Just at that moment, who walked by but hubba hubba boy? He stopped and stared at me. Behind him, I saw Nesta totally crease up laughing.
‘Hmmm. Very ladylike,’ said the boy.
‘I do try,’ I said. ‘I’ve been told that it’s a very seductive look.’
The boy grinned. ‘Unforgettable,’ he said then moved on.
‘On the pull again, huh?’ said a familiar voice a few moments later.
It was Nesta.
‘Yeah, but I don’t think he fell for my super sexy look,’ I said with a laugh.
‘Slut,’ said Nesta. But she was smiling as she said it.
‘I’m really, really sorry . . .’
‘Boooring,’ yawned Nesta. ‘We’ve been there done the apologies and stand-offs. Look. Bottom line is, I miss you. And on top of that, Lucy and Izzie can’t spend their lives going between us.’
I held my breath for a moment. Was she making up?
‘OK. No more saying sorry but you have to know that I know I’ve been totally out of order, but I would never ever have dreamed of doing what I did if I hadn’t thought that Luke was really special. Remember weeks ago, when we talked about soulmates. I . . . I thought Luke was my soulmate. I know it sounds major stupid now that we know that he’s such a liar, but . . . I had all the symptoms that Izzie described. Sick, stupid, ill, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t think straight. I did think it was a once in a lifetime thing.’
Nesta didn’t say anything for a few moments. ‘The One, huh?’
‘Yeah. Bummer.’
‘Yeah. Major bummer.’
For a moment I thought she was going to get mad at me for saying I thought Luke was my soulmate. I decided to change the subject. ‘So you were saying. Poor Lucy and Izzie. If we don’t talk, it would be cruel to them.’
‘Yeah, why should they suffer when it’s really Luke who’s the rat-faced, pig-goat-poo person in all of this. Where is he, by the way?’
‘Out the back somewhere. Keeping out of the way. Once we got the stand up, he made a load of excuses to disappear. I think being in the same room as both of us is difficult for him, never mind Lucy and Izzie glowering at him from their stands.’
‘Good,’ said Nesta. ‘If I never see him again it will be too soon.’
Lucy and Izzie came over. ‘Hey, you’re talking.’
‘Yeah,’ said Nesta. ‘We thought we owed it to you and Izzie. You’re going to wear yourselves out going between the two of us, so for your sakes and only that, yes, we are going to make up. OK, TJ?’
‘Double OK,’ I said.
‘Excellent,’ said Lucy.
‘Now, more importantly,’ said Nesta. ‘You guys may be stupid enough to believe in finding The One and doing your head in in the process but I, the only sensible person here, know better and that there are many Ones out there. So. Who’s that boy babe cruising the hall?’
‘I saw him first,’ said Izzie.
‘No, I did,’ said Lucy as she gave Izzie a slight shove.
‘TJ, you want to stake your claim before battle commences?’ asked Nesta.
‘Do you fancy him?’ I asked Nesta.
‘D’oh, yeah. Just what I need in my time of grief.’
‘Then he’s yours,’ I said.
‘Chicken,’ laughed Nesta. ‘Anyway, we don’t even know who is yet. But I intend to find out.’
‘I thought you were through with boys,’ said Izzie.
‘Nope,’ said Nesta. ‘Just ones like Luke. There’s plenty more fish in the sea and not all of them are razor sharks.’
‘Very wise,’ said Izzie. ‘And if at first you don’t succeed . . .’
‘Try try try again,’ Lucy finished for her.
‘No,’ said Izzie. ‘If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.’
We all cracked up. Lucy looked at the three of us and grinned widely. ‘God I’m so glad we’re mates again. This last week has been hell. I’m so glad you managed to see things from TJ’s angle, Nesta . . .’
‘Yeah,’ said Izzie. ‘She’s had a tough time too and there are two sides to every story.’
‘Or three if you’re involved with Luke,’ said Nesta.
I was about to say four if you included Sian, but bit my lip.
