‘Bit risky,’ said Izzie. ‘Although we could suggest our teachers do it. Bet we’d raise a fortune!’
‘Sponsored walks or marathons – bit more sensible,’ continued TJ, ‘raffles, home services, cleaning, mowing lawns, taking care of pets . . .’
‘Oh, add car washing,’ said Lucy. ‘That wouldn’t be hard to do.’
‘And if you offer to do it naked apart from a daffodil up your bum, you could charge double,’ I said.
‘Oh get serious, Nesta,’ said Izzie. ‘Not a daffodil. No. I see Lucy with a tulip.’
TJ ignored Izzie and I and continued with the list. ‘A swim-a-thon. A games night. Candle-making. Competitions like guess the age of a teacher, guess the number of coins in a jar. Face painting.’
‘I’ve got a brilliant one,’ I interrupted as an idea flashed into my head. ‘A calendar. Your brother could shoot it Lucy. We could be like the women in that movie Calendar Girls.’
‘What, as in naked? Miss Watkins would never allow it,’ Lucy replied.
‘She can be in it as well . . .’
‘Eeeewww,’ chorused TJ, Lucy and Izzie.
‘In fact, all the teachers could be in it,’ I said. ‘Imagine Mr Johnson as Mr November lying over the desk . . .’
Lucy and Izzie cracked up.
‘Double eeeewwww,’ said TJ. ‘You really are fixated on people being naked to raise money. But I’ll put it down on the list and we can finalise things later. So, what else can we do – hopefully with our clothes on? Sports tournaments – that would give us a good chance to get loads of boys involved. Art sale. Gardening. Dog-walking – oh, got that one already. Recipe books with people’s faves in. Quiz nights. Carrying groceries for people. Spelling competitions. Book sales. A football goal shoot-out . . .’
‘How about a crèche for mothers who can never go shopping?’ asked Izzie. ‘We look after their kids for a couple of hours.’
‘I’ll put it on the list,’ said TJ scribbling it down.
‘And how about a kiss for a pound,’ suggested Lucy.
‘But you never know who might pay up to snog,’ I said. ‘You might end up kissing someone you don’t like.’
Izzie got a cheeky look on her face. ‘Oh you mean like you and William on Sunday?’
‘I did that because Eleanor asked me to,’ I said.
‘She asked you to cheer him up,’ said Lucy. ‘Not stick your tongue down his throat.’
Of course we’d already discussed the William situation. As soon as he’d gone on Sunday, in fact. The girls had been gobsmacked to find us in an Oscar award-winning smooch at the back of the hall. My excuse to them was that it was my way of apologising and that I hadn’t changed my mind about the way I felt about him. None of them bought it, and they all regard me with suspicion whenever I mention him so I decided to come clean and admit that maybe I do like him a little. Or maybe a lot as after the jumble sale I couldn’t stop replaying the moment he’d grabbed me and pulled me towards him. It was so Rhett Butler and Scarlet in Gone With the Wind.
‘I’m making up my mind about him,’ I said.
‘Looks like it’s already made up to me,’ said Lucy.
‘Exactly,’ said Izzie and TJ.
‘No . . .’
‘Why are you holding back with him?’ asked Izzie. ‘It’s so clear that you like him.’
I had to admit I’d been asking that question myself and the answer was beginning to dawn on me. It was fear. Fear of being rejected. Fear of being hurt. Everyone always thinks I’m the confident one. The one who knows about boys but actually my track record isn’t as brilliant as I make out. My last boyfriend Luke turned out to be two-timing me with one of my best friends and God knows how many others I don’t know about. And before him, there was Simon and he dumped me. Not because he didn’t like me any more but because he was going to University in Scotland and didn’t want to do the long distance thing. Still, it hurt. And then along comes William. Prince Cutenik himself but I don’t want to open myself up to get hurt again. I want to be sure before I get involved again. Plus the fact that I haven’t been practising what I preach. I always tell the girls, don’t be too easy, play hard to get a bit. I didn’t with Simon, I fell into his lap, literally as we met on a train and it lurched and there I was in his arms. And with Luke, we met and were soon an item. No, I wanted to take things with William a lot, lot slower.
