Am I Normal Yet? Read Online Free PDF Page A

stoners. I wrapped my leather jacket around myself as the now cold air hit me, letting my eyes adjust to the dark. A group passed a dubious-looking cigarette around in a tight circle, arguing loudly about retro children’s TV programmes. Past them, I saw two figures sitting under an ivy-covered gazebo.
    Lottie and Amber.
    I grinned and walked over, trying not to twist my ankle in the gravel. “Hey again,” I said, sitting next to them on the bench.
    â€œHey,” Lottie said, moving over to make room. “Where’s Ethan?”
    I let out a big sigh. “He’s gone missing.”
    â€œSeriously? You can’t find him?”
    â€œNope. I left him with Jane when I went to the kitchen but when I came back he’d disappeared.”
    Lottie rolled her eyes, putting a cigarette between her lips and lighting it. “Let me guess, she was too busy sacrificing her entire being onto the altar of Joel to do anything else?”
    I let out a giggle, immediately feeling guilty for being bitchy. Lottie’d never been one to mince her words.
    â€œHow do you know her?” I asked.
    â€œShe and Joel are in my philosophy class. She was pretty cool at first. Then, well…within a week she’d got with Joel. How do you know her?”
    â€œWe’re best friends…” I sounded like a child. “Well, maybe, we were in secondary school. She is a little…in love, I guess.”
    â€œIn love?” Lottie passed her lighter to Amber who also had a fag hanging out the side of her mouth. “She’s in love with herself.”
    â€œLottie…”
    â€œAhh, come on, it’s true. All she ever talks about is herself. Or Joel. I didn’t even know you were friends, she’s never mentioned you.”
    That hurt, but then I thought of Jane’s hand in mine, clutching it reassuringly, as I bawled in the school toilets after having a panic attack in assembly.
    â€œShe’s been a good friend…” I awkwardly tried to change the subject. “I didn’t know you smoked?”
    Lottie looked at her cigarette like she’d only just noticed it. “I don’t usually. We’ve started tonight, haven’t we, Amber?” She bumped her tall friend.
    Amber took a shaky puff, coughed, then looked at me. “So where do you think your date’s gone then?”
    I sighed. “I don’t know. The whole night’s a mess. He’s obviously not interested.”
    Amber exhaled, blowing a clumsy plume of smoke into the night. “I bet he only got so drunk because he’s nervous. Have you looked upstairs?” she asked.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen go upstairs, find him, and suck his stubble off.”
    â€œEww. But thank you.”
    I left them to their cigarettes. Inside, the stairs were littered with clumps of people as I picked my way upwards, shouting “sorry”. Music shook the walls and my eardrums thrummed in time to the beat.
    I tried a door.
    Bathroom. With a puddle of vom next to the loo. Grim.
    Good thought
    But you saw some sick and you didn’t freak out, did you, Evie?
    I tried a couple more doors but no joy. The last door was Anna’s bedroom – strictly out of bounds – she’d been yelling at anyone climbing the stairs, “Don’t anyone shag in my bed.”
    But she hadn’t forbidden anyone curling up in there in a drunken ball to pass out – like I reckoned Ethan had done.
    I rattled the door handle and turned it. It was dark.
    There were noises. Sex noises.
    â€œGod, sorry,” I mumbled, blushing as I realized what I’d interrupted.
    Light fell over the half-naked entwined couple.
    Ethan’s face emerged from behind Anna’s hair.
    So she was allowed to shag in her bed… It made sense I guess.
    I turned and left.
    How it began
    On. Our. First. Date.
    On. Our. First. Date.
    â€œOn. Our. First. Date.”
    â€œI know, honey,” Lottie said in a