Snowflake

by Louise Nealon

It’s the boy I never talked to who I miss the most. The fantasy of him stays inside the school walls, decaying like a memory mausoleum.

You can taste the sound of it in your mouth.’

He looks like he’s wandered out of an Elena Ferrante novel.

life and primary school spelling tests are both marked out of ten, although spelling tests are easier to gauge

Depression is like the 2.1 of mental illnesses and she’s not even giving that to me.

‘They’re all dicks. Self-absorbed dicks the lot of them. Apart from Kirk . . . and Lane.’

Never actually buy gin though. It’s a rip-off and makes you cry.

We both know it’s ridiculous but the script has to be followed.

Browsing in a bookshop is a lot like collecting shells on a beach on a really good day. I want all of them.