What's a Girl Gotta Do? by Holly Bourne Page B

onto her airbrushed legs. The cream stuck the plate there – with This is sexist clear for anyone to see. I cannot adequately describe the soaring euphoria I felt as I let go of that pie, nor how it quadrupled when I heard it splatter over that poster – but it’s safe to say I felt the happiest I’ve felt in a long time.
    People don’t throw enough cream pies – that’s what I’ve decided.
    People walk past too many bullshit posters and don’t throw cream pies.
    Evie, Amber and Will looked on, stunned, as more trickles of melted cream eked their way down the poster. I heard a hiss behind us. Another bus was coming.
    â€œWhat now?” Will asked, moving the camera from the poster back to my face.
    â€œNow?” I asked, staring right back at him. “Now, we run.”

fifteen
    A bunch of FemSoc girls waited for us at the college gates. When they saw us running over, lipstick war paint all over our faces, they cheered. I ran straight into them, colliding with about four people, feeling amazing.
    â€œOomph, hello, Lottie,” Megan said.
    She’d really outdone herself. She’d handed out balloons and badges that she’d designed and, from the looks of it, even brought a flask of coffee.
    â€œThanks for doing all this, Megan.” I pulled her in for a hug. When I pulled back, I studied her quickly. Her hair hung over most of her face but, from the bits I could see, there was light glowing inside her. “And thanks for coming, everyone.” I turned towards the girls around me. “Day one of Project Vagilante has officially BEGUN. The cat lady is out of the bag!”
    They cheered again. Evie retrieved my lipstick and began painting their faces.
    â€œWe’ve got a special one-off meeting this afternoon, where I’ll explain some stuff. And thanks for being here. Having your support means the world.”
    More cheering and clapping. I still couldn’t believe I was doing this. Nothing felt real. But I was so glad – so glad I’d met Evie and Amber and made the Spinster Club happen, and now FemSoc happen and ALL THE GOOD THINGS happen. Will made us group together for photos, or “campaign collateral” as he called it. I watched him as he arranged us, barking orders with confidence. A piece of hair kept falling over his forehead and he kept shoving it back into place – the only tell that he wasn’t as cocky as he seemed.
    No one is ever as cocky as they seem.
    I wondered again why he was doing this. He kept saying it was just for his portfolio. And from the arguments we’d already had, I was inclined to believe him. But I couldn’t help also hoping it was because somewhere, deep inside all that superiority complex, he believed in what I was doing…maybe.
    Students gave us funny looks as they walked past. A few of the rugby lads, including Teddy, started nudging each other. Teddy looked at me in particular and yelled “SLUTS!” before all of them burst into hyena laughs and clapped him on the back.
    We stopped chatting. Everyone stared at me. Teddy and his mates walked on by, towards the main college building.
    Will put his camera right in my face.
    â€œWhat you going to do, Lottie?” he asked. “You just going to let that one go?”
    I rolled my eyes directly into the camera. “What do you think?”
    â€œThey would say it was just a joke,” he argued, deliberately winding me up.
    I squinted into the winter sunshine. They certainly weren’t looking back at us.
    â€œEvie!” I barked her name like I was an army general. “Please help me assemble a pie.”
    She scuttled over and got the cream out, while I pulled out another paper plate. The girls saw, and started cheering harder.
    â€œYou sure you want to do this?” Evie whispered under her breath as she squirted the cream. “I mean, Lottie, you’ll get into trouble. I’m not sure you’re