Fallen Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

almost seemed rude. ‘Look at Jaggers. He has death masks on his walls, and he’s not the most likeable or sympathetic character, but he thrives and prospers. Because he’s male. But Mrs Joe is also mean and hard, and she’s practically lobotomised into becoming a sweeter and more passive character. Because she’s female.’
     
    ‘Good,’ the tutor said, and bounced to the whiteboard. He scribbled down a block of unintelligible notes, and I frowned at the back of Dmitri’s head. I didn’t know what I had been expecting, but not something like that. I didn’t know why it was surprised me so much—it wasn’t as though every guy in the course was like Tariq. But I’d assumed that Dmitri would be like ( like Liam ) maybe more conservative, or—No, to be honest about it, I’d assumed that he would be an offensive jerk, and then I would be given solid justification for hating him.
     
    And then he came out with stuff like that, and now I felt really bad for being so prejudiced. God, it wasn’t my fault! He was a sylph, he had a mesmer, so it wasn’t like I was completely unfounded in not trusting him! And just because he said one sensible thing didn’t make him perfect.
     
    I scowled at my paper and wrote ‘gender imbalance re: Estella, Mrs H and Mrs Joe vs Jaggers. Biddie sucks.’
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Someone was knocking at my door. ‘Lizzie?’
     
    ‘Yeah?’ I popped out one earphone.
     
    ‘Can I come in?’
     
    ‘Uh, yeah.’ I shoved the packet of biscuits down under my covers.
     
    The door opened, and Laura came in. Her room was a few doors down from mine, and I knew her by sight. We said ‘hi’ if we passed each other, but not much more than that. She looked around my room interestedly. ‘Oh cool, Back to the Future ! Can I look at your Funkos?’
     
    ‘Uh, yeah, sure,’ I said.
     
    Laura went to the windowsill. She smiled and ran the tip of her finger along the sill. ‘I have the black and white Beatles set, and I’m working towards the full Supernatural cast.’
     
    I had thought Laura would be the last person to even know about Funko figures. She was always very primly dressed, lots of blouses and dresses with Peter Pan collars, and she always had perfect winged eyeliner, and her perpetually neat auburn hair was usually tied back with a ribbon. Very fashionable and, well, maybe not mainstream, but—oh god was this who I was now? Making snap judgements about people based on what they looked like and how they did their hair?
     
    I was a terrible person.
     
    ‘Would you like a biscuit?’ I asked.
     
    ‘Oh yes, thank you.’ She took a chocolate digestive and crunched it delicately. She didn’t leave any crumbs. ‘I was going to ask if you’d like to come out. A few of us from this floor are going to check out that club on campus, and I thought it would be nice, fun.’
     
    ‘Oh,’ I said.
     
    ‘You don’t have to come,’ she said quickly, ‘I was just asking, I thought it would be a bit mean if we all sailed out and didn’t even ask you if you wanted to come.’
     
    ‘Yeah, no, thanks,’ I said. ‘I will come.’ I’d taken off my makeup and was wearing my pyjama bottoms. ‘I just need to, uh, freshen up a little.’
     
    Laura laughed. ‘I’ll wait for you in the kitchen. I’m really glad you’re coming.’ She smiled, and it sounded like she was really sincere. ‘It feels like I still hardly know anyone here.’
     
    ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s all a bit of a madhouse.’
     
    She grinned. ‘That’s accurate.’ She went out, and I closed the lid of my laptop. For a moment I felt like calling after Laura and saying no, sorry, I wasn’t going to go out, I was going to stay inside and watch Doctor Who until my eyeballs shrivelled up. But, no, that wasn’t the way to move on.
     
    I slid out of bed and found a pair of jeans, then slapped on some concealer and navy eyeliner. I’d been trying to wear lipstick recently, but it wasn’t