‘Great. Shall we jog there? Get out of this rain?’
A few minutes later, we’re sitting at a table in Crumbs by a steamed-up window having ordered a couple of hot chocolates and a coffee for me. We’ve been here a few times after school. I like having a place besides the house where we can go. Somewhere where it feels like they’re mine. Where they’ll tell me their secrets and worries.
Eva is quiet while Katie chatters about this and that. After our drinks arrive, I ask Eva how her day was.
‘Good,’ she replies.
‘Are you still friends with Lauren?’
‘Yes. We’re not best friends though. She’s best friends with Emily. Everyone has a best friend except me.’
‘My best friend is Maisie!’ Katie says, dunking her teaspoon into her hot chocolate and stirring it noisily. ‘No, actually my best friend is Zac. Or Eliza. I don’t really know. I’ve got lots of best friends.’
‘Why do you think you haven’t got a best friend?’ I ask Eva.
‘Dunno.’ She blows on her drink.
‘Maybe it’s because their mums are good friends?’ I suggest.
She doesn’t reply.
‘Or maybe because they meet up after school a lot, and at the weekends.’
‘Maybe.’ She brightens. ‘Can Lauren come round to our house? It was great when we had to do that project. Lauren thought I was brilliant because we ordered pizza and her mum doesn’t normally let her have it. Maybe she could come round and we could have pizza again?’
‘Sounds like a great idea,’ I reply. ‘Lauren’s mum and I are starting to be really good friends now so I could arrange that for you.’
‘Really?’
‘And can my friends come round, too? Katie asks.
‘Yes,’ I reply. I turn back to Eva. ‘It’s a shame you don’t have a phone yet.’
‘Mum won’t let me have one until I start senior school. She said she’ll buy me one if I work hard for the test.’
‘Do your friends have phones?’ I ask
‘Nearly all of them do.’
‘Even Lauren?’ I ask, remembering Rebecca spouting off last night about the dangers of children being online. I doubt she would let her daughter have a phone if she feels so strongly about it.
‘Lauren’s got the latest iPhone,’ Eva says, dispelling my preconceptions. ‘She’s had a phone since Year 3.’
‘Gosh, she’s lucky,’ I say, thinking the opposite. ‘Her mum’s very generous. So, are you the only one without a phone?’
‘I don’t think Maya has one either,’ Eva says.
‘Does Maya have a best friend?’ I ask.
‘No. Maya doesn’t really have any friends.’
‘Well I think you’re very grown-up not to mind feeling left out when Lauren and everyone are chatting away every evening on Instagram and Snapchat. Don’t worry though. Once your mum lets you have a phone, you’ll be popular too.’
Eva doesn’t reply.
Perfect. She’s falling for my plan, just like I knew she would.
Thirty-Five
