‘No, not for lunch,’ Kate said gently. ‘We’re going out for chips later, remember?’

‘That must’ve been hard,’ said Debbie, with an overly sympathetic tone to her voice, ‘what with your exams and all that.’

Kate knew she was fishing for gossip, nuggets of Kate’s life that she could take away with her and regurgitate and judge when they were all four together later that evening. ‘It was.’

‘Did you manage . . .? You know, to get your GCSEs?’

Kate bristled. Audrey’s line of questioning was too personal; she suspected that Audrey was waiting for her to fail, wanting her to. By some miracle she’d managed to get English and Geography, but she’d failed the obligatory Maths and her only other respectable pass was in RE. ‘A few,’ she said evasively, hating being on the spot. She would have got up and left there and then, but Becky was still eating.

‘Well, I think exams are overrated anyway,’ said Steve. ‘Look at that Richard Branson, he’s done all right, hasn’t he, and I don’t think he even finished school. Now he’s rich as Midas and hangs out with all sorts. Celebrities, politicians. He’s even mates with Tony Blair, isn’t he?’

‘Another good man,’ said Debbie. ‘I’m so glad he won again. Proves he’s the one the country wants.’

Kate didn’t particularly follow politics, but she had an aversion to Tony Blair and his fake promises and fake smiles. She thought Debbie’s proclamation was short-sighted. ‘I don’t think he really was the one the country wants. Loads of people didn’t even bother voting. It was the lowest turnout in voting history.’

Debbie frowned, perhaps not used to being challenged by someone so young. ‘What?’

Kate blushed, but continued. ‘Well, it was only 59.4 per cent. That’s quite a few short. Um . . . 40.6 per cent.’

It was a moment before anyone spoke. Then Phil looked up from his burger. ‘I’m not being funny, love, but you don’t seem like the type to know much about this kind of stuff.’

Her insides started to quiver with humiliation, but she forced herself to confront him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you’re—’ He stopped abruptly, having been sharply nudged in the ribs by Audrey. ‘What I mean is, school was overtaken by something else, wa’n’t it?’ He laughed, pretending to make light of his comment. ‘And it’s not like you must get a lot of thinking time. Not now you have your hands full.’

‘I can still have an opinion.’

He looked at her dismissively, then irritatedly, as if she’d completely failed to get his point.

‘I think it’s a bit different, don’t you?’ And he didn’t wait for an answer, but instead got up and challenged Steve with a hearty slap on the back to a game of pool at the table that was under the shade at the back of the seating area.

‘Well, if you’ll excuse us, we’re heading for the spa pool,’ said Audrey. She got up and Debbie followed suit. Kate had already seen the sign for the spa pool. It was for over-18s only. With a polite nod, they left and, despite disliking both women intensely and not wanting for a nanosecond to join them, Kate felt like the outsider yet again.