Lifted Read Online Free Page B

write an anonymous blog because she liked being the centre of attention too much. She’d want to be one of those bloggers whom everybody talked about and whose blogs were turned into a juicy book, which became a bestseller. But that was never going to happen, because writing a blog evidently involved
writing
, and Hanni hated writing anything. Texts were OK, as they were short, and emails too, because you could get away with text speak in them, but writing anything longer than a paragraph was torture for Hanni. Ruby usually did her English assignments for her, in return for music downloads and makeovers.
    Amanda was different. She liked writing. And she was funny too. She said she might like to write a blog about the teachers at their school and what was really going on in the staff room, but that would absolutely have to be anonymous, or she’d get expelled. Or sued. Or both. She wanted to write a blog that would shock people. Casey said she was planning to blog about boys, while Debs said she couldn’t think of anything to write about. Ruby didn’t say very much at all. She had a few ideas, but nothing she wanted to share with the others. The discussion ended with everyone pledging to start their blog the very next weekend, but, as far as Ruby knew, nobody had done anything about it.
    Noah showed her how easy it was to set up a blog. You just had to choose the type you wanted and sign up to it. It was so easy that she felt embarrassed for asking. See, that’s why she didn’t talk to him these days. He made her feel stupid and ignorant and girly. She decided there and then that she wouldn’t tell the others that Noah had helped her. She’d show them all how to create their own blogs and say she’d worked it out for herself.
    After Noah had gone home, she rang Amanda. She didn’t want the day to be a complete waste. ‘So, do you wanna go shopping?’ she asked, without introducing herself. There was no need. They spoke so often that every new call felt like an extension of a previous conversation, albeit one with a long pause in between sentences.
    ‘Hey you, I thought you were with your dad.’
    ‘Long story,’ Ruby said, flatly. ‘Actually, short story. Too boring to explain. But I’m not. So, do you want to?’
    ‘Sure, why not? I could do with some new jeans. What do you want to get?’
    ‘I have no clue,’ Ruby said. ‘The sales are on and I just feel like shopping. You know.’
    Of course Amanda knew. She was a girl, wasn’t she? She understood that you don’t go shopping because you need something. Well, of course you do, sometimes, but that’s not the only reason, and definitely not the main reason. Going shopping isn’t about
having
things, it isn’t about
owning
them, it’s about
acquiring
them. Because however amazing what you buy seems in theshop, however much you just have to have it because it’s perfect and it makes you look three sizes smaller, and it goes with your eyes, by the time you get it home it’s just another dress, or another top. Just a thing, like all the other things you already possess. It was, Ruby thought, a bit like being Cinderella at midnight. She wondered exactly when it was that the shopping spell was broken. Did it happen, imperceptibly, as she walked out of the shop or somewhere on the way home? Sometimes she bought things and took them right back the very next day, without even taking them out of the bag, or unwrapping the tissue paper. And sometimes, if she couldn’t find the receipt, or if she left it too long, she would stuff the unwanted item to the back of the wardrobe, tags still attached, where it would remain, undiscovered, for months.
    ‘I get it,’ said Amanda. ‘I’ll meet you on the high street in half an hour.’

My Blog
    January 21
    I still don’t know why I took those tights. Maybe I’ll never know. All I can say is, oh my God, for a few minutes at least, it made me feel incredible, amazing, the way it must feel to win the lottery or