you don't know me

fifteen minutes: part 1

It's funny how fifteen minutes can change your life.

Sometimes people ask me: would you do it again, knowing what happened? I've thought about it a lot and I suppose the answer is yes, despite everything.

Fifteen minutes can be golden. They're all you need to make something beautiful, or save from disaster. They can also be black. Either way, fifteen minutes is all it takes to find out who you really are.

We were in rose's bedroom, at the end of the summer holiday. I was sitting on her window seat, watching a combine harvester in the fields outside and idly scrolling through celebrity news websites on the phone my dad had just given me.

School was about to start: GCSE year, whrre everything really matters and teachers keep asking you what you want to do with your life. These were our last few minutes of peace.

Well, relative peace, anyway. As peaceful as you can get when one girl - Rose - was making up a mournful tune on the guitar, another girl - Jodie - was moaning about her ex-boyfriend and a third one - Nell - was trying to calm her down.

' He's evil and I hate him with a passion, ' Jodie announced, slumping against the wall next to me with an angry scowl.

' Well, not evil exactly, ' Nell pointed out. Nell is calm yin to Jodie's ranty yang. Together they make a normal girl. ' i mean, he only changed his status on interface. '   ' in public! ' Jodie  complained. ' without consulting  me! Just because i was going to france. He said he wasn't sure he could maintain a long-distance relationship. It was TWO WEEKS. Kyle Stanley is a scumbag and that's all there is to it. '

It was our first time back together after weeks away. I'd been visiting my dad in America.