Susan catches the bus into town at ten-thirty a.m. she sits on the back seat. she at The man in front's head and how his fat wrinkled neck is like a large carrot Sticking out from the collar of his shirt. she adds up the numbers on her bus to See if they make twenty-one, but they don't. maybe she shouldn't bother to school at All, then. her friends will be in the yard with their arms folded on chests, Shielding their breasts to try and make them look bigger, whilst the boys be too busy Playing football to notice. the bus is waiting on the street when suddenly it begins To torrentially 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 in an aquarium except it was all the Shoppers and office-workers that floating passed the window instead of fish? ' She's still thinking about this when the bus goes caroline lee's house where there Was a party last week. there were german exchange students there who were very Mature; they all ended up out of the bedroom window. one of them tried to get her To kiss him on the stairs, so she kicked him. she was sick because she drunk too cider. caroline was drunk as well; she was pretending she was married to a tall boy In glasses, and she had to wear a polo-neck for three afterwards to cover up the Love-bite on her neck. by now the bus is passed the market. outside is a man who Spends all day forcing felt-tip pens into people's and then trying to make them pay For them. she used to in the pet shop, but she got sacked for talking to boys when She was supposed to be working. she wasn't too bothered though, she hated the of the Rabbits anyway. 'maybe this bus stop,' she thinks, 'and I'll stay on It until I'm old enough to go into pubs on my own. or it could drive me to a where People with hair drink special brew and I can make lots of money by charging fat old Men five pounds a to look up my skirt. oh, they'll be queuing up to take me out to Dinner...' I suppose you think just a silly 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 that no-one dared to jump into her fire; they Have been consumed. instead, they put her in a and let her heat up the room, Warming their hands and backsides in front of her, and slagging her off around town. No-one ever really got susan, and, and, she always ended up getting off the bus at The terminus and walking home.