by Carmen Reid
‘Well, what about you?’ Min risked. ‘Are you a bad boy?’
‘What does that mean?’ Greg said, and leaned towards her so that their faces were only a few centimetres apart.
Then Min hesitated . . . This wasn’t going to be kissing? Was it? She didn’t know what to do . . .
Not wanting to risk any kind of mistake, she pulled away.
‘There’s a café not far from here,’ she blurted out into the slightly awkward pause that followed. ‘My friends are going to be there this afternoon – I wondered if you’d like to come and see them – you’ve met Gina before, remember?’
‘Oh yeah . . .’ Greg remembered her vaguely. It had all happened so quickly on that Halloween evening.
They made their way to the Arts Café – an airy, very pleasantly decorated room on the first floor of a large building that was mainly used as an art gallery. It was a café Min knew well because it was owned by the father of Gina’s boyfriend, Dermot, and Dermot could be found working here most weekends. Because of this, Gina made a point of hanging out there as often as she could.
‘Hi!’ Gina greeted both Min and Greg enthusiastically as soon as she spotted them. ‘Over here, in the best seats!’
Gina and Niffy had indeed taken over the two leather sofas, and Dermot was just setting down two mugs of coffee in front of them.
‘It’s our third round,’ Gina told Min. ‘We’re going to be buzzing.’
‘No, I’ve made these ones decaf,’ Dermot assured her. ‘I’m thinking of your hearts.’
‘Ohhh, you are too good to be true,’ Niffy said with a wink.
‘I don’t deserve him,’ Gina told her friends.
‘No! You do not, especially after all the things your mean mom said about me!’ Dermot was quick to add.
‘She did not.’
‘She did too!’
‘Don’t worry,’ Min reassured Greg. ‘They’re always like this. I think they love arguing.’
‘Do not!’ Gina said.
‘Do too!’ Dermot answered, then burst out laughing. ‘Sit!’ he instructed Min and Greg when he’d got himself under control again. ‘What can I get you?’
As they looked through the menu together, Dermot took a moment to sit on the sofa beside Gina. He casually draped an arm around her shoulder, then leaned over and, without asking, casually kissed her on the neck.
Min saw. She didn’t exactly mean to see; she just happened to glance up and catch Dermot’s hand resting lightly on Gina’s shoulder, then his lips gently touching her neck. Gina moved her head ever so slightly towards him in approval and Min felt a strange little pang. She wondered how it ever got to be so casual between people. How did you go from not being able to hold hands and sitting a careful thirty centimetres apart on a sofa to casual neck kisses? How did it begin?
Where did it go on from there?
‘Tell me more about Colonsay,’ Dermot urged Gina. ‘How did the pool princesses cope without a mall, or a limo, or any of their other daily essentials?’
‘It was an adjustment, believe me.’ Gina grinned.
‘And Barra?’ Dermot asked. ‘Did you get over to Barra and Uist as well?’
‘No, we just went to Colonsay. There wasn’t time to visit the others – which is a shame, because Mom knew them all well when she was little,’ Gina replied.
‘That’s a shame,’ Dermot said. ‘We went to Barra at the end of the summer last year and it was spectacular. I have loads of photos—’
‘You have photos?’ Gina asked, leaning forward as an idea occurred to her. ‘Good ones?’
‘I have photos!’ A light bulb was clicking on in Dermot’s head at the same time. ‘Really nice photos.’
‘That’s what you need to do then!’ Gina said excitedly.
‘Exactly!’
Together, Min and Niffy both had to ask, ‘What?!’
Dermot, fired up with enthusiasm, explained: ‘Get Gina’s mom a lovely set of photos of the islands where she used to spend her summer holidays – a nice set of three, framed, for her pure white Californian wall.’
‘Yeah!’ Gina agreed.
‘Then Mrs Peterson is definitely going to love me,’ he added.
‘Ms Winkelmann . . .’ Gina reminded him.
‘Ah, yes, the multi-layered modern family. I am so boring – I just have one mum and one dad and one proper full brother. Boring.’
‘Dermot!’ came the call from across the café.
