How to Convince a Boy to Kiss You

by Tara Eglington

  ‘Camping?’ Sara wailed. ‘Like with tents? On the ground?’

  Jelena had announced her plan over the school PA system straight after recess. I was amazed that she’d got it all organised so fast, but apparently she’d won Mr Quinten over weeks ago. Being ex-army lieutenant, he was all for it. In fact, he was so enthusiastic he’d signed on to be the trip’s supervisor.

  ‘For one night,’ Jelena replied. ‘Wednesday night we have cabins. I’ve been told they’re superior accommodation considering the area’s so remote. It’s probably going to be just like glamping.’

  Sara shook her head firmly. ‘I really don’t like remote. It has all the makings of a horror movie. The bush is where all the escaped prisoners head to.’

  ‘For god’s sake, Sara, it’s a fully guided school trip. I really don’t understand the whining. You did gymnastics for years. High ropes should be easy for you seeing how you excelled on the beam.’

  ‘The beam’s like a metre high, not ten,’ Sara reminded her. ‘I didn’t have to think about the possibility of plunging to my death.’

  ‘I really don’t like heights,’ Lindsay said. Her face was pale.

  ‘The guy I booked with told me a group of thirteen-year-olds did the camp recently,’ Jelena said in her no-nonsense voice. ‘You’re fully clipped in at all times. It’s professional equipment of the highest standard.’

  Sara gave her a look and quoted from the permission slip. ‘Insurance payment covers injuries sustained during activities, including accidental death …’

  Lindsay’s paleness was now rivalling Edward Cullen’s.

  ‘They have to put that in there legally,’ Jelena said. ‘You have to sign a waiver for laser tag these days. It’s all for insurance purposes.’

  ‘I agreed to go on a few dates, not damage my limbs,’ Sara said with a dramatic shudder. ‘I’m not going. If you want me to come along, you’ll have to drug me.’

  ‘You agreed that you would fully participate in the program in exchange for that email address,’ Jelena said calmly.

  Sara glared at her but didn’t reply.

  ‘Hey, it might be a great setting for one of your books,’ Jelena said. ‘You’ll get a firsthand sense of how your characters would feel if they were inching their way across a narrow rope bridge over a raging river.’

  Sara stomped her foot with frustration.

  ‘Mind the shoes with the Rumpelstiltskin antics,’ Jelena said. She made a face at Sara and Lindsay. ‘Both of you are being such downers. Just think of it as a three-day holiday from school.’

  The end-of-lunch bell rang. Sara threw Jelena another look and stalked away to class.

  ‘Have the permission slip back to me tomorrow!’ Jelena called after her.

  ‘I’m really not good with heights,’ Lindsay said again, not moving from her seat even though everyone else was packing up their lunch things.

  ‘You won’t be doing much high-ropes work,’ Jelena told her. ‘You’ll be assisting Aurora. That’s on-the-ground stuff.’

  Lindsay looked a little happier.

  Just then Hayden came out of the school office. I knew he’d been at a school-council meeting. Jelena called him over.

  ‘You’re definitely in for next week, right?’ she asked. ‘Mr Quinten suggested you as one of the group leaders.’

  Hayden gave my shoulder a squeeze. I held my breath as I waited for his answer. Three whole days together would totally make up for the two lost weekends. And the campfires and starlight would be sure to boost our relationship.

  Hayden frowned slightly. No! He wasn’t going?

  ‘I’m totally up for it, but my parents have final say when it comes to the permission slip,’ he said. ‘I’m not exactly in their good books at the moment and my grounding only finishes on Monday.’

  ‘Come on, like they’re going to veto you playing boy scout,’ Jelena said.

  ‘I hope not. I never thought they’d take my phone, but I was wrong about that, so who knows.’ He shot me a sad look.

  ‘It’ll be fine. I’ll have Mr Quinten give them a call.’ Jelena picked up her handbag from the bench and gave us a royal wave goodbye. She’d evidently been practising.

  ‘I don’t think any of us are getting out of this, are we?’ Lindsay said. She looked like a woman who’d been sentenced to the gallows.

  Hayden brushed a lock of hair behind my ear as Lindsay headed off to maths. ‘I don’t want to get out of it. If I get my way, we’ll spend the whole time side by side.’

