Outside the head’s office

Text 1: The Orange Chair, by Martina Kowalczyk

An original novel extract.

The chair outside the head’s office was made of orange plastic and had a crack down the middle that pinched the back of Leon’s legs. He sat on his hands. Then he took them out and picked at a loose thread on his blazer cuff until it unravelled into a long grey string. Through the frosted glass he could see two shapes, one tall, one round, and hear the low murmur of voices without any of the words. Every so often the murmur stopped, and his stomach dropped as if he were in a lift. The secretary smiled at him over her computer. He tried to smile back, but his mouth would not quite do it. He read the fire notice on the wall four times. When the door handle finally turned, he jumped so hard that the chair scraped across the floor.

Give three words or phrases that show Leon is nervous.