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‘I suppose, but still, could you do it? He’s so ugly.’

‘Whereas Shocko is only gorgeous. Did you hear he broke up with Aisling?’

‘No, that’s brilliant news.’

Shannon grinned. ‘I know.’

‘What happened?’

‘I reckon he got bored looking at her moany face, but apparently he senther a photo of his dick and she forwarded it to her friend Janet, and Janet, the thick cow, sent it to a WhatsApp group and it was forwarded on and now everyone’s looking at Shocko’s dick.’

Kelly stared at her. ‘That’s terrible. Poor Shocko. Did he go mad?’

‘Poor Shocko? What type of an idiot photographs his dick and sends it? It’s a good thing he’s so great-looking cos he’s clearly thick. Anyway,he did go mad when he found out and he dumped her. Apparently he got all the dorky stuff she gave him, like cards and a big cuddly bear and earphones, and burnt them all in his front garden.’

‘God, I feel a bit sorry for her. She sent it to one friend – I’m sure she didn’t mean for it to go viral.’

Shannon waved a mascara wand at Kelly. ‘She deserved it. She’s as dumb as he is. Everyone knowsif you send a photo to one person it’s going to get passed on. Apparently she’s devastated and begged him to forgive her and get back with her, but he’s having none of it, which is very good news for me.’

‘Do you really want to go out with someone who sends you photos of his willy?’

Shannon grinned. ‘Well, at least I’ll know what to expect when we get together – do you want to see it?’

‘No,gross.’ Kelly turned away.

‘It’s big.’ Shannon held up her phone and waved at her, laughing.

‘Stop! I don’t want to see it,’ Kelly shrieked.

‘So what about you and Sean? Have you talked about sex?’

Kelly nodded. ‘Yes, he really wants to, but every time I think about it, I hear my mother’s voice warning me about pregnancy and all that.’

‘Feck your mother. If you want to do it, do it. I’vecondoms here, take some.’ Shannon rooted around in the back of her drawer and pulled out two. ‘Seriously, Kelly, it’s your life.’

‘What if the condom bursts?’

‘Go on the pill, then. We can go to the Well Woman centre this weekend and get you on it.’

Kelly looked at the condoms. She wanted to have sex butshe was terrified. What if something went wrong? She just wasn’t ready yet. She’d askedSean to wait a few more weeks. She’d said she wanted to spend more time with him and sort out her birth control. She’d bought herself some time. She needed to think about it. Besides, she wanted it to be special. Not behind a hedge in the park or something awful like that. She wanted candles and a proper bed. She wanted her first time to be romantic.

‘I can’t this weekend – I have to help inthe shop because Mum has two weddings to do – but maybe next.’

Shannon finished applying a thick layer of mascara to her eyes. She looked lovely, Kelly thought. Her blue eyes really stood out. Shannon was curvy like Sarah – she had big boobs too. Kelly wished she could fill out a bit. She was still so skinny and had two fried eggs for boobs. She envied Shannon her curves – she was very sexy.

Kelly didn’t really need a bra. She wore one but only because everyone else did. Last week, Melissa had shouted across the changing room after swimming, ‘Look, Kelly’s wearing a bra! How pointless is that!’ Everyone had laughed.

Kelly felt her cheeks redden every time she thought of it. She wished she could come up with something cutting to say back, but she never did. She only thought of thingsafterwards. Shannon would have had a quick response – she was much better at fast comebacks than Kelly was.

‘You should have said, “At least I don’t look like my step-sister’s afterbirth,” ’ Shannon had told her when she’d heard.

Kelly had laughed. That would have been too mean to say, but it was funny.

She picked up Shannon’s big bra and held it up to herself. ‘I’ll never have cleavage,’ shesaid, with a sigh.

‘Yeah, and I’ll never see my feet again.’ Shannon grinned.

Shannon sometimes wished she was thin and beautiful and smart like Kelly. Boys only talked to Shannon’s chest, which was insulting. Shannon liked her curves and she knew boys did too, but there were loads of cool clothes she couldn’t wear because her boobs were too big. Then again, she might not be book smart, butshe wouldn’t let some stupid little snob push her around. Kelly was too nice and too worried about everyone else’s feelings. She was obsessed with making her mother happy. Shannon reckoned it was because Kelly had no dad and felt bad for Lucy being abandoned and all. She felt sorry for Lucy too, but there was a limit to how much you had to sacrifice because your wanker of a father left your mother.