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something other than what you read in the average week, Jono.’
    ‘But, are you happy?’ It was Mel who asked. It was such an unexpected question that I felt a reflex answer coming. Then I remembered that she’d called me out for lying to her the first day I met her. I thought for a moment and told her the truth.
    ‘Not really,’ I said.
    She nodded, her blue eyes fixed on mine. ‘Me either.’
    ‘Aw, babe,’ said Carly, and reached over to her. Mel leaned into the hug, and patted Carly’s arm as she did so, but she didn’t break eye contact with me.
    ‘Oh God, really?’ said Annika. Her whole body was taut with annoyance. ‘Could you just not?’
    ‘Fuck you,’ said Mel, finally turning her head to look at her. Annika paid no attention.
    ‘Seriously, I’m asking.’ Annika took off her glasses to glare at me. ‘Are we bleating on about you and Mel being a bit sad today, or are we talking about something I might give a shit about?’ She began flipping her pen in her hand. ‘Because if it’s the first one, say so now and I’ll go and do something else. I’ve only just met you, so I don’t really give a fuck how you feel, to be honest.’
    ‘We’re talking about Oedipus.’ I was growing tired of Annika. ‘Whether you give a shit about it or not is entirely up to you. Now, are you staying or going?’ She shrugged again. ‘Then I’ll assume you’re staying. Have you read the first act?’
    No-one said anything. Jono drummed his fingers on the back cover of his book. Carly smoothed invisible stray hairs back into place.
    I’d had some awkward scenes in my other classes, but I was beginning to feel like I could set my watch by Annika’s temper, and this was only the third time I’d met her.
    ‘OK, so, where did we get to last time?’
    ‘We were talking about fate, and destiny. Are they the same thing?’ Mel asked.
    ‘I think they are, really. The ancient Greeks had three Fates, called the Moirae – the singular is Moira.’
    ‘I have an Aunt Moira,’ said Jono. I didn’t know if he was trying to ease the tension in the room, or just offering up information. ‘She lives near Berwick.’
    ‘Is she a sinister old crone who spins the thread of men’s lives and is feared by the gods themselves?’ I asked.
    ‘Pretty much.’ He grinned. He had a chipped tooth, I noticed, like a fang. Was it a new injury or had I just not seen him smile before?
    ‘And the Moirae are a sort of triple incarnation of Fate: three women, like the witches in Macbeth , who see the future as it will be. Which is why Oedipus is such a difficult story – does he deserve his fate? Does anyone?’
    ‘Some people are just born unlucky,’ said Mel.
    ‘Really?’ I asked her. ‘That’s what you believe?’
    ‘Of course,’ she replied. ‘None of us has any control over most of what’s happened to us. We don’t have a say in anything. Annika doesn’t want to live here, you see, but her parents make her, and that’s why she’s such a bitch.’
    ‘Fuck off,’ said Annika as she stretched her arms over her head to elongate her spine. The age-softened chairs at Rankeillor wanted you to sit on them forever, and eventually your back rebelled. She didn’t disagree, however.
    ‘Where would you prefer to live?’ I asked her.
    ‘Back in Stockholm,’ she replied instantly, as though she was in a perpetual state of readiness to answer this question. ‘We lived there till I was twelve. It’s so much better than Edinburgh.’
    ‘Why did you move here?’ Even though she was permanently hostile, I didn’t want to give up on the idea of having any kind of civil relationship with her.
    ‘My dad works for an oil company. He was transferred to Aberdeen, so my mum decided we had to move there with him.’
    ‘Aberdeen,’ said Carly. ‘Can you imagine?’
    ‘I don’t have to imagine,’ she snapped. ‘We lived there for six months before my mum couldn’t stand it and we moved here.’
    ‘Do you still see your