‘You’ll be fine,’ I said. ‘I know it.’
‘Maybe. And look—’ Nick held out a hand. ‘The four showers took care of most of it, but if you look closely … ’
He had a thin crescent of dirt under each fingernail.
‘I planted nasturtiums and rosemary and wisteria,’ he said, looking as if he might burst with pride. ‘Outside, in the backyard. I cut out a square of the astroturf. There were worms and bugs and goodness knows how many million bacteria, but I did it! And the smell, Penny. The smell of the earth when you turn it up and pour water on it … ’ His eyes shone. ‘It’s the most beautiful thing … ’
‘Nick,’ I said. ‘That’s wonderful.’
We grinned at each other like a pair of lunatics. Around us, couples were clustering together for a slow dance. I could see Clayton Bell making out with the Year Nine boy he’d brought as his date, and Peter Lange was blissfully wrapped around his girlfriend from St Aloysius, who was wearing a very short black dress with electric pink binary code all over it. Over by the snacks, Amy Butler was smiling shyly as Youssef Saad whispered in her ear. I shook my head a little. Maybe I’d been wrong about Amy, too. Maybe she wasn’t as boring as I’d assumed. Maybe she was just shy.
‘I still don’t want to go out with you,’ said Nick. ‘I’m sorry. I wish I did. But … ’
‘But I’m not your type.’
‘No.’
‘That’s okay,’ I said. ‘I don’t think you’re really my type either. I’m not sure what my type is.’
‘You need someone you can have a good argument with, without them bursting into tears.’
I laughed. ‘You’re probably right. I do like to argue.’
‘So,’ said Nick. ‘Do you think we can be friends?’
I looked over at Rin dancing with Hamish. She gave me a little grin and wave. Hamish turned and waved at me as well. I seemed to suddenly have quite a few friends. It felt good.
‘Definitely,’ I said. ‘Friends.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Because I don’t think I’ve ever had a friend before, and I’d like to give it a shot.’
‘Me too.’
Nick held out his hand. ‘Well, friend,’ he said. ‘Would you like to dance with me?’
I took his hand. ‘Yes, friend,’ I said. ‘I would.’
We moved out onto the dance floor and Nick put trembling hands on my waist. I could smell his laundry-detergent-and-soap smell. He smiled nervously at me, and I was pleased to notice that the smile didn’t make me feel quite as wobbly and excited as it had before. It still made me feel a bit wobbly and excited, but in a slightly wistful way. I supposed this was what nostalgia felt like.
‘You’re doing an excellent job,’ I murmured in his ear.
Nick swallowed. Every blonde skinny girl in the entire room was staring at me with dagger-eyes of envy. I allowed myself to feel a little bit proud, and let my head rest on his shoulder.
It was fun, dancing with Nick, and I hoped I’d dance with a few other boys. Maybe Hugh Forward would ask me again, and this time I’d accept. Or maybe I’d just throw convention to the wind and ask him to dance. That seemed like a good idea. The night stretched out, full of conversation and friends and laughter.
‘Penny? Is that you?’
When I got home, Dad and Josh were still up, sitting on the couch watching Iron Chef.
‘How was it?’ asked Josh.
I grinned. ‘Good,’ I said. ‘Really good.’
‘Dance with any cute boys?’
I blushed. ‘Maybe.’
Hugh Forward had asked me to go to the movies with him next weekend. It might be nice to hang out with him and talk about something other than SRC and Debating.
I pulled the East Glendale Secondary College Gazette out of my bag and handed it to Dad. ‘It’s what I’ve been working on,’ I told him. ‘It’s why I’ve been so stressed.’
Josh turned off the TV and leaned over to Dad so they could both see the front page. Just under the masthead were the words The Secret Garden: Helping the Loveshy Bloom, and, below that: by Penny Drummond.
As they settled down to read, I snuck into my room and closed the door. I was looking forward to hearing what they thought of my article. I was looking forward to seeing what Nick thought of it. I was looking forward to hanging out with him, as well as with Rin and maybe even Hamish as well. I was looking forward to calling Hugh and getting to know him as a person and a friend, instead of my competition. I was even looking forward to more Friday night jigsaws with Dad and Josh.
But most of all, I was looking forward to finding another story.
Acknowledgements
AS MENTIONED IN THE DEDICATION, I came up with the idea for Loveshy while on holiday with my dear friend Sarah Dollard. As well as being an excellent friend, she is also an excellent writer and story-doctor, and her wisdom and advice helped shape this book from beginning to end. As always, thanks, Snazzy.
Not to sound like a broken record, but I am so totally lucky to have editors like Jodie Webster and Hilary Reynolds, whose unflagging enthusiasm and careful attention to detail make all my books approximately one million times better than they are in first-draft form. Many thanks to them and to all the other Onions.
And of course thanks to my wonderful friends, my parents and Michael – thanks for listening to me rabbit on about loveshyness and Rhesus monkeys and Stepford mothers and all the other nonsense that fills my head. I am a lucky girl indeed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.
The very first draft of this book was written in November 2009, for (inter)National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a wild, crazy project where participants attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. It’s very intense, but lots of fun. You can find out more at nanowrimo.org.
Finally, loveshyness is a real thing. There are real people who are loveshy. Some of them just need a little confidence-boosting, but for others, like Nick, it’s a serious psychological condition. Anxiety disorders of all types can be very isolating. If you think you have an anxiety disorder, or you know someone who does who you think might need some help – tell someone, and check out these organisations for more information:
HEADSPACE
www.headspace.org.au
—
ANXIETY TREATMENT AUSTRALIA
www.anxietyaustralia.com.au
—
SANE AUSTRALIA
www.sane.org
About the author
LILI WILKINSON WAS BORN IN Melbourne, Australia, in the front room where her parents still live. She was first published when she was twelve, in Voiceworks magazine. After studying Creative Arts at Melbourne University, Lili worked on insideadog.com.au, the Inky Awards and the Inkys Creative Reading Prize at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria. She now spends most of her time reading and writing books for teenagers. She’s won awards for the writing part, but not the reading, unless you count the stopwatch she won once in the MS Readathon.
‘Wry, sly, funny, smart, and very entertaining.’
JACLYN MORIARTY
‘Lili Wilkinson is like a coolgeekgirl Agatha Christie.’
SIMMONE HOWELL
Table of Contents
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
DEDICATION
CONTENTS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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