“No, Miss,” Anu said. “He’s a dork.”

All Anu’s mates giggled.

“That’s not acceptable, Anu,” Miss Spargo said. “Next time you’ll go into isolation. Clear?”

Anu looked away. “Over-react much?” she muttered.

*

As soon as Maths was over, I rushed to the library.

I was there a while before I spotted Jacob. He was sitting alone, with a Batman novel. I went over to say hello.

“Tales of the Demon,” I said. “That’s awesome. I love Batman.”

He closed the book. “Get lost, geek,” he said.

“You should try the others,” I told him. “Like Year One by Frank Miller.”

Jacob shook his head. “I ain’t like you,” he said. “I weren’t reading it cos I want to.”

“You looked like you were,” I said. “I saw you.”

“Yeah?” he asked. “Well, that makes you a stalker. Bet you fancy me!”

He pushed back in his chair and stood up. “Shove yer effing Batman!” he shouted.

“What’s going on?” Mrs Collier asked, as the door slammed in her face.

“Jacob got angry,” I said. “I don’t know why.”

“Don’t worry,” Mrs Collier told me. “He doesn’t seem very happy today, that’s all.”

I wanted to know why Jacob was sad, but I didn’t ask. Instead, I put Tales of the Demon back on the shelf.

*

At lunch, I was eating my falafel wrap when the dinner hall erupted with screams and shouts of “Fight! Fight!” When I looked up, I saw a Year 10 called Myles Granger and his mates shoving Jacob. Jacob went for Myles, and they punched and kicked him, then pushed him across a table.

“STOP THIS AT ONCE!” I heard Ms Jenkins yell. She was ex-Army and no one messed with her. Then the Head, Mr Ahmed, appeared.

“HOW DARE YOU!” he bellowed, right in Myles’s face. “MY OFFICE – NOW!”

Myles trudged out, followed by his mates.

Ms Jenkins had hold of Jacob. I could see him calm down, as he wiped his face on his sleeve and followed her out. As they walked past, I asked Jacob if he was OK.

“Do one, freak!” he snapped.

“Leave him be, Cal,” Ms Jenkins said.

I turned back to my lunch, embarrassed.

“Poor Jacob,” Freya said, as she sat down next to me. “The way those boys picked on him is horrible … But that smells nice,” she went on, and she took a bite of my wrap. “You don’t mind, do you?” she asked, chewing and talking at once. “I’m starving …”

I felt my cheeks grow hot and my mouth dry.

“Er … yeah – I mean, no …” I managed.

“Good!” Freya said. “Can I have the rest of it then?”

*

Later, at the end of last lesson, Anu and her friends huddled together to gossip about Jacob.

“How smelly is he?” Anu said.

“I swear those jeans could stand up by themselves!” a girl called Maddie said with a giggle. “You can see the dirt on them. Gross!”

“Yeah,” said Anu. “Like, Tesco jeans are ten quid. That’s not expensive, is it? Even for a chav.”