Subject: Re: Haha
I’m glad you’re not BUM-med out about it.
J x
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Haha
I’m going to go have a drink. BOTTOMs up!
Danny
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Haha
ALL RIGHT, YOU’VE HAD YOUR FUN.
I’m going to spend the rest of the summer in the broom closet and never talk to you two ever again.
Good day to you!
Love, me xxx
PS I was VERY little when the bum-bum incident occurred.
PPS What time are you both coming over? Jess, since you left I’ve been teaching myself a new speech from Lord of the Rings and I want to try it out on you guys.
PPPS Dog is playing the part of Aragorn.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Quick note
Hey Anna,
I know we spoke on the phone just now but I forgot to ask . . . were you being serious yesterday when you said that you owned a Star Wars lightsaber?
I thought that came up in conversation last night but I may have made it up.
James xxx
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Quick note
Of course I don’t own a lightsaber!
Who do you think I am? Some kind of nerd?
xxx
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Quick note
You do, don’t you.
xxx
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Quick note
Maybe.
xxx
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Quick note
Just so you know, I intend to tease you about this for the rest of time.
xxx
PS Excited to see you next week.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Quick note
In which case, I will be teasing you for the rest of time about how you know all the words to “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”
Don’t deny it. I saw you singing along last night, Tyndale.
xxx
PS Me too.
PPS I’ll buy you a lightsaber too and we can fight!!
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: DON’T READ PREVIOUS E-MAIL MESSAGE
I would appreciate it if you could ignore that last PPS.
I just read it back and it sounds ridiculous.
xxx
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: DON’T READ PREVIOUS E-MAIL MESSAGE
I’ve printed it out to get it framed.
xxx
PS I already ordered a lightsaber online. Keep up, nerd.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Hey, sister!
Look, are you coming over soon?
Dad keeps telling me I look adorable in my Snoopy nightgown.
It’s freaking me out.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Hey, sister!
I’m setting off in a few minutes.
It’s because he just got married and he’s off on his honeymoon. He’s ridiculously happy. Leave him alone.
Marianne x
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Hey, sister!
I just sprayed him in the face with my water gun hoping to wake him from this dazed state and do you know what he did?
His eyebrows barely flinched and he laughed. HE LAUGHED.
I think you may be right. He really is happy.
Weird.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Hey, sister!
Well then, this is all brilliant evidence to present to Sophie next term.
We’re getting our happy ending after all.
M x
PS Am about to make my way through a horde of paparazzi. Have taken inspiration from your last e-mail. Am armed with a water gun. This should be good.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Hey, sister!
Who said anything about an ending?
xxx
PS See you on the other side.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A massive thank you to Lindsey Heaven, Lauren Clarke, Jo Hayes, Alice Hill, and the incredible teams at Egmont and Bell Lomax Moreton. Thanks to you, Anna’s story came alive and this writer’s dream came true. I will always be grateful to you for believing in Anna.
Big, big thank you to my amazing friends for the support, encouragement and all the laughs. You might have noticed a strong theme of friendship running through this series. That’s down to you lot. Thank you for the never-ending inspiration.
A very special thank you to my wonderful family for always being there cheering me on—you truly are the best family anyone could ever wish for and I will always look up to you.
My beautiful godson and nephew, Sam—your little smile got me through some pretty serious writer’s block. I can’t wait until you start reading and we can read together.
The character of Dog was created thanks to the combined genius of Badger, Amber, Dougal, Archie, and Lara Birchall. Loyal companions, keepers of secrets, true friends. If you have a dog, you’ll know what I mean.
Lastly, thank you to anyone who reads this book. I hope it makes you smile.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KATY BIRCHALL is the debut author of the It Girl series. She also works at Country Life magazine as their deputy features editor. Katy won the 24/7 Theatre Festival Award in 2011 for Most Promising New Comedy Writer with her very serious play about a ninja monkey at a dinner party. Her pet Labradors are the loves of her life, she is mildly obsessed with Jane Austen, and one day she hopes to wake up as an elf in the Lord of the Rings. She grew up in Essex and currently lives in Brixton.
ALADDIN
Simon & Schuster, New York
VISIT US AT SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Katy-Birchall
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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www.SimonandSchuster.com
This Aladdin hardcover edition January 2018
Text copyright © 2017 by Katy Birchall
Originally published in Great Britain in 2017 by Egmont UK Limited
Jacket illustration copyright © 2018 by Jamey Christoph
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Jacket designed by Laura Lyn DiSiena
Interior designed by Greg Stadnyk
The text of this book was set in Electra.
Library of Congress Control Number 2017954834
ISBN 978-1-4814-6368-3 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-6369-0 (eBook)
The It Girl in Rome Page 18