A Date with Fate

by Cathy Cole

  THREE

  Eve ate lunch as quickly as she could. At a table near the door, Josh was finishing off a sandwich and packing up his bag. The moment he left the canteen, Eve followed as closely as she dared.

  A number of kids left the school building in lunch break. Eve blended in with the crowd jostling through the double doors. Josh was already some way ahead of her, his long legs striding easily down the steps outside the school building and away down the high street.

  Eve snatched a quick glimpse of herself in a shop window. There was no point in any of this if she didn’t look good. The warm breeze had brought a flush of colour to her pale cheeks, but her lips were dry and her hair a little messy. She could live with the hair, Eve decided, but had to sort her lips out. Boys liked soft, inviting lips. She whipped out her favourite gloss and applied it with a swift one-two swipe of the wand. Much better.

  To her dismay, when she looked ahead again, she realized Josh had vanished. Eve jogged up and down the high street, peering inside the shops and checking her gold watch, feeling jumpy. Time was passing too fast for comfort. Soon she’d have to be back in class. Where had he disappeared to?

  Eve turned off the high street, feeling a little desperate. The sea wind hit her head-on, blowing her hair right back from her face. To her relief, she spotted Josh sitting on the beach, his rucksack by his side and his head bent over something.

  Making a mental note to keep her face to the wind – strands of hair sticking to lip gloss was not a good look – Eve straightened her shoulders and strode over.

  Josh was drawing. Eve stopped in the sand and gazed over his shoulder as his pencil drew the swift outline of a gull banking over the sand, flight feathers outstretched like fingers. It was so lifelike, she half-expected it to fly off the page with its usual seaside shriek. She was genuinely impressed.

  There was a portrait of a laughing girl on the facing page. Eve had hardly glimpsed it when Josh flipped the sketchbook to a clean page – but she’d seen enough to recognise the face.

  Lila Murray again.

  When would Lila stop getting in the way?

  I knows more ways to snag a boy than you’ve ever dreamed of, new girl, she thought, feeling the fierce flush of competition rush through her blood. By the time I’ve finished with Josh, he’ll be putty in my hands.

  Eve knew exactly how to hook someone like Josh. Scratch the surface on any boy, cool guy or geeky nerd, and they were all the same. If you played it right, in no time at all the boys rolled at your feet like puppies begging to have their tummies tickled. It was pathetic really.

  Rule number one: compliment them.

  “That’s an amazing seagull,” she said warmly. She didn’t even have to fake it. He really was good. “You’re properly talented, Josh.”

  Josh closed his sketchbook, clearly surprised to see Eve standing there. “Thanks,” he said. “What are you doing out here?”

  Eve knew the rules as well as if she’d had them tattooed on the insides of her eyelids. Rule number two: add a little mystery.

  She turned to face the waves, taking care to pull her hair well back from her lips. “I like to think out here sometimes,” she said in her most serious voice. “School can get a little too . . . intense. The sea makes everything clearer.”

  “I find that too,” he said, looking interested.

  Boys were so predictable. The puppy-tummy stage was already only a few steps away.

  “Can I sit with you?” she asked, flicking her eyes sideways at him.

  Josh laid out his coat so she wouldn’t have to sit on the sand and patted the space. “Best view in the house,” he said.

  It was a great view, the way the waves curled and dashed themselves against the sand. There was something mesmerizing about it. If it weren’t for the fact that Eve was losing the battle between her hair and the wind, she would have almost said she was enjoying herself.

  Rule number three, she thought. Ask questions. A LOT of questions.

  “Do you come out here a lot?”

  He nodded, opening up his sketchbook again. “All the time.”

  Eve shifted so she was looking directly into his eyes. They were lovely eyes. Bright green eyes. She put her whole soul into her next question.

  “What makes this place special for you?”

  Josh fiddled with his sketchpad, and Eve felt a little flicker of pleasure. He couldn’t hold her gaze. She’d work on that. Coax him gently into the sunlight. Let him know that it was OK to look as long as he liked.

