On top of all that, he’ll be attending a girl’s school where the really naughty kids from the boy’s school are sent; all the bullies and the bruisers who thrive off picking on the misfits and weaklings, and Billy knows he’s both.
Mrs Postlethwaite tells him he looks very ‘smart’ in his secondary school uniform, but Billy isn’t convinced. “Why can’t we wear a nice dress with a pinny like we do at Junior school?” he asks in a whiny tone of voice.
The prospect of wearing the same bland black gymslip day after day after day doesn’t sit easy with him, but Mrs Postlethwaite tells Billy that all the girl’s will be dressed the same. “And you can always wear one of your pretty dresses after school, so you’ll have that to look forward to.”