Sugar Secrets…& Scandal

by Mel Sparke

  “Um, sorry… what?”

  “I was just saying, I’m surprised you haven’t done more photos of the band,” said Alex in his earthy Glaswegian tones.

  “Our friend Ollie—” she began.

  “He’s the lead singer,” Andy interrupted, for Alex’s benefit.

  “Anyway, our friend Ollie says he wants to wait till the band have got more of a following,” Maya explained. “He says he doesn’t want me to take pictures when the pub’s half empty and it looks like they haven’t got any fans.”

  It was partly true; it was what Ollie had once said to her. But the other reason Maya hadn’t pushed to do more with The Loud yet was that she felt a little self-conscious about taking photos of a band that included two photographers-Billy and Andy-both of whom were pretty good behind a lens.

  “Aw, it’s not half empty-don’t listen to her, Alex. We’re popular, honest we are!” Billy suddenly protested. “You should come along sometime and see the band for yourself!”

  “I’d love to,” Alex surprised the boys by saying. “When are you playing next?”

  “Um, well, tomorrow,” said Andy, slightly sheepishly. “We play every Thursday night at the Railway Tavern.”

  “Tomorrow…? Yep, I might just be able to make that.”

  Billy and Andy had inane grins splattered across their faces. Maya could easily see why; Alex didn’t act like a teacher, but as their tutor at the evening class - and one they all respected and liked-it felt like a bit of a coup to the lads that he was interested in what they were doing.

  “But if I come tomorrow, I want a favour in return,” said Alex, fixing all three with an earnest look.

  “Yeah, whatever,” Billy nodded enthusiastically. “What is it?”

  “I’m having a belated flat-warming party on Saturday, now that I’ve finally got the place finished. I just thought it would be nice if everyone from the club could come along…”

  Maya felt a surge of excitement at the unexpected invitation. She loved her friends, loved hanging out with them, but the idea of going to a party where there’d be lots of new people sounded great. A real change. And most of them would be older-Alex was twenty-seven, she remembered he’d told them once-which would be pretty interesting too.

  But despite all that, Maya’s loyalty to her mates tugged at her and she was just wondering if it would be too cheeky to ask if she could bring them all along when Andy and Billy let out a groan almost in unison.

  “Aw, we can’t make it on Saturday!” Andy sighed.

  “We’ve got a gig for Valentine’s Day,” Billy continued. “What a pain it’s the same night!”

  “Yeah, why couldn’t it have been on Valentine’s Day proper?” shrugged Andy.

  “Because it lands on a Monday this year,” Billy pointed out. “And no one would’ve come.”

  “Ah, well, never mind,” Alex shrugged.

  Wait a minute, thought Maya. Just because the boys are playing a gig doesn’t mean I can’t go!

  “I’d still love to come,” she found herself saying. “What time is everyone turning up?”

  Even though she was looking up into Alex’s face, Maya could sense the surprised stares Billy and Andy were giving her.

  “Maya-I thought you were coming to see us on Saturday…” Billy said lamely.

  “Hey, I’m sure The Loud can do without me in the audience for one night!” she said brightly.

  And it won’t hurt to nip this situation with Billy in the bud either, she figured.

  If he was going slushy on her again, the last place Maya wanted to be was at a Valentine party with him-there was just too much opportunity for him to say or do something they’d both regret.

  “Good!” exclaimed Alex, in his husky burr. “I’m glad you’ll be able to make it, Maya!”

  “So am I!” she smiled, ignoring the look of disappointment on Billy’s face.

  CHAPTER 5

  NUMBER ONE FAN

  “It won’t be the same if you don’t come on Saturday!” said Kerry, gazing at Maya forlornly.

  “Yeah, traitor!” laughed Sonja.

  “Look, I’m here tonight to support the boys-I’m here every Thursday-so it’s no big deal, is it?” Maya protested.

  “Could be,” Cat’s voice came from above as she transferred full glasses from the tray she was carrying on to the table. “Could be a very big deal, depending what this Alex of yours is like…”

  “What do you mean exactly?” Maya demanded. If Alex was going to turn up at the Railway Tavern tonight - and there was no guarantee that he definitely would; he’d only said he might come-the last thing Maya wanted was for Cat to be on her worst behaviour.

