The plastic hitting the arm of the sofa made a dull thwacking sound. Anna sighed.

'How the bloody Hell do I get this thing to turn on?' She'd ignored Greta's presence and had pretended that, when Greta had gone into the kitchen to have 'a catch-up' with Hope, she had no reason to believe that they would be talking about her. Anna squeezed the phone in her hand. She HAD plugged in to charge just in case, she couldn't remember the last time she'd used it. She shut her eyes tight and her grip grew rapidly stronger, then the phone bleeped and the screen lit up. 'Success!' Anna jumped up from the sofa before wondering why she was so pleased with herself. 'It's not like you're going to be meeting up with this kid anyway.'

The sound of cups clinking from the kitchen was annoying to Anna. She composed a text out of boredom.

'Hey Pearl it's Anna. You got my number now!' It took her while but she found herself adding Pearl's number to the recipients list. Greta opened the door; for once Anna had been so distracted that she hadn't heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway. She jumped, her hand slipped, the message was sent.

'Damn it!'

'Anna!'

'He-llo.'

'You sound cheerful!'

'No, more surprised actually, you see, you gave me a fright and I sent this text I didn't mean to send and-yeah.'

'Make any friends?'

'I talked to this girl. Does that count?'

'It's a start.' Greta smiled and behind her Hope came through the door.

'Dinner in twenty minutes, Anna.'

'I'll leave you in peace, then.'

'Oh, Greta, thank you so much for stopping by, Anna will you see her out please?'

'Thank you, Anna.' Greta said as she opened the door. 'It's good to see you did get on okay today.'

'Mm.'

'I'll see you soon, then. Have a good rest of the week, not long until the weekend!'

'It's only Tuesday.' Anna struggled to hide the tone of confusion and exasperation.

Greta laughed.

'Always cynical. Goodbye, Anna!'

Anna said nothing and made her way back to the living room. She was hungry. She sighed at the thought of sitting through yet another meal that she knew she wouldn't eat. Resting her head against the back of the sofa, she felt the seat begin to vibrate. She shoved her hand down the gap between one seat and another and retrieved her phone. She had a message.

'Yay! Do u want to meet me somewhere before school 2morrow? U should b/c Brook will have it in for u! Txt me x'

Anna smirked. What was she scared of this Brook for anyway? It was obviously more Pearl's fear of walking into school alone than Anna's that made her agree.

'Sure. Meet me…' Anna paused, and then thought, with a pang, of the only place both of them would be able to get to easily that was on their route to school. '…at the top of Fleet St. By the phone box. 8:15?'

'Yeah. C u then! '

'Anna, dinner!'

Her hunger returned. No skipping going out in favour of watching television tonight or ever again so long as she was at a school. Anna sighed.

'This sucks!'