Piccadilly Circus is a bustling junction of lights, noise, tourists, and frustrated Londoners trudging through the melting snow. We push through crowds, moving awkwardly as a group of six, trying to stick together in the traffic.

We are heading towards Chinatown, where the red lanterns are strung between the buildings and lit up above the pedestrians. We dodge tourists, past restaurants with cooked ducks rotating on sticks in the windows (Sylvie scoffs in disgust) and down a side street, where the crowds are less busy.

We've booked a table at a Vietnamese restaurant a block away from the main street of Chinatown, and we go single file up the thin staircase to find a table squeezed in beside the window.

Knees knocking together, we order plates of rice paper rolls, bowls of Pho, noodles and seafood. I have to pull up the sleeves of my fluffy white jumper to stop it falling into the sauce as I dip my rice paper roll.

'This was a really nice idea, Jane,' Kitty says, for maybe the sixth time tonight. I think she's really trying to impress upon me that I've done well by organising a night out for the group. I booked dinner and got us all tickets to a literary panel event at the Foyles bookstore.

'Yeah, good shout, Jane,' Will says, through a mouthful of noodles.

'And good choice of restaurant,' Harper says. 'I've been meaning to check this place out.'

My heart swells and I feel myself blush a bit at Harper's words. So far, this evening couldn't be going better. I extended the invite to the whole group, but Charlotte was the only one that turned it down. She said she was meeting a friend, but I wonder if she was just avoiding me. But here is Harper, without Charlotte, enjoying an evening I've organised. I start to think I was wrong - maybe I'm nailing this London thing.

'Oh, speaking of things we've been meaning to do,' Kitty says, and she takes a big sip of her green tea before continuing. 'Have you guys heard there's a women's march this Saturday? Protesting those changes to abortion laws.'

'Oh yeah, I heard about that,' Sylvie says. She's delicately dipping rice paper rolls into sauce. Her nails are long and a dark brown, just slightly darker than her skin. 'I've already organised with a few girls from my book club to go. Do you want to come?'

'Yes, absolutely,' Kitty says. 'Jane?'

'Yeah, I'll come,' I say, already thinking about the possibility of Instagramming a powerful picture of my friends and me standing in Trafalgar Square with a march of women behind us.

'Boys?' Kitty asks.

'I'll be there,' Will says. 'Let's make a hilarious sign.'

'Okay, I'll help with the sign,' Ed says. 'But I'll need to work. I should be able to run the shop for a few hours by myself, though.'

'Thanks, Ed, you're a true ally,' Kitty says. 'Harper?'

'Saturday? What time is the march?' Harper asks.

'Twelve,' Kitty says.

'Well, I'm going to a gig after work on Friday night, and I was kind of planning spending most of Saturday in bed,' Harper says.

Kitty rolls her eyes. 'We'll drag you out of bed, don't worry.'

'Yeah, there's no way you can get out of going to this one,' Sylvie says. 'You need to earn some more feminist points after you forced us to watch Fight Club. It's all about balance.'

'I didn't force you to watch Fight Club,' Harper says. 'I just think it's an important film...'

'Doll, stop,' Kitty says. 'You can't win with Fight Club here.'

Harper looks at Ed, then Will, and then finally at me, but I shrug.

'Okay, put me down as a maybe for the march,' Harper says. 'No promises, though. Can't you just force me to watch The Notebook or something?'

'Pssh,' Sylvie says. 'Who do you think we are?'

After dinner, we walk a few streets to Foyles on Charing Cross Road. It's a huge bookstore, with a beautiful display of books in the huge glass windows. We walk inside to the exciting hush of a bookstore, way bigger than our humble little store will ever be. The vinyl lettering facing the doorway gives me a giddy feeling in my stomach when I read it - "Welcome book lover, you are among friends."

And I know that I am. With Kitty, Will, Ed, Harper and Sylvie by my side. We meander through shelves and then up five flights of stairs, to the gallery space and café on the top floor, where the panel event is taking place. I present the tickets and we take some time quietly wandering through the gallery space before taking seats to listen to the panel.

'This was a really nice idea, Jane,' Kitty says, for maybe the seventh time now. And I think yes, she's right. Yes, I belong here.

• Author's Note •

YAYYYY JANE BELOOONGS! So proud of my girl.

Hehe hope you're enjoying this novel and I really hope you like the dynamics of the friendship group here.

Now, my question for you...

What's your favourite cuisine of food, aka like Italian/Japanese/Turkish/British/Chinese etc..

Thanks for supporting this novel!

And don't forget I'm on Instagram, Twitter and I've got a website/blog (ellekirks.com) with lots of extra bits and pieces to do with this book, so you might like to check it out!

elle xx