Rosa was her best friend, although sometimes she wondered why. She was so self-obsessed; always bringing the conversation round to herself. They could be talking about the weather, and next thing you knew, they were back to Rosa again. Rosa was off to California next week. Taisie was going to Devon, like they did every year, to visit family friends. This year was different because the Ritchies were coming, which meant Nick would be there. Taisie put the brush down and wove her fingers through her hair, draping a few strands across her forehead, to look more mysterious. She rummaged through her earring box for the black onyx pair she’d got for her birthday and put them on.

‘What do you think?’ Rosa asked, tugging at the hem of the dress.

‘You look gorgeous. The colour really suits you.’

It was Taisie’s, but she didn’t mind lending it, because Rosa didn’t look half as good in it as she did.

Rosa came over and squeezed on to the chair beside Taisie and started to do her make-up.

‘Got your eye on anyone in particular?’ Taisie asked.

‘Nah. They’re all idiots. What about you?’

She smiled. ‘I have my plans.’

Rosa dabbed spots of foundation over her face before blending it in with her fingers. ‘They all fancy you.’

‘Don’t be silly. You’re much prettier than me.’

‘Aw. Thanks. What about Nick?’

‘Nick?’ she said innocently.

At the barbecue at her house last weekend, he had kissed her. She hadn’t told anyone even though she wanted to, and she was sure Rosa didn’t see anything. Taisie wasn’t altogether sure how she felt about it yet, because she and Nick had been friends since they were two. And what if no one else thought he was fit? They’d had a lot of the punch, but even so, it felt like he was really into her. Nick was sixteen, the oldest in their year group, with his birthday on the third of September, and that gave him a certain kudos.

‘Yes, Nick,’ Rosa said. ‘Is there anything going on there? You were very cosy at the barbecue.’

‘We’re just friends.’

Taisie didn’t want to tell her yet. For one thing she hadn’t seen Nick since; not to speak to anyway. She’d passed him in the corridor at school and had spotted him in the distance in the playground. But he was always surrounded by his friends.

‘Don’t you fancy him?’ Rosa leaned forward with her mascara wand and combed it through her lashes, opening her eyes wide.

Taisie shrugged. Rosa was angling, but she didn’t trust her. What was hers was Rosa’s. That was how her friend’s mind worked.

‘So maybe he doesn’t see you that way,’ Rosa said. She picked a tiny blob of mascara from the end of one eyelash and wiped it on a cotton bud.