He wasn’t there the next day. Matty swam in the Men’s Pond until both arms hurt, but he never came. Daz was there, doing some diving and talking to the man who was weightlifting. Throwing his head back and laughing loudly.

Afterwards, Matty climbed the fence and wandered through the woods by the Not Allowed Pond, moving between the trees, watching the water. Apart from the moorhens and their wobbling little cries, there was nothing.

‘Did you have sex with him?’

Matty was at the counter of the suit shop, having successfully managed to avoid Mamma for almost two days, only hearing her from under the duvet as she opened the bedroom door to look in at night and in the morning, a long pause before it closed again. She had left out sandwiches, peanut butter or cheese and cucumber squashed under cling film, and there had been Fanta in the fridge. Matty had ignored them.

‘Keep your voice down,’ said Mamma, in a hiss.

‘There’s no one in here.’ Mrs Jackson had gone next door to get change for the till. ‘Did you?’

‘What if I—’ Mamma seemed to stop herself, and gave a small shake of her head. ‘No, I did not.’

‘Do you want to have sex with him?’

‘You are too young to be asking these sorts of questions.’

‘No, I’m not.’ You’re too married to be doing it with your husband’s friends. Sanjit was married too, to a nice lady with braces on her teeth. ‘You want me to grow up.’

She looked almost panicked for a moment, before her face toughened. ‘There’s something in your bedroom for you.’

A present wasn’t going to make up for the fact that she had been trying to have sex with Sanjit. Sandwiches and Fanta and presents would not help.

Matty stomped out.

***

‘Well?’ Mamma said, later, in the kitchen. She had a glass of wine in her hand.

It was the opposite of a present. The uniform was still laid out on Matty’s bed, exactly where Mamma had put it.

Tomorrow would be the first day of September. Four days until school. The whole summer had gone by.

‘I don’t want to wear it.’ They could wear what they wanted at primary school, up to a point.

‘I have bought it.’ Her voice was tight, like her belt was done up an extra two holes along. ‘So you will wear it.’

Matty needed to be grown up. Not throw a tantrum. ‘Do you have a receipt?’

Mamma’s gaze was stony, furious, and almost disbelieving.