by Holly Webb
“Thanks a bunch, Becky!” Annabel snarled, and she stormed out.
Becky turned to Katie with a “What did I say?” look on her face. Katie missed it entirely, though, because she was laughing so much she’d buried her face in the sofa cushions. When she eventually recovered, she beamed at her sister and asked, “So did you have a good time? What are you going to get him?”
“Mmmm, it was fun. First we had hot chocolate in one of those posh coffee shops, and then we went in that new bath stuff shop, Bliss, you know, by the cinema? The only thing is once you’ve been in there five minutes you can’t smell anything. It’s like your nose goes on strike. I think David might get me some stuff from there.”
“Bel’ll be jealous.”
Becky grinned. “I know. I still can’t decide whether to get David some chocolate or this really cute pink dinosaur I found. I mean, chocolate doesn’t last, but do boys actually like furry things? I’m just not sure.”
“Haven’t a clue,” said Katie cheerfully. “To be perfectly honest, I reckon even if you bought David a pink furry dinosaur and told him he had to eat it, he’d still do it, so he’s going to like anything you buy him. He’s the soppiest person I’ve ever met apart from you. But a good footballer,” she admitted, consideringly.
Becky actually looked pleased at this, which just proved how soppy she was, Katie thought. Watching her little sister (well, only by about ten minutes, but Katie reckoned it still counted) smile secretly to herself, and wind her hair round her fingers in a smugly contented fashion, Katie did wonder if she was missing something. But she just couldn’t imagine spending a morning gazing into someone’s eyes over hot chocolate, even if there was whipped cream and even if they were the best footballer in the world.
On Monday morning, Annabel’s miffed mood had gone completely, although Katie noticed that she hadn’t reapplied the white eyeliner. She also seemed to have come to a decision about Josh.
“Forget him,” she said firmly, waving her toast and Marmite at Katie. “Not worth worrying about. He’s far too obsessed with his looks anyway.”
“Oh, you can talk,” Katie muttered into her cereal, but she was smiling inside. Josh Matthews was a snake, as far as she was concerned, and she and Becky and all their mates had been really worried about Annabel’s thing for him.
“No, he’s far too immature,” Annabel carried on, in the tone of someone desperately trying to convince herself as well as everyone else. “And too keen on football. Sorry, Becky, I know David likes it too, but I get quite enough football stuff at home from Katie.”
Becky and Katie just grinned at each other in relief as Annabel applied herself to her toast. Mum looked fairly pleased too, Katie noticed – she was very good at not telling the triplets who they ought to be friends with, she liked them to work those sort of things out for themselves, but she’d picked up on Katie and Becky’s not-so-subtle hints that Josh was bad news.
Monday morning dragged, as always. Whoever had worked out the timetable seemed to have planned it deliberately – coming up with the worst possible combination for Year Sevens who still wanted it to be the weekend. Monday mornings ought to ease them in gently, Katie thought. Double maths with a grumpy Mr Jones who looked like he was wishing it was still the weekend too was not ideal. He kept turning round to the whiteboard so he could yawn, and the rest of the class were practically asleep in their textbooks. Katie actually liked maths, and was very good at it, but trigonometry wasn’t fun first thing on a Monday morning.
The triplets turned up in the dining hall feeling like they really deserved lunch. They settled at one of the long tables with Megan, Saima, Becky’s best mate Fran, and David. He’d got a bit of stick from some of the boys in their class about sitting with a bunch of girls, but he was one of those people who didn’t much mind what everyone else thought. Katie was hoping that would rub off on Becky, who tended to dissolve into tears if anyone so much as gave her a nasty look. Anyway, David had obviously converted some of them, because Robin and his mate Jack wandered over with their trays, looking slightly sheepish.
“Hi,” said Robin, who seemed to be leading the pair of them – in fact, was Katie imagining it, or did Jack look as though he hadn’t exactly been expecting to end up at a table full of girls? “Um, is anyone sitting here?” He waved his tray at the empty seats and Fran had to field his apple pie and custard as it slithered dangerously close to her lap.
