Cassie’s parents have said they’ll give her cash if she does well in her A-levels. They’re giving her a thousand pounds for every A grade she gets, and then she’s on a sliding scale for lower grades. It’s the only reason she’s bothering to study. Now it seems they’re trying the same tactic to get her to go to uni. I doubt it will work though – she’s got her heart set on heading to London and ‘making it big’. If anyone else had told me this was their plan, I’d have been sceptical, but if you knew Cassie Barrington, you’d instantly realise that she has the X factor. That certain something that draws people in. She’s magnetic, and I have no doubt she’ll achieve what she sets out to do. She always does.

‘Anyway, Cass, listen, I’ve got some news.’ I lean forward, excited to tell her about the strange ending to my day.

‘Ooh, is it about Lou Schiavone and Matthew Dern? I heard they started going out, but he’s only just broken up with Katy.’

‘I didn’t know that. Tell me all about it, but not right now because I need to tell you what happened today.’

She pouts at being distracted from the gossip on our friends, but I give her a fake glare, so she nods at me to carry on.

‘Okay, so this woman from the college came into the salon today, her name was Sally something or other, and—’

‘From the college? Our college?’

I nod. ‘Anyway, she runs the marketing department there and she said she was impressed with the cancer fundraiser I organised.’

‘Cool.’

‘I know, right. And then she said she loved the piece I wrote in the local paper for the salon.’

‘What piece?’

‘Oh, yeah, I wrote something for Jennifer. It was an article to go with an advert for Waves. But that’s not the important thing. The important thing is that she’s asked me to come for an interview for a job!’

‘A job? What, you mean at the college?’

‘Yep. It’s a trainee PR job – that’s public relations.’

‘I know what PR is.’ Cassie rolls her eyes.

‘Oh, okay, sorry. It’s just that I didn’t know what it was at first.’

Cassie laughs and gives my shoulder a light shove. ‘So she asked you to go for an interview for a job and you don’t even know what it means? Honestly, you’re hilarious, Zo. She must’ve thought you were a right muppet.’

‘I did feel a bit dorky, but she was so nice and said she thought I’d be good at it.’

‘Did you tell her you’re planning to work at Waves?’