As soon as he’d switched on the house lights, Will had pulled every plug on the stage, killing the amplifiers, the lighting rigs, the air pumps to the inflatables, the smoke machine. The noise from the crowd, which had sounded so hysterical, was, in fact, nothing more than a thousand people screaming for more.

Unable to see Leavers or April or anyone else on the stage, Will had jumped into the crowd. Finding strength he didn’t know he had, he’d barged his way to the back of the hall in seconds. Ms Simon and two sixth-formers were manning the doors; Will yelled at them to get everybody outside. He was relieved to see people spilling out from the side doors near the stage, Leavers at least having had the sense to start cutting the cable ties off the doors he’d sealed.

Inside a minute, the crush had eased. After five, the hall was nearly empty, the smoke just a light mist. Will stormed through the place, first the hall itself and then the wider building – a man looking for vindication. Was the place really moments away from an inferno?

The vintage amps with their Do Not Use labels were warm to the touch but nothing more. The melted snow had left the fake grass squelchy, but had soaked no electrics. The barbecue flamed low outside, twenty metres clear of the spare propane bottles. A search of the rest of the school revealed nothing more untoward than some underage sexual contact in dark corners, including the two boys in the library, whose clothes were by now mostly draped from the medieval history shelves.

No fire. No imminent danger.

Did I save anyone from anything?

Was it my own face, my own dying self, ordering me to act? Or am I just nuts?

Will doesn’t see the snowball coming till it explodes between his eyes.

‘Sorry, Mr DJ,’ a voice screeches. The stinging cold is like a necessary slap in the face. He dries his face on his T-shirt.

‘Just calm the fuck down now,’ he orders himself. And he walks back towards the school hall.

‘Now where the hell did you get to?’ April says.

‘Just checking on … a few things,’ Will says.

She puts her hands round his waist. ‘There I was, thinking you were giving me the slip.’

‘No chance.’

There are no kids left in the hall now but there’s activity all around them as the catering stalls are dismantled and carted away.

‘Your set was wicked, Will. Made the night.’

‘You reckon?’

‘Everyone fucking loved it.’

‘Cool.’

‘Did think you might have stayed on a bit longer, though.’

‘Did it sound weird? Ending when I did?’

‘Not at all. Just everyone was loving it, and then you stopped. Guess we didn’t want it to be over.’

‘Yeah, think maybe I forgot to play one or two records. Shit … you know, performing like that, easy to lose track. Sorry.’