“Sorry!” Robin gabbled, an embarrassed expression on his face.
Katie grinned at him. “I’d sit down before you lose that for good.”
Robin blushed but looked pleased. He sat down quickly, and Jack followed, still looking a bit reluctant, Katie thought. Robin stared down at his plate, and started eating as though his life depended on it. Boys were so odd.
Jack had obviously decided to make the best of things, and started telling Becky about a snake he’d seen in the exotic pet shop in Stallford. He was a huge reptile fan and already had a pet lizard.
“It’s fantastic! Really huge – that’s the problem, though, you see, I’d need a massive vivarium, practically the size of my bedroom. And my mum’s not keen. I dragged her into the shop and showed her – I thought she’d love it, you know, as she quite likes Godzilla, but she nearly had a fit. She reckoned it could down my little sister in a couple of mouthfuls. Personally I don’t think that’s much of a problem,” Jack added gloomily. “But Mum said over her dead body. It would have been birthdays and Christmases for about the next ten years as well: snakes are really expensive.”
“Hi, you lot!”
Katie and the others looked up, surprised – what was this, rush hour?
Then her face fell. It was Josh Matthews. Just when Annabel had finally come to her senses! Katie stared worriedly at Annabel, who was consciously trying to seem unconcerned by the arrival of one of the most popular boys in Year Eight.
“Hey Annabel. How’s it going?”
Annabel managed (by an enormous effort) to sound relaxed and confident as she smiled back and said, “Oh, fine.”
OK, it wasn’t the most exciting thing she could have said, but at least she’d managed to string coherent noises together when her brain had just gone into overdrive. What was he doing here? She felt like she needed to call time out for a strategy meeting with Saima or something.
Josh looked round at the rest of the table and smiled faintly, as though they were lower lifeforms and he was gracing them with his presence. Everyone stared back as though they weren’t feeling particularly graced. Then he turned his charm on Annabel. “Do you mind coming over here a minute? I just wanted to talk to you – er – privately.” He jerked his head meaningfully at the others.
Annabel blinked, and then got up very, very carefully – it would be too embarrassing to knock her chair over or something like that, and she felt worryingly clumsy. She followed Josh over to one of the big pillars covered in posters advertising horrible school food, and he leaned up against it looking like something out of a fashion magazine, even in school uniform. So Annabel thought, anyway. To the others, who were watching and desperately trying to overhear, he looked a bit less glamorous.
David made a face. “He really loves himself,” he said disgustedly. “Look at him, clocking whether everyone’s watching him.”
The others nodded, staring resignedly as Josh quite obviously asked Annabel out, and she, even more obviously, said yes.
Saima tutted. “Honestly. She could be a bit more subtle about it. She practically hugged him on the spot.”
Josh sauntered off, looking pleased with himself, and leaving Annabel to wander dazedly back – though not too dazedly to notice Amy Mannering’s furious face as she passed her table. Annabel grinned – so Amy was jealous, was she? Things were just getting better and better! When she got back to her own table she was greeted with a barrage of glares, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“He asked me out,” she murmured blissfully. Katie and Becky just looked at each other and sighed.
Chapter Three
After they’d all finished lunch, Katie and Megan left the others gossiping and went off to see if Mrs Ross had put up the team list for that week’s league fixture. By now they were both pretty much dead certs for the team – and as Katie said, “Mrs Ross wouldn’t dare drop Garth Owen’s favourite goalie” – but they always checked the board, just in case. Usually there would be a few other people checking the various fixture lists, but today there seemed to be loads. Katie and Megan exchanged puzzled looks and went closer. Everyone was staring at a huge pink poster that Mrs Armstrong, the deputy head, was pinning up.
Katie stood on tiptoe and peered at the poster. “A Valentine’s Ball?” She couldn’t really have sounded less excited. In fact, she sounded as though she wanted to be sick.
Megan wrinkled her nose. “Is it just me, or is everyone obsessed with Valentine’s Day right now?”
