Playlist for a Broken Heart by Cathy Hopkins Page B

and one almost worked but I wanted something of me to be in it as well. I was flipping through a magazine when I saw it. A painting of a girl, just about the right size for
a CD cover. It looked like she was floating in the air, her face upturned, her body falling away beneath her.
I’ll make a collage
, I thought.
That will work
.
    I ripped the page from the magazine into four strips. I put a photo of me down first then stuck strips of the ripped page on top like prison bars. Through the bars, she’d be able to see
part of me but not enough that she’d recognise me. I wanted her to listen to the tracks, get to know me and how I feel through them as well as relate to them herself. I also wanted her to
know that I am someone who knows she’s special. On the back of the CD case, I put a black-and-white photo of myself, silhouetted against the window, my face in shadow.
    I hoped she’d be intrigued.

Chapter Twelve
    ‘Alex Taylor said to say hi,’ said Allegra when we had our Skype catch-up later that evening. Tasmin had gone over to Clover’s house so I’d been left on
my own again. I could have gone with her but I wanted to talk to Allegra and then start my search for the mystery boy by looking on the internet for some of the bands on the
Songs for
Sarah
playlist. I couldn’t stop thinking about the music and the boy who had made it because, as well as the tracks expressing how I’d been feeling lately, I got this strange
sensation that I was meant to find the CD. I’m not normally fatalistic. I believe you have to make things happen in your life but I felt it was somehow meant for me.
    ‘Paige, are you listening?’ said Allegra.
    ‘Yes. Wow. Alex Taylor? To me?’ I felt my heart flutter at the mention of his name.
    ‘Yeah, course to you, dummy. And there’s more. He said he has a cousin or some relative near Bath and maybe you could meet up next time he’s there.’ Allegra grinned out
at me from the screen.
    All thoughts about the CD melted away in the light of this news. ‘Me? No way!’ Alex here in Bath? That would be amazing. ‘He did say something about having lived here before
London and that he sometimes comes back but I didn’t think he really meant it.’ My mind was off already imagining his visit. I could meet him in Society Café that Tasmin had
shown me in Kingsmead Square.
    ‘Good hey? I think he’s interested because he asked a bit about you – how you’re getting on down here and stuff. I’ve been asking around about him too and he is
currently unattached.’
    ‘But he must have a million girls after him.’
    ‘So? Doesn’t mean he didn’t notice you. You’re a very striking girl.’ Allegra said the last sentence in the posh voice of her mother. Course my doubt about Alex
being interested in me set Allegra off on one of her ‘have more confidence in yourself’ lectures. Allegra was always Miss Popular with the boys. Not me though, which is why I lack
confidence. My boy experience was zilch apart from the time Simon Martin got drunk at a Christmas party and tried to snog me in the conservatory. It was disgusting. His breath was sour from beer
and he threw up over a pot plant five minutes later. It was my first kiss – not exactly the stuff of romance to cherish forever. Secretly I felt anxious about kissing and wondered if
I’d be any good at it when I met someone I actually liked.
    I felt on a high when I ended the call with Allegra. Alex Taylor maybe coming to Bath and he wants to meet up with me! I went on to Facebook to remind myself of his handsome face.
Ohmigod
, I thought as I found my page. There was a friend request from him. I quickly clicked confirm and, moments later, I was able to look at his page and his photos. Album after album:
his skiing holiday; him by a pool with a bunch of mates, loads of him with various girls. Just scrolling through them brought back all the feelings I had for him. He was The One. I was sure of
it.
    The only part of his