"I can't wait until I'm 18, have my own phone line and can call her back." When Laura got off the phone to Irish Psychics Live, she was flushed.

"I'm going to meet a blonde guy. I'll be going to Paris and may meet him there. . . There's someone sick, someone who has died already. . . And I don't have to worry about the Leaving Cert." Even when it was pointed out to Laura that the horoscope she had heard was for a mythical 18-yearold with a birthday in January (she's really 14 and born in July), she just laughed and said the psychic was "so nice" she would ring back when she was really 18.

She was on the telephone for about five minutes (or roughly £8 worth) and would have stayed longer if it wasn't for the strain of pretending to be 18. In fairness to Irish Psychics Live, it should be pointed out that when Laura first rang and gave her real date of birth, she was told she had to be over 18 to use the service and the call was promptly ended. And her giggly voice when she called again - with a freshly invented date of birth in 1983 - could certainly pass for that of an excited 18th-birthday girl.

Both Laura and Fiona, also aged 14, rang Fergus Gibson Horoscopes to hear recorded horoscopes for Leo and Capricorn. Neither girl was impressed. Laura said: "It was so boring. I'd never ring again - although it was accurate; it said I would be getting good news, and I just found out my teacher will be out for nine weeks on Thursdays!" Fiona was more cynical about the prediction of imminent romance: "As a Capricorn, romance is always coming my way. It just seems it gets suddenly diverted before it reaches me."

Then they turned their attention to Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, phoning three times until they were asked a question they could answer. The calls took less than two minutes.

Laura and Fiona had never previously used telephone premium-rate lines, and as avid Internet surfers, they were largely unimpressed.