When half-time came and the score was two all, Beth found herself panting with her hands on her knees and black spots in front of her eyes. It reminded her forcefully of a panic attack, and if there was one thing she had learned to deal with it was panic attacks. She stopped panting and breathed long and slow, counting her breaths.
“I can’t believe they put a girl in their forwards,” a voice floated through the cold air to reach her. “What a waste of a position, she looks like a total wimp out there.”
Beth felt bile rise in her throat at the words of the unknown boy.
“Do not be sick,” she coached herself silently; “they probably know you can hear them and they’re trying to freak you out.” She focussed again on her breathing but now each out-breath sounded like the word “wimp” over and over.
“Ha ha.” The other boy gave a malicious laugh. “Shall I take her out of the game? It would be so easy to send her flying.”
Beth sucked in a huge breath and forgot to concentrate, so her breathing became too fast again. She straightened up too quickly and felt dizzy. She debated making a run for it; she could just disappear into the woods bordering Compass Court, no one would notice until it was too late. Her team would probably be just fine without her. And Toby would understand, though he would probably never want her to play again.
She blew out and counted to five. She closed her eyes and grounded herself.
“They can’t hurt me, not with all these people watching. They will not stop me from playing football.”
Twenty steps to her team-mates, who were huddled in a circle sipping orange juice and catching their breath. Nineteen... Eighteen... Seventeen... She broke into a run and stopped counting. Feeling huge relief to be back among her team-mates, she looked around at them, their kind familiar faces and felt she belonged. No one was taking that away from her!
The second half was more intense than the first. The ball flew around the pitch, and several goals were almost scored on both sides. It was exciting, and Beth began to forget about what she had overheard.
It wasn’t until there were only a few minutes left of the game that it all happened at once.
Toby kicked the ball to Beth, and she raced it towards the goal; she was getting close when she heard the feet thundering on her left. She made the mistake of looking and her heart skipped a beat as she saw a huge boy bearing down on her with the full intent of slamming into her written all over his face. A second later and she was aware of several other people also hurtling towards her. Matt was coming fast from somewhere to her right, Toby had spun around and was also running towards her and Marianne was racing up from midfield behind her.
Would she cower on the floor or would she play the ball before her opponent reached her?
Time slowed for Beth as she concentrated on the ball and kicked it towards the goal with all her might. She knew she had made the wrong decision as soon as it left her foot; she could sense it going wide.
Time sped up and there was an almighty “Ooff” sound right beside her. Matt had collided with the huge boy and brought him down with a rugby tackle just seconds before he reached Beth.
Marianne yelled something, the crowd screamed, and then the referees whistle blew.
Beth and Matt’s eyes met, he was down on the ground, plastered in mud, and clearly winded, but still checking on her. She knew in that moment that she was unequivocally and irrevocably in love with him.
Then Toby wrapped his arms around her, blocking Matt from her view.
“Sshh, I’ve got you. Are you alright?” Toby held her close.
“I’m fine.” She pushed at his body to get some air. “Seriously, Toby, I said I’m fine. Is Matt okay?”
Toby released her and looked around. “Yeah, but what’s going on?”
Marianne stormed over to Toby. “Captain, stop messing around, you’ve got to get involved here. The stinking ref wants to disallow my goal!”
“Huh? You scored a goal?” Toby looked for the ball, which was indeed lying in the opposition goal.
“Yes, when Beth missed I caught it on the bounce and scored. But now the other team are crying foul because Matt made an illegal tackle.” She rounded on Matt, who was still trying to untangle himself from the other boy and get up off the ground.
“What the hell were you thinking, you stupid dunderhead? He didn’t even have the ball, so you know you can’t tackle him.”
Matt’s eyes swivelled to Beth, and she opened her mouth to say that she had been the reason he had made the tackle, but Matt gave an infinitesimal shake of his head and she closed it again, not wanting to make more trouble between him and Marianne.
“Sorry.” He gave a half shrug. “My mistake.”
“The ref wants to disallow my goal,” Marianne howled back at him.
“Calm down.” Toby put his hand on Marianne’s back in a comforting gesture that Beth knew worked very well. “I’ll go and talk to him.”
They all stood in silence, listening to Toby reason with the referee.
“You blew the whistle after she scored the goal,” he tried.
“It doesn’t matter.” The ref folded his arms defensively. “The foul occurred before the goal. I blew my whistle on the foul. Play has to return to that point, which means no goal.”
“But the foul wasn’t actually part of the play. Neither of the boys involved actually had the ball or had even touched it in the play leading up to the tackle,” Toby argued.
The referee sucked his lips, thinking about it for a long moment.
“Alright,” he said at last, “I’ll allow the goal, but the other team get a free kick because of the foul.”
The crowd went wild, either hissing and booing or whooping and cheering. There was only a minute or so left of the game, and everyone knew it now depended on the kick of the other team as to whether the Compass Court team won or they just drew.
The boy whom Matt had brought down insisted on being the one to take it, and Beth fervently hoped that he was as bad at football as he was ugly.
