“I’m so sorry.” Ayla set her lunch tray opposite Peggy sliding onto the bench with a grace which Peggy never mastered. “I can’t believe you have to be with them for the fashion show.” 

She jerks her head to where Attis is sitting in the corner of the dining room, headphones in as he scowls at anyone who walks past. 

“At least Attis is hot.” Giggles Chloe as she sits next to Peggy. “Vivenne is just a freak.” 

“I can’t believe it would happen to you Peggy, that sort of thing always happens to me.” Bella dropped her tray swinging her thin arms around as she sat. “You're so lucky Peggy, you never normally have bad luck.” 

“I’ll still get to do the fashion show-”

“But imagine how your outfits will look with those two in your group.” Alya snorted, opening her yoghurt. “You worked so hard on your instagram over summer knitting all those cute little things for your dogs. You don’t want to be associated with people like them. If I were you, I’d have my mum complain to the school.”

“They’ve not done anything yet-”

“Just say Vivienne flipped you off and you refuse to work in a hostile work environment. Or that Attis scares you. Everyone knows about his dad, they’d believe you-”

“I’m not lying and getting them in trouble.” She’s surrounded by mud, it’s slowly sucking her down with each of their gazes and she can’t swim to the top. 

All their stares, all their comments. She’s not used to being the centre of attention, she’s used to being the one commenting on Alya’s new outfit, or Bella’s latest love tragedy, or Chloe’s latest Tik Tok. She’s the supportive friend, the mum friend, the sidekick. The attention is not supposed to be on her. 

“They are always in trouble anyway.” 

“And if I lie, then how am I better than them?” What if she did lie and Vivienne found out? 

Peggy heard she posted a frog heart to Mr Tort after he made her take her nose ring out last year. Slept with Clover Natwich’s boyfriend after Clover beat her for captain of the hockey team. Skipped a month of school last year running from the police after she nicked Harry Muntmorth’s laptop because he got her a detention for smoking in the loos. 

The last thing Peggy wanted was to be on Vivienne’s hit list. 

“Hi girls.” Dom, a guy whose entire personality revolved around the fact he liked football and beer, stood at the end of their table. Predictably, he wore a football shirt and had his gaggle of friends waiting a few paces behind him. 

“Hi Dom,” Bella smiled, twisting a lock of her auburn hair. She’d briefly entertained the thought of dating Dom last year after he bought her a pack of Maltesers for Secret Santa. “What can we do for ya?” 

“I had a question for Peggy.” He shuffled, glancing over his shoulder at his mates who remarkably all shared the same buttchin as him. 

Choking on her food, Peggy dropped her food and looked up at him. 

“Me? What do you want to speak to me for?”

“Well I heard you're in a group project with First Time Vivienne and I was wondering if you could put in a good word for me?” He rubbed the back of his neck with a smile. “I mean it couldn’t hurt and she’s so fit-”

“Walk away.” 

He turned, revealing the stunning purple hair of Vivienne Stock. She held his gaze for a long second. Peggy held her breath.

Chuckling, Dom shook his head and began meandering away. 

“Probably would have caught something if I slept with you anyway.” 

“Hopefully it would have been brain cells.” Vivienne took Dom’s place, swiping Peggy’s phone off the table before she could react. 

“Hey, give that back!” Squawking, Peggy stood trying to reach for her phone, but Vivienne twisted out of the way. 

“You can’t steal her phone, we’ll call the police.” Alya stood as well trying to grab the phone. All Peggy could think was she hadn’t backed up the latest pictures of Muffins in his new outfit. 

“Relax Peg, I’m not stealing anything I was putting my number in.” She handed Peggy the phone, somehow she’d unlocked and created a new contact already. “I am not messing around with this project. I am winning that money.”