As the head girl and deputy head girl of their sixth form, Ruby Fuller and Jessie Ross joked that they would take the top two roles in Downing Street in years to come.
“We always said each other would be better at being prime minister,” says Jessie. “‘No, you go on, I’ll be deputy.’”
They met in maths class at Charter School North Dulwich aged 13, and became best friends. They sang Taylor Swift together, they made each other cry with laughter, they were self-proclaimed “nerds”. It was a friendship marked by love, with all the intensity of adolescence.
When Ruby became ill with a rare blood cancer aged 17, their relationship endured and deepened. They played board games in hospital and gossiped about school in between treatments. Ten months later, on May 15 2020, Ruby died.
Almost three years later, Jessie, now 22, is trying to articulate the loss she still carries. “It was an earth-shattering shock when she was diagnosed.
“When you’re close with someone, your relationship is something you carry together, and when they die you continue to carry it on by yourself, in a different way. People think that you might move on from grief, but you can’t – you learn to live with it.”
We are in the bright, warm kitchen of the family home where Ruby grew up, and Ruby’s mother, Emma Jones, is also at the kitchen table with Jessie. Pictures of Ruby – along with her younger sister, Tabitha – are hung around the room, and stuck by magnets to the fridge.
Captured in her adolescence, she has clear, smooth features, and an inquiring, slightly quizzical expression.
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
