Rumor Has It by Jill Mansell

round her neck and stuff a pair of trainers into her backpack. Tilly wondered if this was how it felt to be a proud parent; already Lou seemed more vivid, more interesting than everyone else. With her wild red-gold curls and skinny legs in matte black tights and clumpy shoes, she stood out from the rest, maybe not the prettiest girl in the school but surely the one with the sparkiest personality.
        Then Tilly straightened up and focused more intently as Lou turned and said something to the boy behind her, clearly replying to some remark he'd just made. The boy, tall and lanky, was grinning and carrying a tennis racquet. As Lou swung round, one of the train ers fell out of her backpack and with lightning reflexes he reached down with his racquet, scooped it up and batted it high into the air. Even from this distance Tilly could see the look Lou shot him as her trainer landed in a hedge. Shaking her head in disgust, she stalked past him and retrieved it. Laughing, the boy said something else and Lou tossed back her hair as she retaliated.
        Tilly smiled. It looked like Kaye had been right. Watching Lou's reaction to the boy's attention brought back memories of her own first tentative foray into the scary but thrilling world of boys. Her particular nemesis had been called Lee Jarvis and he'd teased her non stop, driving her demented. How could one fourteen-year-old boy be so annoying? And then somehow, after months of him being the absolute bane of her life, she had mysteriously found herself agree ing to dance with him at the school disco. And somehow he hadn't seemed quite so annoying anymore, and somehow Lee had ended up mumbling in her ear, 'You know, I've fancied you for ages,' and to her own amazement she'd found herself realizing that, actually, she fancied him too. And right there and then, in the middle of the dance floor in front of everyone while George Michael sang 'Careless Whisper,' they'd ended up kissing, with tongues…
        And braces, sadly. There'd been a brief uncomfortable clash as metal had scraped against metal, but they'd eventually managed to work around them.
        Lost in a nostalgic glow as she remembered that happy summer of clunky metallic kisses, Tilly jumped a mile when Lou appeared in front of her.
        'Boo! You were miles away.'
        'Sorry, I was just thinking back to my schooldays. Seems like a lifetime ago now.'
        'It was a lifetime ago. You left school before I was even born.' Interested, Lou said, 'Does that make you feel really old?'
        'Thanks, yes, it really does.' As they climbed into the car, Tilly glanced over her shoulder and saw the boy with the tennis racquet loping up behind them. As he drew level he grinned at Lou and waggled his fingers in a kind of half-teasing, half-sarcastic wave.
        Lou didn't wave back. Instead, she pointedly turned her head away and hissed air out from between her teeth like a radiator being bled.
        'Who's he, then?' Tilly said it in a light, casual way.
        'A complete idiot.'
        'Is he? I saw you chatting as you came out of school.'
        'We weren't chatting. I was telling him he's a complete idiot. Or words to that effect.'
        'He looks quite nice.' The boy had floppy dark hair, no acne, and killer cheekbones. You could imagine girls falling for him; he wouldn't look out of place in a boy band.
        'Well, he's not. I hate him. What's for tea?'
        Tilly kept a straight face. Oh yes, that was familiar. How many times, when her friends had said Lee fancied her, had she announced that she hated him? Then abruptly changed the subject. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Lou rummaged through her jam packed rucksack and found a bent Cadbury then glanced briefly at the boy she hated before ostentatiously turning away again.
        'What's his name?'
        'Eddie Marshall-Hicks. What are we having for tea?'
        'Fish pie and blackberry crumble.' Tilly