Katie nodded, then went on reading the poster and giggled. “Look when it is!”
“Friday – that must be next Friday? Oh, no!” Megan worked out why Katie was sniggering, and joined in. “Friday 13th? Whose idea was that?” she snorted.
“This must be another fund-raising thing for the swimming pool,” Katie decided. “How much are the tickets?”
Megan peered over several people’s shoulders. “Two pounds – I suppose it’s not bad. I can think of much better things to do with a Friday night than stand around the school hall though.”
Katie looked thoughtful. “You know, Megan, you’ve just given me a really good idea.”
“What?”
“Better things to do! OK, so let’s do them – let’s have our own party.”
“You think we should have a Valentine’s party?”
“No! We’re going to have an anti-Valentine’s party. No boys, no pink. And no fluffy animals whatsoever,” Katie added, thinking of Becky’s dinosaur dilemma.
“Oh, what, watch action films, that kind of thing?” Megan was getting into the spirit of it now.
“Yeah, and – and eat curry!” Katie was trying to think as unromantically as possible.
“But I don’t like curry – and you don’t either,” pointed out Megan reasonably.
“Noooo, I suppose not. But you know what I mean.”
“Uh-huh – this is such a cool idea, Katie,” Megan said seriously. “I’m getting so sick of Valentine’s Day stuff everywhere.”
“I know, it’s like everyone’s got pink fluff for brains lately. Let’s go and tell the others the plan!”
Thinking about it later that evening, Katie realized that she and Megan had been really stupid – they’d got carried away with their cool idea, and not actually thought it through. But at the time, as they raced back to their classroom, they were bubbling with enthusiasm. Becky, Fran, Bel and Saima were sitting on their desks talking excitedly about something when Katie and Megan skidded up to them.
“We’ve got brilliant news!” Katie panted.
The others looked a bit surprised. “About the party?” Bel asked, in a slightly confused voice – Katie, really excited about a Valentine’s party?
“Yeah!” Katie nodded vigorously, then stopped. How did Bel know about their plan already? Unless…
“Doesn’t it sound great?” Saima squealed. “Bel thinks Josh is going to ask her to go!”
Ah. Suddenly Katie realized that her sisters and their mates were getting all excited about the very party that she and Megan were trying to avoid.
“Oh. You don’t really want to go to that thing, do you?” she asked, clinging to a last shred of hope. “It’s going to be totally sad – we’ve got a much better idea.”
“What?” Bel put in sceptically. She couldn’t imagine an alternative that would be more fun than a dance where the whole school saw that she was going out with Josh Matthews.
Katie took a deep breath, and smiled determinedly. “Megan and I think we should have an anti-Valentine’s party. You know, no boys, just all of us – kind of a – a girl power thing!” she finished triumphantly.
“No boys?” Becky echoed, worriedly. She was sure David would want to go to the school party with her.
“No, just us,” Katie said impatiently. “What do we need the boys for?”
Annabel and Becky exchanged glances, and then stared at the floor. With Becky spending so much time with David, and Bel all caught up in the whole Josh thing, it was obvious that Katie would feel a bit left out, and they really didn’t want to upset her – but they so wanted to go to the ball!
Katie looked quickly at her sisters’ identical sheepish faces, and gathered that there was a crushing lack of enthusiasm for her big plan. She sighed crossly, and glared at Becky. “I suppose David is taking you to this thing then?” she snapped.
Becky gave a tiny shrug, still not looking at her sister. “Maybe,” she said in a small voice. “He had to go and see Mr Anderson about something, so I haven’t talked to him about it. Look, I’m sorry, Katie!” She finally glanced up. “I know you don’t want to go, but it sounds really fun! There’s going to be a DJ, and we can all dance together – it won’t just be me and David and Bel and Josh, we’ll all be in a gang. Please say you’ll come. You do like dancing. It won’t be as much fun without you two there.” Becky gazed beseechingly at Katie and Megan, and the others looked at them hopefully.
