Zero Per Cent
Mark Swallow
Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books,
1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
Text copyright © Mark Swallow 2002
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Source ISBN: 9780007126491
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007393220 Version: 2016-01-05
for Sarah
Contents
THIS IS THE LAST GCSE EXAM FOR MOST OF YOU – FOR MANY, YOUR LAST EXAM EVER. SO LET’S MAKE IT A SMOOTH ONE, EH? AND LET’S GET THE HATS OFF, SHALL WE? BRAINS NEED CIRCULATING AIR…
Laila says she is going to be waiting for me afterwards. I like thinking of her waiting outside. For me.
So why did I try to put her off? Only made her more interested.
Why?
Because I know our school gates. This is where the hard ones wait, just beyond the civilisation of school – No Sir Land – beyond the dinksy policies on bullying, lunch queue rules and keep-left-in-the-corridors. They are the mothers who will welcome us today, many of them excluded from our year, excluded from our exams. They are so chuffed with their exchange of the acned playground tarmac for the hard lines of the pavement. And they will have brought their friends, kids of much more experience, almost certainly kids of some substance.