  “Probably the same thing that makes it special for you,” he replied. His head was bent over the page, his pencil making swift marks on the page. “The peace of it. The grandeur.”

  Grandeur was a nice word. Eve liked it. She nudged very gently against his shoulder. “What are you drawing now?”

  “Something I’ve been working on for a while.” He flushed, looking nervous suddenly. “Do you want to see?”

  She put her hand on his arm. “I’d love to see anything you want to show me, Josh.”

  He fumbled a little, opening up the sketchbook. Eve stared at the little panels, the word bubbles, the energy of the pictures. “You’re drawing a comic book?” she said.

  “A graphic novel,” he said a little tightly, and shut the sketchbook with a final-sounding slam.

  Eve realized that she was pushing this too fast. Josh would wriggle off her hook if she didn’t tread carefully. She changed tack.

  “I didn’t know there was a difference,” she said quickly. “I don’t know anything about graphic novels. I didn’t mean any offence.”

  She gazed at her hands in what she hoped was a suitably humble kind of way, waiting and hoping for the moment when Josh would relax again.

  “Comic books are for kids,” he said after a moment. “Graphic novels are on a different level. I’ll show you what I mean.”

  He got his sketchbook out again, opening it up to a central page covered in strong dark lines. Eve felt a wave of relief. She hadn’t lost her fish yet.

  As Josh explained the concept behind his graphic novel – something about a quest in a magical land – Eve mentally constructed the perfect wardrobe for him to wear to her party. It would have to match her dress, but not in an obvious way. It was all about getting the right feeling. A touch of blue somewhere. Maybe on his socks?

  “What do you think?” Josh was looking at her expectantly. Eve blinked, caught off guard.

  “I agree!” she fudged with a little laugh.

  He looked a little confused. “I asked what you thought about graphic-novel heros needing a dark past.”

  Oops.Eve’s eyes darted towards the tall figure in the billowing black cloak standing in the central panel Josh had been showing her. The guy did look pretty dark. Right?

  “I meant, I agree they should have a dark past!” She threw in a pout, just in case.

  Josh looked back at his sketchbook. “Just as well,” he said a little drily. “I don’t think my guy has too many memories of kittens and snowballs.”

  This wasn’t going quite as smoothly as Eve had hoped. Time to ramp it up a little. Reaching over, she placed her hand lightly on his arm.

  “You’ve caught the dark thing really well, Josh,” she said seriously. “I think you are brilliant at what you do. To be honest, I’m a little dazzled. Do you have a publishing deal?”

  He looked wistful. “As if. I’m only at the preliminary stages.”

  Eve squeezed his arm through his sleeve. “Daddy knows heaps of people in publishing,” she said firmly. “We’ll get him to call someone to take a look. This deserves to be published.”

  Josh’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  Daddy knows lots of people, Eve thought. There’s bound to be a few publishers in the mix. She was never one to let truth get in the way of a conquest. “I’ve never been mor
e serious in my life,” she said.

  Josh looked even more handsome when he was happy. “That’s amazing, Eve,” he stammered. “You . . . you’re amazing.”

  Eve gave him her sweetest smile, cocking her head. “It’s your talent, Josh,” she said honestly. “I’m just the facilitator.”

  “Stay still,” he said suddenly, scrabbling in his pocket. “I’m going to draw you. I can put you in the novel if you want.”

  Eve’s heart jumped. “You want to draw me?”

  “Drawing you already. Keep your head still.”

  Josh’s fingers were flying over the sketch pad, shading and sketching, outlining and cross-hatching, until a figure emerged on the page.

  Josh flipped the pad round to show her. “You like it?”

  Eve wasn’t sure she recognized herself. The girl Josh had drawn was strong and beautiful with lustrous hair and big eyes, in a kind of sleek body armour that hugged the curves of her body. She liked it. If she could just feel like that inside, she thought wistfully, she could conquer the world.

