"You've got it bad, girl," she said, putting an arm around me. "You look almost sick."

"I know. It's pathetic."

I snuggled into her and she steered me into the college.

Any attempt to distract myself from Noah was somewhat hindered by the intense boringness of my Photography lecture. The room was stuffy with the secreted heat of bodies piled into a small space. There were no windows, no air just an interactive whiteboard showing one boring slide after another. I hadn't done Photography for the academic side of things. It was the one A level I'd granted myself in which to be creative and have fun. And, to be fair, most of my lessons were spent faffing about in the darkroom. But every so often, in some sort of deluded determination to make the subject "academically stimulating", I was forced to endure a lecture much like today's about the origins of photography or some such nonsense.

Grim.

The problem was that whenever I successfully managed to not think about Noah, I would only worry instead. So in my Noah mental breaks, I tortured myself with feeling guilty about Portia, recapping yesterday's awful session with Dr. Ashley and worrying about Ruth's reaction to Noah news. Therefore I was relieved when the bell finally rang, signalling the end of my tedious lesson.

I made my way to the canteen and spotted my friends at our table. Lizzie looked almost purple and I knew it was killing her to keep such great gossip to herself. But I was not at all ready to face the Ruth and Amanda firing squad just yet. They were already playing cards, with Johnno sitting next to them, looking slightly bored. Ruth had done something dramatic to her hair. Again. She'd dyed it a deep vibrant red and cut it short. Nobody but Ruth could have pulled it off, but she looked amazing. Of course. She was wearing a bright red tight vest top that clashed spectacularly with her new do. It strained across her chest and, teamed with a pair of spray-on jeans, meant our table was getting quite a few looks. Ruth was pretending she didn't notice and, to the unassuming eye, was just concentrating on her hand. But I'd known her since primary school and I could see her eyes flickering to each side to survey the reaction. She was also running her tongue along her top teeth something she always did when she was happy.

I plonked my bag on the table and sat myself in the spare seat.

"Morning, Team," I said. "Loving the hair, Ruth. When did you get that done?"

She smirked at the compliment. "Thanks. Got it done last night. Luckily before the power cut kicked in." She looked at my decidedly lesser-coiffed hair. "Hmm, Poppy. You're having a bit of a special hair day yourself."

Her bluntness stung. I ran my hand through my hair self-consciously. "My alarm didn't go off this morning so it was a bit of a rush-jobby."

"It doesn't look that bad," Amanda said. "It's just not as perfect as it usually is."

"Aww thanks."

"It's alright."

I looked at the game. "So when can you deal me in?"

We played a couple of rounds of Cheat while Ruth gave us a rundown of exactly what she expected Will's sexual reaction to be to her new hair. Lizzie had barely spoken. It was like she was too scared to open her mouth in case my secret came tumbling out.

Ruth laid down two cards and called two sixes.

"Anyway," she said, watching carefully as Lizzie took her turn. "I think I need to give my new hair an outing. Who fancies a drink after college?"

Uh oh.

"I'm in," Amanda said, surprising us. She turned to Johnno. "Fancy a drink? Make the most of this weird summer weather?"

I saw Johnno squeeze her hand under the table. "Sounds good to me," he said. "I might ask some of the guys along as well."

"How about you, Lizzie? Poppy?" Ruth asked.

I wracked my brains for an excuse. Any excuse. I couldn't use the cherry pie one again. It wasn't exactly effective last time.

"I'll come," Lizzie said. She gave me a small grin. "...But I think Poppy has other plans."

In unison they all swung round to look at me.

"Plans? What plans?" Ruth asked, smelling gossip.

"Umm, coursework?" I ventured, wishing my face wouldn't automatically turn red whenever I lied.

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"Yes she is," Lizzie added.

I gave her what I hoped was a scary look. "Thanks a bunch," I said.

Amanda looked from me to Lizzie and back again. "What's going on, guys?"

"Nothing," Lizzie and I said at the same time.

"Bollocks," Ruth said. "Poppy. What are you doing tonight that's more important than helping me showcase my new hairdo?"

I groaned and put my head on the table. I couldn't think of one legitimate excuse.

"Lizzie, I hate you," I said, face still down on the table.

"What exactly is going on?" Ruth said, no doubt annoyed the attention had drifted from her new hair.

I waved my hand in surrender. "You tell her."

I could actually hear the smile in Lizzie's voice. "Poppy and Noah are seeing each other," she announced delightedly. I lifted my head cautiously to gauge the reaction. Lizzie looked relieved, like the secret had been choking her and she'd finally dislodged it from her windpipe. Amanda looked confused. Ruth's eyes narrowed.

"You're kidding me," she said.

I shook my head.

"You and Noah?"

I nodded my head.

"Really?"

Another nod.

The card game was forgotten.

"Since when?"

Lizzie answered the question for me. "Since for ever," she said. "Poppy's the one he dumped Portia for."

Great. Thanks for that reminder.

There was a stunned silence while everyone took in the bombshell. Ruth looked as if her centre of gravity had been removed. Amanda was still confused. And Lizzie just looked damned relieved to have let the secret out.

Amanda tentatively broke the quiet.

