Starting Over by Cathy Hopkins Page B

several times, I was hoping that inspiration would strike. It certainly hadn’t so far.
    Ruby and Nicole appeared as I was engrossed in the script.
    Ruby took a seat next to me and pulled the script out of my hands. ‘Hey Lady McSwot,’ said Ruby. ‘What you doing in here?’
    I explained that I’d been put in charge of the scenery and needed to get ideas.
    â€˜You’ve got weeks to think of something,’ said Ruby and she tugged on my arm for me to get up and follow her out. ‘Comeon. Nicole hasn’t got your patience
è la
Nick and I
really
need to talk through with you what I’m going to wear tomorrow night.’
    Nicole looked slightly hurt for a nano-second, but she covered it quickly and yawned. ‘Well, what do you expect?Yada yada. With Ruby, it’s always another day, another boy.’
    â€˜Nick is different. I think he may be my soul mate,’ Ruby objected.
    â€˜Yeah. And so was Dan. And Ben. And Michael. And Elliot ... Need I continue?’
    â€˜But I love Nick with a love that is
true,
’ said Ruby and she stuck her tongue out at Nicole, who gave me an exasperated look. ‘So are you coming?’
    â€˜But what about the scenery?’
    Ruby picked the script up and put it back on the shelf. ‘You said yourself that Bailey said that you have until after half-term. That’s years away. Now come on,’ she said and they dragged me out to join them at the radiator spot. I didn’t mind. In fact, I felt flattered to have been sought out by two of the coolest girls in our year.
    â€˜So,’ said Ruby. ‘Do you think I should go casual student with a touch of bohemia, or more preppy USA?’
    â€˜Hmm,’ I replied. ‘A touch of bohemia? That can be nasty, although I do believe you can get a cream at the chemist’s for it.’
    Ruby regarded me for a few moments as if she was sizing me up, and under the cold directness of her gaze, I wondered ifeveryone in the school suffered from a sense of humour failure but then she laughed. ‘I get it. Hey. You’re funny,’ she announced.
    Nicole gave a smug look. ‘Told you she was,’ she said and gave me a conspiratorial wink.
    Ruby nodded. ‘Case of bohemia. Yeah. Hah. I’ll use that.’
    â€˜We could try it to get off sports,’ said Nicole. ‘Hey Miss, I’m coming down with a nasty case of bohemia.’
    Ruby didn’t laugh. She’d moved on. ‘So anyway, India Jane. What do you think? Casual, preppy or slutty?’
    And so we spent the rest of the break discussing what look is best for a fourth date. We settled on casual with a touch of slut.
    Although Ruby seemed especially keen to spend time with me and made me feel like my listening ear and my advice, in particular, were valuable, Nicole appeared to be more reticent.
    â€˜Ruby may seem like she’s listening, but she’ll do exactly what she wants,’ she warned me one afternoon as we made our way out of the school gates. ‘You wait and see.’ I got the feeling that she was jealous about the way Ruby sought me out now and she was being pushed to the sidelines. I did what I could to ensure that Nicole was included in everything we did though, as the last thing I wanted to do was to cause trouble. My philosophy has always to be totally open about everything to do with mates, so towards the end of the week, I decided to come out and confront it.
    â€˜Nicole, I really hope you are OK with me hanging out with you guys,’ I said as we walked out of school after classes.
    Nicole shrugged. ‘Yeah. Whatever.’
    â€˜Are you sure? Because I’d hate to cause any friction.’
    â€˜Ruby always does exactly what she wants, and she wants you around.’
    â€˜I know. But what about you? What do you want? Are you OK with me coming along? I’d really like to be friends with both of you but I know some people would think two’s