‘And that will be my one and only dad now, wondering why I’m not shifting my arse fetching and carrying drinks. See ya later.’ He brushed Gina’s hair to the side and kissed her on the neck again.
Min saw it and felt herself blush with confusion. Would it be nice if Greg did that? She didn’t know. She didn’t even know!
As Dermot left to serve the other customers, Min asked, ‘Where’s Amy?’ in spite of the reaction this might provoke in Niffy.
‘She’s gone out with Rosie – you know, from the year below,’ Gina answered quickly, hoping this would stop any further Amy discussion in its tracks.
Then, to Gina and Niffy’s glee, Greg announced that he was heading for ‘the boys’ room’ and left the table.
No sooner was he out of earshot than the excited questioning began:
‘How is he?’
‘How’s it going?’
‘Are you guys having a good time?’
‘How was the museum?’
‘Do you still like him?’
‘He seems totally mad about you, by the way.’
Min grinned and nodded her way through the barrage of questions, but she still wasn’t prepared for Niffy’s killer: ‘So, have you kissed yet – on the mouth, not just that friendly on-the-cheeks “hello” stuff? Have you snogged’ – she said the word with relish – ‘with tongues?’
‘Eeeeeek!’ Min squeaked in reply.
‘Uh-oh . . . Houston, we have a problem,’ Niffy teased. ‘Date has progressed since fourteen hundred hours and still no mouth-to-mouth contact has been established. Repeat: we have a problem.’
‘Shush!’ Min hissed, terrified that Greg was somehow going to overhear.
‘Didn’t you kiss hello?’ Gina asked.
‘No! The Neb was there!’ Min replied.
‘Oh yeah . . .’
‘And later?’ Niffy asked. ‘Hasn’t there been plenty of tonsil-tickling time since then?’
‘No . . . I think . . . I think I might have blown it,’ Min confided.
‘Uh-oh – if you need mints . . .’ Niffy offered.
‘It’s not that!’ Min looked embarrassed, flustered even. ‘I accidentally moved my hand away. I just sort of . . . got a shock,’ she muttered.
‘Oh dear,’ Niffy said, looking sympathetic now.
‘And then . . . I think he brought his face close to mine and I just sort of . . . moved . . . hesitated – I don’t know. Whatever it is you’re supposed to do, I think I did the wrong thing.’
‘Oh, don’t worry,’ Gina tried to reassure her. ‘I’m sure you’ll get another chance. He seems to really like you. Just relax! You’ll be fine.’
‘Will I? It’s just . . . I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!’ Min blurted out.
But Gina gave her a raised eyebrow look of warning. Greg was heading back towards them and it was time to change the subject.
As he sat back down on the sofa, the girls couldn’t help noticing that he’d placed himself a little closer to Min, though there was still a noticeable gap between them.
After twenty minutes or so of friendly chat, it was approaching five thirty, and the girls were due back at the boarding house for supper.
‘I suppose I should head off,’ Greg said, giving the watch on his wrist a deliberate once over.
‘Yeah . . .’ Min agreed uncertainly.
‘I’ve had a great time,’ he added, colouring up at the words. ‘Shall we do this again soon?’
‘Yeah!’ Min brightened up. ‘I’d really like that.’
Greg stood up and then shook hands with both Niffy and Gina. ‘Nice to see you again,’ he told them.
Min stood up too and looked at her date, seized with uncertainty.
What was she supposed to do? Kiss him? Here?! Right in front of her friends?
‘Thanks,’ Min said, then wished she hadn’t. Thanks for what? Duh!
Greg held out his hand to her!
He was going to shake hands!
This was all wrong!
Min gave him her hand to shake and they said their goodbyes. Then he began to walk out of the café, turning once to wave just as he reached the door.
‘Go after him!’ Niffy whispered. ‘Go smooch on the stairs. For goodness’ sake, Min, get out there. He just shook your hand! That’s like the first-date Kiss of Death. Go!’
But Min was frozen to the spot.
Chapter Twenty-one
‘OK, PETA, DO you want to go through that one more time?’ Mrs Parker asked briskly. ‘Amy, you stay over in the corner, behind the screen. Obviously it will be a tree once we’ve got the props sorted out, but the screen will have to do for now.’