A moment later, my mobile rang and I moved off to answer it. It was William. I went into the corridor outside the dining hall to talk to him without the others listening in and making stupid faces at me when they realised who it was.
‘Oh, hi,’ I said trying to sound as cool as I could. I still wasn’t sure what to make of what had happened on Sunday. The kissing session had been very enjoyable (very) and for a few moments had completely swept me off my feet but then later, after he’d gone, that was when I began to worry that it had all happened too fast. I mean, we hadn’t even been out on a date and already we’d done the lip lock. And in public. He might think I was way too easy and I didn’t want that. Plus there was still the fact that he was a mate of Luke’s so was he to be trusted? I felt I needed to back off a bit and just cheer him up as his sister had asked. Bake him a cake or something equally innocent.
‘Hi yourself,’ he said.
‘So what can I do for you?’ I asked.
‘Yes. About Sunday . . .’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Sorry. Don’t know what came over me. Sorry. Won’t happen again.’
‘Oh,’ he said and in that one word I could hear that he was disappointed. ‘I was hoping that maybe we could get together for a repeat performance some time.’
‘Yes. Well – about that . . .’
‘What?’
I decided to take the plunge and tell him what was bothering me. ‘See. Thing is William . . . you know I went out with Luke for a while?’
‘Yes.’
‘It makes things complicated.’
‘Why? You’re not going out with him any more.’
‘True, but . . .’
‘It’s OK, Nesta. I get it. Never mind.’
‘No. I don’t think you do. Listen. Just he . . . um . . . it turned out I couldn’t trust him.’
I heard William chuckle at the other end of the phone. ‘Yeah. He does have a bit of a reputation.’
‘And you’re his mate.’
There was a silence for a few moments and I think the penny dropped. ‘Ah. So you think that I might be the same?’
‘Yes. How do I know that you’re not?’
‘You don’t,’ he said.
‘Which makes it difficult.’
‘So try me.’
I was beginning to feel that I was being a bit unfair on him and hearing his voice again made me remember how toe-curling the kiss had felt. It would be a shame to let it all go by just because his mate was a rat.
‘So, what do you reckon?’ William persisted. ‘Want to go out sometime? I can probably fit you in between all my other lovers.’
‘Yeah, very funny. Actually I was wondering if I could fit you in between all my other lovers.’
‘Maybe it’s just not destined to be,’ said William in a sad voice but I had a feeling that he was joshing. ‘But then we have seen each other twice over the last week after not seeing each other for months. Maybe it’s destiny bringing us together.’
‘Ah yes, destiny. Sometimes you can’t fight it,’ I said in an actressy-type voice.
‘And by the way, Eleanor said hi. She liked meeting you.’
‘I liked meeting her.’ I didn’t want to ask any more about her as he had made it clear on Sunday that he didn’t want to talk about the situation and if there’s one thing I know about boys, it’s that you can’t push them to open up if they don’t want to.
‘Good. I’m glad you like her. She’s a diamond,’ said William.
A light bulb flashed on in my head. ‘That’s it! Destiny. Diamond. Diamond destiny.’
‘Pardon?’
/> I quickly filled him in on the fundraising events (or lack of them) at our school and how we were holding a dance in May and were looking for a name or theme for it. ‘Don’t you see,’ I finished. ‘The Diamond Destiny Dance. Everyone can come glammed up to the eyeballs.’
‘Yeah. Sounds good . . . but in the meantime, what about us? I’m away for the Easter holidays. Spain, it’s been booked for ages but what about before that? I wondered if we could . . . you know? What do you think?’
‘Ah . . . yes. Um. A definite maybe.’
‘A definite maybe?’
‘Yeah. But you have to pass my test sometime.’
William laughed again. ‘You’re kidding?’
