‘Sure you are,’ I said, patting Pip on the head.
‘Don’t patronise me, Georgia Warr. Did you bring my denim jacket?’
‘Your denim jacket?’ I smacked my head. I could picture exactly where Pip’s jacket was in my room – on the back of my desk chair. ‘Oh, no, sorry, I totally forgot.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Pip, but she glanced down at her outfit nervously. ‘I was gonna wear it tonight, but … do you think I look OK without it? Or maybe I could wear a bomber jacket.’
She looked really good, actually – she was wearing a stripy short-sleeved shirt, tucked in at the hips into a pair of ripped black skinny jeans, and her hair was carefully styled. And she looked very much like herself, which I thought was more important.
Pip had always been kind of insecure about how she looked. But now that she was actually dressing how she’d always wanted to dress, and had cut her hair and all that, she exuded a sort of confidence that I could never hope to achieve – a confidence that said I know exactly who I am.
‘You look really nice,’ I said.
She smiled. ‘Thanks.’
I’d decided to wear something slightly more casual than my last attempt at ‘going out’ – some high-waisted jeans and a tight-fit crop top – but I still felt a little like I was wearing a costume. My usual comfy knitwear style wasn’t really suitable for bars and clubs.
Jason arrived minutes later, wearing his teddy-bear jacket on top of his standard T-shirt–jeans combo. He took one look at the floor and immediately started picking up items of clothing and folding them. ‘Jesus fucking Christ, Pip. Learn to tidy.’
‘It’s absolutely fine how it is. I know where everything is.’
‘Maybe so, but it won’t be absolutely fine when you start getting spiders birthing underneath your sweatshirts.’
‘Ew, Jason. Don’t say “birthing”。’
We did a quick tidy of Pip’s room before leaving. It was only a few minutes’ walk from Castle to St John’s – we had to cross Palace Green, past the cathedral, and down a little side street – and in that time, I decided to confront Pip about the exact reason for her declaration of ‘bad vibes’。
‘I don’t have a crush on her,’ said Pip instantly, which confirmed the fact that she definitely had a crush on Rooney. ‘I don’t get crushes on straight girls. Any more.’
‘So you’ve decided that she’s your mortal enemy because …？’
‘You know what it is?’ Pip folded her arms, pulling her bomber jacket round her. ‘She’s the sort of person who just thinks she’s better than everyone, purely because she goes to clubs and bars and she has a giant house plant and she likes Shakespeare.’
‘You like Shakespeare and you have house plants,’ said Jason. ‘Why’s she not allowed to like Shakespeare and house plants?’
Pip just gave him an irritated look.
Jason glanced at me, eyebrows raised. We could both tell that Pip was making up silly reasons to dislike Rooney in an attempt to deflect her feelings. But we also knew we should probably just let it happen because, in all honesty, it was probably the best course of action.
We’d seen Pip through several straight-girl crushes. They were not fun for her. The sooner she could get over those feelings, the better.
‘You could have just said no to hanging out tonight,’ I pointed out.
‘No I couldn’t,’ said Pip, ‘because then she’d win.’
Jason and I stayed silent for a moment.
Then I said, ‘She’s been giving me some advice about stuff.’
Pip frowned. ‘Advice? About what?’
‘Well … you know I was feeling kind of bad about, like …’ God. This stuff was always so awkward to talk about. ‘You remember at the prom afterparty I was feeling really down about not having kissed anyone, and … you know. Rooney’s been helping me try and put myself out there a bit.’
Pip and Jason stared at me.
‘What?’ Pip shook her head in disbelief. ‘You don’t – Why is she making you do that? You don’t have to do that shit … just – God. You need to just go at your own pace, man. Why is she making you? … What? Is she trying to persuade you to start getting with people at bars? That’s fine if she wants to do that, but that’s not who you are.’
‘She’s not making me do anything! She’s just helping me open up to people a bit, and, like … take chances.’