‘I’ll be just outside,’ she says into the room as she opens it.

I squint as sunlight pours into my face. Not only is there a window in here, but there’s a blue coat instead of white on the woman waiting at the desk inside.

‘You must be Carly,’ she says, peering at me.

‘Who are you?’ The door closes behind me with a soft click. I turn and jump to see Rach sitting in a chair in the back corner. ‘What are you doing in here?’

Her mouth looks all pursed up like she’s smoking, except she’s not. I twist back to the woman, who’s pointing at a chair near the desk.

‘Please, come sit down…’

Rach nods at me, pulling her mouth tighter around her invisible cigarette. Shuffling forward, I sit, forgetting not to wince.91

‘Carly, is it?’ she smiles at me.

I sneak another look at Rach. She’s picking at her nail polish, face still set.

‘I’m Nurse Govern,’ the woman says, nodding and smiling all over again. ‘And how are you feeling today?’

‘What?’ I stare at her.

‘How are you feeling today? Better?’

‘Better?’ I snort. ‘What’s going on? I just need—’

‘We’ll get to that. Rachel has explained.’

‘Rach, what’s she on about?’ My head swivels between them.

‘It’s alright, girl…’ Rach’s face softens a bit. ‘We’ll get going in a minute, OK?’

I turn back to find the nurse with a clipboard in her lap.

‘As I said, I’m Nurse Govern,’ she says, ‘and I work with social services. Between us, we visit all the clinics in the country. It’s our job to make sure everyone who comes here is supported on their journey, no matter what has happened to bring them in. And you and Rachel have been visiting with us for a while now, haven’t you, love?’

I freeze in my seat. She cocks her head as we stare at each other.

‘Rachel’s explained why you need the morning-after pill. It all sounds perfectly reasonable, so don’t worry. We’re here to help you…’

‘What’s this got to do with social services?’ I stammer, Jason ringing through my head before I can block him out.

‘You’re fifteen, is that right, Carly?’

‘Nearly,’ I mumble, shuffling in my seat at I look past her to the opposite wall. There’s a load of box files balanced on top of each other in big stacks that look like they’re about to fall over.

‘Well, I’m afraid I can’t usually prescribe these without an adult present, but I think we can make an exception just this once, given that your sister’s here with you.’

‘Sister?’ The question leaves my mouth before I can stop it.

‘That’s right,’ she says. ‘Isn’t it?’92

We all sit – still, like chess pieces.