Amy was tired. They’d already been rehearsing for over an hour: her, Peta, Mrs Parker and the friendly St Lennox boy, Jamie, who’d been picked for the part of Adrian. Even Gina, who’d been watching for the first thirty minutes or so, had slipped away, she noticed.
Maybe Amy wouldn’t have been so tired or so fed up if she felt that she was any good at this. But for most of the rehearsal, everything she did or suggested seemed to be wrong; whereas Peta . . . Oh my goodness! Mrs Parker could not get enough of the wonderful, naturally talented Peta! And Jamie could barely keep his eyes off her either.
Not that Amy was interested in Jamie, obviously, but what with him and Mrs Parker fussing and generally marvelling at wonderful, extraordinary Peta, she felt like a lumpen, untalented frog, croaking away from her corner behind the screen.
Once again, Peta took her speech from the top; she would no doubt deliver another flawless performance. Amy risked peeping out at her from a gap in the screen.
She was tall and thin as a whippet, with that uniquely Scandinavian complexion. Despite the soft silver halo of hair, her skin was biscuity brown and golden. She’d obviously spent the whole summer outdoors, being kissed by the northern sun. Look at those beautiful hands holding the script – although she’d already learned all her words – and then there was her lovely voice, trilling melodiously through the lines as if she’d been playing the part of Scarlett all her life.
She was such a wonderful actress – and she was so pretty . . . and so thin!
Amy could feel her heart sinking into her shoes. She just couldn’t cope with the comparisons. Having always thought of herself as pretty and talented and thin, Amy had made an effort to dress well, get her hair cut properly, wear nice make-up. She’d always made the most of herself and thought the best of herself.
But now, as she considered the prospect of standing up here on stage in front of the whole school beside Peta – being compared to Peta – there was no doubt in Amy’s mind that she was going to be second best.
‘And now Amy . . .’ Mrs Parker looked at her.
Amy stepped forward and began to stumble through her lines, trying to remember all the supposedly friendly and helpful advice she’d been given on her last run-through.
Somehow, though, the more advice she got, the more confused she became and the worse her performance seemed to get.
‘Not bad – much improved . . .’ Mrs Parker told her.
Amy glanced over at Peta, who gave her a little smile.
It was hard to read that smile. Was it friendly? Unfriendly? Superior? Icy? Condescending? Shy? Amy didn’t know. She smiled back: part of her hoped she might get to know Peta better; part of her wasn’t sure she could cope.
‘OK, back to your screen, Amy,’ Mrs Parker said. ‘We’ll do that all one last time – then, I promise, I will let you go.’
Despite the dimmed lights, Amy could see two girls coming into the assembly hall and heading down towards the front row of chairs.
‘Girls?’ Mrs Parker turned to the pair. ‘Do you have a reason to be here?’
‘Peta’s catching the bus back with me,’ one of the girls answered.
Amy’s stomach knotted at the sound of the voice. It was Penny Boswell-Hackett. Just what she needed: Penny B-H watching, comparing, taking notes and preparing choice snide remarks to insult her with later.
‘Fine. Jamie? Peta? Are you ready for the final run-through?’
As Jamie started up once more, Amy peered through a gap in the screen to see who else was there with Penny.
She saw the curly dark brown hair, the pale face and the prominent nose of Penny’s companion, but she still couldn’t really believe it was Niffy.
What was Niffy doing here?
Why was Niffy sitting beside Penny? And talking to her?
Even if they did play in the Scottish hockey squad together, did Niffy really, honestly want to be Penny’s friend?
Was Niffy being friends with Penny just to annoy Amy? Could that be the reason?
Amy couldn’t stop watching them. Niffy was bending down – maybe she’d dropped something, maybe she was getting something out of her school bag . . .
Then she brought out her mobile phone. Amy could tell that’s what it was because it glowed blue in the darkness. Even up on stage, she could hear the two girls’ stifled giggles.
