Barnaby Rudge: Yeah. Near the castle.

I suddenly heard my parents come in the front door downstairs and looked at the yellow clock on my wall. It was nearly midnight.

Barnaby Rudge: I better go, Joe. Parents just came home, so I ought to go speak to them.

Joey: K, chick.

Barnaby Rudge: You've been brilliant. Thank you so much for listening to me!

Joey: Any time. You know that. And thanks for the picture!!

I grinned to myself as I watched Joey change her status to "Busy", evidently heading back to the message board to argue some more with HoBo, whoever he or she was. I logged off the computer and sat a while at my desk, eyes closed tightly, thinking about everything Joey had just said to me. When I opened my eyes again, everything seemed just that little bit clearer. I suddenly knew exactly what I had to do, and I knew Matt wasn't going to take it well.

Chapter Seven.

I spent the whole of the next day, Sunday, lost in my thoughts, knowing what I had to do, but dreading having to do it. My worry about what I was going to do was not helped one little bit by at least a dozen texts from Matt telling me how much he'd "enjoyed" last night. I think I answered about three of them.

Lunchtime, as it turned out, was an absolute nightmare. Dad's sister, my fragrant and forthright Aunty Julia, came to eat with us, and although she was a welcome distraction from my thoughts, as usual Sophie and I had to run the gauntlet of questions about our love lives.

"Are you still with Mark?" Aunty Julia was now saying through a mouthful of roast potatoes.

"Matt," I replied, probably more sharply than I should have done.

"Matt, that's right. Are you still together?"

"Yup," I nodded, trying not to add, "For now."

"They seem very smitten, don't you, Immy?" Mum offered a bowl of potatoes to Aunty Julia and I watched, amused, as she stabbed up three in quick succession with her fork and plopped them down onto her plate.

"Mmm," I grunted, concentrating on my food.

"And really, Immy couldn't ask for a nicer boy," Mum was now saying.

"She's in love with him, Aunty Julia." Sophie leaned conspiratorially towards Aunty Julia. "She wouldn't ever say it, but she is. Who'd have thought it? My sweet sister in love."

Sophie looked at me and grinned sarcastically, shoving a piece of carrot into her mouth and chewing it noisily.

"Well, I think it's lovely." Aunty Julia smiled across the table. "I remember how it felt, only too well." She sighed and looked down at her potatoes again.

"But she gets dreadfully embarrassed talking about him, don't you?" Mum was pouring gravy over her dinner and I watched, suddenly feeling sick, as the thick, brown goo spread across her plate.

"Immy and Matt sitting up a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g," Sophie sang, poking her tongue out at me.

I glared, mouthing "piss off" to her as I heard my phone beep out at me from somewhere in my pockets.

"That'll be Matt," Sophie said matter-of-factly to Aunty Julia, who smiled a twee smile at me, making her eyes crinkle alarmingly at the corners.

I fished out my phone from my pocket and flipped the lid. It was from Fickle.

Where are ya? it said. I'm lonely. Come and play with me.

I snapped the phone shut again and put it back in my pocket.

"And what about little Sophie?" Aunty Julia was now saying. "Are you courting?"

"Courting?" Sophie snorted, making a small piece of carrot she was chewing shoot across the table from her mouth and earning her a look from Dad.

I put my knife and fork together and wiped my mouth with my napkin, turning to look at Mum.

"Can I be excused? I've had enough to eat, thanks," I said, hoping she wouldn't make me stay at the table and endure further agony of small talk with Aunty Julia.

"Do you have college work to do?" Mum frowned.

"Yeah," I lied. "I just wanna tweak an assignment I gotta hand in next week."

"Okay, off you go." Mum jerked her head in the direction of the door.

I smiled at Aunty Julia and bumped my chair into Sophie's as I rose from the table, catching the side of her head with my elbow for good measure as I brushed past her on my way out of the room.

Out in the hall I flipped open my phone and read Fickle's message again.

I'm lonely. Come and play with me.

I took the stairs two at a time, levering myself into my computer chair with a contented sigh, grateful to have a bit of peace and quiet away from everyone else downstairs.

I switched my computer on and watched as it booted itself up, feeling a shiver of excitement as I logged onto MSN and saw that Fickle was there waiting for me.

Fickle: 'Bout bloody time! Where ya been?

Barnaby Rudge: Lunch with the family.

Fickle: Nice!