  ‘I’ll have to do a lot of field work during the trip,’ I said, ‘but we’ll definitely get lots of time together.’

  My voice sounded breathless even to me. Did Hayden realise what he did to me? I’d once had a tooth removed and the dentist had warned me that the anaesthetic shot contained a tiny bit of adrenaline. The racing of my heart and the super-heady exhilaration I’d felt back then were just like the sensations I experienced when Hayden stood next to me. Did I make him feel the same way? I studied him closely. He looked totally calm. Maybe boys didn’t get the jitters like girls did.

  Hayden laughed. ‘So your candidates will be tightroping their way through their first dates, will they? That’s a bit worrying considering first-date nerves give most people the shakes anyway. You’ve got to hope those harnesses work.’

  ‘So if you and I were rope buddies, you’d be shaking in your shoes?’ I asked.

  I had to know. Hayden always seemed so confident — look at how he’d moved in for that kiss when we’d been standing in his parents’ yard!

  ‘Looking for compliments, Ms Skye?’

  Hayden gave me a poke in the ribs and I shrieked. He knew how ridiculously ticklish I was.

  ‘I’m just … I don’t know. I’m wondering if you get nervous around me?’

  ‘Let’s just say when it comes to you —’

  The start-of-class bell rang, interrupting him.

  ‘Yes?’ I gave him an expectant look. He had to finish this sentence.

  ‘— I’d never risk a broad plank over a stream, as I’d wind up swimming within about seven seconds.’

  Hayden threw me a grin as he dashed off to class.

  CHAPTER 14

  That evening, Lindsay and I sat in my lounge room, with my laptop open and two mugs of hot chocolate. The big moment had arrived — we were about to run the Chemistry Calculator to determine the ideal candidates for Chloe, Jeffrey and Sara.

  I stuck the USB stick into my laptop. I’d only handed Hayden the extra information gathered from my meetings with Chloe and Jeffrey this morning, so he’d really gone the extra mile to finish the program for me today. He’d worked on it in his computer studies class (he’d developed the calculator as part of his term project), knowing I was super keen to get the matches. After all, I had limited time to get the matchmakees and their potential dates to agree to attend next week’s camp.

  Remembering Hayden’s ‘seven seconds’ remark earlier, I smiled.

  ‘What are you smiling for?’ Lindsay asked.

  ‘Just Hayden and a comment he made about camp.’

  ‘I don’t think Tyler’s going,’ Lindsay said.

  ‘What? Why? I’m sure the creaky bridge experiment would work for you guys too — a bit of fear and uncertainty would draw you closer together.’

  ‘Most of the soccer team are going and Tyler wants a break from the teasing,’ Lindsay said. ‘Plus, he’s kind of worried that Jelena might reveal more embarrassing photos or slogans on the trip.’

  ‘Well, you can reassure him that we’re part of the campaign so we can veto anything that we think is too much.’

  ‘He said he’ll think about it.’ I could tell Lindsay was trying not to be annoyed. ‘Anyway, let’s get on with the matches.’

  ‘Let’s do Chloe’s first,’ I said excitedly, selecting her name from the drop-down list of matchmakees. Meeting with her had got me super enthused about finding her a true Potential Prince.

  Lindsay peered at the screen. ‘S
o all you have to do is select a name from the list, hit the Match Me button and the top three candidates will pop up?’

  ‘Yup, it’s that simple.’ I hovered the mouse over the Match Me button. ‘When we hit the button, the program runs through all of the matchmakee’s character traits, plus their personal preferences for a mate, and cross-references all that with the information given to us in the candidates’ questionnaires.’

  ‘Wait a minute, we need a soundtrack.’ Lindsay grabbed the computer from me, opened YouTube and found the ‘Matchmaker’ song from Fiddler on the Roof. ‘My mum made my sis and me watch this a couple of years ago,’ she said. ‘It’s pretty cute.’ She hit play, then repositioned the computer between us. ‘Okay, go!’

  I hit the Match Me button and the calculator began running through the data. Lindsay and I leapt up and danced around with excitement. She grabbed my hand and twirled me, and we did little pirouettes around the lounge room. Snookums peered at us suspiciously from behind a pot plant. His feline sensibilities didn’t grasp the concept of dancing and he didn’t like the vibrations we caused through the floor.

