ABSTRACT
Vee had decided that nothing, but nothing, was going to stop her from being in the chair at Toni and Guy’s at quarter past five that afternoon. She wasn’t sure exactly how many hairdresser’s appointments she’d had to cancel – it was at least three and possibly could even be five but, whatever the exact number, it was now impossible to ignore the widening expanse of grey where her colour had grown out. Catching sight of herself in the mirror on the way to sixth form assembly, she’d hated what she’d seen and had strengthened her resolve to leave school dead on the dot of four. Jean, Vee’s redoubtable PA, had been enlisted to make sure that she got away and so, when Sally Braithwaite, Head of Year 11, was shown into her office at a quarter to four, Vee knew it had to be about something pretty serious.