But it was not to be. He gave the ball such a mighty kick that it sailed past Bryn before he could move.
The result was called a draw, and although it was a great result in terms of the league, the Compass Court team didn’t feel their usual euphoria as they left the pitch.
Toby was disappointed, Beth could tell. Still it was nothing to how Marianne was feeling, and she let everyone know it.
“It was supposed to be my moment. I get to score my first goal this whole season and then the stupid ref gives away a free kick. I could have won the game for us. It could have been my time to shine for a change.” She gave Beth a glowering look, and had an even blacker one for Matt. Matt to his credit didn’t look bothered. Actually, as Beth watched, she saw Matt discreetly massage his shoulder, and give a wince of physical pain.
“Thank you,” she whispered, hanging back slightly to walk beside him. “I’m so sorry you got hurt because of me.”
“I’m used to it,” he said.
“Just promise me you’ll put some deep heat on it?” Beth urged, frowning slightly at his strange comment.
Matt rolled his eyes at her and nodded before moving away towards Marianne.
That night her dreams were full of Matt: the strange tone in his voice of sad acceptance when he had said “I’m used to it,” and the look that had passed between them when he had saved her from being turned into grass pulp by that boy.
When she woke up in the morning Beth knew she had to break up with Toby.
Chapter Twenty-six
“I MADE MADELEINES,” Paige said cheerfully as she led him into the kitchen.
Toby coughed into his hand to hide his laughter. Beth had said Paige would make madeleines!
“Do you usually make madeleines in the school kitchen?” he enquired.
“Yes, I cook in here all the time, and they’re my speciality. No one can resist them.” She gave him a cheeky smile and Toby suddenly felt like an insect within the jaws
of a Venus flytrap. He could smell the freshly baked madeleines and there was no denying they smelt like heaven. Men had probably proposed for less.
If he cared at all about Beth then he would refuse a madeleine when it was offered. But would there be any harm in just taking a look at them? After all, he had no idea what a madeleine actually was. He breathed in deeply.
“Trying to guess my secret ingredient?” Paige said, watching him with deep satisfaction.
“I wouldn’t even know the main ingredient,” he confessed, “but are you going to tell me the secret?”
“Of course.” Paige took a dishcloth and opened the oven door. “It’s vanilla, but I don’t just add some vanilla essence as some recipes suggest. Instead I take a fresh vanilla pod and scrape out all the insides and then I grind them in a pestle and mortar until they are just a pulp. That’s what I stir into the mix. It very slightly ruins the colour; I can’t manage to work out yet how to make them completely golden without any of the flecks of the black vanilla seeds, but it is worth it – it’s the freshness of the vanilla that makes them taste so good.”
Toby watched as Paige removed a tray from the oven containing a dozen or so miniature cakes shaped like fan shells. She eased each one slightly with a knife and then tipped them out onto a rack to cool. As the smell intensified, Toby knew there wasn’t a badger’s chance that he was going to be able to stop himself from trying one.
Paige set a large pot of tea on the table and put out two cups. Toby raised his eyebrows at her mockingly.
She coloured at the cheeks and said defensively, “What? It’s just gone four, and we’re going to need something to drink, we have a lot of work to do.”
Toby tried not to laugh, and Paige sighed. “Have I done the wrong thing? I suppose I just thought it would be nice.”
Toby patted her arm. “It is nice. Thank you. I think I expected something more like of a can of soda. Not many people our age would bother with making a pot of tea, like some old grandma” – his eyes twinkled with laughter – “but hey, I’m not going to turn down the opportunity to be spoiled with afternoon tea. So where would you like me to sit?”
“Just here?” Paige indicated a chair next to a pile of books she had put out ready for him. On the opposite side of the table Toby noticed that Paige had laid out a large notepad for herself and several pens of different colours all neatly in a line beside it.
One hour later Toby had guiltily eaten six madeleines and learnt more about Home Economics than he felt his boy brain could handle. He stretched and stood up, feeling unable to sit still any longer. He wandered around the kitchen looking at the equipment.
“What on earth is this thing?” He reached out to touch a large metal object that was clamped to the side of the dresser with a big red handle.
“It’s an old-fashioned meat grinder.” Paige looked at it fondly. “In truth it’s never used, but it just seems to belong there. I think it was probably put on the dresser about a hundred years ago back when this school was a grand country estate.”
Toby turned the handle experimentally, then moved on. On the top of the work surface he found Paige’s art pad.
“Do you mind?” he asked, lifting the first page.
“No, not at all. It’s just some boring sketches and paintings of cakes.”
“These are good. Are you taking Art and Design A-level?”
Paige nodded as Toby flicked through a few pages of sketches of butterflies on top of cupcakes; he didn’t look particularly interested until he came to a large painting of the completed cake. It was several tiers of cupcakes with a wide base and getting narrower until the very top single cupcake which held the most elaborate sugar butterfly of them all.
“Wow, Paige, this looks amazing. Could you actually make this?”
“Of course; it’s actually very simple. It’s the butterflies that take the time though. I do them with edible food colouring so they can be eaten as well. I tried making a few the other day. They look just like that, but it is rather painstaking.”