  ‘It’s done!!’ I yelped as a Match Completed message flashed up on the screen.

  ‘Let me see!’ Lindsay finished an elaborate twirl and plopped down onto the couch.

  I grabbed the laptop and placed it across our laps. We needed a drum roll. The Chemistry Calculator was up and running!

  ‘First match for Chloe is …’

  ‘Benjamin Zane!’ Lindsay squealed. ‘His crystal-blue eyes and her violet ones — can you imagine how good-looking their children would be?’

  I held back a laugh. Lindsay was already leagues ahead of herself with this first match. And I hated to be a spoilsport, but despite the calculator giving them a ninety-six per cent compatibility rate, I had my doubts.

  ‘Linds, I don’t know. You remember what Benjamin was like in the school play? Totally driven. He’s deadset on making it to Broadway by the time he’s twenty-one.’

  ‘I know he’s all about his agent and his carpet-cleaning commercials, but a little bit of ambition isn’t always a bad thing,’ Lindsay said sagely.

  ‘Of course not. But don’t you also remember when we thought he was my secret admirer? When I confronted him, he made it absolutely clear that his main focus was Benjamin. I don’t know how a girlfriend would fit in with that.’

  Lindsay didn’t look fazed. ‘Chloe’s pretty driven herself. Plus, Benjamin’s wild about drama and writing. He’s got the theatrical temperament to understand Chloe.’

  I could tell she meant he was dramatic enough not to be put off by Chloe’s ‘incident’. Considering the guy had once pitched an all-out public tantrum because his Three Musketeers hat had an inferior feather to that of Hayden’s (they had been thespian rivals since Year Seven), he couldn’t really judge Chloe too harshly.

  ‘I reckon Benjamin could be the type to get completely swept away if he falls in love,’ Lindsay said.

  ‘Are you sure you aren’t getting him confused with his former roles?’ I asked, thinking of his impassioned performance as Romeo last year and Peter Pan the year before.

  ‘Aurora! The system says he’s the top match. Why are you so uneasy?’

  I guessed I felt protective of Chloe. She’d had a rough time of it and I didn’t want to risk any shaky set-ups.

  ‘Let’s give him a call,’ Lindsay said, reaching for our list of contacts.

  ‘Straight away?’

  ‘We need to get him on the trip,’ she said firmly.

  She grabbed my phone and punched in Benjamin’s number, then handed the phone to me.

  ‘Lindsay, I just don’t know —’

  ‘Hello, Benjamin Zane speaking.’

  Crap. He’d picked up straight away. I’d kind of hoped to leave a voicemail so he could get accustomed to the idea of both Chloe and the trip before he called back.

  ‘Hi, Benjamin.’ I put on my confident voice. ‘It’s Aurora, you know, from Much Ado —’

  ‘Aurora!’ Benjamin sounded cheery. ‘I’ve been expecting you to call.’

  ‘You have?’

  ‘We were going to get coffee and talk about signing you up to the casting agency I’m with, remember?’

  ‘Oh yeah … As you would have heard from Jelena’s announcements, I’ve kind of decided to take the route of matchmaker rather than actress,’ I said.

  After I’d been chosen as the face of the Get High (Heels) autumn campaign (thanks to Mum’s unfailing desire to make me a fashion model), Benjamin had wanted to take me out to discuss career options. He’d assured me that although he’d started with crowd scenes, his agency had quickly landed him a regular role in cleaning commercials.

  ‘See, this is why we need to meet. With looks like yours, there’s more money in acting,’ Benjamin replied. ‘You land something like a Coke commercial and that’s three or four months’ income at once. I’ve been shortlisted for a series of Japanese mineral-water commercials. That’s major. I could be the next Mr Bubbly.’

  Lindsay looked at me curiously as I shoved my hand over my mouth to smother my amusement at Benjamin’s potential new moniker.

  ‘I’m kind of set on working in the realms of the heart,’ I said, standing and turning my back on Lindsay so I could resume my professionalism. ‘Which is why I’m calling actually. You put your name down to be matched up, right?’

