Free Starting Over by Cathy Hopkins Page A

sitting in the café having a gossip with him, and I began to realise that I wasn’t as alone as I’d thought I was. I had the beginning of a friendship with him. If only he wasn’t being so nice in the hope that I’d go out with him, because that was never going to happen. As we were chatting, I decided that, from then on, I wasn’t going to try so hard to find friends. I was going to relax and be cooler about it.
    â€˜See that girl behind Ella?’ he said as he pointed to a tall dark-haired girl in the queue. ‘She’s a right bossy git. She will probably be go on to be prime minister then go for world dominance.’
    â€˜One of those larger-than-life people? Unlike me. I’ve had a small day today.’
    â€˜Small day?’
    I nodded. ‘Yeah. Like Alice in Wonderland. Remember in the book, she drank a potion and grew and grew until she was bursting out of the house, she was so big. And then she drank another potion and shrank until she was tiny, as small as a mouse. Some days, I feel big and confident, other days, I feel like shrinking away and want to avoid everyone. Today’s one of my small days and I feel like giving up.’ Suddenly I had an idea. ‘Hey, Mikey. Will you take some pics of me?’
    â€˜Naked?’
    â€˜No.
I’ve had an idea for my self-portrait project.’
    â€˜I am your slave, India Jane. I will do whatever you ask me and one day you will realise that I am your soul mate, your lover, your man.’
    â€˜OK, but first you need to grow about four inches.’
    â€˜I’m working on it.’
    I could see the pictures in my mind’s eye. In one, I’d be tiny; in another, enormous. I was sure that with a bit of tinkering, the right background and props, I could make the pictures work. I would call them ‘Alice in Wonderland Days’.
    â€˜Mikey.’
    â€˜Yeah.’
    â€˜I think we can be friends.’
    â€˜It’s a start. So, I suppose a snog is out of the question?’
    â€˜You suppose right.’
    Mikey nodded and smiled. ‘I have time on my side . . . but meanwhile, if you’re not interested, maybe you could give me some tips for pulling girls. See there’s this girl in French I fancy . . .’
    Mikey was cool. OK, so maybe I’d have preferred a girl mate, but he was a good start.
    On the way home, I began to wonder if my expectations for a friend were too high. I waited until our agreed MSN time, then I asked Erin what she thought.
Cinnamongirl:
Forsooth my friend in the green country, dost I ask too much of a fellow traveller on the road of life? Amst I being too picky?
Irishbrat4eva:
Nay, fair maiden in the red, white and blue. Fie on thy dark thoughts, banish them from thy mind.Thou asks for nowt that thou canst not give thyself. And tis understandable that thou would wanst someone likst me, but I’m a one off. Irreplaceable. A super-friend.
Cinnamongirl:
Modest too.
Irishbrat4eva:
Indeed. Modesty is another of my many attributes. Have thou seenst the dark prince? How goes it with Donahue the Dubious?
Cinnamongirl:
Forsooth, our paths cross not. I see him from afar from places whence I do not go, as he is of the Elders and I am below him in years.
Irishbrat4eva:
Grieve not. Tis his loss not thine.
Cinnamongirl:
Verily and henceforth, when it comes to friends and boys, I shall be the flower, not the busy bee. I shall letteth them come to me and not put out this vibe of Needy Noodles of Notting Hill.
Irishbrat4eva:
Verily. Desperate Doras never did winneth friend nor foe, hey nonny.
    When we’d finished our catch up, I realised once again, Erin was my perfect friend. She had just one small fault. She lived in another blooming country.

Chapter 7
Meeting, Schmeeting

    Oh whoa whoa nooo,
I thought when I saw who was waiting in the prefab where the show meeting was to be held. Medium frame, broad shoulders, slim waist, cute butt. In jeans and a black T-shirt.