Pia and I did a Highland fling and everyone joined in, even Tom, who dropped his cool act for a few minutes.
‘Your turn, Alisha,’ I said, when we’d stopped and caught our breath.
She shook her head. ‘I can’t do anything,’ she said. ‘Honest. No talent. Hands up, I admit it. When I was little, Beyoncé used to babysit us and she tried to teach me to sing and dance but still no luck. Tone deaf, flat feet, that’s me.’
‘You must be able to do something,’ said Flo. ‘Dance or sing or say a poem.’
‘OK,’ she said. ‘I can do the splits.’
She slid down to the floor in the perfect position. ‘Tadah!’ she said.
Everyone clapped. ‘Excellent, my dear,’ I said. ‘You can go through to the next round.’
Alisha got up from the floor, smiled and bowed.
‘Josh, your go,’ I said.
Josh got up. ‘I am going to recite a poem,’ he said. ‘A very moving and deep poem.’ He composed himself for a moment. ‘Tarzan in the jungle, had a belly ache, couldn’t find a toilet, th-wp, too late,’ he said and stuck his bum out behind him. He bowed and sat down.
The rest of us looked at each other in amazement, then burst out laughing.
‘Er, maybe you should think about another career rather than showbiz,’ said Tom.
‘No. Good try,’ said Meg, and she looked coyly at Josh.
‘Definitely different,’ said Pia.
‘No. I’m Simon Cowell and I say it was . . . rubbish! Possibly the worst act ever,’ I said, and we all cracked up laughing again.
‘I can light my farts,’ said Josh. ‘Anyone got a lighter?’
‘There’s a time to shut up, Josh, and that time is now,’ I said.
‘It is impressive,’ he insisted.
‘Josh, darling,’ said Pia. ‘If you are ever want to get anywhere in pulling girls, we can all assure you that lighting your farts is not a technique that has a lot of success.’
‘Moving on,’ I said. ‘My party. No fart lighting. And that’s final. Charlie, Tom,’ I said. ‘What are you going to do? See how far you can pee?’
Alisha cracked up laughing. ‘My brother used to do that when he was a kid,’ she said with a grin.
‘How about we do the new number?’ said Charlie and he nodded to Tom, who picked up his guitar.
‘What key?’ asked Tom.
‘C,’ Charlie replied.
‘Er, excuse me,’ I said. ‘New number? C? Do you guys know each other?’
Charlie nodded. ‘Yeah. I thought you knew. Tom called weeks ago and asked if we could meet up to play some music.’
All the pieces suddenly slotted into place. Tom asking for my number. Saying he wanted to spend more time with someone who lived at the apartment. It hadn’t been me he’d wanted to call. It hadn’t been one of the A-listers he’d wanted to get to know. It had been Charlie! They whispered together for a while and then took their places, Charlie on a stool, Tom standing behind him.
‘OK. This is a new number I’ve written,’ said Charlie, and he nodded to Tom. They began to play and Charlie sang:
‘Hey, take a look at me, tell me what it is you see, Chilled out perfection from my head to my toes A stylish confection that everyone knows Will soon grab two fistfuls of riches and fame
In life’s needy lottery I’m on top of my game
Predestined, predicted, a winner from birth
But when I look in the mirror I just have to laugh
Coz the face looking back is wearing a mask
If only you could see through my eyes
To the real me behind this disguise . . .
Stream runs to the river, river flows to the sea,
Waves of emotion are washing through me
Adrift, lost and yearning to be who I am
But how will life treat me, just an honest man.’
As I listened and he went into the second verse, the words seemed to sum up so much of what I’d been feeling over the last few months. I felt a mixture of emotions – tenderness for Charlie for having said it all so well, and sadness at realising the turmoil he had clearly been going through too.
‘Awesome,’ I said, when they’d finished. ‘I think you get to go through to the final.’
‘You definitely have the X Factor,’ said Flo as she looked straight at Charlie.
‘Is there a prize?’ asked Tom.
‘You get to snog Jess,’ blurted Pia. I could have killed her and went bright red. I glanced at Tom. He raised an eyebrow.