“I thought they were just individual cupcakes, but this looks like a big cake made up of loads of little ones.”
“It’s exactly that.” Paige grinned. “It’s actually a wedding cake. That’s why I’m studying Art and Design, as well as Business Studies and Home Ec. I want to have my own wedding cake business.”
“Do you?” Toby knew he sounded inane but he was seeing Paige in a completely new light.
There was a long awkward moment where they stared at each other, and Toby thought she might have replied but he hadn’t taken it in. Had she just said something? He wasn’t sure; instead he was looking at her lips. Had they always been that full and touchable?
Toby blinked madly to clear his mind. He had a horrible feeling she had caught his lustful look.
He wrenched his attention back to the sketch pad and looked at the picture thoughtfully. “Does it have to be butterflies? I mean, could you do this design with fish?”
“Fish?” Paige looked doubtful, and the moment had passed. “Well yes, it wouldn’t be a problem to put whatever you want, but fish are kind of a dull subject; they all look much the same and only come in one or two colours.” She stared into space for a moment and then visibly brightened. “What am I saying? You could do tropical fish and that would mean the most amazing colours! Electric blues and sparkling silver and bright yellow and orange.” She felt so enthused that she reached into her bag, grabbing a case full of colouring pencils and then pulled the pad towards her.
Toby watched with fascination as Paige bent her head over the paper, licked an orange pencil and began to sketch madly. Five minutes later she had drawn and coloured several tropical fish designs and even some pink coral.
Toby picked one up and studied it. “These are excellent, Paige, exactly what I meant. My sister is getting married at the end of the school year and Leo, her fiancée, is going to be doing a course in Marine Biology at University next year. So Rose has planned a sort of sea-themed wedding, They are even having their honeymoon on the Great Barrier Reef. She’s been moaning about wanting something a bit more special than the average wedding cake, and I think this could be it. Can I take these and show her? Would you be willing to make it if she went for it?”
“Oh.” Paige blushed. “By all means take the pictures, but she would probably prefer to get a professional to make it for her. And anyway, I don’t really have the time what with school work and I’m directing the Year Twelve play this Spring too.”
“You already cook like a professional, and her wedding is in the school holidays so I’m sure you’d have the time. Plus wouldn’t it be good for you to get some photos of cakes you have actually done, for your future business I mean? And she’d pay you of course, the going rate, whatever that is. Please say you’ll think about it?” Toby was so sure it was just what Rose would want that he absolutely had to get Paige on board.
Paige rolled her eyes, far less convinced than him. “Yeah, I’ll think about it, but you’ll want to show her the designs before you get too enthusiastic.”
“Good.” Toby stuffed the pictures inside his Home Economics folder and took some of the butterfly ones as well to show Rose the overall effect.
He also grabbed a few madeleines to eat back in West Tower later. He felt a guilty twinge as he thought of Beth, but Paige’s madeleines were worth the risk of getting an earful.
He could handle getting told off for a few pastries. But what he knew he could never tell Beth was how much he was also acquiring a taste for Paige herself too.
Chapter Twenty-seven
PAIGE TRIED VERY HARD to push all thoughts of Toby out of her mind. She had been completely ignoring her attraction to him for weeks now, and she was quite good at focusing her attention on something else whenever he popped into her head. But it had been getting harder and harder, as they had grown closer with every class they had together and then disaster had struck – Toby had asked her to help him study and she had stupidly invited him
to what she considered almost her private domain. It had simply been way too intimate.
She had no idea why she fancied him so much. He wasn’t her type; not that she really had a type, but her only previous boyfriend had been more of a mathlete than an athlete. But right from the start, Toby had been such an adorable mix – cocky and yet unsure. He was confident in his own world but totally lost in hers. She liked how he was masculine and strong, yet he had showed his soft side when he talked about his family, and he had acted like he really believed in her regarding her wedding cake business.
Not to mention that he was kind of gorgeous. She sighed to herself, acknowledging that she definitely had a total crush on him. Having him in the small kitchen had been torture. She had constantly wanted to touch him, and he had kept sitting really close to her, completely oblivious to the fact that it sent her heart racing.
There had been a moment that had passed between them. At least, it had for her. She had sort of zoned out of whatever he was saying and gone all gooey over his eyes. They had seemed to look at her as though he wanted to kiss her. Those brown eyes, fanned by thick dark lashes. She could stare into them forever.
But he was Beth’s boyfriend. Anyone’s boyfriend at all was a complete no-go, but especially Beth, whom she felt really bad about already.
Paige still clearly remembered the day when Beth had finally broken down.
Paige had been forcing her to do all sorts of activities that took Beth well out of her comfort zone. Beth had been a gentle and quiet friend, who was intellectually smart but not good with people. Beth hadn’t wanted to leave the library, but to support Paige she had agreed to join the Lower School Social Committee. The mean girls had been awful to Beth, teasing her until she couldn’t take it anymore, and Paige hadn’t stopped them because she had been too busy taking on the world to even notice it was happening.
Boy Girl Games Page 11