Barnaby Rudge: It wasn't, trust me!

Fickle: Me mum's having a bad day today so I've decided to keep out of her way.

Barnaby Rudge: Oh! Is she okay?

Fickle: Yeah, just not so good, is all. She's downstairs watching the TV so I thought I'd just leave her to it.

Barnaby Rudge: So how was your night last night?

Fickle: Nothing special. We just went for a drink but like I say, it was nothing special. The ex is still very much an ex and I'm still single!!

My mind was racing and I suddenly grinned, but I didn't know why I was grinning like that. Her ex was still an ex. I liked that. It put a new edge on things again, I supposed. Made her more available.

What? I leant back in my chair, aware of what it was that I was thinking.

Fickle available? Who was I kidding? I knew nothing about her. All I knew was what she looked like, that she was eighteen and went to school somewhere. I didn't know who she lived with other than her mum, if she had brothers or sisters. Nothing. Yet here I was grinning like the cat that got the cream because Fickle had told me she was single.

I wanted to change the subject-and fast.

Barnaby Rudge: You see the football yesterday?

Fickle: Yeah, it was all right. Nothing special, was it? Anyway, how was your Saturday night?

Barnaby Rudge: Not bad. My boyfriend came over.

I have no idea what made me mention Matt to her at that precise moment. Maybe it was because we'd just been talking about Fickle's ex, maybe it was a surreptitious way of seeing what her reaction would be. Maybe it was something deeper. Who knows?

Fickle: You have a boyfriend?

I'd told her I had a boyfriend practically the first time we ever spoke to each other. Why hadn't she remembered that?

Fickle: You never said.

I had said! I had!

Why was I so pissed off that she hadn't remembered that I had a boyfriend? Wasn't it important enough for her to remember?

Barnaby Rudge: Yes I did. I told you before, Gemma! His name's Matt. He sings in a band.

Fickle: Did you? Kewl. What sort of music?

Barnaby Rudge: Grunge, Emo, that sorta stuff.

Fickle: Niiiiiiiiiice.

I wanted to tell her that he wasn't that special, that other people were keener on him than I was, and that I'd been trying to figure out the best way to finish with him all day. I wanted to tell her all these things but something kept stopping me. Instead, I wrote: Barnaby Rudge: Sorry, I did tell you about him before, you know.

Fickle: You know what I love about you, Immy?

Barnaby Rudge: Hit me.

Fickle: You're always apologising. It's cute, but you kinda gotta stop it!

She put a winking sign, which sent shivers down my spine. She said I was cute. Well, fine, she said it was cute, but that's the same thing, isn't it?

Barnaby Rudge: I know. It's a bad habit of mine.

Fickle: I can think of worse!

Barnaby Rudge: Such as?

Fickle: Having a boyfriend!

Barnaby Rudge: You got a point there! BRB, Fickle!

I heard footsteps on the stairs outside my room and immediately minimised the page I was talking to Fickle on and brought up a website on Vietnam, in the hope that it would look like I had actually been doing some work in the time I'd been up in my room.

A soft knock on my door was followed by Mum's face peering round into my room at me.

"You doing fine?" she asked, looking over my shoulder at the website.

I hastily picked up a pen and made to write out some notes on a piece of paper that was on my desk.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Trying to make head and tail of Vietnam-as you do!" I tapped my biro on the computer screen.

"We're eating chocolate pudding downstairs if you want some?" Mum was now asking.

"Nah, I'm not hungry," I replied, itching to get back to Fickle.

"I'll keep some back in case you want it later." Mum's head disappeared from sight again. "Don't work too hard," I heard her call as she went back downstairs again.

I opened up MSN and felt a ripple of pleasure as I saw Fickle's messages to me.

Fickle: Where are yoooooo? Bored, bored BORED without yooooo.

Barnaby Rudge: Okay, okay, keep your hair on! I'm here.

Fickle: Missed ya!

Barnaby Rudge: You really are bored, aren't you?!

Fickle: No, I really did miss you.

Barnaby Rudge: Yeah, right!

Fickle: So tell me about this boyfriend of yours, Immy. How long have you been with him?

Why did I have to talk about Matt? I wanted to talk about Fickle's ex, not my boyfriend.

Barnaby Rudge: Uh, dunno, 'bout six weeks or so.

Fickle: Sweet! You in love?

Barnaby Rudge: Next question. LOL.

Fickle: Oh right. Soz.