Susan the bus into town at ten-thirty a.m. she sits on the back seat. she looks at The man in front's head and thinks how his fat wrinkled is like a large carrot Sticking out from the collar of his shirt. she adds up the on her bus ticket to See if they make twenty-one, but they don't. maybe she shouldn't going to school at All, then. her friends will be in the yard with their arms on their chests, Shielding their breasts to try and make them look bigger, whilst the boys will be too Playing football to notice. the bus is waiting on the high when suddenly it begins To rain and it sounds like someone has emptied about a million packets of peas on top of the roof of the bus. 'what if it just keeps raining,' she Thinks to herself, 'and it was just like being in an aquarium it was all the Shoppers and office-workers were floating passed the window instead of fish? ' She's still about this when the bus goes passed caroline lee's house where there Was a last week. there were some german exchange students there who were very Mature; all ended up jumping out of the bedroom window. one of them tried to get her To kiss him on the stairs, so she him. later she was sick because she drunk too Much cider. caroline was as well; she was pretending she was married to a tall boy In glasses, and she had to wear a polo-neck for three days afterwards to up the Love-bite on her neck. by now the bus is going the market. outside is a man who Spends all day forcing felt-tip pens people's hands and then trying to make them pay For them. she to work in the pet shop, but she got sacked for talking to boys when She was supposed to be working. she wasn't too though, she hated the smell of the anyway. 'maybe this bus won't stop,' she thinks, 'and I'll stay on It I'm old enough to go into pubs on my own. or it could drive me to a town where People with black hair special brew and I can make lots of money by charging fat old Men five pounds a time to look up my skirt. oh, they'll be queuing up to me out to Dinner...' I suppose you think she's just a girl with stupid ideas, but i Remember her in those days. they about people with a fire within and all that stuff, Well, she had that alright. it's just no-one dared to jump into her fire; they would Have been consumed. instead, put her in a corner and let her heat up the room, Warming their hands and backsides in front of her, and then slagging her off town. No-one ever really got inside susan, and, and, she always up getting off the bus at The and then walking home.