First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2016
HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd,
HarperCollins Publishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
Copyright © Holly Smale 2016
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com;
Cover typography © Mary Kate McDevitt;
Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2016
Holly Smale asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007574629
Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780007574643
Version: 2016-06-16
Some glittering reviews for the books:
“Funny, original and this year’s must-read for teenage girls” Sun
“You won’t be going anywhere until this short-and-sweet book is complete and hugged to your chest” Maximum Pop
“A funny, light-hearted read that teenage girls will relate to” Sunday Independent
“Great … One to snuggle up with and enjoy!” Shout
“A funny, feel-good read for the holidays” The Times
“Smart, sassy and very funny” Bookseller
For Louise. Because everybody needs a fairy godmother.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Praise for Geek Girl Books
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Read More Geek Girl
Acknowledgements
About the Publisher
head over heels:idiom
1 To be excited, and/or turn cartwheels
2 To fall in love
3 To become temporarily the wrong way up
4 To go at top speed
6 To fall over
ORIGIN: an inversion of fourteenth century expression heels over head , to literally turn upside down
y name is Harriet Manners, and I have friends.
I know I have friends because this is by far the busiest I’ve ever been.
Honestly, my calendar is manic.
Between group study sessions and movie nights, pizza-eating competitions and crossword round robins, it’s all I can do to keep my epic new social life in some kind of order.
So now I’ve got two diaries: one to make sure I’m in the right place at the right time, the other for making sure everyone else is.
What can I say?
Winnie-the-Pooh was Friendship Ambassador in 1997: I have an awful lot to live up to.
The other reason I know I have friends is that I have a badge that says this in bright blue ink:
Team JINTH!
“Harriet,” Nat said when I presented her with one. “Is this totally necessary?”
“Yes,” I confirmed, pinning it to my Best Friend’s coat. “We don’t want our brand-new additions to feel left out, do we?”
Then I gave badges to Jasper, India and Toby.
Along with the key-rings and magnets I made on my laminating machine.
That’s right: I am now in an official gang.
A clique, a posse, a fellowship.
A group of five happy kindred spirits, never to be parted. Just like the Famous Five or Scooby Doo, except one of us isn’t a big brown dog.
And it’s literally changed my life.
Studies have shown that people with a large network of friends tend to outlive their peers by up to twenty-two per cent, but I’m having so much fun I expect I’ll last even longer.
It took sixteen years, but I finally found them.
People who genuinely want to know that the average London pigeon has 1.6 feet and the soil in your back garden is two million years old.
People who love discovering that a single sloth can be home to 980 beetles and that Martian sunsets are blue and then maybe trying to Google a picture.
I finally found my people.
Etymologically, the word happy comes from the Old Norse noun happ, which means good luck or fortune, and that’s how I feel: as if everything is finally happening exactly as I’ve always wanted it to.
Because for the first time ever, I’m not on the outside looking in any more: I’m smack bang in the middle.
Part of a team and fitting in perfectly.
And I’m having the time of my life.
o where am I right now, you ask?
That’s what you really want to know, isn’t it: where a gang of this epic coolness – of this rare synergy – could possibly be spending most of their free time together.
Well, it’s not the local launderette.
Those innocent days are behind me, I’m afraid.
I tried to keep them going, obviously.
In fact, for the first few weeks I even set up a circle of chairs next to my favourite drying machine and a tray of snacks on top of the coin dispenser, but India wasn’t having any of it.
“Harriet,” she said after our seventh game of ‘Which Washing Machine Finishes First’. “We’re sixth formers. Don’t you think we should maybe hang out somewhere with … I don’t know, less dirty underwear lying about?”
Читать дальше