‘Sounds good to me,’ he said, and held my eyes for a few moments.
I felt my stomach do a back flip, front flip and nose dive into my toes and then back up to my head. ‘Er . . . more supplies,’ I blustered. ‘Coke. Drink. I’ll go and get . . . stuff.’ I got up and fumbled for the door while Tom watched me with an amused twinkle in his eye. Cool, cool, I must be cool, I thought, but Meg stuck her foot out as I went by and I tripped straight over it and stumbled into Tom, who caught me.
‘Oops,’ I said, and scrambled to get my balance, but he pulled me back and put his arms around my waist
‘So, my prize,’ he said, and gave me a quizzical look.
‘I, er—’ I didn’t manage to finish what I was about to say because he leant forward and kissed me softly on the lips. I felt myself melt and closed my eyes and kissed him back. It felt really really good.
‘Hubba dubba,’ said Pia.
‘Oh, get a room,’ said Meg.
‘Er . . . does Charlie get a prize?’ asked Flo, with a glance at Charlie.
‘Er, I’m cool, thanks. Need a hand getting stuff, Jess?’ he asked.
‘No, fine, thanks,’ I said. I felt myself blushing bright red as I attempted again to pull away from Tom, and this time, he let me go. As I got to the door, I turned back to him.
‘You deffo go through to the next round,’ I said, in what was meant to be a deep, sultry voice but which came out as a squeak.
‘Wahey,’ cried Josh and dived on Meg, who was sitting on a beanbag. She tried to bash him off but he wasn’t giving in. ‘I want a prize too,’ he insisted.
I left them wrestling and, with the torch that Gran had given me to guide me, I went inside to get more drinks and tacos. Chu was waiting on the patio. He meowed when he saw me.
‘Naughty boy,’ I said as I picked him up. ‘You’ve escaped again!’
I carried him into the house, where Dad was watching TV. He immediately called Mr Mori, then gathered Chu up and set off to take him back. Shame, because I’d have liked to have taken him to the summerhouse to show my mates.
We’d just settled down to a game of spin the bottle (Flo’s idea, she wasn’t going to let Charlie off lightly), when Dad tapped on the summerhouse door. ‘Mr Mori wants a word,’ he said and beckoned me out to go back to the house with him.
I followed him across the garden and into the kitchen, where Mr Mori was waiting with Chu. He nodded when he saw me and I nodded back.
‘Thank you, Jess,’ he said. ‘Sakura’s very grateful. Chu seems to like you very much and Sakura asked me to ask something, a big favour of you and your father.’
Dad glanced at me.
‘I’ll do whatever I can to help,’ I said, and Dad smiled.
‘Because of my work, my family has to travel a few days just before New Year and then when our other daughter, Riko, has returned to school in January, we will be away again. Sakura always travels with us but she worries about her cats. They don’t like being moved so . . . no obligation but she – we – wondered if we could ask you to look after them while we are away? They like you. Sakura likes you and feels they would be happier if they’re allowed to settle in one place. And we’ll pay, of course.’
I looked at Dad and he looked back at me as if to say, What do you think? A mad thought flashed through my head. Go for it, said a voice inside me. ‘I would love to look after your cats but . . . er . . . instead of paying me, I wonder if . . .’ I glanced at Dad. Would he be cross?
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I thought. I saw my rucksack in the corner of the room and raced over and pulled out my wallet. I showed Mr Mori the photo of Dave. ‘This is my cat, Dave. He came with me when I moved but I had to send him back to my gran’s because staff aren’t allowed to keep pets. I miss him so much.’ I glanced at Dad who was looking more and more worried by the minute. ‘Like Sakura and her cats, I worry about Dave, so I have a big favour of my own to ask. How about, instead of paying me, you sort of adopt Dave?’
Now it was Mr Mori’s turn to look worried and he glanced over at Dad. ‘You don’t have to have him in your flat,’ I continued, ‘I’ll keep him here and he will still be mine, but Mr Knight would think he was yours so he couldn’t object.’
Dad looked shell-shocked. Ohmigod, I’ve totally blown it, I thought. This time I’ve gone too far.
