Chapter 26

“What?” said Sophie.

“Telling Dad about medical school. It didn’t work.”

“How did he take it?” Rebecca asked. Luke was giving him a face that meant something like why didn’t you tell me in private so I could hug you? Shane ignored it with a pang.

“Okay,” he said, then shrugged. “Really well, actually. Saying about how I was going to be first in the family to go to uni and he’d have to look into funding options and stuff. That bit was fine.”

It had been great, actually, but Shane was hyper-aware that the others all came from families that expected their kids to go to university. Hell, Sophie’s sister Jomy had been pretty much cast out for not going. And Rebecca’s parents kept not-so-subtley putting brochures for Oxford and Cambridge in her schoolbag. Shane’s family…well, Shane’s family were all in the army, or worked behind various shop counters. He only came to Heathfield because they didn’t charge any fees for army brats.