  Josh flipped the sketch pad shut. “It’s just a sketch,” he said shyly. “I’ll work it up into something better for next time.”

  Eve stared into his green eyes. He was amazing. He was perfect for her in every way. How had she never seen it before? She had to snare him. Right now.

  She cast her mind back to rule number three. Ask questions.

  “So Josh,” she said, keeping her expression as warm and inviting as she could. “Where do you live?”

  Josh slid his sketchbook into his bag. “In the old town.”

  Eve felt excited. She’d never met anyone who actually lived in the old town before, with its ancient, salt-stained buildings and dark, cobbled lanes. “How cute!” she said warmly. “In one of the old fishing cottages? I bet your mother has done the most amazing things to it. Those little places look so charming.”

  Josh yanked his jacket from beneath her so quickly that Eve almost fell backwards.

  “You should try living in one,” he said, standing up. “Better get back to school or we’ll be late.”

  “But. . .”

  He was striding up the beach already, his head tucked down into the collar of his jacket and his arms wrapped around his bag. Getting to her feet and hurrying after him, Eve felt as if more than a jacket had been pulled from underneath her. The sand itself felt a little unsteady.

  Had she ruined it with Josh already?

  FOUR

  The rest of the afternoon was lonely.

  Josh had only returned Eve’s smile once during afternoon classes, and ducked his head down again straight afterwards. It was extremely vexing. If Eve had blown her chances with the only guy in class worth her time and effort . . . well. It didn’t bear thinking about what that said about her.

  As for her former friends, they were all doing a good job of ignoring her. Lila, Polly, Rhi, Ollie. Even Max’s eyes had slid away from her after class, despite Eve shooting him her most inviting smile. She was used to being invisible at home, but this was a different matter. School was Eve’s kingdom. No one ignored her at school.

  I have to figure out a way to get back on top, she thought, packing away her books more fiercely than necessary at the end of class.

  No one was waiting for her, the way they usually did. No one at all. Acting as though it didn’t matter in the least, Eve shouldered her bag and left the school building with her head held high and thought about the problem.

  Daddy says there’s no such things as problems, she reminded herself as she marched along the high street. Only solutions no one’s thought of yet.

  And almost at once, the perfect solution came to her, blowing down the street with the leaves and the litter. Eve stopped, dazzled by her own brilliance.

  Changing direction, she hurried towards her father’s gleaming beachside office. The tips of the waves were whiter and frothier than than they had been at lunch, and the gulls were struggling to fly in a straight line. Eve didn’t notice. She took the lift to the top floor to give herself a chance to catch her breath and check her reflection in the lift mirror. The wind had brightened her cheeks nicely.

  Her father’s suite of offices were bright and modern, humming with activity and the sound of rapid typing. Eve strode across the soft carpet to her dad’s secretary’s desk.

  “Is Daddy free, Gloria? I have something really important that I want to ask him.”

  Gloria peered at Eve over the top of her gold spectacle frames. “Hello to you too, Eve,” she said in her dry Scottish accent. “Your father’s extremely busy today, but I’ll let him know you’re here. If you’d like to take a seat?”

  Eve flung herself down into a big leather armchair her dad used for guests, and stared out of the windows, tapping her fingernails impatiently on the armrest. She could see the shopping centre from here. It looked as if it was almost finished.

  Her father’s office door opened.

  “This is a nice surprise, Eve,” said her dad. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  Eve jumped up and hugged her father affectionately. His hair looked extra-rumpled today, and his eyes were tired.

  “You need a holiday, Daddy,” Eve said, looking up at him with concern.

  Her father seemed distracted. “Be quick, Evie. I have a hundred things to do.”

  “I know you do, Daddy,” Eve soothed. “But I just have a teensy favour I want to ask you.”

  “Eve,” he said warningly, “I have a lot—”

  “I’ll do everything,” Eve said quickly, before she lost his attention. “But I just need your permission.”

