by Anne Thomas
"You're all right," I said to Billie, somewhat distracted. "Well, Gareth?"
"Planets are fine. Can I have a drink?"
"Gareth, I already said you could," I reminded him, tucking the bag of chocolates under my arm as I turned towards the fridge. Billie jumped out of the way, and I opened the fridge door. I took out a simple orange juice for me, and Gareth naturally chose a more expensive variation of the same flavour. Rolling my eyes, I shut the door and went to pay. Gareth edged towards John and Siân, two people he knew quite well, and Billie trailed me to the till.
"Why are you here, Billie?" I asked as I handed over a tenner. Bloody cinema sweets and drinks; they were way too expensive. It probably would have cost less to buy stuff beforehand from the supermarket.
"It's a free country," Billie grinned, leaning against the counter. "I can go where I like."
"You knew I was going to be here," I pointed out. "Do you, like, live to annoy me or something?"
"If I did, I'd be living a very sad existence," he retorted. "My life doesn't revolve around you, Freckles."
"You could have fooled me," I muttered. "You never leave me alone." I stalked over to Gareth and thrust his drink at him, along with the bag of chocolates. "Hold them a sec," I told him while I rooted in my bag for my purse to put my change away.
"I don't leave you alone because you're fun to annoy," Billie said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"I get where he's coming from, Nerys," Adam butted in. I glared at him.
"So, who's Blondie over there?" Billie jerked his head towards Danny. "He doesn't go to our school."
"Well done, genius." I rolled my eyes heavenwards, and he shot me a reproving look.
"Is he Bethany's cousin, or something?" he asked curiously. He cocked his head to one side as Danny ducked his head down and shyly kissed Beth's cheek. Raising his eyebrows, Billie made an odd clicking noise and answered his question. "I guess not."
"He's just a guy she knows. You know, a friend," Siân said, twirling hair around her finger.
"Were they arguing before?" I asked Siân. "Or something like that? What did Gwen want?"
Siân shrugged. "How would I know?"
"I overheard Danny saying to Beth that Gwen made some comments about us," Ann spoke up. "About how uncool we are, or something, and that he should hang around with her and Gordon."
"Cheek," I sniffed. "She used to hang around with us, up until the start of this year."
"I don't like her," Louis confided. "She kind of scares me. She has weird legs. They remind me of trees." Adam let out a bark of laughter, and John snorted quite loudly.
"She's a beast," John informed us.
"I don't see the problem with her," Billie frowned. "I mean, she's a bit loud, but –"
"She's just really, really annoying," Siân explained. "Like, up herself and shit. Thinks she's better than all of us and all that. She just gets on our nerves in general. I swear if she asks me one more time about condoms or something I'm going to smack her –"
"Nah, just get Freckles to do it," Billie said dismissively. "It'd be easier, and she's got a hard punch. Trust me; I know what I'm talking about."
I fixed him with an icy glare, and he gave me a toothy grin in response. "Why are you still here?" I asked him, hand on hip. I jabbed a finger at his group of friends. "Go bother your friends instead of bothering mine!"
"You're not bothering me," Siân said in what she probably imagined was a very seductive manner.
"He's bothering me," I hissed at her.
Ignoring me, Billie said to Siân, "Why does Gwen ask you about condoms, anyway?"
Siân positively glowed. A boy who didn't know of her scandalous reputation? 'Twas a sight to behold. Of course, her initial happiness didn't last long as Ann bluntly informed Billie that Siân liked sex. A lot.
"Oh," Billie replied lamely. Then he said, in a voice full of hesitation, "Aren't you a bit young to be...you know?"
"Nope," Siân said serenely, stepping away from him. I knew the look on her face meant she was readying herself for a spat of some kind.
"But you're not legal yet," he pointed out. "You're only fifteen."
"Fourteen," Elisha piped up.
"Yeah, I'm fifteen in May," said Siân brightly. Billie's brow furrowed.
"So that makes it even –"
"It's all a matter of personal choice," Adam cut in as if Billie hadn't even been speaking. "It's Siân's choice." He fell silent, and the matter was closed.
