Donny shook his head, back in the moment. ‘Cheers, Tina, I was a million miles away then. Away with the fairies.’

‘I know. Anyway, back to business. We have the new lad, Dan, starting today, can you meet and greet him? His mam is bringing him about half ten.’

Donny turned away, pretending to read through his diary. ‘I’ve got to go and see Ged. But I’ll sort it, find someone who can do it. What else have we got on today?’

Tina watched him closely from the corner of her eye as she replied as casually as she could.

‘I said I’d take Amelia for some checks. She’s confided in me – thinks she might have a STD and can’t tell her parents. So, if it’s alright with you I’ll take her to the clinic.’

Donny ruffled through the paperwork on his desk. ‘Bleeding hell, what is wrong with some of these kids. Have they never heard of condoms or what? Make a note for me to bring this up in the staff meeting. They clearly need to be doing more in the sex ed lessons. You’d think these kids would be on the ball with stuff like that but, on my life, if brains were dynamite they couldn’t blow their bleeding noses.’

‘Come on, boss. You know what it’s like. They’re not thinking straight half the time. These aren’t normal teenage love affairs – most of them have only ever seen sex as a bargaining chip, or a power game. They’ve not exactly had many good examples around them growing up. That’s how they end up where Amelia is. So, book me out this morning, yeah?’

‘Yep, I’ll manage. Just make sure while you’re there that they have a good talk with her, give her enough condoms to keep her out of trouble. Otherwise next thing she’ll be getting pregnant.’

Tina forced herself to smile. ‘Leave it with me, I’ll get it sorted. Right, I’ll go meet and greet the students. You sort your head out and straighten your hair up. Honest, you look like you’ve been out on a bender.’

As Tina left the room Donny sat staring at his mobile, flicking through his messages with a grim expression on his face.

Ged was sat on the edge of his bed when Clare walked into his bedroom. ‘How you feeling, love? I’ve rang school and told them you’re home now and Mr Knight said he’s coming to see you later.’