Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine

Author:Jenny Valentine [Jenny Valentine ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007394043
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

FOURTEEN

My friend Ed, with the fancy mum and the house in Primrose Hill, said I’ve always been weird and now I’m getting weirder. He said he’s always liked that I dress like an old man and talk to myself (apparently) and don’t mind all that much what people say about me. But then he said I have to start minding, because the people who are talking about me are girls, pretty ones, and he wants to go out with one of them. Ed wanted me to go for a drink at some bar with these pretty girls, not dressed like an old man, not talking to myself, not being anxious or wanting to be alone, i.e. not being me at all but some perfect friend that Ed wants to pretend I am.

I was dreading it.

But I went because Ed is my friend and I don’t actually have many, and even though we’re different I like him.

I can’t quite remember how I met Ed. He was around in my field of vision for a while before we actually spoke. We were both on our own a lot when he started school and so we ended up being on our own together. Ed started halfway through a term in year nine. He’d been to one exclusive, expensive school after another and got thrown out of every single one. According to Ed, you don’t have to do that much to get asked to leave. His mum is tearing her very blow-dried hair out about him getting such a low-brow education, but Ed says this school is the first one he’s ever liked, so they’ll have to agree to differ. And of course, Ed doesn’t stick out any more like when he first arrived. He fits right in. Everybody likes Ed.

So we went for that drink, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. It was a nice Camden evening, the sky was making up for how small it was by going pink and purple and gold all over the Stables Market. I never have a problem in pubs, maybe because of how tall I am, but we went somewhere new and Ed headed straight for the garden, just in case. I had a Guinness, disgusting and delicious at the same time. Ed was drinking trendy beer out of a bottle and biting his nails.

He said, “They’re late, they’re not coming,” almost as soon as we sat down.

I’m not sure which one of us was more nervous.

Ed had already told me what he thought I needed to know, which was that the girls were called Natalie (blonde) and Martha (brown) and they were both seventeen. The blonde one Natalie was on the gym team and had her belly button pierced and was Ed’s, so I was not to try to impress her in any way. I could have Martha apparently, who Ed hadn’t bothered to learn anything about.

I was just saying it was ironic that Ed was all edgy and nervous

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.