‘Yeah,’ said Izzie. ‘It’s like that saying, before you criticise someone, walk a mile in their shoes.’
‘Oh very wise, Obi-Wan Kenobi,’ said Nesta. ‘But there’s another bit to that saying. Before you criticise someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you do criticise them, you’ll be a mile away and you’ll have their shoes.’
We all laughed again. I felt great. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luke come back through the doors. He took one look at us and turned on his heel. I didn’t care, in fact I felt relieved he’d disappeared. I could hardly believe it. Here we all were, me, Izzie, Lucy and Nesta together, having a laugh like we used to. There was only one more person I needed to make things right with and that was Steve. I’d noticed him as soon as I’d arrived at the hall, he was up on the left busy arranging his photographs on his stand. He’d kept his head down the whole time as if he was in a world of his own. Lucy saw me looking in his direction.
‘He’s OK,’ she said. ‘He was cut up, but he’ll be OK.’
‘I feel bad about him,’ I said, ‘really bad. He deserved better than the way I broke up with him.’
‘He’ll get over it. Steve’s not one to mooch about.’
I winced inwardly as I thought about how he must have felt waking up, turning on his computer and finding my message there. Like – good morning and you’re dumped. Love TJ. How could I have had such disregard for his feelings?
‘There has to be some right way to finish with people,’ I said. ‘It’s like I went to one extreme with my stupid email charging in with my “must be honest, right now” policy. And Luke went to the other extreme by avoiding confrontation and not telling anyone anything but what they wanted to hear. We both ended up hurting people. There has to be a middle way to do it.’
‘Apparently there are fifty ways to leave your lover.’ Lucy laughed, then began to sing the song, ‘Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover’ by Paul Simon. I tried to muffle her as her voice got louder and louder.
I so wanted to go over and talk to Steve, go back to how we were, mates, having a laugh, because even though I didn’t want to get back with him, I did miss his company. For a moment, I understood why Luke found it so hard to end relationships. So maybe someone isn’t the great love of your life, your soulmate, The One, but like with Steve, you still like them. You certainly wouldn’t want to hurt them. You can love people in different ways, I thought, as Luke would say – on different levels. It’s hard knowing that you’re going to hurt someone or, in my case, have hurt someone. I guess for Luke not saying anything must have seemed like an easy option. But people still do get hurt, I reminded myself. It’s damaging to string someone along under false pretences, giving them hope where there is none. It only prolongs the pain. But as I watched Steve, I thought, maybe Luke wasn’t so much a rat as a coward. It’s a biggie facing up to the responsibility that when you have a relationship with someone and they really like you, you hold their heart in your hand. I don’t want to be a coward. One day very soon, I’m going to call Steve and talk to him honestly about everything that’s happened. I just hope that I can find the right words and that he’ll still be my friend. Not boyfriend. Friend. Even though things hadn’t worked out with Luke, I couldn’t deny that what I’d felt on the night he came to my house had been really special. I wanted more of that lovely feeling of being hopelessly in love, but without the complications of people getting hurt and secrets and lies.
At six-thirty, everyone was ready and there was a hush of anticipation as Mrs Allen showed Susan Barratt, the school governor, and Sam Denham, the journalist, around. The hall looked wonderful as some Year Eight pupils had dressed a huge Christmas tree on the stage and the room smelled wonderfully festive with the delicious s
mell of cinnamon and clove coming from the mulled wine on the refreshments tables set up ready for the public.
Both Sam and Mrs Barratt seemed very impressed and stopped to speak to just about everyone on all the stands, Sam spending a little longer on the fashion stand talking to Nesta. She looked well pleased and looked over at me and winked after he’d moved on. When Sam and Mrs Barratt had done their rounds, the doors opened and in flooded everyone’s friends and families.
Mum and Dad seemed genuinely interested in all of it and after Dad had been round to look at all the stands, he came back and spent a long time studying ours.
‘You love living here, don’t you?’ he asked as he looked at my map of Hampstead.