Beth joined us. "Danny's just going to get a coke for me and him to share," she said excitedly. "Then we're going to go in and get seats. There are about ten minutes till the film starts so we should get some good ones."
"Yeah, it's a Pixar movie so that the back row will be empty of amorous couples," Siân snorted. "Get in there, Beth." Beth scowled at Siân, face colouring.
"Don't be childish," she said snootily before flouncing off, dark hair flying behind her.
"She's got the point though," I said, "We should go in and get seats."
"You're going to see the Pixar movie?" Billie asked, one eyebrow raised. "Isn't that a little...kiddish?"
"Not at all," I fired back, "I like Pixar movies. They're not that kiddish."
He held his hands up. "Whatever you say, Freckles."
"What Nerys means," Ann sighed, "Is that the film we were meant to see was sold out, so Adam and I decided on seeing this film instead. In all honesty, I'd rather stick my head down a toilet than sit through ninety minutes of animated waffle, but there you go. It seems Adam can be very persuasive when he wants to be."
Adam gave her a cocky half-grin, and she smiled slightly back.
Gareth pulled on my wrist. "Nerys, I need the toilet," he whispered so only I could hear him.
"Okay, you go," I murmured in reply until I realized he wasn't going. "What, you want me to go with you?"
"Not with me, with me," Gareth frowned, "just walk me over there. There's a group of high school kids –"
"They're just Billie's mates, that's all –"
"No, there's another group!" Gareth jerked his head in the direction of the toilets. Sure enough, there was a cluster of boys who looked to be older than me, maybe even older than Billie, and they did look somewhat rough. I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, I'll walk over there with you," I conceded. "C'mon, kid...We're just going to the toilet," I added to my friends as I began to walk away, "Wait for us before you go in, yeah?"
Naturally, Billie followed us to the toilets, although he didn't say a word until Gareth had vanished inside the gents.
"I quite like that dress, Freckles," Billie announced, leaning one shoulder against the wall. "It suits you."
I raised an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to say thank you?" I asked him.
"If you like." He gestured to his chest. "Of course, I get a nice view of your –" I reached out and smacked his shoulder, and he laughed.
"Only joking, Freckles. There's not much to see if you catch my drift," he added, eyeing that particular part of my anatomy. I felt my face heat up and reached out to smack him again, but he jerked out of the way before resuming his position against the wall.
"If you're going to pester me, then I'd appreciate it if you left my boobs out of this, thanks," I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest. And there was me thinking that my boobs were a fairly decent size. Apparently not.
That was when I spotted something over Billie's shoulders, and I groaned. Billie frowned at me. "What's up, Freckles?"
"Glyn," I hissed, covering my face with my hands. "Oh, my God, Siân said he'd turn up –"
"Newell? I thought you said he wasn't coming?" Billie turned, and I grabbed hold of his arm, pulling him back around again.
"He can't see me!" I cried, but it was too late. Glyn had spotted us and was heading over.
I thought fast. Very fast. The best my mind could come up with was Adam's suggestion that I fake a romance with Billie.
Oh shit. Well. They say desperate time
s call for desperate measures.
"Kiss me," I said, grabbing hold of Billie's shirt. He stared at me, eyes wide.
"What the hell, Freckles?" he said, actually sounding amused. "I know I'm gorgeous, but –"
"Just do it," I growled. "I'll explain later."
"Okay, then..." Billie was still looking at me like I was crazy, and I was looking back, refusing to blink, part of me thinking that his eyes were a nice shade of blue, but the other part of me was hoping that it'd work –
And then he kissed me.
I can't really describe it. It wasn't a deep, passionate kiss or anything like that – in fact, it was nothing like that – it was more chaste and kind of...sweet, and his lips were softer than I thought they'd be. One of his hands rested on my shoulder, the other on my hip, and my face felt really hot. When I felt his mouth open, I pulled away, biting my lip furiously. His face was still very close to mine, and I could smell Listerine on his breath, Listerine, and chewing gum, and all I could think was that was my first kiss and oh my God my first kiss happened with Billie Winters, not Antal Kiss...
My eyes found Glyn. He was staring at us; looking furious, face bright red with anger. Billie, however, was just staring at me, and then he said, "Now, will you explain?"