  “Well,” said Cat, settling herself down on a stool and continuing with her theory, totally unfazed by Maya’s stern tone, “hasn’t it crossed your mind that maybe he’s the one?”

  “He is my tutor at photography club. He is not the one,” Maya said firmly. “And while we’re on the subject of my stupid tarot reading, have you said something to Billy?”

  “Me? Billy? What have I said?” Cat asked with a genuinely innocent expression on her face.

  Though knowing Cat, that doesn’t mean much… thought Maya.

  “Billy. Did you tell him—”

  “Uh-oh, don’t look now, girls, but here comes Mr Sleazy,” Cat burst in with a snigger.

  Cat, Maya and Kerry were all facing the right way, but Sonja and Anna had to turn round in their seats to take a look at Nick, who’d just walked in with Derek, the owner of the Railway Tavern.

  “I’m sure it’s all just some mistake,” said Anna, trying hard to think of an excuse that would make sense of the saucy advert her boss had been flashing about in the café the other day. By now, they’d all heard about Nick and the escort agency.

  “Urgh, I doubt it,” Cat shuddered. “I still can’t believe what he’s up to; and to think he used to go out with my mum!”

  And to think you once told us you were his secret girlfriend, thought Maya, remembering the bizarre lie Cat had once come out with, just to get everyone’s attention. But it had been at a bad time in Cat’s life and Maya wasn’t going to be so mean as to drag it up now.

  What Maya also wasn’t going to do-she knew-was get any sense out of Cat about Billy. That would have to wait till later. Alex had just arrived.

  It was the last song in their set and Ollie was relieved when he cast a glance into the audience and saw that the staring girl had gone.

  She was the same one who had been in the End-the one Joe had pointed out. She was easy to recognise with her dark helmet of shiny, bobbed hair and the sparkle of the diamante stud in her nose. And, up till now, she’d been standing at the front of the watching crowd, at the very edge of the stage, her eyes locked on him.

  There was no denying it had put him off; he knew he wasn’t singing his best.

  C’mon, Ol, he told himself now that she’d vanished. Make this a good one to finish with…

  Ollie closed his eyes and let his voice soar above Billy’s guitar. Feeling more like himself, he hit the very last note, then heard the cheering and clapping begin.

  “Thanks-see you next week!” he grinned out into the sea of faces and strode off, leading the other lads off the stage.

  “Nice one!” said Nick, holding open the door to the corridor that led through to the small, dingy, backstage changing room. The band always headed straight there when they finished a gig; to wind down, catch their breath and have a quick post-mortem before they went back out to the bar and relaxed with their friends.

  “Thanks, Nick. I lost it for a while there, but I think I pulled it together at the end,” Ollie gasped, his heart still racing.

  “And that’s the one they’ll go home remembering,” Nick reassured him as they walked side by side along the corridor. “Hey, listen, I meant to show you something…”

  Ollie gulped as he saw Nick pull out a pink piece of paper from his top pocket. He’d heard all about it from Billy, of course, but
he hadn’t managed to bring up the subject of what Nick thought he was doing using an escort agency; Dorothy or Irene were always around at work and it didn’t seem like a great idea to talk about his uncle’s dubious new hobby in front of the two old dears.

  Of course, the other reason he’d said nothing was that the very idea filled him with dread. For all his apparent confidence, Ollie hated confrontation; he’d willingly do anything for an easy life, including avoiding awkward situations. With hindsight, he knew that he was partly to blame for the hiccup that had happened a few months before in his relationship with Kerry. She had been getting herself in a tangle of worries that she’d been too shy to tell him about, and he hadn’t helped by seeing that something was wrong, but keeping quiet and hoping it would all be OK.

  Now he faced the same situation with Nick-which was grossing out the girls as well as the guys in the band - and that feeling of dread was back in the pit of his stomach. He had to say or do something and maybe he’d fall out with his uncle over it. Or maybe it wasn’t even his business…

  Nick began unfolding the crumpled pink paper, while at the same time leaning on the dressing room door to open it.