‘Nope.’ I wasn’t going to fall back into his arms just because he was such a great kisser or because his sister was ill. No. It was time to play hard to get. Or at least, a bit.
‘So what is this test?’ he asked.
‘I’ll e-mail it to you while you’re away. Give me your e-mail address.’
‘It’s easy: [email protected].’
I jotted it down.
‘And yours?’ he asked.
‘[email protected].’
‘Cool,’ he said.
‘And in the meantime, what’s your favourite cake?’ I asked.
‘Cake? What has cake got to do with anything? Is that the test? If I say the right cake you’ll go out with me?’
‘No. That’s not the test. Just tell me your favourite cake.’
‘Coffee and walnut.’
‘Right. Thanks. I might bake you one.’
‘You’re a strange girl, Nesta Williams.’
‘You ain’t seen nothing yet, babe,’ I said.
I could hear him laughing softly at the other end of the phone. It was going to be fun carrying out Eleanor’s request.
‘I’ve agreed to do your test when I get it,’ he said. ‘So will you agree to go out with me before we leave for Spain.’
‘When are you leaving?’
‘Saturday morning. So how about Friday evening?’
‘Um.’ Take it slow this time, said a voice in my head.
‘OK,’ said the voice that came out of my mouth.
An A–Z of Party Themes
A:
African, Aztec, animals, Alice in Wonderland, Adam and Eve, Arabian Nights.
B:
Beatniks, black and white, Beauty and the Beast, all in blue, beggars and knights, bad taste, blonde bombshells.
C:
Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, Chinese, cartoon characters, come as you were (in a past life).
D:
Devils and angels, doctors and nurses, Dickens characters, diamonds (wear all your bling).
E:
Egyptian, Elizabethan, Edwardian.
F:
Fairies and goblins, fat, The Flintstones, flowers or fruit, fave fictional character
G:
Gods and goddesses, gangsters and molls, glamour, ghosts, gender swap (boys as girls and girls as boys), Goth, Grease (come as a character from the movie) or Greece (dressed in the national dress).
H:
Hollywood (dress for the Oscars), Hawaiian, horror, hats, heroes and heroines, Harry Potter, hippies.
I:
Idols, Indian.
J:
Japanese.
K:
Knights and damsels in distress.
L:
Legends, lords and ladies
M:
Marx brothers, Mexican, monsters, masks, milkmaids and farmers.
N:
Nuns and priests
O:
Oriental, orange
P:
Pyjamas, all in purple, police men and women, Pre-Raphaelite, punk.
Q:
Queens and kings.
R:
Rock stars, Fifties rock and roll, all in red, Renaissance, Romans and Britons.
S:
Sci-fi, Star Trek, all in silver, school uniforms, Shakespearean characters, superheroes.
T:
Thunderbirds, toga, Twenties, teddy boys and girls, toddlers and teddies, toys.
U:
Uniforms.
V:
Vicars and tarts,Victorian.
W:
Walt Disney characters, whore or holy, all in white, witches and warlocks.
Z:
Zzzzzzz . . . attend in your night wear.
If you don’t have a lot of money to spend on costumes, the simpler the theme, the easier it is, e.g. all in blue, pyjamas, gender swap or everyone wearing a hat.
Try and find a music track appropriate for the theme, e.g. Egyptian music if going for an Egyptian theme, music from the 1920s if going for the Roaring Twenties theme.
Miss Watkins loved our fundraising suggestions. She gave us the go-ahead for just about everything but the sponsored sky diving and plans went straight into top gear.
‘I knew you girls would breathe some fresh air into it all,’ she said with a smile after we’d read our list out our list in the afternoon break. ‘Now. No time to lose. Nesta, you can start by making an appeal for volunteers tomorrow and the rest of you, organise who’s doing what and when and report back to me regularly. We have five weeks, three of which are in the Easter holidays so let’s see if we can get some things organised to happen then.’