"Adam thinks," I explained, slowly, "that Glyn will back off slightly if I have a boyfriend."
"Ohh." Billie nodded wisely, and I realised he still had a grip on my waist. I tried to move back, but he just held on tighter.
It was then that the door to the gents was flung open and Gareth bounced out, knocking into Billy and me. We'd been stood right in the way of the door, so I guess that was our fault. Anyway, I went flying, and Billie grabbed hold of me before I could hit the ground.
"Um, thanks," I said.
"Are you okay, Nerys?" Gareth asked in a concerned voice. "You look a bit...warm."
Billie laughed. "She does, doesn't she?" he agreed. "C'mon, Nerys, we'd better be going. All of our friends look very curious." I nodded, and that was when Glyn stormed over, eyes narrowed, so they were just slits on his face.
"What the hell is going on?" he demanded in a very tight voice.
"Calm down, Newell," Billie said calmly, although a smirk played on his lips. "It was just a kiss. Nothing to get your knickers in a knot over."
"Just a -? Nerys, can I speak to you for a moment?" And with that, Glyn's hand shot out and circled my wrist, pulling me harshly away from Billie and Gareth. I stumbled, and a pain shot up my arm; that was how hard he was pulling on my arm.
"Glyn!" I gasped, "You're hurting me!"
"Newell." Billie's voice was firm and now sounding slightly annoyed. He wrapped his hand around my free one and then reached over to ease Glyn's fist off my wrist. "You're overreacting," he said in a low voice. "You nearly made Nerys fall over. You're taking this way over the top."
"You kissed her! She's my friend!" Glyn said. His voice was now very loud and drawing attention to us. Naturally, all of Billie's friends were watching, as were mine, but Gwen and company had just come up the escalators as well. I groaned and noticed that Adam and John were making their way over.
"So what if I kissed her?" Billie challenged, voice just as loud. "She's my girlfriend!"
Then there was silence. Well, only from us, because the rest of the people in the cinema just kept on going. Most of them did, anyway. And then Gareth started laughing, and Adam reached us before John did.
"Glyn," he said, "I think you'd better go home, mate."
"Don't call me mate, Lougher," Glyn snapped roughly, looking visibly upset. "I'm not your mate. And I thought you knew better, Nerys." He turned on his heel and stormed off, right past Gwen and Gordon and everyone, whom were all sniggering and whispering to each other.
And me? Well, I was blushing profusely and wishing that the ground would just swallow me up.
"I didn't know you had a boyfriend, Nerys," Gareth sniggered. "Pete and Matty will love this –"
I ignored him, scowling at Billie. "What the hell, Billie?" I exclaimed, tugging my hand out of his and placing both hands on my hips. "I'm your girlfriend, now, am I? Do I not get a say in this or something?"
"Look, Freckles," Billie said, a smirk growing wider. His friends began to stroll over, all of them looking highly amused, "You asked me to kiss you, and then you said that Newell would back off if you had a boyfriend, so I assumed..."
I jabbed a finger into his chest. "It was a one-off kiss to get Glyn to go away," I snarled. "And I explained that Adam thought that Glyn would back off," I added, gesturing in Adam's direction. "I never told you to announce to everyone that I'm your girlfriend?"
"Well, what was your next plan, then?" Billie demanded, raising one eyebrow. "We kissed each other. How were you going to explain that away?"
"I would have found some way," I insisted.
"I don't get you, Freckles, I really don't. What was the point in asking me to kiss you, anyway, because it sure as hell didn't put him off," he said exasperatedly, throwing his hands up in the air? Then he pointed at me. "But me telling him I was your boyfriend certainly did."
"It pissed him off more than it put him off, I think," John said, shrugging. "He'll probably start bugging her to break up with your or something."
"He doesn't have to bug me to break up with him because we're not going out!" I cried, tugging on my hair. "Oh my God, this is just –"
"Okay, okay, Freckles... calm down. You go and see your Pixar movie," Billie said in a soothing voice, nudging me towards Adam. "We'll act like this never happened...okay?"
I glared at him. Something didn't seem quite right about that statement. It really didn't.
