The tension in the hall was a physical presence, squeezing his shoulders, knotting his stomach. He could feel sweat prickling on his back and under his arms, his pen slick in his hand, the ink on the page smeared. It was good, what he was writing was good, he assured himself feverishly, as he told the examiner that Nicholas II had been a bit of a rubbish tsar, really, and denounced Stalin as a villain but at least he was a strong villain who got things done. Right. Yes. Excellent.

He scanned the page, wild-eyed. So far, so good. His heart gave a funny sort of thump; maybe he’d actually do well, maybe he’d pass his exams and not fail at life in general. That would be nice, although of course he doubted it because he had decided long ago that A-levels were eventually going to kill him. He could see Charlie across the room, hand moving steadily across his page, eyes fixed on his paper, blond hair pushed back from his forehead, a shaft of sunlight hitting his back. Alex envied that coolness, that concentration, wanted it almost desperately instead of this blinding panic that made his handwriting look as though he was jabbing the paper frantically with his pen and that soaked his shirt through with sweat.

It didn’t help that it was one of the hottest days of the year. In fact, one of the hottest days probably ever. There was a distinct possibility that Alex was going to die of heat exhaustion before the exam was over. He began to check the paper over, and felt the tension seep out of his body just before the invigilator instructed him to put his pen down. A boy near the front, who Alex vaguely recognised as being that odd boy who wore a large rucksack all the time, walked around by himself, and had been judged to have murderers’ eyes, was still writing frantically, a slightly crazed look on the part of his face that Alex could see, and the invigilator wrested the pen from his grasp before regaining her breath.

“Pens down, please,” she shrilled. “Please sit in silence while the exam papers are collected.”

Alex sagged back into his chair and looked up bleakly as his paper was taken. His last exam, over. It was unbelievable, to think that such a big chunk of his life was actually over - well, until he got his results, anyway. But there was no point in thinking about that, when his final exam paper was out of the way and- oh, yes. Summer was finally beginning. He squinted at the windows that lined the top of the hall, at the cornflower blue sky beyond, the high arching green trees.