Katy Birchall - The It Girl - Don't Tell the Bridesmaid

But he forced me to go running with him and then kept yelling stupid stuff at me that was meant to be motivating, like ‘keep those knees up’, and ‘winners don’t take breaks’ and ‘Anna, try not to fall in the pond this time’.

So it really didn’t come as any surprise that he would be taking zombie games very seriously indeed.

James caught my eye and shot me a triumphant grin. I was giving him one back when Jess elbowed me in the ribs, gleefully drawing my attention to the whining voice nearby coming from the Queen Bee of our school, Sophie Parker. This time she was pompously demanding to know from Mrs Ginnwell where she could make a formal complaint about the airport.

Danny wandered over with Stephanie. ‘What’s all the fuss about this time?’ he whispered, keen not to put himself in the way of Sophie Parker’s latest angry tirade.

It didn’t work. She fixed him with a death stare. ‘They took my water at security.’

‘Just buy a new drink,’ Jess snorted.

‘It wasn’t just any drink,’ Sophie hissed, flicking her hair back dramatically behind her shoulders. Sophie was not Jess’s biggest fan. She wasn’t particularly fond of either of us, but at least she wasn’t threatened by me. In her eyes, I was just one big loser who kept getting in her way. Jess, on the other hand, being beautiful and sporty, was Sophie’s biggest nightmare.

‘It was an incredibly expensive, special type of flavoured water that regenerates your skin cells from the inside out,’ parroted Josie Graham, sounding like a really bad TV advert. Sophie’s minion, Josie, was never far from her Queen Bee’s side and hated me more than anyone else in the school. Probably because I once set her on fire and then another time hit her in the face with a discus. They were both accidents, but it is really bad luck that she should be the victim on both occasions. She looked down her nose at me. ‘The water is imported – from Italy .’

‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,’ Jess laughed, causing Sophie to puff up angrily. ‘Where do you think we’re going today?’

‘Thank you, girls – that’s enough,’ Miss Ginnwell interjected, before a full-on brawl could ensue. ‘Sophie, you know you can’t bring liquids through security. It’s your own fault for not checking the rules. Right, I think everyone is here.’ Mrs Ginnwell put her sign down and clapped her hands together. Looking furious about being so easily dismissed, Sophie folded her arms and shot daggers at a smug-looking Jess. ‘You will all have an allocated seat on your ticket,’ Mrs Ginnwell continued. ‘That is where you will sit on the plane. I don’t want anyone swapping or complaining. Is that clear? It will just cause a lot of fuss and make things much more difficult for the members of staff to keep track of you all.’

There was an immediate burst of chatter as everyone rummaged around for their ticket and conferred with their friends.

‘We’re miles away!’ I exclaimed, as Jess and I compared.

‘We’re two rows away, Anna,’ she smiled. ‘I’m sure you can cope.’

‘Hey, I’m in the row in front of you,’ James pointed out, looking over my shoulder.

‘Cool! We can pass messages!’ I exclaimed without thinking, causing Jess to cover up a laugh by pretending to have a coughing fit.

‘Can we paint each other’s nails too?’ James grinned.

Swallow me up now, please, ground.

But if I thought that situation was awkward it was nothing compared to the plummeting in my stomach when I boarded the plane and saw just who I was sitting next to.

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