“I won’t even make you dress up!” Bel added, which was the ultimate offer from someone so clothes-conscious.
Katie sighed. “So I could wear my football shirt?” she asked slyly.
Annabel’s face contorted, as though in actual pain. “I suppose. If you must,” she said through gritted teeth.
Katie glanced at Megan to see what she thought. She looked disappointed, and Katie could understand why – their party plan had seemed so much more fun!
“I know!” She grinned encouragingly at Megan. “Me and Megan will come to the school party on the Friday, but then you have to come to our party the next day! That’s Valentine’s Day anyway. It’ll be much better to have the no-boys party then – more meaningful.”
She nodded, pleased with the idea. “OK?” she asked hopefully, gazing round at the others.
Annabel was looking unsure. “But Josh might want me to do something with him that day!” she said worriedly. “I’m sure he will, I mean if we’re going out together he’s bound to want to see me on Valentine’s Day.” Her eyes glazed over slightly as she imagined Josh taking her out somewhere really romantic.
Surprisingly, it was Saima who disagreed with her. “You know, Bel, I think you’ve got to be careful. You haven’t even been on one date yet. You don’t want to come across too keen. If he does ask you out on the Saturday evening, just tell him you’ve got plans with your friends. You don’t want him thinking he can just snap his fingers and you’ll come running.”
Even though Katie thought this sounded very like the ditzy relationship advice from the letters page of Annabel and Saima’s favourite magazine, she wasn’t going to argue. “Exactly. It’s about time somebody stood up to Josh Matthews a bit.” She leaned closer to Annabel, with a very serious expression on her face. “You know what Julianne was like – she ran after him like a little lapdog. You don’t want him thinking he can order you about like that, do you?”
Julianne had been Josh’s previous girlfriend, and he’d been really mean to her. It was one of the reasons why Katie and Becky had been hoping the whole Josh thing would come to nothing. They really didn’t want Annabel going out with a slimeball. But at least they could try to make sure she wasn’t at his beck and call all the time. Only Katie was allowed to boss her sisters around!
Annabel looked thoughtful. She had no idea why Katie and Becky had taken against Josh – but maybe the others were right. Playing a bit hard to get was impor
tant; after all, she didn’t want to look desperate! “I suppose we could do something in the daytime instead,” she mused.
“Exactly!” Katie cheered. “We’re on then. Me and Megan will start planning what we’re going to do.”
Chapter Four
The triplets raced home from school to tell their mum about the plans: Katie had realized halfway through French that she’d arranged a sleepover party and told everybody it was happening without asking Mum first. But she was fairly sure Mum wouldn’t mind.
Annabel was first in with the news though, dashing through the front door as soon as Katie had unlocked it, slinging her coat and bag vaguely in the direction of the banisters and racing for the kitchen. Mrs Ryan liked working at the kitchen table – it meant easy access to coffee, and the biscuit tin, and being able to keep an eye on whatever was for tea.
“Mum, Mum! Guess what!” Annabel skidded into the kitchen, hair streaming behind her.
Mrs Ryan made a split-second grab for the papers she was working on to stop Annabel from sending them flying.
“Er—” Mrs Ryan was thinking, but Annabel was too excited to wait for her.
“Josh asked me out!”
“Oh!” The triplets’ mum had heard quite a lot about Josh Matthews. She’d never actually met him, but she’d seen him in the play with Annabel, and she was inclined to believe Katie and Becky – he had looked a bit too good to be true. “Oh, that’s nice, darling,” she managed.
“Nice?” Annabel looked suspiciously at her mother. “Oh, don’t say you don’t like him either? You’ve never even met him, it’s not fair!”
“Bel! I only said it was nice – really, darling, I’m pleased for you.”
Annabel humphed. Nobody had reacted properly to her news. Even Saima had warned her to be careful. It would have been really good if just one person had jumped up and down and hugged her and told her that it was fab.
Mrs Ryan was now listening to Becky, who had started telling her about the Valentine’s Ball at school.