  “Permission for what?”

  Eve beamed. “To host a school trip to the office! It would be brilliant for everyone to see what you do here. It fits in really well with our careers training, and it would raise your profile and the profile of the new shopping centre. You’re always saying how important it is to do that, right?”

  She could see the whole day in her mind’s eye already. Activities for her classmates, a project for them all to work on back in the classroom. It would impress everyone – not least of all Josh. She had a particular job in mind for Josh, a job that would prove how much she had been thinking about him and his career.

  “We’ll fit it in with you, of course.” Eve’s mind was whirring at a hundred miles an hour through the endless benefits a trip like this would bring her. “But I was thinking we could do it next week?”

  “You have a lot of appointments next week, Mr Somerstown,” Gloria called from behind her desk. “There’s hardly any space at all for an event on the scale your daughter is proposing.”

  Gloria could be a real killjoy sometimes, Eve thought. Couldn’t the old trout see how good this would be?

  “I’d just need a list of the businesses who are buying units in the shopping centre, Daddy,” she said, determined not to be thwarted. “I’ll plan the whole event down to the last paper clip. And I thought maybe you could give a talk as well? We’ll focus the trip on retailing and branding, and you’d be the perfect speaker because you’re so brilliant at it.”

  “Mr Somerstown, I—” Gloria began.

  “Thank you, Gloria,” Mr Somerstown interrupted, raising his hand. “We can fit my daughter in somewhere, I’m sure. How about Wednesday?”

  Eve gave Gloria her sunniest smile.

  If anything, the old secretary looked more irritated than ever. “As you wish, Mr Somerstown,” she said tightly.

  “Wednesday it is, then,” said Mr Somerstown, tapping Eve on the end of her nose. “And with my little girl in charge, I know it’ll be the best school trip in the world.”

  “Are you ready?” said Josh, staring into Eve’s eyes.

  “Ready is a state of mind, Josh,” Eve said. “And I am always ready.”

  It had been the busiest week and
a half Eve had ever known. She’d loved every minute. Calling the shopping centre’s future businesses and coaxing free gifts out of them for the goodie bags. Organizing the afternoon’s activities. Designing the logo for the day. OK, so Josh had done the designing – and he’d done an incredible job, as Eve had known he would. But there was no escaping the fact that this whole day was down to her.

  The Queen Bee was back.

  “Then if you’re ready,” said Josh, interrupting Eve’s pleasant train of thought, “take it away.”

  The noise of 10Y chattering in the downstairs reception area of Somerstown Developments was tremendous. Eve tugged her blazer into place, clapped her hands and raised her voice.

  “Hello everyone, and welcome!”

  Everyone quietened and faced her. Eve relished the way Rhi, Polly and Lila’s eyes were, finally, fixed entirely on her. At the way Josh was standing by her side.

  “I can’t thank you enough for coming,” she said warmly. “I’m sure we’ll all learn something new, and take away some great memories. Take the lifts to the top floor, or the stairs if you want a little exercise. Let’s have some fun!”

  Hosting an away day was just the same as hosting a party, Eve decided happily as they took the lifts and emerged in the top-floor offices of Somerstown Developments. No wonder she was so good at it.

  “Help me to sort out the goodie bags, Josh,” she suggested. “Girls’ bags are in the first box, boys’ bags in the second.”

  Josh stared at the boxes stacked by the office door. “There are different ones?”

  “I don’t suppose you’ve noticed,” Eve said patiently, “but girls and boys are entirely different species. Of course the bags are different. Goodie bags, everyone!”

  The bags contained all the freebies Eve had sourced from the shopping centre’s future businesses: hair accessories, beauty products and purses for the girls; gadgets, pens and headphones for the boys. There were T-shirts too, emblazoned with Josh’s logo for the day: a heart shape containing the words ALL YOUR HEARTSIDE’S DESIRE in a cool font. The logo was on the bags themselves as well.