Dear Mya,

I've just made this new friend but i'm beggining to wonder if they're really my friend at all. They're constantly getting me into trouble and leading me anywhere apart from class. Before I met them, I had a perfect record and hardly ever got myself into trouble. How should I tell them that I want to focus on my work?

GoodGirlGoneBad

Mara thought to herself for a little while. This was her last email of the day and she wanted to make it good. She was sat on her bed, her laptop on her legs and a bowl of popcorn on her lap. This was how she spent most evenings, ever since Ms. Andrews had appointed her this role for the school newspaper.

Taking some popcorn in her mouth, she resumed typing.

Dear GoodGirl,

It sounds to me as if this friend isn't really a friend at all. I suggest that you tell them that you want to remain friends but want to leave some time for homework and things. That school is a priority. I'm sure that they will understand, if not, well, you have other friends don't you?

Mya.

She smiled, happy with her work and shut the laptop. She looked around the room, desperate for something to do. If it were last term, she would've just talked with Patricia or Amber and Joy. But that changed when Nina came and when Joy disappeared.

Mara didn't hate Nina, she was just jealous. Since she was here, she hadn't spoken to Amber or Fabian nearly as much she used to. She at least had Patricia, at the beginning, even if she was obsessed with Joy's absence. But somehow, Nina had managed to rope Patricia into her gang, rendering Mara completely alone.

That was until Alfie was sucked into their club, consequently abandoning Jerome. Mara smiled as she remembered the first day that she had spent with him. He had caught up with her in the corroder- both alone- and asked if she wanted to join his 'loner club'.

And for a little while, they enjoyed being loners together. Until, Mick came back. Everything was fine, she had her boyfriend back, or so she thought.

Turns out, she liked Jerome's company better than Mick's. Playing chess was more fun than listening to how Joel Bradburn had cheated in the last game. Soon enough, she found herself craving a conversation with someone just a little smarter than him. She missed talking to Jerome or even the complete silence that they sat through during a riveting chess game.

At first, Mara couldn't beleive that she had found someone good enough to play against, someone that even knew the rules of the game. Then, she couldn't believe that someone had beaten her.

That smirk that made Mara's legs go weak and how he would be smug about it for the rest of the day.

Mara smiled at the memory and got up off of her bed. Going downstairs, she noticed how quiet the house was. Upon entering the kitchen, she saw that it was only Eddie, Jerome and Joy in the room.

"Where is everybody, this time?" she asked no one in particular. Eddie answered.

"Who knows, they're always sneaking around." he said, tossing an apple in the air and catching it. She she shrugged and went over to sit next to Joy- the only actual friend she had for the past few weeks.

She looked around and saw her friends glum faces.

"Why the long faces?" she said, pouring herself some orange juice. Joy gave her a look as if to say, 'don't act like you don't know'.

"Well," Jerome said, sitting at the opposite end of the table. "All of our friends have ditched us, they're sneaking around behind our backs and... we're out of milk." he put his feet up on the table and leaned back on the chair.

Mara rolled her eyes at the last one. Eddie came and sat in the middle and looked to Mars just as Joy had done moments ago.

"Come on, we don't need them." Mara encouraged them. "You don't even like Nina." she poked Joy's arm. "Or Amber."

"Yeah, but I like Fabian. And Patricia's my best friend, do you know how much we talk these days?" she raised her eyebrows. "Whenever she's lost something in our room or when she tells me to turn the lights off."

"Yeah, my own girlfriend spends more time with Alfie than she does with me." Eddie interjected.

"Well Alfie doesn't talk to me at all now. He's too busy with Amber." Jerome said Amber's name in a mocking tone. "And now I'm stuck here with you people."

The other three stared at him, obviously annoyed and offended.

"Except Mara." he added as an afterthought but then remembered where he was. "I'm just joking don't look at me like that."

Before anyone could say anything, Vera walked in, giving them a suspicious look. Mara looked down at her juice, not wanting to look into her eyes. Even though she didn't get suspended, she knew that Vera hadn't forgiven her for showing her up.

"Where are all the others?" she asked.

"They all left something at the school." Eddie lied. "They just went back to get it."

Mara and Joy nodded in agreement when she looked to them.

"Ok but they better be back before ten o' clock. " She nodded and left, back up to her room.

"Why are we helping them?" Jerome said once her footsteps had descended. "What have they ever done for us?"

"Alfie's your best friend." Joy reminded him.

"Mhmm." He rolled his eyes, not interested.

"I just want to know what they're doing." Eddie said through a mouthfull of food. "I'm sick of all the sneaking around, you know."

Joy nodded, "What if... we follow them. Then we'll know what they're hiding from us." she suggested. However, only Eddie was for the idea. Mara and Jerome disapproved.

