boy in the second row is openly laughing at you. There is definite smirking.
What more could I say? Was that enough? Could I leave it there? They had the rough idea, surely?
A woman and the receptionist were peering through the glass windows in the double doors. Oh God, I think the real Jacinda Brown had shown up. She had brown hair secured back in a tight ponytail. She looked far more likely to be taking groups of teenagers up mountain ranges in Wales than I did. The receptionist looked very put out. Even from this distance I could see her narrowed eyes, magenta pink lips screwed up in displeasure. I needed to wrap this up and fast.
‘So I think, as you have heard, there are just lots of benefits really to, um, doing the, um, D of E so I think, you know, you . . . totally should.’ I petered out and took a step back from the lectern to indicate my inspirational talk had come to an end.
The headmistress had got to her feet, a small frown puckering her forehead before she found her composure. ‘Well thank you for that presentation,’ she said, ‘I think we should all consider signing up for the course and let’s give Ms Brown a hearty round of applause for coming to talk to us this morning.’
Oh God, the receptionist had opened the door and was moving down the side of the hall as all the clapping was happening. I looked nervously over at Amy, biting my lip. Her eyes were rounded in her head, startled, and I chose that moment to try to melt away into the back of the stage, tripping over the microphone lead on my way to safety.
I stayed back there, frozen, as I watched the pupils all stand up and make their way out, jostling, bumping, pulling out mobiles. Amy had got up from her chair and was making her way towards me, pausing as another teacher stopped her with a tap on her arm. Her eyes darted to me and back as she spoke quickly to him, nodding frantically.
‘What the actual fuck are you doing?’ Amy hissed as she approached, a smile plastered on her face as pupils padded past the bottom of the stage near us.
With both my palms up I took a step forward. ‘Oh God, I’m sorry, I—’
One of the pupils had broken free from the pack and had ventured up the small set of stairs towards us, lingering as we spoke. We couldn’t really ignore her.
‘Are you all right, Cassie?’ Amy turned and plastered a helpful smile on her face. Only I could recognise the wobble in her voice.
A serious-looking girl in a headband clutching a lever arch folder to her chest motioned to me. ‘I wanted to ask her whether doing Gold D of E would contribute to my UCAS points.’ The girl stood looking at me for an answer.
‘Oh, I, um, I . . . ’ I licked my lips and tried to remember to blink as I rooted around for an answer.
‘Do you know what, Cassie,’ Amy said, ‘I’ll get all the information you need and let you know, all right?’
Cassie looked mildly put out, adjusted the lever arch folder and sloped away. ‘’K.’
‘Thanks,’ I breathed out, a small, nervous giggle escaping. This almost felt like the old days. Amy and I against the world. Except for the expression on her face, which didn’t seem particularly friendly, rather frosty in fact.
‘Seriously, Lottie, what just happened? What are you doing? Have you lost it?’ Amy drew a hand through her hair before pulling me to one side.
‘I’m sorry. I’m not sure how it happened. I came here to talk to you. You didn’t answer your phone,’ I started.
‘This is so not a normal response to that,’ Amy fumed. ‘When people don’t answer they don’t want to talk to you, Lottie. You don’t turn up to their place of work and pretend to work for the Duke of Edinburgh scheme and run assembly for seven hundred pupils.’
‘Seven hundred? It felt like more,’ I said weakly.
Amy didn’t smile.
‘The thing is, I desperately wanted to see you, to make up for everything. I’ve been so crap and useless and I know you love a PowerPoint. So I made you one about our friendship.’ I scrambled in my bag and drew out the memory stick I had refused to hand over earlier to the bearded technician. It hovered in the space between us.