Suzanne – who likes to be called Suze, like the drink – has red hair, which she hates, and a round, pink face, and she is always about to begin a diet. I actually rather like her hair, which reminds me of my friend Roux, and I don’t think she’s fat at all, but she complains about these things all the time. She and I used to be really good friends, but she can be moody nowadays, and sometimes says quite nasty things for no reason, or says she won’t talk to me any more if I don’t do exactly what she wants me to.

Today, she wasn’t talking to me again. That’s because I wouldn’t come to the pictures last night. But the cinema’s expensive enough already, and then there’s popcorn and Coke to buy – and if I don’t buy any, Suzanne notices and makes jokes at school about my never having any money – and besides, I knew that Chantal would be there too, and Suzanne’s different when Chantal’s around.

Chantal is Suzanne’s new best friend. She always has money to go to the cinema, and her hair is always perfectly neat. She wears a Tiffany diamond cross, and once, at school, when the teacher told her to take it off, Chantal’s father wrote a letter to the newspapers saying that it was a disgrace that his daughter should be victimized for wearing the symbol of her Catholic faith when Muslim girls were allowed to get away with those head-scarves. It caused quite a fuss, actually; and afterwards both crosses and headscarves were banned from school. Chantal still wears hers, though. I know because I’ve seen her with it on in gym. The teacher pretends not to notice. Chantal’s father has that effect on people.

Just ignore them, Maman says. You can make other friends.

Don’t think I haven’t tried; but it seems that whenever I do find someone new, Suze finds a way to get to them. It’s happened before. It’s nothing you could put your finger on, but it’s there all the same, like a perfume in the air. And suddenly the people you thought were your friends start avoiding you and being with her; and before you know it, they’re her friends, not yours, and you’re alone.

So all today Suze wouldn’t talk, and sat with Chantal in all her lessons, and put her bag on the seat next to her so that I couldn’t sit there, and every time I looked at them they seemed to be laughing at me.

I don’t care. Who wants to be like those two?