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I want to make sure you’re given the best opportunities for when you leave school.’
    ‘But…but when I gave you the letter you said that…’
    ‘I said I would be there,’ Delia interrupted firmly.
    Jenny saw the warning look and knew better than to argue, yet she remembered well that when she’d been given the letter, her mother had carelessly thrown it to one side, saying that seeing a careers adviser was a waste of time for someone fit only for menial employment. Now it seemed she had changed her mind…but why? Was it another show put on for Robin’s benefit?
    ‘Off you go now, or you’ll be late for school,’ her mother now said, and though her voice sounded soft, there was hardness in her eyes.
    ‘Yes, all right. Bye,’ Jenny croaked.
    ‘See you later, Jen,’ Robin called, clearly oblivious to the undertones.
    Jenny hurried out, just wanting to be away from the house, her mother, and wishing she never had to come back.

Chapter Six
    When Jenny left, Robin lingered at the table, his eyes on his mother. He could understand why she wanted to start up a business, to achieve something in her own right, but there was something in her explanation of not wanting to neglect Jenny that hadn’t rung true.
    As a small child he’d taken his mother’s love and affection for granted, had hardly questioned why Jenny had been left out in the cold. His mother favoured him, while his father favoured Jenny, and he’d assumed it was the same in all households. Of course it wasn’t, and he had eventually learned that, but at least now he knew why. Jenny was adopted, and because of her resentment his mother had been unable to love her. Robin felt he could understand that, and at least his mother had said she was fond of Jenny, though she hardly showed it.
    ‘Robin, if you don’t get a move on you’ll be late too.’
    ‘I’ll be off in a minute,’ he said. ‘I’ll be interested to hear how Jenny got on with the careers adviser when I come home.’
    ‘I intend to see that she’s given the best advice but, let’s face it, Jennifer has never been as bright as you. Nonetheless, I’d like to see her with some sort of career, and I’ll make sure she isn’t fobbed off with some sort of dead-end job.’
    ‘Jobs that offer a career usually start out with low pay.’
    ‘If she’s given the opportunity for advancement, the opening salary is irrelevant. After all, living at home, Jennifer won’t have to worry about her earnings.’
    ‘Right, I’d best be off,’ Robin said, relieved that it was likely that Jenny wouldn’t be earning enough to leave home for some time yet.
    ‘Bye, darling,’ Delia called.
    Robin happily went off to college, content in the knowledge that Jenny would still be there, at least until he hopefully left for university next year. A year, Robin thought. He’d leave it for a year, but then he’d make his move.
    Jenny had left Castle Close, hoping to meet up with Tina Hammond on the way to school. She knew her mother disapproved of their friendship, and she wasn’t allowed to invite Tina to the house, but nevertheless they remained constant friends, albeit behindDelia’s back. Jenny preferred to have one special friend, a best friend rather than a group, and Tina partly fulfilled something she felt missing in her life – a sort of kinship. Though they occasionally chatted to other girls, for the most part the two of them were inseparable. Physically, they were very different, Jenny blonde and pale, Tina dark, her eyes brown and her skin olive toned. They both wanted to swap their colouring for each other’s, and had laughed when they had first found this out.
    Tina and her family lived in Princes Way, an area that had changed so radically in recent years that it had become something else for her mother to carp about. It had started with the building of a block of council flats, and had progressed to the development of what were now purpose-built estates of houses and maisonettes. A