‘You keep Dave here but we adopt him to keep Mr Knight happy?’ asked Mr Mori.
I nodded. Suddenly Mr Mori smiled and turned to Dad. ‘Your daughter, she make a very good business lady. Do a good deal.’
‘G . . . good deal?’ Dad stuttered.
‘Yes, and I do understand, Jess,’ said Mr Mori. ‘I understand how you girls like your pets. I like them too.’
Dad’s shoulders dropped from where they were around his ears and he sighed with relief.
‘I’ll ask Sakura,’ Mr Mori continued, ‘but I know she’ll say yes. She’d have twenty cats if I let her – but if this means her cats get looked after by you, who clearly love animals, we’re all very happy, cats included. Good deal done.’ He reached out to shake my hand.
I felt my heart soar as I shook his hand back, then Dad saw Mr Mori and Chu to the front door. I turned to go back to my sleepover. Dave can come back to me, Pia lives a stone’s throw away and there’s a very interesting game waiting to be played in the summerhouse, I thought, as I skipped across the garden. Result.
20
Practise, Practise
‘OK, Jess, let’s go,’ JJ called from the poolside on Thursday evening.
I took a last look at myself in the mirror in the changing room. I felt nervous about going out in front of him in my costume. What would he think of me? He probably used to hang out with perfect model type girls back in the States and might think I was a pale, skinny-looking weed. I turned to look at my side profile and sucked my stomach in. Anyway, he’s not interested in you as a girl, I told myself, he’s interested in you as a swimming partner. And what about Tom?
Although Tom hadn’t asked me out on an official date, we’d had a few more snog sessions. At the sleep-over when we played spin the bottle and it was his turn, he’d deliberately stopped it at me then dived on me. It was fab. Mucho passionate. And again, on Tuesday after school, when he was round visiting Charlie and he saw me on the landing. He didn’t say much, just pushed me against the wall, and kissed me hard. ‘My motto when it comes to snogging is practise, practise,’ he said with a cheeky grin, then went into Chaz’s room leaving me wondering what he meant – did he think I needed to practise? Maybe he thought I wasn’t very good at it, or was he just saying that he liked to practise? And this afternoon, when I was outside the library waiting to go in, he came up behind me and nuzzled into my neck. ‘Zombie Queen,’ he’d whispered. ‘Having any more sleepovers?’
I didn’t get a chance to reply because Mrs Callahan appeared at the end of the corridor and Tom leapt back before we got a telling-off.
I’ve tried asking Charlie if Tom ever mentions me to him, but if he does, Chaz isn’t letting on. He says that they only talk about music when they get together.
‘Come on, Jess,’ JJ called again.
I made my way out and took a running jump into the water.
I swam over to where JJ was and took up my position.
‘Crawl or breaststroke?’
‘Crawl first,’ I replied.
‘OK, on your marks, get set, GO,’ said JJ, and we were off.
We swam for about half an hour and I beat him twice. He beat me on the breaststroke and then we stopped to catch our breath.
‘Not bad for a girl,’ he said, with a grin.
‘Cheek. I was going to say, not bad for a boy.’
‘And hey, thanks for inviting Alisha the other night, she really enjoyed it.’
‘We liked having her and I’m sorry you couldn’t make it.’ That was a lie. It might have been awkward with JJ there as well as Tom.
‘Me too.’ JJ’s glance flickered down to my mouth, then back up to my eyes. I felt myself blush as I felt a pull of chemistry. What’s going on? I asked myself. Does he fancy me? And if he does, what do I do? Oh hell. Two gorgeous boys and maybe I do stand a chance with both of them.
We swam for another half-hour and I really pushed myself to do my best – not only to prove I was as good as he was but also because the swimming championship would be happening in a few weeks and if I could keep up the practice with JJ, I would be in tip-top form.
‘So,’ said Pia, when she dropped into my house as I was having supper later the same evening. ‘How’s lover boy. Or is Tom lover boy?’
‘Or is Henry?’ I returned as I took a mouthful of macaroni cheese.
Pia sat down at the table opposite me. ‘Don’t try and avoid the question, Miss Hall. It’s early days with Henry. I think he likes me but I’m not sure whether he like likes me, as in fancies me, or just thinks of me as a mate.’
