A fire drill in November

Text 1: Assembly Point, by Rebecca Ainsworth

An original novel extract.

The alarm went off halfway through the chemistry test, which should have been good news. But it was raining the hard, sideways rain that comes off the playing fields in November, and Mr Danso would not let anyone fetch a coat. ‘In a real fire,’ he said, ‘you leave everything.’ We stood in lines on the netball court while the register was called, one slow name at a time. Water ran down the back of my collar. Priya’s hair was plastered to her forehead. Behind us, through the lab window, I could see our test papers lying on the benches, and I realised the clock on the wall was still running. ‘Does this count as part of the hour?’ Jamal asked. Mr Danso did not answer. He was holding the register under his jacket to keep it dry.

Explain two reasons why the pupils are unhappy during the fire drill.