Her heart failed. ‘Why? What do you . . .’ Because of her dad, obviously, but Cassie knew she had to style it out. It was possible everyone didn’t know yet, and even if they did, it might not be true. He might get acquitted. She knew some of the boys would buy that, the idea that women lied, made things up to ruin their lives. ‘Course I’m in. We’ve got exams. I’m so bricking it, are you?’

Amira wrinkled her pretty nose. ‘Cass, like, don’t take this the wrong way but . . . maybe you should go home?’

‘I can’t go home!’ Just then, Cassie saw him, and her hands started to shake. He hadn’t messaged her all week, despite the ridiculous number of texts she’d sent him. Part of her knew that was a bad sign, that everything she’d been warned about was happening, but all the same she couldn’t accept it. She ran towards him. ‘Aaron. Wait! Wait!’

People were staring. She shouldn’t have shouted. You never did anything to stand out like that, not shout, not run, not cry, not get brilliant marks, not get bad marks. She slowed down, hanging her head. Her face was getting red, she could tell. But Aaron had stopped. He was waiting for her, his blazer slung over his schoolbag and his sleeves rolled up. At the sight of him, his powerful rugby-playing body, the fair hair flopping over his face, all her skin seemed to flare. ‘Why didn’t you text?’ she hissed.

He just stood there, scuffing his shoes on the ground. ‘Dunno.’

‘I’ve been having a really shit time.’ She felt the tears in her voice and tried to swallow them down. ‘I really needed to talk to you.’

‘Cass . . . Mum saw the news. About your dad. Everyone saw it.’

‘We don’t know what happened yet, OK. Maybe she – maybe she lied or something.’

‘Thought you said girls didn’t lie about that.’

She had said that, parroting her mother’s views, though she’d never have admitted it. ‘This is different. She – I don’t know. She’s in love with my dad or something. She’s trying to ruin our lives.’ She heard the words coming out of her mouth, even though she’d said the opposite to her mother. Even though she didn’t believe this, not really. She didn’t know what she believed.

He looked over his shoulder, to where his mates were waiting, hanging around in that half-moon formation they always took up. Bros, who had each other’s backs. ‘Mum doesn’t want me seeing you. I’ve got my exams.’

‘I’ve got my exams too!’

‘Yeah, well.’ Meaning, he was smarter than her. Meaning, who cared about her stupid exam results.

‘I thought you loved me.’ She knew it was a movie line even as she said it, and hated herself.