‘I think he like likes you. He was watching you a lot at the sleepover.’
‘But he didn’t make a move. Not like Tom.’
‘Sometimes with boys, you have to let them know you like them first,’ I said. ‘I remember Mum saying that once. She said it’s not easy for them in case they get turned down.’
‘You never let on to Tom, though, did you?’
‘Not really, apart from a few looks, but he’s so confident. He’s probably never been rejected.’
Pia nodded. ‘Yeah. He knows he’s a love god. Henry’s cool and chilled with his mates but I don’t think he’s had many girls after him.’
‘Maybe not, so there’s no harm in you giving him a bit of encouragement. But Tom has lot of girls fancying him and it’s early days with us, too. I don’t know where I stand with him. Like, he said his motto about snogging is “practise, practise”. Does he mean he wants to kiss lots of girls? Or just me? Or does he mean I need to practise? How do you know if you’re a good snogger?’
Pia began to kiss the back of her hand. ‘Practise, practise,’ she said, then laughed.
‘He’s doing my head in, Pia, and we aren’t even an official couple yet. I saw a love heart in the girl’s loo at school with his name in it so I’m not the only one who fancies him.’
‘Do you know who wrote it?’
‘Nope.’
A few moments later, there was a ring at the door and Pia got up to answer it. It was Alisha and she came over and sat at the table.
‘Hey,’ she said. ‘JJ said you’d be back from swimming. How did it go?’
‘Umpf,’ I said through a mouthful of food. ‘He’s good.’
‘I hope you don’t mind that I came over. It’s so boring up at the flat.’
‘Anytime,’ I replied. I meant it too. I was looking forward to getting to know her better.
Pia sat at the other end of the table and glanced down at a sheet of paper that Dad had left there. She picked it up. ‘It says confidential . . . I guess that means I shouldn’t be reading it, huh?’
I nodded and snatched it away from her. ‘Dead right,’ I said, but I couldn’t resist a quick peek at what was written on it. ‘Hey, this is interesting. It’s a list of newbies who’ll be on their way home for the holidays. Boys and girls coming home from school for Christmas: Alexei Petrov, aged sixteen; Riko Mori, aged fifteen. There’s a whole page of them, some our age, some older.’
‘Alexei Petrov?’ said Pia. ‘Isn’t his dad a spy?’
‘I don’t know,’ I replied. ‘Is he?’
‘Can’t be a
very good one if you know about it,’ said Alisha.
‘Either way, he sounds interesting,’ said Pia, with a glance at her.
‘Yeah. Cool,’ said Alisha, and she grinned. ‘Maybe a few boys for me to meet, now that you two are taken with Henry and Tom.’
Hmm, yeah. More boys. That’s all I need! And it’s not as if me or Pia are definitely going out with anyone. Maybe I should take Tom’s advice and practise, practise. So either Tom, or JJ, or Alexei Petrov, whoever he is . . . he might be a contender. Whoever. Whatever. Life at Number 1, Porchester Park just got even more interesting!
21
The Last Race
‘Are you ready, Jess?’ asked Aunt Maddie.
‘Yes. No. Yes,’ I replied. Today was the day. It was my swimming race and I felt more nervous than ever, even though I’d spent the last few weeks practising, and pacing JJ in the spa. He hadn’t made a move in the lurve department, but he was definitely flirty some days. I still wasn’t sure how to react, in case he was one of those people who was just naturally charming and like that with everyone. I made a note to myself to try and watch him when a few more people were around and see how he was with them. My love affair with Tom hadn’t developed beyond the occasional stolen kiss either and I was beginning to wonder if I was just one of a list of girlfriend wannabes. Boys. They do my head in.
The good thing was that Alisha often came down to watch JJ and me swim and afterwards we had drinks and snacks either at her place or at mine. I was so happy we were getting on so well. Beneath her tough act, she was fun, and I could see she’d be a loyal friend. We were actually alike in so many ways and into all the same TV programmes, movies and music. Dave had taken to her too – and he can be very sniffy when he first meets people, but they were great pals straightaway.
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