Becky’s shaped eyebrows soar. “No waaay.” She looks at both of us once more, before focusing on Lucas. “Well, I guess I’m your replacement. I’m Becky.” She gestures around her. “Welcome to the Land of Oppression.”

Lucas, in a mouse voice, manages: “I’m Lucas.”

He turns back to me. “We should catch up,” he says.

Is this what friendship reborn feels like?

“Yes …” I say. The shock is draining my vocabulary. “Yes.”

People have started to give up on the sixth-form meeting as it’s the start of Period 1 and no teachers have returned.

Lucas nods at me. “Erm, I don’t really want to be late to my first lesson or anything – this whole day is going to be kind of embarrassing as it is – but I’ll talk to you some time soon, yeah? I’ll find you on Facebook.”

Becky stares in relatively severe disbelief as Lucas wanders away, and grabs me firmly by the shoulder. “Tori just talked to a boy. No – Tori just held a conversation by herself. I think I’m going to cry.”

“There, there.” I pat her on the shoulder. “Be strong. You’ll get through this.”

“I’m extremely proud of you. I feel like a proud mum.”

I snort. “I can hold conversations by myself. What do you call this?”

“I am the only exception. With everyone else, you’re about as sociable as a cardboard box.”

“Maybe I am a cardboard box.”

We both laugh.

“It’s funny … because it’s true,” I say and I laugh again, on the outside at least. Ha ha ha.

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Author Biography

Author Biography

Alice Oseman is an author and also a student, currently attending Durham University reading English. Her debut novel, Solitaire, was published to critical acclaim – “The Catcher in the Rye for the digital age” The Times. Alice has thoroughly researched sarcastic teenagers who spend a lot of time on the internet, by once being a sarcastic teenager (now a sarcastic twenty-year-old) who spends a lot of time on the internet.

Alice is from Rochester, Kent. She is active on Twitter and Tumblr – and her writing has been significantly inspired by behavioural trends on Tumblr.

Follow Alice Oseman on Twitter: @AliceOseman

Other Books By

Other Books by:

Also by Alice Oseman

Solitaire

About the Publisher

About the Publisher

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

Canada

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited P.O. Box 1

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street London, SE1 9GF, UK

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

195 Broadway

New York, NY 10007

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