Waking up in the pre-light of morning, I feel Lulu’s pain. I remember what it is to be rejected. And suddenly, I see Lulu in a different light. I see the kid who’s been away for five weeks, trying to hold on to things back home. I get what the security guard, Troy, at Peakes has been saying about Lulu. He says, ‘All she does is walk around on that phone. She doesn’t see anything or anybody. Just that phone.’

Sage words, Troy. I wish I could have stopped her.

I also remember wanting to be friends with boys at that age. Through Lulu, I see teenage girls are still being blamed for not being smart enough when relationships don’t work out. They’re told they aren’t cunning enough. They don’t string boys along enough. When what they’re doing is holding boys up to their own standards of friendship.

And since I’m Lulu’s parent, I guess this means I’m supposed to be both wise and cynical. Perhaps I should have been waiting for her teenage romance to end with this wise and cynical approach. Eyebrows raised, witty remark. That sort of thing.

To be honest though, I feel her sadness. It was the first of probably many romances to come, but it was sweet to watch them. They were good friends. It made Lulu happy. This alone felt like an achievement, since Lulu’s always been a worrier. Anxious. Hard to concentrate her mind. She’s brilliant too. Witty. Kind.

And definitely a good friend. To walk around for over a month on the phone, waiting to get out of school everyday so she could go off and FaceTime her boyfriend – she is definitely feeling the burn now. How is this kid going to cope without her FaceTime fix? We all know what it’s like to get obsessive about something… and then for it to suddenly end. Oh yeah. This is teenager-hood.