Q and A with Holly and Joe from BY ANY OTHER NAME
1.
So first impressions, how important are they?
Holly: In general, very, I think.
But obviously you can get it really, really wrong. It came as quite a big
surprise to me that you can find a boy attractive for a while but actually a
bit further down the line, there’s just nothing there. Not even like it fizzles
out – just that you were wrong and there wasn’t anything to start off with.
Joe: Don’t know, to be honest. I
would have said very important but like Holly says, you can get it wrong. I
suppose you should take your time to get to know someone and not leap to
conclusions too quickly.
2.
City or village life – which would you pick?
Holly: You know, ‘village’ has
sort of grown on me. There are good things and bad things about it. I still
don’t like that part where everyone is into everyone else’s business, or how
petty some of the people in school are. But people smile at each other in the
street. When you go to the shop, you pretty much always see someone you know,
and that’s okay. But I miss the city too – especially the shops. Best thing, I
think – live close enough to a big city so you can just get on the train and
escape whenever you want.
Joe: Village! I couldn’t do with
being caged in by concrete and steel.
(He shudders.)
Holly: It is very pretty too. I
forgot that part. I think I’d miss that now…Joe would probably miss the cows! I
swear his entire family is obsessed by them.
3.
What’s each other’s worst habit?
Joe: Holly is really judgemental.
She likes to classify people in her head and box them off in little
compartments. Like a kind of mental OCD – she has to be able to attach labels
to people.
Holly: That is not true!
Joe: (laughing) It is! You have
got better. You’re not as snobby about it now but you still do it, even if it’s
nice labels.
Holly: (glaring) He’s moody. And
if he’s in a sulk, he blows up easily.
Joe: (smiling) She’s absolutely
right about that.
Holly: (glaring even harder) Also
he likes winding people up!
4.
And each other’s best trait?
Joe: She’s a fighter. Never takes
anything lying down.
Holly: He’s uber loyal.
5.
You can tell a lot about a person from their favourite
cake. What’s yours?
Holly: Ooh, well, I like chocolate
– who doesn’t? And carrot cake can be amazing but sometimes it’s very
disappointing too depending on where you get it. And coffee and walnut is like
that too – can be sickly if there’s too much coffee buttercream. So actually in
the end I think fruit cake because even bad fruit cake is good whereas if the
others are bad they are a bit puke-inducing.
Joe: (shrugs) I just eat it –
it’s all good.
Holly: You need to understand he
is like a human hoover. Food appears and he practically inhales it.
Joe: I like that stuff from the
bakery that Katie is into. That’s extra good. What’s it called?
Holly: Battenburg. It’s her new
thing. She likes sectioning out the yellow and pink squares to eat them
separately. And peeling off the marzipan from round the outside.
6.
To finish up, what’s the most romantic thing you’ve
ever done?
(Joe goes bright red.)
Holly: He won’t tell you. He’ll
do romantic stuff but he won’t ever talk about it to other people. Which is
fair enough because if Matt found out, he would never, ever hear the last of
it!
Joe, what’s the most romantic
thing Holly’s ever done for you?
Joe: Covering for me on that
question!
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