The Manifesto on How to be Interesting Read Free Page A

cursed herself for blushing. She didn’t care. Of course not. The perfect posse were idiots. But, you know, it was still embarrassing.
    She handed her security card to the guy and did her best disappearing-into-the-wall trick while she waited. It wasn’t hard. She was nobody here. Bag and card retrieved, she made her way through the maze of corridors to her form room. She would have to sit there for no good reason and listen to her tutor drone on about the importance of success for an hour.
    Hugo and his mates were standing in the doorway, blocking it.
    â€œExcuse me,” she said, turning her body sideways to try and squeeze past.
    They ignored her and Hugo carried on talking.
    â€œOh my God, guys, the gash hunt on Friday was totally brutal. Those single-sex-school girls are, like, so grateful. I swear, I’m not even lying, this one girl came up to me and offered herself, just like that.”
    His friends laughed like a pack of hyenas and high-fived him.
    â€œSo, did you?” one asked. His face was far too red. Either from unfortunate genetics or overzealous fake guy-laughing. Bree thought his name might be Seth.
    Hugo raised an eyebrow. “A gentleman never tells.”
    â€œHa! And when have you ever been a gentleman?”
    â€œGood point, man. Good point.” Another high five. “Actually, nothing happened. I told the girl to get some self-respect and she started crying.”
    More laughter. Possibly-Seth looked like he was about to combust.
    â€œGreat party though, man,” the red-faced guy said, tears of laughter in his eyes. “I was so completely wasted. I swear to God I went literally blind for a while.” He looked round the circle, waiting for the laughter. It didn’t come.
    Hugo pulled a face. “Christ, Seth. You only had a few shots!”
    â€œNo I didn’t! I had most of a bottle of vodka. You just didn’t see. Probably too busy pushing away all that gash.”
    Hugo rolled his eyes. “Whatever, man.”
    Bree used the awkward silence to try and get past. She cleared her throat. “Excuse me.”
    Now all the boys’ eyes were on her.
    â€œWhat do you want?”
    â€œCan I just get by?”
    Hugo lifted his arms and stood back, creating the teensiest bit of space for her. The other boys followed suit, each not quite giving her enough room. She examined the gap, sighed inwardly, and sidestepped her way into the form room. The front of her body brushed against Hugo’s.
    â€œEww, stop rubbing up against me,” he said. “I don’t like getting touched up this early in the morning.”
    The boys burst into hysteria. Bree blushed for the second time that day and half-ran to her desk. Her legs twinged as she sat and pulled out her favourite notepad. She could feel her face burning and pulled some lanky strands of hair over her face to cover it.
    Stupid school. Stupid school. Stupid school.
    The thing was, though she was loathe to admit it, she couldn’t help but fancy Hugo. Ridiculous, she knew. Ludicrous. Fantastical. And also so, so wrong, considering he was such an arse arse ARSEhole. He basically stood for everything she hated about:
    a) Boys
    b) This school
    c) Life in general
    And yet he was so frustratingly good-looking and lived up to all the clichés that went with that. Captain of the school’s trophy-winning rugby team, complete player (though he proudly pronounced it “playa”), the absolute definition of alpha male thanks to his built, toned physique. He was a year older than them, after his parents pulled him from school for a year so he could live in Paris and get fluent in French. Oh – and his parents knew Mark Zuckerberg or someone. He was so wealthy he made everyone else at school look poor.
    Of course he and Jassmine had a turbulent on-off-on-off relationship. Even Bree knew every detail of the ongoing saga that was their “love”. Every update got broadcast round