‘Oh, I see.’ She seemed to relax a bit. ‘Let me check if we have anything on the history of medicine.’ She tapped a few things into the computer and beckoned me to follow her to the back of the library to search out some relevant books.

My afternoon in the library was all right. There’s a smell – a good one. Something you only get at the library. And it was quiet. At home the TV is always on. Since Mum died Dad doesn’t do silence. I usually have my music on but the peacefulness was better. I actually got some decent work done. A few people came and went. Everyone left me alone. I liked it.

I’m not usually great when it comes to homework. Shoddy is the word my maths teacher likes to use and I think most of my other teachers would agree. I don’t find it easy so I do what I have to, just enough to avoid anything being sent home. But we had our GCSE mock results this week and basically I’m okay in English but pretty much everything else is barely above rubbish. I’d said I wasn’t bothered to my mates, because that’s what you do, but really I was. It might sound dumb but I’ve just realised getting good results is my ticket out of here. Good GCSEs means I get to do A levels, which could get me a place at university. I wish I’d worked this out sooner. All my mates assumed they’d go to university apart from one who wants to sell cars like his dad. Now we’ve got our mock results it’s looking a lot less likely. That scares me because there’s no jobs around here – only rubbish ones.

When I packed up my things there was just Christine and Maggie left in the library. I’d been focused on my essay and not noticed the other people drift away. I put my coat on at the same time as Maggie and found we were walking out together. She held the door for me.

‘New bag?’ I asked noticing the brightly patterned shopper she had slung on her shoulder.

‘Not new. One I’ve dug out of the cupboard. I don’t care if I lose this one.’

It dawned on me that she was anticipating being attacked again. Although she hadn’t seemed it last week Maggie must have been shaken by the experience. She was probably terrified of walking back down the alleyway. She wasn’t very big and she was pretty old. ‘I’ll walk you to the bus stop. You know? If you like.’

Maggie turned. She was frowning hard at me. ‘That’s kind but I will be all right on my own.’