There's one girl in the second year who has an ultra-cool, tough exterior. I've never seen her respond to any situation with anything other than a smirk. But this morning she was at the staffroom door looking deeply troubled, even distraught. I wondered what could possibly be the matter -- it'd have to be huge.

"I lost my cell phone," she explained (to her home room teacher, not to me). She was shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "I left it on the bus. They say it's at the depot. Can I go get it?"

"You have class now," he said, quite reasonably. "You can go get it after school. It'll only be a few hours." Which is true, because this is parent-teacher interview week and school lets out at midday.

But it was as if he'd said "Well, you'll still have one leg" to her. The look in her eyes!

I didn't actually check up or anything, but I bet she cut class anyway.