I may have declined to mention that the following week they were playing Casablanca. I’d had to watch it with Hannah and thought it was the most boring film I’d ever seen.

As we drove, Ruby seemed kind of distracted. She kept getting texts and even though I knew it was probably her mum, I felt a flash of curiosity. I didn’t really know anything about Ruby’s life back home and I was kind of afraid to ask. An innocent question about her friends would naturally lead to questions about mine. Which led to Izzy and Hannah. Which led to pain and feelings and doom. Like the mature human being I am, I tried instead to surreptitiously see who was messaging her. I didn’t get a good look.

“Sorry,” she said, noticing me glancing over. “I’ll put this away in a second, I swear.”

“No worries,” I replied, like I hadn’t even noticed.

Ding. Another message. I craned my neck to see if I could catch a name.

“STOP!” she yelled.

I slammed on the brakes.

A screech.

A horn.

A loud “FUCK YOU.”

I stopped only an inch from the car in front of me. I hadn’t noticed them braking or the light turning red. My heart was beating so hard I could practically hear it in my ears.

“Are you OK?” I said breathlessly.

Ruby laughed in a relieved sort of way. “I’m fine. We were going fifteen miles an hour. But maybe keep your eyes on the road. It’s just my mum.”

I blushed, absolutely mortified.

“I wasn’t—”

“Don’t even try and pretend.”

“Sorry,” I said, pulling away as the light turned again.

I wanted to ask why her mum was simultaneously so needy and yet didn’t call Ruby on her birthday. They seemed to talk a lot, but she’d gone on holidays without her daughter. It was bizarre.

Ruby squeezed my thigh and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Seeing as we didn’t die, I’ll forgive you. But creeping on me is not cute.”

She didn’t really sound mad, which I didn’t deserve; I was acting pretty creepy, after all.

“Oh, sure, unless I’m Hugh Grant,” I said, name-dropping to show I’d been doing my homework.

She grinned. “Four Weddings Hugh or Notting Hill Hugh?”

“Notting Hill,” I said. “I watched it last night. I swear I thought when he turned up on the set, he was going full Fatal Attraction. He’s got serious stalker vibes.”

“No! Don’t. They’re meant to be together.”

“I thought I was meant to be with Chloë Grace Moretz from age thirteen until sixteen, but I didn’t follow her to her work.”

Ruby laughed, and a little fire glowed inside me.

“But I love the speech,” I said.

“‘I’m just a girl’? How come?”