"I don't care what they're doing." Jerome shrugged.

"Yeah, how about we just leave it. We have each other, we don't need them." Mara said. "They are not our only friends."

"Mara and I are already friends and her and Jerome are close." Mara blushed a little at Joy's words. "I'm sure we can all bond."

Both of the boys made a face. "Yeah, me and Jerry aren't exactly all that close." he gestured between himself and Jerome.

"That's why I said bonding." Joy rolled her eyes. "Let's all go out tomorrow after school. I know this small cafe a couple of streets away. We could all go there."

"I'm in." Mara smiled. "How about you two?"

"What do you say Jerry?"

Jerome looked to Mara and she gave him an encouraging smile. "Err, fine." he sighed.

"Great!" Mara got up. "Joy, we should get going to bed."

"Ok, i'm pretty tired." she said also getting up. "Night boys."

They all exchanged their 'good nights' and made their way to their rooms.

ASDFGHJKL

In the middle of the night, Mara was woken up by a notification sound coming from her laptop. She was s light sleeper and couldn't get back to sleep after she had woken so she sat up in bed. Curious as to what it was, she opened her laptop snd checked the tool bar.

One new message.

Confused by the senders choice in time to be writing, she opened it. It was a message for her Dear Mya column.

Dear Mya,

I love her. I have for years, I just don't know how to tell her. She used to be a close friend of mine but we drifted apart last year. I still talk to her her, and did recently, but she thinks that it's totally platonic. Should I tell her and if so, how? What if this messes up our friendship? Then I'll have no chance with her. Help, please.

Head over heels

Mara mentally 'aww'ed and studied the email. If she put the wrong answer, she could ruin this boy's chance at love. She dissected each part and finally decided that she would have to sleep on it. It was too important to just improvise.

She put the laptop away and went back under her covers, smiling slightly. She was honored that someone had trusted her with something like this. Normally, the questions were 'How do I get rid of spots?' or 'What do I do if I've been caught for bunking?'

What excited her the most was that it was someone in her school. Someone that she walked past in the corridors everyday. And the girl that he loved could be in her science class or had the locker across from her.

It could even be someone in her house. One of her friends.

Eventually, Mara fell asleep, still pondering over the email.

ASDFGHJKL

"Patricia, hurry up! I need to go to the toilet." Mara complained. She'd been waiting outside for at least ten minutes. She looked over to where Joy was sleeping soundly and decided that she looked too peaceful.

She crept over to her bed. Yelling 'wake up', she pulled her duvet off violently, Joy falling off of the bed in the process.

"What'd you do that for?" she yelled once she was fully awake. Mara fell on her bed laughing, unable to get the words out.

"I was bored." she managed. "Sorry... well not really."

Joy got up, still annoyed just as Patricia came out of the bathroom. She shot into there, pushing the girl out of the way. She stood in the door way, stuck her tongue out at Mara and slammed the door shut.

"Alright, I guess I deserved that." she chuckled and turned to Patricia who looked confused.

"So, are you going to walk to school with us?" Mara didn't expect her to, she just wanted to show her how many times that she'd stood her up.

"I would, but I've got to go somewhere really quick." she lied. "But I'll sit with you at lunch if you want."

It was an empty offer, Mara knew that. She probably had to meet up with the rest of them to discuss the oh so secret thing that they'd been hiding.

"No, that's ok." she said as Patricia smiled and left, not really hearing what Mara had just said.

"She's gone to her new best friends then?" Joy scoffed, closing the bathroom door behind her.

"Well we don't care, remember? We have each other. And Jerome. And Eddie. We're fine without her." Mara said, trying to convince herself aswell as Joy.

"Great, now hurry up or we'll be late for school." Joy shooed her into the toilet.

Brushing her teeth, Mara was still thinking about the email. She'd just about decided how to reply to it and was planning on doing it at break.

For now, she finished getting ready and joined Joy in going down to breakfast. They entered the dining room where only Jerome and Eddie sat, wrestling with forks.

"Hello ladies." Eddie greeted in a terrible British accent.

They both laughed and sat down. Mara next to Jerome, Joy next to Eddie. Jerome gave her a small smile as she sat down and Mara returned it, blushing a little.

"So, are we going to that cafe after school?" he asked Joy.

"Yeah, if you all want to." she said after a spoonful of cereal. "It's not very well known so there won't be many people there."

Eddie was about to say something but was interrupted by Vera.

"You four better get along to school otherwise you'll be late. Come on now." she lead them out of the door and slammed the door shut after. They all stared at each other.

"I didn't even have my breakfast." Mara pouted. They laughed at her.

"That lady is beyond crazy." Eddie said, fixing his hair.

And they carried on insulting Vera the whole way to school.

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