Toxic
Page 21
‘You guys want Pringles?’ he asks now, removing his face from the gap to stick the tube through, his head appearing above the seat. ‘They’re smoky bacon, so basically breakfast-flavoured.’
‘Yeah, all right.’ Hope leans forward to take a stack, but I’m too excited and nervous to eat. Lame as it might sound, this is my first real holiday – in my head at least. My parents took me to visit my dad’s family in Singapore when I was a kid but I barely remember it, and since then it’s always been a long weekend in Devon or a trip up to Scotland to visit Grandma. I love all of that, but this feels different. This feels grown-up and real, and I’m so happy that I’m here with all of these people that I love.
‘You guys are gross.’ And there’s Logan, in the aisle seat next to Dev. Slightly queasy-looking like he always is first thing in the morning – remember? Grumpy because he fell asleep at the gate and had to be woken up by JB when boarding was called. But he’s smiling. He’s doing well. We’re all getting there.
‘Daisy, promise me I won’t have to sleep near any breakfast-crisp-eaters,’ Logan says now, looking towards me, and I laugh.
‘Says the man who ate a Mars Bar in the car on the way here.’
‘Two,’ Hope corrects me, pulling the duty-free catalogue out of the seat pocket in front of her.
The plane judders backwards and starts to turn away from the terminal, the runway unspooling in front of us. ‘And we’re off!’ JB says, claiming a handful of Pringles for himself. ‘Ibiza, here we come!’
Logan grins at me, and I smile back.
We’re all getting there.
Acknowledgements
Firstly, a huge thank you to Cathryn Summerhayes, who has worked with me on five books now and who has been a complete rockstar every step of the way. Thank you for your endless support and enthusiasm, for championing me, being on my side and making me laugh – truly, I owe you many drinks and all of the cake.
Thank you too to Siobhan O’Neill, who has also been so supportive throughout the writing and publication of this novel.
And to Emma Matthewson, Jane Harris, Tina Mories and Talya Baker at Bonnier – it’s been wonderful to see your enthusiasm for each cast of characters I’ve put in front of you and I’m really happy Hope, Logan and Daisy found a home with you too.
Hayley Richardson: you’re still the alpha beta, and I’ll never be able to cook you enough fancy dinners to say thanks for that.
And, as always, I’ve saved the two most important thank yous until last. To Margaret and Richard Cloke, for always being there, for always being incredible, for always reading my manuscripts when they could be enjoying the newest Robert Galbraith or Lee Child instead. You are amazing and I am so lucky to have you. And to Dan Cloke: top brother, fantastic flatmate, excellent friend and seemingly the owner of a well of limitless patience for my ridiculous plot-based questions (which have, over the last few years, covered UK gun law, police ranks, drinking games and football training grounds). He never just tells me to go away and google it (apart from that one time) and he quite rightly complained that he never gets an acknowledgement to himself. Well, here it is, pal. Thanks for being great.
Nicci Cloke
Nicci Cloke is a full-time writer, part-time doer of random jobs. These jobs have included Christmas Elf, cocktail waitress, and childminder. She is also the organiser and host of Speakeasy, the only London literary salon to host regular YA events. Her first YA novel, FOLLOW ME BACK, was published in 2016 and was nominated for the 2017 CILIP Carnegie Medal, longlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2017 and shortlisted for the Lancashire Book of the Year Award 2017. Her next YA novel is CLOSE YOUR EYES, published in 2017. TOXIC is her third novel for young adults. Her first adult novel SOMEDAY FIND ME was published by Fourth Estate in 2012 and her second LAY ME DOWN was published by Cape in 2014. Her most recent adult novel is THE TALL MAN. Follow Nicci on Twitter: @niccicloke.
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First published in Great Britain in 2018 by
HOT KEY BOOKS
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Copyright © Nicci Cloke, 2018
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The right of Nicci Cloke to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-4714-0659-1
This eBook was produced using Atomik ePublisher
Hot Key Books is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre Ltd,
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