The Ghosts of Summer
Ryan’s mother calls in late August, and reads his exam results to him over the phone. She gushes about his scores—they’re good, Ryan admits, but he is too used to hiding his intelligence in school to really know how to celebrate them—and agrees that he should come home a little early, so that they can reward him for them.
He thinks little of it, until he next sees Alex, and realises that if, as Alex’s father said, they’re the same age, Alex’s results should have arrived as well.
“Results?”
“Yeah. Like, GCSEs. You must have done them.”
Alex gives him a look that makes Ryan feel like an i***t, but then he shrugs and the idea is dispelled. “I guess so.”
“You guess?”
Alex shrugs again.
“Didn’t you get any results?”
“Haven’t checked,” Alex says, flinging a stone ou