I nodded. ‘There’s so much to do and see. Remember that famous saying by Samuel Johnson: Tire of London and you’re tired of life.’
‘He was right,’ said Dad. ‘This last few weeks, I’ve realised how much I love London too. I love to go to the Barbican to the concerts. I love to walk on the Heath. I love the theatres, the cinemas, restaurants. It’s all here on our doorsteps.’
‘So why are we moving then?’
Dad smiled. ‘Good question. And one that I’ve been asking myself over and over these last few weeks. And so has your mother. So we’ve decided. We’re not moving. Not just yet. We’re not ready to give up our London lives yet. No. The new plan is that I still go part-time at the hospital and use my days off to enjoy London. We’ve lived here so long but there’s still so much we haven’t done. Too busy working! I don’t want to go to some quiet place and have nothing to do but potter in a greenhouse all day. Nope. We’re staying put. So . . . How do you feel about that?’
I looked over at Nesta, Lucy and Izzie. ‘How do I feel?’ I gave him a big hug. ‘That’s how I feel.’
When Mum and Dad went over to get some mulled wine from the refreshments table, I noticed a couple who had just come in to the hall. With them was hubba hubba boy. I wasn’t the only one who had seen them either because, as they made their way towards our stand, suddenly Nesta, Lucy and Izzie all appeared beside me.
‘Mine,’ said Lucy.
‘No, mine,’ said Izzie.
‘Nope, mine, mine, mine,’ insisted Nesta.
I laughed to see them jostling, when Olivia stepped out to greet the couple. ‘Hi Mum, Dad,’ she said, then turned to me. ‘This is TJ, who’s been working on the project with me.’
‘Hi,’ I said.
Then she turned towards hubba hubba boy. ‘And this is my brother, William.’
I felt my jaw fall open.
‘Another of your alluring looks,’ he said, smiling, as I shut my mouth.
‘I have a whole range,’ I said, as he moved behind me to join his parents who were looking at Olivia’s work. I quickly turned to the girls, who were all standing to the right of the screen. I pointed at the boy.
‘Olivia’s brother,’ I whispered. ‘Olivia’s brother as in Luke’s best friend.’
‘William?’ asked Nesta.
I nodded.
‘I heard Luke mention him but we never met,’ she said.
The boy turned back and gave Nesta a long look.
‘Contest over,’ said Lucy. ‘No doubt who he’s interested in here.’
Izzie cracked up laughing. ‘William as in Luke’s best friend. Cool.’ She nudged me to look over at the stage where Luke was sitting with Sian. He looked as if he was going to be sick. He caught my eye and I felt an electric current run through me. There was such a sadness in his eyes as he looked at me and, for a brief moment, I felt a twinge of regret that things hadn’t worked out differently. He’d said he thought we had something special. I think we did, but . . . how could I believe him? That’s the trouble with liars, you can never know if they’re telling the truth or spinning you a line. I made myself look away.
Nesta also glanced over at Luke, then turned back and fluttered her eyelashes in William’s direction.
‘Hhhmmmm,’ she said, smiling at us. ‘Luke’s best friend. Now this could be very interesting.’
Wedding Announcement
On Wednesday, December 24th, Marie Watts was married to Stuart Callaghan in Bigbury Bay, Devon. Wedding guests travelled on a sea tractor to Burgh Island Hotel where they were snowed in for several days due to unforeseen blizzards. Bridesmaid TJ Watts (15) said, ‘My parents are delighted. My sister had a white wedding after all!’
Also available by Cathy Hopkins
The MATES, DATES series
1. Mates, Dates and Inflatable Bras
2. Mates, Dates and Cosmic Kisses
3. Mates, Dates and Portobello Princesses
4. Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets
5. Mates, Dates and Sole Survivors
6. Mates, Dates and Mad Mistakes
7. Mates, Dates and Pulling Power
8. Mates, Dates and Tempting Trouble
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10. Mates, Dates and Chocolate Cheats
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Mates, Dates Guide to Life
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6. Midsummer Meltdown
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