They swung out of there, warmed from the inside by a bottle of wine, and made their way up to Ellen’s room. The beautiful people were in the hall – only a few of them – and one of them said a ‘hey’ when Alexa and Ellen walked past, which Ellen took as a good sign. They’d never once said ‘hey’ when she was with Charlotte.

They sat in Ellen’s room and demolished the bottle of wine in what seemed like a few swigs, and laughed and rocked backwards and forwards. It was near midnight and there was music playing down the hall and choruses of laughter coming out of every open door. The beautiful people sounded like they were wrestling in the hall. (‘Give it back!’ giggled one girl, loudly.) Ellen and Alexa decided to go to Kushion, the largest club by the riverside. Ellen took a £20 note, promised to next week’s budget, from her drawer – ignoring the fact that she’d regret it when she had to eat pasta pesto for every meal. And on the way out, they caught the end of the beautiful people’s party and it turned out they were going to Kushion too. They all started talking total nonsense until Charlotte poked her head out of her door, looking furious. She spotted Ellen, and opened and closed her mouth like a fish, but Ellen walked right past without even saying ‘hi’. She felt a little badly about this. But not that badly.

Alexa and Ellen lost the beautiful people in the queue to get into the club, but they stuck together and drank sticky colourful drinks by the bottle and cheap, cheap, nasty tequila at the bar. One shot followed the other, and they said ‘I love you!’ and admitted how glad they were to have found one another.

They got chips on the way home, and Alexa texted to say she’d got home safely. Ellen omitted to do the same because she’d passed out, fully clothed – including her shoes – and later woke up with the cold chips beside her and her laptop on the floor, which now had angry, colourful lines stretched across the screen.

Alexa texted again.

My. Head. Send help. X

Ellen replied, one eye closed, the other squinting into the dark screen.

Oh jesus. just woke up with shoes still on, chips in the bed and a broken laptop. chaos. can we go get a bloody mary now please?? x

And that was that. They’d been despicable together, and Ellen never again got anxious about seeing Alexa or worried that they’d have nothing to talk about. They were so clearly kindred spirits. Plus, Charlotte never spoke to Ellen ever again, which was a real win.