  “I just thought this was something you’d be interested in,” said Nick as the door swung open.

  I doubt it, Ollie thought in a panic, spotting the sexy drawing Billy had described to him. Behind him, in the corridor, he knew all the other lads would be hanging on his every word, waiting to see what he’d say.

  “Well, each to his own, Nick,” Ollie finally managed, shrugging apologetically as he strode into the cramped, messy room, “but this kind of thing doesn’t really do it for me…”

  Ollie stopped suddenly in surprise and felt Joe stumble into his back with a gasped “Ouff!”

  Sitting cross-legged on the floor were two girls; one fair-haired and bored, one dark-haired and intense.

  “Hi,” said the intense one, looking straight at Ollie.

  “Er, hi…” Ollie muttered in reply.

  The girl with the pierced nose lost the intense look for a second and gave him a shy little smile.

  CHAPTER 6

  CAT PUSHES IT

  “I suppose it’s kind of sweet.”

  “Sweet, Joe? How do you figure that one out?” Matt asked, through a mouthful of spaghetti bolognese. The End provided most of Matt’s nutritional needs; it certainly beat sitting alone at home in the sterile kitchen of his dad’s huge house with only a Pot Noodle and the radio for company.

  “Well, she’s The Loud’s first proper fan…” Joe shrugged, sounding unconvinced.

  “First proper nutter, more like!”

  “Hey, that’s not really fair, Matt!” Ollie jumped in.

  “yep,” nodded Matt, warming to his theme, “she’s The Loud’s first groupie.”

  Ollie sighed. He felt mean moaning about the staring girl, but he couldn’t help it. He’d felt terrible the night before at the Railway Tavern when Nick had shooed the girl and her friend out of the dressing room as soon as she’d waffled her piece about wanting to tell the band in person how great they were.

  “Course it’s fair!” said Matt, pausing for a second to suck a rogue strand of spaghetti into his mouth. “I mean, sneaking around backstage waiting for you to come off? That’s too much-she could have just waited and told you how much she liked the band when you guys came out front, like any normal person would. And the looks she was giving you when you finally did come to hang around out in the bar with us… She’s weird, man. I’m telling you.”

  Ollie knew exactly what Matt meant about the looks; the dark-haired girl’s eyes had felt like lasers trained on him as he was introduced to Alex-Billy, Andy and Maya’s photography tutor bloke. As he chatted to Alex, he’d seen her leaning against the far wall out of the corner of his eye, her reluctant friend still in tow.

  Half of him dreaded her coming over and trying to speak to him again, but half of him would have preferred it - and at least it would have felt a bit more normal.

  But whatever Ollie thought, he wasn’t going to admit it out loud-that would have made it seem too real. All he wanted to do was change the subject and forget the whole thing.

  She might not even come back to see us play again, he tried to reassure himself, while denying the fact that he jumped every time the bell on the door of the café tinkled.

  “Wonder where Kerry and the others are?” he said, glancing up pointlessly at the wonky clock above the jukebox. “Thought they’d be here by now.”

  “Don’t change the subject,” said Matt, pushing his empty plate away and giving a contented burp. “Admit it-you do think she’s weird.”

  “OK, so she stares a lot, but that’s not a crime is it? You can’t exactly run to the police and say ‘Help me, officer, a pretty girl’s been staring at me a bit’, can you?” Ollie tried to joke.

  “She’s not some girl who stares, Ol,” Matt insisted. “She’s a stalker. I bet you.”

  “Stalker Girl…” Joe muttered absently under his breath.

  Ollie knew this bit of teasing was going to run and run. And from Matt’s sudden grin, he knew he’d heard a nickname that was going to stick.

  Sonja sat in the padded window seat of her bedroom, watching as her three friends wriggled in and out of a pile of clothes that were spread out on her bed.

  “What do you think?” said Cat, pulling a creamy peasant top over her big boobs.

  “Nah,” said Sonja as Maya and Kerry crinkled up their noses. “That’s an Anna top-it’s too tame and hippy-dippy for you, Cat.”

  Cat yanked the top over her head and chucked it at Sonja, who caught it neatly and rammed it into an already stuffed carrier bag.

