Rose Tyler liked older men.
In Jericho St.'s Grade Three class, all the girls played Kiss Tag, and the boys retreated to the muddiest corner of the field, abandoning week-long football tournaments. But when the fifth-grade boys saw Rose coming, they scrambled to the library with extra-credit science projects.
When she was twelve, Rose had a crush on Shareen's older brother Mike, and she took up woodwork to impress him. (When he uttered the fateful "Girls can't be carpenters," she threw a hammer at him. He needed eleven stitches.)
At fourteen, Rose followed Mickey Smith around after school, and hid in the back of his car when he took his girlfriends on dates. It became a point of pride to her that she knew exactly how Mickey Smith liked to be kissed.
Sixteen years old, and she dropped out of school to live with Jimmy Stone, whose band sang songs that were censored on the community radio station. What did a girl need with A-levels, when she was dating a bad-boy twenty-year-old? Three months later she learned the answer: eight hundred pounds and a decent job. She began working at Hendrik's to pay off the outstanding rent.
It surprised her when Mickey Smith sat next to her at the pub and asked her out over a beer. It seemed he had forgotten about her fourteen-year-old exploits. She didn't remind him.
She did, however, remember how he liked to be kissed.
When a gorgeous alien in a blue box asked her twice to travel the stars with him, she grabbed the chance with both hands, determined to never let go. But he slipped from her fingers, leaving her twice stranded on a cold beach in Norway.