Loveless. Alice Oseman

the stripy socks visible beneath her rolled-up jeans, before striding towards her and holding out her hand with such force that Pip looked, for the briefest second, afraid.

      She shook the hand. She gave Rooney a once-over in return – from her Adidas Originals all the way up to the hairband just visible at the top of her ponytail. ‘Yes. I see Roderick has settled in.’

      Rooney’s eyebrow quivered, like she was surprised and pleased that Pip’s immediate reaction was banter. ‘He has. He’s been enjoying the northern air.’

      She turned to Jason and held out her hand again, which he took. ‘We haven’t met, but I like your jacket.’

      Jason glanced down at himself. He was wearing the fluffy brown teddy jacket he’d owned for years. I truly believed it was the most comfortable item of clothing to exist on this planet. ‘Oh, right. Yeah, thanks.’

      Rooney smiled and clapped her hands together. ‘It’s so nice to meet you both. We’re going to have to become friends, now that me and Georgia are friends.’

      Pip gave me a look as if to say, friends? Already?

      ‘As long as you don’t steal her away from us,’ Jason joked, though Pip whipped her head round to him, seemingly taking the statement very seriously indeed.

      Rooney noticed this happen, and a small curl of a smile appeared at the side of her mouth.

      ‘Of course not,’ she said.

      ‘I’ve heard you’re interested in theatre,’ Pip said. There was a nervous tone to her voice.

      ‘Yes! Are you?’

      ‘Yeah! We all went to the same youth theatre group. And we did school plays together.’

      Rooney seemed genuinely excited by this prospect. Her love for theatre was definitely not fake, even if some of her smiles were. ‘So you’ll be auditioning for a DST play?’

      ‘Obviously.’

      ‘A lead role?’

      ‘Obviously.’

      Rooney grinned, and after taking a sip from her Starbucks cup she said, ‘Good. We’ll be competing, then.’

      ‘I … I guess we will,’ said Pip, flustered, surprised and confused all at the same time.

      Rooney suddenly made a concerned face and checked her phone. ‘Oh, sorry, I have to head out again. Got to meet this girl I’ve been chatting to on the English Soc Facebook group down at Vennels. I’ll meet you back here at six for the Freshers’ Barbecue?’

      And then she was gone, while I was wondering what Vennels was, and why I didn’t know what Vennels was, and how Rooney already knew what Vennels was when she’d only been here for less than one day, just like me.

      When I turned back to my friends, Pip was standing very still with a startled expression on her face that made her look a bit like a cartoon scientist, post-explosion.

      ‘What?’ I asked.

      Pip swallowed and shook her head a little. ‘Nothing.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Nothing. She seems nice.’

      I knew that look. It was a Pip look I knew well. I’d seen it when she had to be gymnastics partners with Alicia Reece – one of her most intense crushes – in Year 11 PE. I’d seen it when we went to a Little Mix meet and greet and Pip got to hug Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

      Pip didn’t fancy a lot of girls – she was quite picky, actually. But when Pip did fancy someone, it was very, very obvious. To me, anyway. I could always tell when people had crushes on each other.

      Before I could make a comment, Jason interrupted. He was peering at the photo of Rooney and Mermaid-hair Beth. ‘It’s so odd that you ended up with a roommate. What did you write on your personality quiz?’

      We’d had to fill in personality quizzes after we got accepted into Durham, so that if we ended up having to share rooms, they’d try to match us with someone we’d get along with.

      I strained to remember what I’d written on mine – and then it clicked.

      ‘Shakespeare,’ I said. ‘The quiz – one of the questions was about your interests. I wrote Shakespeare.’

      ‘So?’ said Jason.

      I pointed at Rooney’s Much Ado About Nothing poster.

      ‘Oh my God,’ said Pip, her eyes widening. ‘Is she also a Shakespeare stan? Like us?’

      ‘So she says.’

      Jason nodded, seemingly pleased. ‘That’s good! You can bond over that.’

      ‘Yes,’ said Pip, much too quickly. ‘Befriend her.’

      ‘I mean, we’re roommates. So hopefully we will be friends.’

      ‘That’s good,’ Jason repeated. ‘Especially since we won’t get to hang out all the time any more.’

      This made me pause. ‘Won’t we?’

      ‘Well – no? I mean, at least this week. We’re at different colleges.’

      I genuinely hadn’t thought about that. I’d had this idea that we’d meet up every day, hang out, explore Durham, begin our university journeys together. But all our freshers’ events were at our own colleges. We were all on different courses – I was doing English, Jason was doing history, and Pip was studying natural sciences. So he was right. I probably wouldn’t see much of Pip and Jason at all this week.

      ‘I guess,’ I said.

      Maybe this could be OK. Maybe this would be the kick I needed to branch out and find new people and have experiences.

      Maybe this could all be part of the plan. The romance plan.

      ‘Right,’ said Pip, slapping her thighs and bouncing to her feet. ‘We should head. I still haven’t finished unpacking all my shirts.’

      I let Pip bundle me into a hug before she trotted out of the room, leaving just me and Jason. I didn’t want Jason and Pip to go. I hadn’t wanted my parents to go. I didn’t want to be left here alone.

      ‘I wish I was at Castle too,’ I said. I sounded like a five-year-old.

      ‘You’ll be OK,’ said Jason, in his usual calming tone. Nothing fazed Jason. He had whatever the opposite of anxiety was. Absolute, unerring peace of mind.

      I swallowed. I really, really did want to cry. Maybe I could have a quick cry before Rooney got back.

      ‘Can I have a hug?’ I asked.

      Jason paused. Something unreadable crossed his face.

      ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Yeah. C’mere.’

      I crossed the room and let him envelop me in a warm hug.

      ‘You’ll be OK,’ he said again, rubbing his hands gently over my back, and I don’t know if I believed him, but it felt nice to hear anyway. And Jason always gave the warmest, cosiest hugs.

      ‘OK,’ I mumbled into his jacket.

      When he stepped back, his eyes darted away.

      He might even have blushed a little bit.

      ‘I’ll see you soon?’ he said, not looking at me.

      ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Message me.’

      My friendships with Pip and Jason wouldn’t change. We’d made it through seven years of secondary school, for God’s sake. Whether we hung out all the time or not – we would always be friends. Nothing could ruin what we had.

      And getting to focus on a new friendship with Rooney