  The girls were round at Sonja’s early that Friday night after she’d put in an emergency call to them all. Her big sisters, Karin and Lottie-who had great taste in clothes-were having a radical clear-out of their wardrobes.

  After pulling out a couple of tops for herself, Sonja did what any good friend would do and alerted her mates to the fact that they had one chance, and one chance only, to rummage through her sisters’ cast-offs before they were taken in bin bags to the charity shop.

  Anna-who out of all the girls could have benefited most from this free-for-all-was stuck doing a shift down at the End as usual. Ever mindful of the fact that their friend had minimal money and no parents around to treat her to new clothes, the girls were all conferring about what might suit Anna, with her pale skin and long, mid-brown hair. They were looking forward to seeing her face when they surprised her with the bag of goodies later on.

  “Here’s another Anna number,” said Kerry, holding a long, pale-green cotton slip-dress up against her.

  “It’d look pretty on you, too,” Maya pointed out.

  “Do you think so?” asked Kerry, stepping over towards the full-length mirror.

  “Yeah, go on, try it on,” Sonja encouraged her. “And anyway, I meant to ask, Kez-has Ollie said anything yet to Nick about him and the Lusty Ladies or whatever that dodgy escort outfit was called?”

  “No,” came Kerry’s muffled reply as she gingerly eased off her button-fronted top; her broken collarbone was still in need of TLC. “He says he hasn’t had a chance.”

  “God, Ollie can be such a chicken!” said Cat, pulling another top out of the muddle of clothes. “I’ll ask Nick what he’s up to-I’m not scared.”

  “No, you will not,” warned Maya. Nick wasn’t overly fond of Cat since all the nonsense that had happened with her the year before. Everyone-except Cat, it seemed-guessed that he only really tolerated her these days because of his fondness for Ollie and the rest of the crowd.

  “It’s difficult for Ollie, remember,” Kerry tried to explain as Maya came to her aid and helped her step into the green dress. “Nick’s his uncle and his boss…”

  “That’s never stopped Ollie being cheeky to him before,” Cat pointed out.

  “Yeah, but this is a pretty dodgy area we’re talking about,” said Sonja, exchanging
looks with Kerry. Both of them could remember the last time Ollie and his uncle had had a run-in-when Ollie had believed Cat when she’d told him that Nick was messing her about. It wasn’t true, of course, and the experience had been a horrible one for both uncle and nephew.

  “Hey, maybe those girls in The Loud’s dressing room last night were actually there to see Nick!” said Cat excitedly.

  “What?!” said the other three in unison, wondering where Cat’s flight of fancy was taking her.

  “Well, Andy said Nick got the pair of them out of there pretty fast-what if they were escort girls, come to see him?” Cat suggested with her eyes wide. “Then he got embarrassed ‘cause all the boys were in the room and ordered the girls out-to save face!”

  “Cat,” said Sonja, staring long and hard at her cousin, “if that’s the case, why was Nick trying to show Ollie the ad about the escort agency just seconds before he opened the door? That blows your stupid theory…”

  “And Joe told me that when he thought about it, he realised the dark-haired girl’s been coming to see the band for ages,” Maya chipped in, with another fact to destroy Cat’s bizarre suggestion.

  “These girls hanging round the band-they’re not getting on your wick, are they, Kez?” Sonja asked, suddenly aware that it might be hard for her best mate to cope with the female attention the band was suddenly getting.

  Kerry, who was now staring unhappily at the way the cotton dress was pulling unflatteringly across her hips, shook her head.

  “No-they’re just fans. It’s what you expect with groups, isn’t it?” she shrugged. “And anyway, it’s not like Ollie or any of the lads are going to take advantage, are they?”

  “True. By the way, that’s too tight for you round the bum, Kez,” Cat interrupted bluntly, even though her own white T-shirt was at least one size two small for her double D-cup figure. “Hey, why don’t you try that dress, Maya? Might be just the thing for this party you’re deserting us for tomorrow night…”

  Maya had been wondering when the wind-up would start. It had taken Cat longer to get round to the subject than she’d expected.