Girls in Love Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Copyright

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Praise for the Girls Series

  Girls in Love

  Nine Dedication

  Nine Major resolutions

  One Girl

  Nine Heroes and Heroines

  Two Best Friends

  Nine Wishes

  Three Boyfriends

  Nine Thing i Hate About School

  Four in the Family

  Nine Dreams

  Five Alive

  Nine Parties

  Six Letters

  Nine Unexpected Odd Facts

  Seventh Heaven

  Nine Favourites

  Eight till Late

  Nine Most Embarrasing

  999

  Nine Romantis Couples

  This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Epub ISBN: 9781407043005

  Version 1.0

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  GIRLS IN LOVE

  A CORGI BOOK 978 0 552 55733 7

  First published in Great Britain by

  Doubleday an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

  A Random House Group Company

  Doubleday edition published 1997

  First Corgi edition published 1998

  This Corgi edition published 2007

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  Copyright © Jacqueline Wilson, 1997

  Illustrations copyright © Nick Sharratt, 1997

  The right of Jacqueline Wilson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  The Random House Group Limited makes every effort to ensure that the papers used in its books are made from trees that have been legally sourced from well-managed and credibly certified forests. Our paper procurement policy can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/paper.htm

  Set in Bembo

  Corgi Books are published by Random House Children’s Books,

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  Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

  THE RANDOM HOUSE GROUP Limited Reg. No. 954009

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Printed and bound in Great Britain by Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

  It’s great when you have a best friend. It can be even better when you have two best friends. Ellie, Magda and Nadine are in Year Nine and they make a fantastic threesome. I invented them in the space of half an hour! I was staying at my daughter, Emma’s flat, and she was patiently teaching me how to use her computer. I am a total technophobe and a very slow learner. I found myself getting very upset and irritable as I struggled with her unfamiliar keyboard, making all sorts of silly mistakes.

  I decided to distract myself by making up a new story. I wanted to write about teenagers for a change. I typed Three girls on Emma’s computer. I thought about my first girl. I liked the name Ellie so I typed that too. I decided she would tell the story. I wanted her to be lively and creative and very good at art. I didn’t want her to be a super-girl with a fabulous figure and absolutely everything going for her. I decided she’d be an ordinary comfy girl size – so she’d worry a bit about getting fat. I gave her little round glasses and a lot of wild, curly dark hair. I liked her a lot.

  I felt that Ellie might have a weird, cool gothic girl as one of her friends. I found my fingers typing the name Nadine. She’d be into alternative music and wear black all the time and be much more daring than Ellie. She’d also be one of those irritating girls who could stuff Mars bars all day and still stay as thin as a pin.

  I wanted my third girl to be a bright, blonde, bubbly girl, full of fun. I called her Magda. I thought she’d be boy-mad, a little bit spoilt, but basically a great friend to Ellie and Nadine.

  There! I had my three girls sorted out by the time I’d typed a page. I found I’d mastered the new keyboard – and I was all set to start my story!

  There are four stories about Ellie, Magda and Nadine. The first is Girls in Love. Magda has a boyfriend, Nadine has a boyfriend – and Ellie wishes she has a boyfriend. She’s met a weird, geeky younger boy called Dan on holiday, so she says he’s her boyfriend, but she pretends he’s really this fantastic, gorgeous looking guy. Not a good idea . . .

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JACQUELINE WILSON is one of Britain’s most outstanding writers for young readers. She is the most borrowed author from British libraries and has sold over 25 million books in this country. As a child, she always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was nine, filling countless exercise books as she grew up. She started work at a publishing company and then went on to work as a journalist on Jackie magazine (which was named after her) before turning to writing fiction full-time.

  Jacqueline has been honoured with many of the UK’s top awards for children’s books, including the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award, the Smarties Prize, the Red House Book Award and the Children’s Book of the Year. She was awarded an OBE in 2002 and was the Children’s Laureate for 2005-2007.

  ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

  NICK SHARRATT knew from an early age that he wanted to use his drawing skills as his career, so he went to Manchester Polytechnic to do an Art Foundation course. He followed this up with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design at St. Martin’s School of Art in London from 1981–1984.

  Since graduating, Nick has been working full-time as an illustrator for children’s books, publishers and a wide range of magazines. His brilliant illustrations have brought to life many books, most notably the titles by Jacqueline Wilson.

  Nick also writes books as well as illustrating them.

  PRAISE FOR THE GIRLS SERIES:

  ‘This sequence . . . is far more believable and emotionally valid than other fiction of its ilk’

  Scotsman

  ‘Wilson has street cred and a sure touch for writing on contemporary subjects without patronising’

  Independent

  ‘The portrayal of the girls’ relationships and of their love lives is agonisingly accurate. No wonder girls cannot get enough of Jacqueline Wilson’

  Good Book Guide

  For Girls in Love:

  ‘An absolute must’ Daily Telegraph

  For Girls under Pressure:

  ‘As usual Wilson gets right inside her characters and their feelings, portraying them with understanding and sympathy . . . excellent and timely book’

  Kids Out Book of the Month

  For Girls out Late:

  ‘A surefire bestseller for everyone’ Bookseller

  For Girls in Tears:

  ‘An easy-going, humorous tale’ Publisher’s Weekly

  Stephanie Dummler and Year Nine Venus (1995), Coombe Girls School.

  Becky Heather and Year Nine Chestnut and Beech (1995), The Green School for Girls