Girl, Going on 17 Quotes

“Sit down," she said. She pushed the plate across the table towards him. The smell of the lemon was very alluring. Fred sat down, stirred his coffee, and looked at the cake with a kind of distant admiration.
"Can't quite manage the cake yet," he said. "Too terrified to eat."
"Terrified?" said Jess. "Of what?"
"Well, of you, of course. As you know cowardice is the bedrock of my character. It's taken me hours to summon up the courage to come here. I even had to have a vitamin C tablet.”
― Sue Limb, Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire

“(Flora) "No, Jess- it'll take hours. Just go and see Mr. Powell and fess up. It's the only way. Crawl and grovel and offer to do all sorts of remedial thingies. That's what I do with my dad. And do it with captivating feminine charm. That always works on Dad. I stroke his hair. It never fails."
"I can't stroke Mr. Powell's hair, for God's sake!" A horrible hallucination flashed through Jess's mind.”
― Sue Limb, Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire

“Jess went into the loo at the far end, locked herself in, sat down, and dropped her head into her hands. She imagined the sight that must have greeted Mr. Powell when he made his unexpected return to his office.
A huge brown stain on his carpet, plus several small red ones (from the pasta). Two socks, one containing pasta and one soaked with brown liquid, lying on the floor. Two shoes, probably smelly, just kicked off anywhere.”
― Sue Limb, Girl, Going on 17: Pants on Fire