Age twelve, Mary Jane really liked horses. I mean, she loved them in quite a sick way. I won’t trouble you with the details.

Age thirteen, Mary Jane really liked a boy in her year called Jeremy. I imagine him as Jeremy Fisher by Beatrix Potter. Rubber galoshes. Dancing in puddles. Jeremy does notice her, and they do kiss, but then he goes cold, until the next time they kiss. It continues like this for several months until Mary Jane, after many pages of build-up, asks him to commit. He gives her a ring and that satisfies her, for a while.



Age fourteen, Mary Jane changes. There aren’t many diary entries. Those that are are plain inscrutable:

    January 14th
    Too too special to say.

    January 27th
    Long the long time.

    June 12th
    O Jacomo, O Jacomo.

    June 19th
    Moon-song.

    August 1st
    Flying…

    November 25th
    Hours…

All of these have asterisks next to them, and at the front of the diary it says ‘Asterisks for nights I went through’. There are no more mentions of Jeremy, although it’s possible that he turned into Jacomo overnight.