Free Starting Over by Cathy Hopkins

looking for new players for the team. I missed a number of balls then hit a cracker into the captain’s right leg. Needless to say, I wasn’t picked.’
    Mikey grimaced. ‘Early days.’
    â€˜I guess. I did meet someone on the way to school on Monday. You’d gone in already. Grace. She dropped her travelcard and I picked it up and ran after her. I thought that we might be mates until we got to the school gates, where another girl was waiting for her. She gave me a filthy look, linked arms with Grace and hauled her off. Like, two’s company, three’s a crowd.’
    â€˜Girls can be like that. Anybody else?’
    â€˜In media studies, I was partnered with a girl called Holly. She was great, really chatty, but I soon realised that if I spent morethan half an hour with her, I’d have to kill her. She was fun but had the LOUDEST voice. And no attention span. Like I’d be telling her something and she’d be looking over my shoulder, clearly not listening.’
    Mikey looked over my shoulder. ‘Sorry, what were you saying?’ he said. ‘Only joking. I was listening. Sounds like you’ve had a crap week . . . Oh God, there’s more?’
    I nodded. ‘You
did
ask. I met someone in maths. We hung out for a couple break times together. She was nice until a boy appeared - any boy - and then she’d turn her back on me and start acting really weird, like Miss Cutie Cue, twirling her hair in her fingers and pouting and talking in a little girlie lispy voice that made me want to slap her.’
    â€˜Poor you. Er . . . what was her name?’
    â€˜Mikey! Don’t tell me you fall for that girlie-girl act?’
    â€˜Me? No? Course not . . . Er, OK. What class is she in?’
    I gave him a light pinch on his upper arm. At that moment, Chloe Fitzgerald from our class waved at us from the queue at the counter.
    â€˜There. She looks like she wants to be friends,’ said Mikey.
    â€˜Maybe, she was really nice to me yesterday lunchtime, but it came out that she’d been talking to someone who had been talking to my cousin Kate and had found out that my dad was a count. She already knew that Kate’s mum was Sarah Rosen —’
    â€˜Of the über-trendy shops?’
    I nodded. ‘I soon realised that she didn’t want me as a mate,she wanted to get in with my family.’
    â€˜Chloe can be a bit like that. Bit of a social climber. Always wanting to get in with whoever she thinks might be somebody.’
    â€˜I should have told her that although my dad has a title, his family hasn’t had any money for years because some ancient relative gambled it away and we’re totally cash poor. It’s only my aunt who has the dosh.’
    â€˜That’s why I want to hang out with you,’ said Mikey. ‘I am really after your aunt, as I like older women and they like me and my boyish charm, don’t you know.’
    â€˜Yeah. Aunt Sarah really goes for guys who get chocolate moustaches on their upper lips when they’re out. Mikey, be serious. My life is in crisis.’
    Mikey made his expression go serious and he looked over at me as if I’d told him I had an hour to live. It made me laugh. Chloe was joined at the counter by another girl I’d met during the week. I nudged Mikey. ‘Do you know her?’
    He nodded. ‘Ella. No sense of humour.’
    â€˜Tell me about it. Sense of humour is high on my list of friendship requirements.’
    â€˜Mine too. That and enormous knockers.’
    I rolled my eyes. ‘You sound like my stupid brothers.’
    â€˜I’ll take that as a compliment.’
    â€˜What about Nicole and Ruby in our class?’ I asked. ‘They look like fun.’
    Mikey pulled a face. ‘You could do better,’ he said. ‘They’re a pair of spoiled princesses.’
    I smiled.
Out of your league,
I thought, but I didn’t say it. It felt good to be