There were ten of us in Further Maths and I was third best. Or, in Mr. Damien’s words, eighth worst. Number two was Hideo. He sat to my right and had the ridiculous habit of groaning as he wrote successive lines of an equation, like you could actually hear his mind whir. Hideo was quickest at mental arithmetic and had the best record in spot tests, even beating Mildon. But we weren’t taking our A Levels seriously.