"I really hate him," I growled to Adam and John as we walked back over to the foyer. Gareth hurried along behind us, still giggling to himself. "Oh, and Adam, your plan was shit, it didn't work."
"I never said it would work," Adam reminded me, "I just said it was an idea. And it might work if you kept it up while you were at school. It certainly got him to leave you alone. Think about it – if Billie hadn't have said that, he probably would have dragged you away and started screaming at you. He did you a favour."
"I'm not keeping it up while I'm at school," I growled. Adam rolled his eyes, and John chuckled.
"I don't know, Nerys," he said, ruffling my hair. "It might be a good idea. You know, if Glyn doesn't murder you, or something. I didn't think he'd blow up like he did."
"I don't trust Billie," I continued as if John hadn't spoken. "I don't. Act like this never happened...Yeah, right."
"Maybe," Adam suggested, "You should just have a little faith in the guy and give him the benefit of the doubt. You never know..."
I glared at him, holding up a hand for silence. "I don't care what you say," I said, eyes narrowed, "Billie Winters is up to something. Mark my words."
And guess what? I was right.
.
Chapter 9: A Hopeless Romantic
I love Gareth, but sometimes, I could cheerfully throttle the lad. Upon getting into our car when we were picked up, Gareth announced to our parents that I'd kissed a boy who had then gone on to call me his girlfriend; my mother then told Matty when we arrived home, who told Pascal.
And that was the problem. Pascal is a hopeless romantic. She puts it down to her French heritage and something to do with Paris being the city of love. I can never be bothered to remind her that she's only been to France four times, and Paris once, and that she lived in Canada for the first ten years of her life before her parents divorced, and that the French accent she has is entirely put on (occasionally, when she really loses her temper, she reverts to a proper Canadian accent). I also don't point out that her mother actually comes from Marseille. Anyway, Pascal is a hopeless romantic (and whether it's connected to her French heritage or not doesn't really matter).
So she found this story about Billie insanely cute, but then she looked very confused when I told her I loathed Billie and the thought of being his girlfriend were abominabl
e (or words to that effect).
"Pourquoi?" Pascal asked me, eyebrows dipping into a frown. She cradled her chin in her hand and leaned towards me. "Why?"
"Because..." And then, all the reasons bubbled on my tongue. He's a prick. He thinks he's a god. He picks on me all the time. He's a prick. He leaned me over a shark tank in France. He hates me, too...But instead of saying that to her, I just shrugged.
"Aha!" Pascal jabbed a manicured finger at me, positively glowing. I could almost see the light bulb flashing over her head. "You do not hate him at all."
I glared at her. "I think you'll find I do hate him, Pascal," I said tiredly.
"Oh no. You do not. I think you'll find you are in love with him!" She clapped her hands together.
I vented my frustrations by kicking one of the cushions off the couch onto the floor. Grimm pounced on it and then fled to hide under the chair. Beside me, Gareth snorted, and I turned my scowl towards him.
"This is all your fault," I muttered. "You just had to go and tell Mum..."
"I never told Pascal," Gareth sniggered. "I'll thank Mum for that later."
"I am not in love with Billie," I said firmly, now addressing Pascal. "I can't stand him. Seriously."
"She actually can't," Gareth backed me up. "Or, at least, that's what it seems like sometimes. But you did ask him to kiss you, so..."
I smacked him on the arm. "You're not helping," I hissed. He pulled a face at me.
On the other side of the room, Matty cleared his throat. "Nerys..." he said, running a hand through his curly blonde hair, "I think you should stay away from Billie."
I threw my hands up in the air. "Finally!" I cried. "Someone who talks sense!"
"I mean, you're only a kid," Matty continued, frowning. "You shouldn't be kissing boys at your age. There's plenty of time for it later, you know, when you've finished school and joined a nunnery –"
I threw a cushion at him. It bounced off his head and hit the TV. Once again, Grimm leapt out from her hiding place to attack the offending cushion.
"As if," I growled, now knowing that he only spoke out overprotective brotherliness. "Like I'm going to join a nunnery..." Pascal giggled, and then smoothed a hand over Matty's cheek.