‘You have no choice.’ His tone was kind yet calm, assertive. He let this sink in, and it helped, a clear directive offered without the emotion that clouded her every thought. ‘If you go to the tech to do your resits, then that’s a whole fresh start for you – new friends, new class, new everything.’ He tried sweetly to lift her mood, and it did, a little.

‘I am so ashamed.’

Philip stared at her, his face pained. Seemingly there were no words of comfort for that – she had as good as admitted that the rumours were in fact true.

‘And Lawrence is now with Michelle and she was one of the best things in my life,’ she whispered. To say the awful truth out loud did not make it seem any more real. The fact hit her again with full force, like running into a brick wall.

‘Well, if she wants to be with someone like him, then you’re actually better off without her. You need to find a different best thing.’

Bessie gave a small smile but found no solace in his words.

‘I mean it,’ he said. ‘Lawrence is a dick. He’s got that smarmy look about him. You can do far, far better, Bessie.’

He sat next to her on the bathroom floor and wrapped her in the kindest hug she had had for a very long time. The warmth of it eased her and her limbs stopped shaking.

‘I feel empty and full at the same time. It’s like everything’s whirling inside of me like a gas. I feel hollow and angry. This is my life, Philip, my life laid bare, and everyone’s talking about me: my sex life, my exam results, how stupid I am, how easy I am . . . and it’s too much! It’s too much for me to hold in!’ She broke free from her brother’s hold and, with a sudden urgent and surprising need, lowered her head into the bath to throw up. With her head bent into the tub, she breathed slowly to try and stem the nausea with a line of spit joining her bottom lip to a small chunk of dark chocolate. Her brother handed her a small towel, dotted with blood from her shin. She mopped her face, upset that he had seen her in this state. Sitting back against the wall, she took more deep breaths. It helped a little. ‘I can’t stop being sick and I’m so confused, and a million other things are going round and round and round in my head. Everything’s such a mess.’

‘Bessie?’

‘What?’ she sniffed.

‘Nothing.’

‘No, go on, Philip, you can’t say that and then not tell me! What were you going to say?’ She braced herself for more unpleasant revelations – did he know something about Lawrence and Michelle?