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Angharad said to me, ‘Becky says they’re giving out the French exchange letters this afternoon. Do you want to go?’
    Well. This just goes to prove that when I told my mother I don’t need to plan for the future because the universe recognises life’s winners and takes care of them, I WAS RIGHT. My lazy parents aren’t going to organise a holiday for me, but that’s okay because I will be going on the French exchange trip. In fact, the French department are much more likely to make a decent job of it, we all know they’ve got plenty of time to sort out flights and a luxury hotel for me because it’s not like teaching French takes much out of you, is it? In my lessons Madame Badeau mostly shouts ‘Asseyez-vous, Faith!’ and fans herself with a copy of Tricolore.
    I beamed at Angharad. ‘I’m definitely going. It’ll be brilliant. And frankly, it’s about time that the French department started giving back. I haven’t forgotten that they still owe me an hour in bed from that time they made us come into school early to go to that ridiculous French breakfast where all we got was watered down Lidl cocoa and a sniff of a croissant. It’s nice to see that they’ve finally started taking my needs into consideration.’
    Angharad blinked. ‘Oh. I thought it might be useful for vocabulary.’
    Angharad is a great girl but I do sometimes worry about her ability to focus on what’s important in life. ‘I’ll tell you what this trip is going to be useful for,’ I said. ‘For buying lovely things in fancy French shops and scoffing lovely cakes in fancy French patisseries and snogging lovely French boys in fancy French . . . er, I’m not sure where French boys like to gather, but we’re going to find out!’ I squeezed her into a hug. ‘We’re going on holiday!’
    Angharad wiggled out of my arms. ‘I need to ask my mum first.’
    ‘Yeah, of course, me too. Either that or I’m going to have to get a lot better at forging her signature. But you do want to go, don’t you?’
    She was fidgeting with her bag. ‘Yes . . . No . . . I don’t know.’
    ‘It’ll be fun. Croissants, cheese, shopping, maybe some sightseeing.’
    ‘That does sound nice, but what if I can’t understand what people are saying?’
    ‘You’re great at French, Ang. And you can always ask them to slow down or talk English like a proper person.’
    She nodded, but I could see she was still worrying.
    ‘It will be brilliant, I promise.’
    When Lily arrived, Ang asked her if she fancied the trip. I thought Lily would be up for a holiday but after she’d thought about it for a minute she shook her head.
    ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea,’ she said. ‘People never seem to understand what I’m saying even when I’m talking English.’
    She had a point there. I wasn’t sure France was ready for Lily.
    ‘And I hate packing. I always seem to end up with too many spoons and not enough glue.’
    ‘Well, that happens to us all,’ I said.
    Lily nodded as if we were having an entirely sane conversation. ‘I might give it a miss.’
    Ang looked horribly disappointed.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ I said to her. ‘You’ll have me and Megs to look after you.’
    But when I told Megs in Physics she didn’t seem that keen. I’ll have to work on her.
    I’ve been walloping Sam all night to get my bashing arm ready.
    SATURDAY 28TH APRIL
    I went shopping with the girls this morning. As we were coming out of Topshop I spotted Ethan and Dawn getting off a bus.
    ‘Is that her?’ Lily asked in a whisper that was louder than most people’s normal voice.
    ‘Yep,’ Megs said. ‘That’s Spawn.’
    ‘You’ve seen her before,’ Angharad said. ‘Remember? At the club night and Faith’s birthday.’
    Lily shook her head. ‘I can only really remember people’s heads if I talk to them. Then I can picture their face by thinking about the words coming out of their mouth.’
    ‘Okaaay,’ Megs said.
    I didn’t say anything; I was too busy