At assembly the next morning, I felt nervous when Mrs Allen, our headmistress, introduced me after she had made the usual announcements. Usually I don’t mind performing in public, like if I’m in a play or something because then I’m not being me. I’m in disguise as some character. But this time I was going to speak as Nesta Williams and part of me was dreading it. I looked out at the sea of faces and took a deep breath.
‘Good morning, everyone,’ I started.
‘Good morning,’ everyone said back and I almost got the giggles as they all looked so serious. I had to resist the urge to do something stupid like tap dance or do my gangster rapper impersonation.
I took another breath, told myself to get it together, then continued. ‘Imagine one of your family was dying or ill or homeless or lonely,’ I read from the speech I had prepared last night. ‘How would you feel? Yeah. Rotten. Most of us don’t even think about such things. It’s not happening to us so who cares? We’re OK. Most of our families are OK. We have homes. We have food to eat, clothes to wear. Our health is good. But loads of people on the planet don’t have our advantages.
‘All I’m asking for is a bit of your time. Maybe an hour or two a week for the next few weeks in the holidays and you can make a difference. We’re aiming to raise fifty thousand pounds to donate to a local hospice. It’s a place where terminally ill teenagers go to spend their last weeks and the aim of the people who run the hospice is to make the place as much like home for them as possible. We’re the lucky ones. Hopefully we all have years ahead of us to pursue careers, to travel, to fall in love, er . . . particularly to fall in love. The people who end up in hospices like the one we want to help won’t have those chances. Please don’t turn away this chance to do something . . .’
I was about to wind up as Mum had advised me that the most important rule of public speaking is KISS (keep it short, stupid) but when I looked out at the faces in the hall looking back at me, I wanted to be sure that they understood what I was saying.
‘Just look around you,’ I continued. ‘Who knows where illness is going to strike. It could be one of the people standing in the hall with us today. It could be you. It is someone I met recently and only last year, she was standing in assembly like we are today and she was healthy and happy with a great future. Now she knows she hasn’t got long to live. The people who run the hospice want to make those last weeks as comfortable as possible. A place where their friends and family can be with them. That’s all anyone can do.
‘I’m not going to go on and on at you as I think those of you who want to hear and do something don’t need it repeated. We’ve got some fab activities planned to
make money over the Easter holidays. We need volunteers for everything from selling raffle tickets to walking dogs. So, if you want to be involved, don’t walk away, sign up at the back after assembly. And anyone who wants to buy tickets for the Diamond Destiny Dance on May 7th, then please get them from the back. It’s going to be the event of the decade. Please help. Make your destiny a diamond one. Um. Yeah. Rock on.’
The response was phenomenal and we got loads of people signing up from all years and even Doreen and her pals looked pleased with the way things were going.
We didn’t have long to get everything sorted before we broke up so Izzie, TJ, Lucy and I spent every spare moment getting contact details from volunteers, so that we could give them all something to do in the holidays. It wasn’t too difficult to coordinate a timetable of events, allocate people to each one and we were off fundraising. Even Tony and Lucy’s brothers, Lal and Steve, and their mates wanted to be involved in some way.
‘This is going to be the best time ever,’ I said as I walked out of school with TJ on the last day of term. At last it was the Easter holidays and I had a date with William in a couple of hours’ time. It felt good to know that I’d be able to tell him that we were going to do something positive to help. I was confident that we’d reach the target and more.
I got home and went to have a bath before changing into my seduction outfit for the evening. I’d arranged to meet William in Crouch End and go for a cappuccino and then a walk. His mum wanted him back at a reasonable hour because they were taking an early morning flight. I heard the phone go when I was in the bath but thought nothing of it.
A few moments later, Mum knocked on the door. ‘Nesta,’ she said. ‘That was William Lewis. He said he’s sorry but he can’t make it tonight.’
I was about to get out of the bath. ‘Does he want to speak to me?’
‘No, love,’ said Mum. ‘He’s gone. I asked if he wanted a word with you and he asked if I’d pass the message on.’
Mates, Dates and Diamond Destiny Page 8