Meredith was a better person than she was, thought Hannah as she made her way to her place, dubiously eyeing the ingredients awaiting her and crossing her fingers that this week she was going to do better. Rather than try and make notes while Adrienne talked, today she’d focused on remembering what she’d said. It was easier, Hannah decided, to make the notes afterwards, when she’d discovered from experience what the possible pitfalls were.

Hannah had always had steady hands, which she found very useful when it came to piping her choux pastry into neat lines for eclairs and for decorating the tops of rum babas with whipped cream. Adrienne was quite right; concentrating on the task in hand and taking it seriously helped. Sadly, Jason hadn’t got the same memo that day.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ he muttered and threw down the spatula he was using.

‘Oh for God’s sake, Jason,’ snapped Fliss. ‘What’s the matter now?’

Hannah winced. The two of them had been sniping at each other all morning.

‘I can’t get the stupid effing pastry dough into the bag.’

‘That’s because you need to rest the bag in a glass or something to support it, like Adrienne demonstrated. Typical, you don’t give a toss, do you, so don’t even try to do things properly.’

‘Who made you God around here? If you’re so bloody good at cooking, little Miss Posh and know it all, why are on you on this course?’

Fliss turned and clamped her mouth shut, an angry flush running along her cheekbones.

‘You’re such a stuck-up cow. What makes you think you’re better than the rest of us?’ he sneered. ‘No one likes you. With your hoity-toity ways.’

‘Jason.’ Meredith’s reprimand snapped out like a coiling lasso rope. ‘That’s not nice.’

‘S’true.’ He lifted his chin like a boxer, daring her to contradict him. ‘Everyone thinks you’re a right snob.’

Fliss gasped and as if Jason had scored a direct hit, uncharacteristic tears began to well up in her eyes. She pushed her tray of eclairs way from her and turned and fled from the room.

‘Blimey. She’s a bit sensitive,’ said Jason, warily looking at the others as they all turned to look at him.

‘And you’re totally insensitive,’ said Izzy. ‘Why do you always have to wind her up?’

‘Me wind her up? She winds herself up. She’s always having a go,’ Jason said, putting his hands on his hips, belligerent and defensive at the same time. ‘Come on, you know what’s she’s like.’

Meredith shook her head. ‘Jason, you’ve been very unkind. I think you ought to apologise.’

Jason rolled his head and turned towards Alan. He shook his head too. ‘Sorry, Son, you crossed a line.’

‘But she gets right on my tits.’