood up. “Get out this instant.”

“You think it’s all right for you to come out with your crude prejudices, just because you’re the burned-out head of a school for rich kids!”

“Be silent!”

“Never,” said Dave, and he left the room.

In the corridor outside the head’s study, it occurred to him that he could not now go to class.

A moment later he realized he could not stay in the school.

He had not planned this, but in a moment of madness he had, in fact, left school.

So be it, he thought; and he left the building.

He went to a café nearby and ordered egg and chips. He had burned his boats. After he had called the head ignorant and burned-out and a racist they would not have him back, no matter what. He felt scared as well as liberated.

But he did not regret what he had done. He had a chance of becoming a pop star—and the school had wanted him to let it slip by!

Ironically, he was at a loss to know what to do with his newfound freedom. He wandered around the streets for a couple of hours, then returned to the school gates to wait for Linda Robertson.

He walked her home after school. Naturally the whole class had noticed his absence, but the teachers had said nothing. When Dave told her what had happened, she was awestruck. “So you’re going to Birmingham anyway?”

“You bet.”

“You’ll have to leave school.”

“I’ve left.”

“What will you do?”

“If the record is a hit, I’ll be able to afford to get a flat with Walli.”

“Wow. And if it’s not?”

“Then I’m in trouble.”

She invited him in. Her parents were out, so they went to her bedroom, as they had done before. They kissed, and she let him feel her breasts; but he could tell she was troubled. “What’s the matter?” he said.

“You’re going to be a star,” she said. “I know it.”

“Aren’t you glad?”

“You’ll be mobbed by dolly birds who will let you go all the way.”

“I hope so!”

She burst into tears.

“I was kidding,” he said. “I’m sorry!”

She said: “You used to be this cute little kid I liked to talk to. None of the girls even wanted to kiss you. Then you joined a group and turned into the coolest boy in school, and they all envied me. Now you’ll be famous and I’ll lose you.”

He thought she wanted him to say that he would be faithful to her, no matter what, and he was tempted to swear undying love; but he held back. He really liked her, but he was not yet sixteen, and he knew he was too young to be tied down. However, he did not want to hurt her feelings, so he said: “Let’s just see what happens, okay?”