"You're still talking like an old man, you know," Martin says with a little half-smile, relaxing slightly against the wall. "You're allowed to use slang and stuff." He eats a segment of the clementine, if only to stall more than anything else, before he crosses his legs and sort of digs idly through his bookbag.

"Was the last person she hired an arse or something? Doesn't seem like she'd put up with that sort of thing."