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for a living?”
    “I hope so.” He scrapes his blond hair back with his fingers. “Though I’ll probably have to work a crappy commercial job to support it, you know?”
    Claire nods, although she doesn’t really know anything about photography. “What do you take photos of? Body parts?”
    “No, that was for class. We’re working on form. I like taking pictures of people.” He sips his beer. “Whole people. What about you? What are you going to do?”
    Claire tips her head back and sighs. “I just spent the day with my mother, and that was the subject du jour . Please don’t ask me that. Something easier,” she begs.
    “Okay.” He laughs. “Let’s start small then. Star sign?”

CHAPTER 6
    Bored, Claire fades out of the conversation. Instead, she stares out the window of the university café and watches the world shuffle by. She stifles a yawn and hopes this will be over soon. The catch-up lunches Michelle organises are becoming less and less fun.
    Claire already knows she needs a life plan. As a matter of urgency. Now she is also starting to think she might need some new friends too.
    “Hel-lo? Claire?”
    “What?” She’s yanked back to the table and to her three friends staring at her.
    “Where did you go?” Michelle asks.
    “We were asking why you quit working at that bar in the city?” Kate checks her teeth with her phone’s camera.
    “I don’t know.” Claire shrugs. “Mostly because the boss was evil, among other things.”
    “Oh.” Kerry frowns. “Pity. Now we can’t get on the door list anymore.”
    Claire shoots her a look. “So I should stay in a crappy job just so you can get discounted drinks, should I?” She throws her napkin onto her empty plate.
    Kerry, suitably contrite, shakes her head and looks down at her plate. “Of course not, I just—”
    “Hey, how great was that place where Tara had her drinks the other night?” Michelle cuts in with a change of subject, always the one to defuse any tension. “I loved it.”
    “Me too.” Kerry’s eyes brighten. “I loved…”
    Claire stops listening again as Kerry pipes up. Why should she listen? She wasn’t even there. She was at work. As usual. She pushes her plate away and looks around the room, bored again.
    This is exactly why she hardly ever bothers to meet them anymore even though they continue to invite her. All they talk about is what they did last night or about their mutual friends. And Claire was fine with that in high school, when she actually did the same things as them, but now…
    If she wasn’t so bored with the idea of going to clubs with them, she’d probably feel left out. The other three are doing the same course in business and majoring in tourism—mostly because Kate and Kerry are such freaking sheep they wouldn’t know what they wanted without Michelle. Even now, in their second year, they still take nearly all the same courses.
    She watches them talk but can’t bring herself to tune back in. She won’t know who or what they’re talking about anyway. They have less in common all the time. The fact that Claire studies something else is just one more wedge between them. Last year, when Brendan still came home on the weekends and Claire didn’t work as much, they all saw each other more, clinging to old high school social formations. Now, with the list of things they have in common shrinking by the moment, there’s not much left. They stubbornly hold on to each other for the sake of a shared history, but one that is undermined by a growing, mutual disinterest.
    Claire knows she shouldn’t be surprised. Not if she really thinks about it. Their friendship in high school was created around their shared schedules and similar social rankings. Of all them, Claire only genuinely likes Michelle. Their friendship consolidated in the last years of high school when they started going out with Brendan and Jack who are best friends. Michelle is nice and smart and funny, and sometimes, when they’re