"Well, that's great, Popps," she said, clutching Johnno's hand, who obviously wasn't delighted to be in the middle of such a girlie conversation. "I didn't know you liked him, but, well, that's cool. I mean you never like anyone, so I'm just surprised really."

"Yeah, Poppy," Ruth said. "What happened to 'no man in Middletown is good enough for me'?"

I hated being the centre of attention. "I guess I changed my mind."

"I think it's sweet," Lizzie said. "You should've seen them together this morning. Poppy could hardly stand upright. She's well smitten."

"I am NOT smitten."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Are."

"Not."

Ruth interrupted. "Hang on. What was going on this morning? When did you see Noah?"

Lizzie answered for me again. "He was waiting outside college for her. It was so cute. And he's arranged to see her tonight, which is why she can't join us for the hair-celebration pub visit."

Ruth's eyes narrowed further so they were more slit than eyeball. "Hang on," she said. "You're not going to miss going out with your friends to see some pointless boy instead, are you?"

I gulped. "Er."

"Because you always go on about how friends should come first..."

If I was a braver person, I would've pointed out all the instances in which Ruth called us to cancel last-minute usually with the sloppy sounds of Will kissing her neck in the background.

I struggled to form an argument. "Well, I did make plans with him first."

"So?"

Then her stupid little face lit up. "I know. Invite him along. It would be great to meet your new boyfriend properly."

I curled my arms around my legs and went foetal, hoping this whole conversation would disappear into linguistic oblivion. "Umm."

"It would be nice to meet him properly," Amanda said. The bloody traitor.

"Er."

"That's great," Ruth said, ignoring my obvious discomfort. "Meet you at the Lock and Key at six then?"

I nodded, hating her.

The rest of the day whizzed past in a hating-Ruth blur. I seethed through Psychology, and barely spoke to Frank in English. The problem was that if I'd believed Ruth genuinely wanted to get to know Noah better without some kind of twisted ulterior motive I would have been fine. But her reaction to the big revelation had just been, well, nasty really. I reran that first fateful Band Night in my head. I remembered her throwing herself at him, them holding hands, the look on her face as she introduced him. I had never been an "issue" before for Ruth. Our friendship, if you could call it that, had never had to endure us fancying the same guys. Mainly that was because, pre-Noah, there hadn't been one Y-chromosomed culprit in a fifty-mile vicinity that had interested me. But, also, on the odd occasion I had found a man attractive, I'd never bothered to do anything about it. Why? Well, because Ruth was always there first. And my sarcastic-witty-banter flirting could never be a match for her cleavage-thrusting, sleep-with-a-guy-on-a-first-date sex appeal.

After the last bell I made my way home, feeling terrible. I'd been so looking forward to spending another evening with Noah. And now, at the risk of sounding like a huge saddo, I didn't want to share him.

The late batch of sunshine was still burning strong as I let myself in. Mum and Dad were still at work and were almost never home before seven. That was good. It meant no risk of Noah bumping into them and having to answer awkward-parent questions. My air-dried hair lay lank around my shoulders, so I spruced it up with some hairspray and put on a bit of make-up. I then wrestled with my inner-confidence over whether to wear the yellow sundress I owned. It was pretty short and showed off my legs. I would freeze to death the moment the sun set, but thought sod it. If I was going to face a raving Ruth, I should look marvellous while doing so. I was just applying some red lip stain when my doorbell rang. My heart started thudding and I went from nought-to-nervous instantly. I grabbed my bag off the banister and went to let Noah in.

He was leaning against the wall when I opened the door, all James Dean-like. And he'd changed into a gorgeous charcoal-grey shirt.

Noah let out a low wolf-whistle. "Well, look at you," he said. "You look stunning."

I blushed in reply, heart still pounding. I stepped out and locked the door. As I was doing so, I felt Noah's hands snake around my waist from behind. I shuddered with pleasure as he pulled my hair back and gently kissed my neck.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, his breath hot on my skin.

Another kiss. I almost melted.

"I can't believe I have you to myself all evening."

I turned into his embrace for a long, lingering kiss. Afterwards, my legs like jelly, I stepped back.

"Yeah, about that," I said. "There's been a change of plan."

"Huh?"

"I've been coerced into taking you to the Lock and Key for the evening. Ruth's orders."

Noah's face dropped. "You're kidding."

"I wish."

"Can't you get out of it?"

I shook my head. "Nope. She's rather forceful, as you know. They all want to 'meet you properly'." I made the speech marks with my fingers.

Noah looked a tad pissed off and I cursed Ruth for the millionth time that day.

"So does this mean...?"

I nodded. "Yep. My friends know about us. Lizzie, well, she tried..." I broke off lamely.

"That girl needs to be gagged."

"She tried really hard. I think that's the longest she's kept any kind of secret."

In an attempt to pull Noah out of his bad mood, I tried winding my arm around his waist in what I hoped was a seductive manner. He responded, and pulled me into him, but wouldn't look at me.

I attempted to break the pregnant silence that had descended. "Anyway..." I said. "I suppose it's good we're going out. I really don't want to be one of those girls who spends all their time with just their boyfriend."

"Poppy. It's only our third 'date'. I think we're allowed to spend time just us two on our third date."

I hung my head. "Sorry."