People were moving past them, taking their places. Among them, Kym couldn’t help noticing, was Tyler, swaggering the length of the room with his mates, laughing loudly, and very obviously not looking in her direction.

She watched for a moment, waiting for him to turn and catch her eye, to yell something funny or irritating. But he held his nerve, and she felt foolish for expecting anything else; it was what she wanted, after all.

‘I suppose we’d better get on, then,’ said Evie, following Kym’s gaze as Ty pulled out his chair and took his place. ‘Good luck.’

Kym went to her own seat, took a deep breath, and tried to concentrate.

*

‘Right. Time’s up, stop writing, please.’ Ms Roberts, the invigilator stood, smiling slightly at the collective sigh as everyone sat back and began to exchange sheepish grins.

Kym had to suppress the urge to yawn, she felt odd, a bit light headed. She’d glanced up once or twice, just to check how Ty was doing, but he was too far forward for her to see properly, and after a while, absorbed in her own work, she had forgotten to look.

She hung back at her desk, unpacking and repacking her pencil case until he was well out of the way, as people drifted past, getting ready to compare horror stories, no doubt.

*

By the time she got out of the room, the corridor was full, and Kym let herself be carried along with the crowd, to the lockers first, then when she’d picked up her bag, back down the corridor, through the double doors and out into the pale sunshine.

She felt lighter, freer, now she was outside, and not even catching another brief glimpse of Tyler at the centre of a group of lads, all loudly whooping and shoving each other around, could spoil her mood. He caught her eye, grinned, and it took a ridiculous effort on her part to pretend she hadn’t seen him. The sudden lurch she felt when she caught sight of him was habit, nothing more, she told herself as she walked away. They were done.

As she turned the corner, she was surprised to see Evie Wilson head down, fiddling with the earbuds for her phone, her usual gang of friends nowhere in sight.

On impulse, Kym made an effort to catch up, ‘Hey, how did it go?’

‘Oh. Hi.’ Evie pulled a face, halfway between a grimace and a grin. ‘OK, I suppose. You?’

‘Same.’ Kym fell into step with her as if they walked home from school together all the time. ‘Nothing that sitting the real thing next year won’t put right.’

‘God, don’t. I can’t even imagine . . .’ Evie’s voice trailed away. ‘My mum, you know?’ she said.

‘Yeah, well, I can guess,’ said Kym. ‘Mine’s just as bad.’

‘Really?’