"And then she leans over to her friend and says, 'Can you believe that?'"

As I pour out my tale of woe to Suze, she listens and nods sympathetically. I've made it through my first day and now the two of us are walking to the bus stop.

"Welcome to Oxshott Prep," she says with a sigh. "You know you're part of this school when you've had your first encounter with Alicia."

I grimace. "And you know, the worst thing is I can't even complain about it to one of the teachers or Mr Smeath. I mean, it's not like she said anything really bad."

I pause and turn to Suze hopefully. "In fact, maybe she didn't mean anything by it at all! Maybe it wasn't even an insult. I could just be making a big deal out of nothing!"

Suze shakes her head grimly. "Sorry to break it to you, Becky," she says gently. "But if it's coming out of Alicia's mouth, trust me - it's an insult."

"Oh," I say forlornly. My hopes of not having made a fool out of myself in my first maths class on my first day here have been dashed.

"Cheer up," Suze coaxes. "I know the perfect cure for the experience you've just had."

She holds out her hand and hails a taxi, which immediately pulls over and waits at the kerb.

I look at her questioningly. "Aren't we supposed to be taking the bus home?"

"We can do that later," Suze says dismissively. "Like I said, there's only one cure for the kind of experience you've just had, and that's shopping!"

I gawk at her stupidly as she gets into the taxi and says to the driver, "TopShop, please."

Then she turns around and sees me with my feet still glued to the sidewalk.

"Becky, are you coming?"

I hesitate. My mind is too busy ticking through all the excuses that I should give Suze for why I shouldn't go with her.

I mean, I just went shopping yesterday. I'm already worrying about how much I've run up on Dad's credit cards. Mum and Dad are probably expecting me home early. I have heaps of homework to do.

But then again, it's TopShop...

I can't help thinking about the gorgeous emerald-green shift dress that I saw the last time I was in there. It's probably on sale by now. And that black pencil skirt on the cover of their latest catalogue was just adorable. I'd love to try it on...

I bite my lip. My resistance is melting.

"Come on, girl, I ain't got time to wait around all day," grumbles the taxi driver.

Suze frowns slightly. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes... I mean, no," I say with a sigh. "I mean, I shouldn't really be going shopping. I'm broke and I can't really afford to go out at the moment."

Suze looks relieved. "Oh, is that all? Don't worry! I can buy whatever you want and you just pay me back when you can."

I hesitate. I'm not used to owing people money. People outside my family, anyway.

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure!" Suze says gaily. She pulls out her wallet (Louis Vuitton) and shows me her gold credit card.

Well, I don't need any further convincing. I get in the taxi.

XX

Three and a half hours later, I'm finally home. I sneak in rather guiltily through the back door, loaded with shopping bags.

"Is that you, Becky?" Mum calls. "Do you want something to eat, love?"

"No, I had a pizza with Suze," I call back.

"Oh, that's nice that you've made a friend," Mum says happily. "She seems like a lovely girl."

"Yeah, she is!" I call back, as I quickly head to my bedroom and lock the door behind me.

I look at the pile of shopping bags on my bed. I hadn't realised just how much I had bought.

I hadn't wanted to take advantage of Suze's generosity, but she had been very persuasive.

As usual, I start unpacking my new purchases immediately – cutting off the price tags and mentally converting them into Mum prices. If my parents knew how much my brand-new silver stilettos really cost, they'd have simultaneous heart attacks.

As I gaze lovingly at the stilettos, I suddenly feel stricken. I must now owe Suze a lot of money. And while she doesn't seem to care about when I pay her back, I will have to pay her back eventually.

Just how much do I owe her, anyway? I wonder. Luckily I always keep my receipts.

Armed with a calculator, a notebook and a pink glittery pen (I knew that buying that package of pink glittery pens would come in useful one day!), I begin to total up my spending.

And when the final amount appears on the screen of my calculator, I gawk in astonishment. That can't be right. I can't owe Suze that much money!

I begin to add up the costs again, frantically punching sums into the calculator. And when I check the final amount again, I realise that I was right. I don't owe Suze that much money. I owe her ten pounds more.

I gulp. It's a big debt to have accumulated in only three hours of shopping. How will I ever afford to pay Suze back? It would probably be easier to just give her my firstborn son.

I know that if I told Mum and Dad, they'd do the best they could to help out. But with Dad already having to pay off some pretty exorbitant credit card bills, I'm just not sure that he and Mum would be able to help with this too. And to be honest, I don't think I could stand seeing the disappointment in his eyes when he finds out his only daughter has run up such a big debt.

I could just return the clothes, I realise. Then I can get the money back and give it to Suze. It'll be alright. I'll just return the clothes tomorrow.

I can't help mournfully stroking the soft satiny material of my new violet dress. No! Not my new violet dress. It's not going to be mine anymore.

Sadly, I return the clothes and shoes to their shopping bags and then stash them in my closet, so that I won't have to look at them. I'll take them back tomorrow.

XX

My second day at Oxshott Prep is definitely a lot easier than the first. Having Suze as an ally and staunch friend definitely helps. She makes a point of introducing me to all of her friends, gives me tips on what to expect from various teachers and takes me to the oval during lunch period, so that we can spy on the cute boys playing football.

One guy in particular catches my attention. Tall and broad-shouldered with dark hair and penetrating dark eyes, he's the cutest of the lot.

"Who's he?" I say to Suze with a nudge. She glances at the boy I'm subtly nodding towards and frowns instantly.

"His name is Luke Brandon," she says. "But don't get any ideas about him, Becky. Alicia's made it pretty clear that she wants him and whatever Alicia wants, she usually gets."

It's my turn to frown. "So are he and Alicia actually going out or anything?"

"It's hard to say," Suze replies thoughtfully. "He'll escort her to dances and other events every now and again, but they don't seem to be officially dating. Not for lack of trying on her part, though."

I take another sip of my water. "Well, correct me if I'm wrong here, but if they're not dating, doesn't that mean Luke is available?"

Suze snorts. "I wouldn't cross Alicia, if I were you. If she can't have Luke, she'll make sure no-one can. Did I ever tell you what she did to..."

But I tune out and miss hearing the rest of Suze's story. I'm too busy daydreaming.

Rebecca and Luke.

Mrs Rebecca Brandon.

Mrs Rebecca Bloomwood-Brandon.

Mrs Luke Brandon.

Mr and Mrs Luke Brandon.

Mrs Becky Brandon.

Perfect.

XX

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who took the time to review the first chapter and encouraged me to continue this! It's always nerve-racking to be starting a new story in a new fandom – you just don't know what the response will be like and whether people will enjoy what you're writing or not. So I was really delighted to hear your positive comments!

Hope that you enjoy this chapter too. If you're still reading this, I'd love to hear from you! =)