Everyone thinks they know who I am - ditzy Sarah, who cares more about appearances than she does about anything real. And yeah, I do care about what people think of me.

Take my friends Alex and Rachel. We all go to Strandbrook College, Dublin. We're supposed to be best friends. But Alex and Rachel - they're really close. They tell each other things that they would never tell me. I try not to mind.

And then there's Simon. He's my sort-of boyfriend but we hardly see each other. And when we do, I feel like he doesn't really 'see' me, you know?

Everything's such a mess right now. My dad left us to be with Her; my mum is really angry all the time; and my brother Louis, he just doesn't care.

I guess that's why the shoplifting started. It makes me feel good. In control.

I just want everything to change. And it does. The day I got caught . . .

This book features in the following series: Butterfly Books, The Butterfly Novels .

There are 416 pages in this book. It is a novel. This book was published 2011 by Hachette Books Ireland .

Denise Deegan is the bestselling author of four novels and one book of non-fiction. She has been published in Ireland, the UK and Commonwealth, Germany, Holland and Korea. She has contributed to short story collections and written regularly in the Irish media and has given writing workshops for adults and children.