Niffy was showing something to Penny. Even though she had no idea what it was, Amy felt her cheeks burning. Somehow she just knew that it was something to do with her. What else could Penny and Niffy possibly be laughing about?
Was it Finn’s video clip? she wondered. Had Niffy downloaded the clip – which she was now showing to Penny?!
Amy felt tears of hurt and injustice welling up in her eyes. Her throat was tightening with a lump of unhappiness.
This was too much. This was just too much—
‘Amy!’ Mrs Parker called out a little sharply. ‘You’ve missed your cue. You were supposed to jump in there.’
With the tight dryness in her throat, Amy knew she wasn’t going to be able to say anything – and anyway, she didn’t want to act in front of these horrible spectators.
She quickly stood up behind the screen and felt a convenient lurch of dizziness. ‘I don’t feel well . . .’ she murmured.
‘Really?’ Mrs Parker asked with concern as Amy held onto the screen for support.
‘I think I’m just tired. I need to go back to the boarding house – it’s nearly supper time.’
Amy knew this because she’d been checking her watch every ten minutes for the last hour. In twenty minutes it would be time for supper. She’d made it. She’d managed to last all the way from breakfast through to supper on only one small biscuit at snack time and five large glasses of water to fill the horrible rumbling empty feeling in her stomach.
Mrs Parker looked at the girls in the audience. ‘Luella? Is that you?’ she called out, spotting Niffy. Amy suddenly had a horrible feeling she knew what was coming next.
‘You’ll be heading back to the boarding house now, won’t you? Can you go with Amy? She’s not feeling well and I think someone should keep an eye on her as she walks over.’
Niffy shrugged. ‘I’ve got hockey practice, Mrs Parker,’ she replied.
‘Well, just walk Amy back and then get to hockey – it will only take a few minutes,’ Mrs Parker insisted.
Amy came down from the stage, gathered her things together and said goodnight to Mrs Parker.
Then, with Niffy following several metres behind her, she left the assembly hall.
They walked along the school corridors in silence. They went out of the main door, through the dark school grounds and onto the path that led to the boarding house . . . all in the biggest, huffiest silence.
As they went in through the gate to the boarding-house garden, Amy couldn’t stand it any longer.
‘What w
ere you and Penny laughing about?’ she demanded.
‘What’s it got to do with you?’ Niffy fired back.
Amy stopped and put her hands on her hips. ‘Well, that’s just what I want to know. Did it have anything to do with me? I saw you – you and your new best friend Penny – having a good laugh about something, and if it had anything to do with me, then I think I should be told!’
For a moment Niffy just stared at Amy. She didn’t say anything. Her face looked ready to explode with anger. But still she said nothing.
Amy couldn’t take the silence. It was the silence that got to her. Amy was an arguer, a fighter; so was her dad. She wasn’t used to people stomping about in great sulky silences for days on end.
‘Say something!’ she shrieked at Niffy. ‘For God’s sake will you just bloody say something?!’
‘Fine,’ Niffy replied in a voice which sounded too calm. ‘It had nothing to do with you. It was a hockey thing. Guess what, Amy? Big news: the whole world doesn’t revolve around you.’
Amy turned on her heel and headed for the boarding-house door. Suddenly she didn’t have the energy to fight. She didn’t have the energy for anything.
Chapter Twenty-two
‘AMY!’ GINA GREETED her with a smile as she came into the Upper Fifth sitting room. ‘Mrs Parker’s finally let you go then? I was beginning to wonder.’
‘Yeah – and I think she’s planning my replacement,’ Amy grumbled in reply.
‘Don’t be silly! It was your first rehearsal; you could hardly expect to be perfect,’ Min reassured her.
‘Peta was,’ Amy said, and sank weakly down into the sofa. Just ten minutes till supper, just ten minutes to go . . .
‘Peta’s part is much smaller than yours,’ Gina reminded her kindly.
Amy spotted the two iced cupcakes sitting on a little saucer on the coffee table in front of her. Oh, good grief – chocolate butter-cream icing, one of her favourite treats!
‘I saved those for you,’ Gina said, seeing where Amy’s gaze had fallen. ‘If you come back late there are never any cakes left.’