Contents ( 64)
- A Letter from the Author
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- ONE
‘Hang on,’ he says as we walk towards the classroom. ‘Are you still angry with me? Are you not speaking to me?’
‘I’m speaking.’
‘Only just. You do realise that we still haven’t heard each other do our presentations and the competition is just under two weeks away?’
I stop outside the door to the classroom and shrug. I can’t even begin to explain how little I care about the competition right now. ‘Stop being so uptight, Ed,’ I say. ‘You need to let your hair down.’
‘God, you’re annoying,’ he says. ‘I think I might have preferred it when you were being all silent and lurking.’ Then he turns away from me and walks into the room.
Ms Edgecombe looks up. ‘You two are late.’
‘Ah, leave them alone, Miss,’ says Bella. ‘Ed was asking Meg to the dance!’
I freeze in the doorway and all the conversations taking place in the room stop too. Bella’s hand flies up to her mouth. ‘Sorry!’ she says.
As I feel a blush creeping up my cheeks, Ed shakes his head and smiles. ‘Seriously, shut up, Bella.’
She bursts out laughing. ‘What happened? Did she say no?’
He goes to his seat and throws his bag under the bench. ‘Very funny,’ he says. ‘Finished yet?’
I go over to my desk. Once again, I’m stuck in the middle of one of their jokes: the one about how hilarious it would be if Meg Clark went to the dance with Ed King. Ever since Bella turned up in science with her pink ticket, I’ve been waiting for her to say something like this. It looks like Ed and I meeting up at lunchtime has given her all the inspiration she needs.
‘Meg,’ Bella says, ‘why don’t you want to go out with Ed? Is it because he’s not as interesting as that dot in the sky?’
I unzip my pencil case and get out a pen as Ms Edgecombe says, ‘Let’s get back to work.’
‘But Ed’s lovely, Miss!’
Across the room, there are giggles and whispers, and I can feel people staring at my back. Suddenly all the anger I’ve been feeling towards Mum, and towards Bella and Ed boils up inside me.
I bang down my pen and turn to face them.
Bella looks delighted.
‘I would never go out with Ed,’ I say, jabbing my finger in his direction. ‘And even if that “dot” – otherwise known as asteroid TR7768 – hit Earth and wiped out every single human being except Ed, I still wouldn’t go out with him!’
Bella grins. ‘What if the survival of the human race depended on it?’
Behind her, Ed sighs and shakes his head.
‘Well, goodbye human race!’ I say, and I actually wave at her before spinning back round.
There’s this moment of silence before everyone collapses with laughter. I stare at my pencil case. It’s got the periodic table printed on it so it’s a good pencil case to stare at. Co: cobalt, Ni: nickel, Cu: copper, I read, but my stupid words are still ringing painfully in my ears. Otherwise known as asteroid TR7768 … Goodbye human race? What was I thinking? Why didn’t I just ignore her? This is why I avoid talking: bad things happen when I open my mouth!