  I wanted to check that he’d submitted the questionnaire himself, and someone hadn’t filled it in as a joke.

  ‘Yes, I did,’ Benjamin replied. ‘Though to be frank, if you’re still up for a date, I’m more than happy to take my name out of the running. I thought you and I had a great connection in Much Ado and I’d be up for exploring that.’

  This was awkwardly unexpected. I laughed nervously. ‘Oh, um, that’s lovely of you to say, Benjamin, but I’m kind of seeing someone.’

  Lindsay got up from the couch and moved closer to me so she could hear the other side of the conversation. I walked over to the window to stop myself from being distracted.

  ‘Paris, right?’ Benjamin’s voice sounded like he was chewing something bitter. ‘Are you sure this isn’t just leading-lady syndrome? You know, you were cast opposite him so you think you have crossover chemistry? Remember, I was originally meant to play the role of Benedick. Paris nabbed it because of his fake audition —’

  ‘I kind of thought you’d be too busy for dating,’ I broke in. ‘What with castings and all.’

  ‘Yes, I thought so too, but then I started reading a biography of Richard Burton. His passion for Elizabeth Taylor infused his roles in Cleopatra and The Taming of the Shrew. It’s my duty as an actor to experience all the shades of this thing we call love. Plus, it would be nice to come home after a disappointing audition and have someone to cuddle. Listen, are you so sure you’re stuck on Paris? Seems a bit of an odd match to me —’

  I quickly deflected the question. ‘Richard Burton, wow! Benjamin, I have an Elizabeth Taylor stunt double that my Chemistry Calculator says you’re perfect for. Chloe Butler?’

  I held my breath, waiting for his reaction. It would be awful if he shot Chloe down before giving her a chance face to face.

  ‘Chloe …’ He stretched the word out thoughtfully.

  ‘She’s really into the arts,’ I added. ‘She wants a guy she can take to the theatre. Even opera!’

  ‘She’s a stunning girl. And she certainly does look like Elizabeth Taylor in her prime. I just never considered her because I thought she might not be into dating after the whole Max fiasco.’

  ‘She’s learnt a lot since then.’ I thought it best to keep things vague rather than invoking the Dido re-enactment in full.

  ‘You know what?’ Benjamin said. ‘I’m up for it. Anyone can make bitter Facebook posts or send nasty texts after a break-up, but it takes a true artist to draw from the Aeneid the way she did.’

  He was in! I spun back round to face Lindsay and gave her the thumbs-up sign with my left hand. She
clapped her hands with delight.

  ‘Fantastic! So, Benjamin, we’re bringing the matches together for the first time on Jelena’s camp next week — you know, Take It to Another Level. We think it’s the perfect place for the matches to spend one-on-one time together in an exciting environment. So if you can return the signed permission slip tomorrow —’

  ‘I’m not big on these extremist things,’ Benjamin cut in. ‘You can break bones or get scars — not good when you rely on your looks for a living. Maybe Chloe and I could go on a date when you guys get back.’

  ‘Chloe’s going to have a lot of competitors for her affections,’ I said, appealing to his competitive side. ‘I’d hate for this to be a “you snooze, you lose” thing for you. Plus, the camp isn’t just sports. There’ll be theatre games by the fire at night. You’re welcome to prepare a monologue.’

  I was hoping the opportunity of a captive audience would do the trick. Theatre games weren’t on the itinerary as yet, but I was sure I could get Jelena to add them in.

  ‘I suppose it could be considered part of my acting training for the week,’ Benjamin conceded. ‘Do you think anyone would mind if I did a longish piece?’

  ‘No way, go for it!’ I said, pumping up the enthusiasm in my voice. ‘I can’t wait, and I’m sure Chloe will be super impressed too. Just make sure you give Jelena your permission slip first thing tomorrow — spots are filling fast.’

  I hung up, praying I’d won him over.

  ‘Fantastic!’ Lindsay said. ‘Okay, we’ve just got to convince the next two matches to come and Chloe’s set. I’ll call the next boy.’

  ‘I can’t believe he met someone on the weekend!’ Lindsay said as she put the phone down after calling Adam Brown. He was music-mad and the lead singer in a band that was doing pretty well since forming a few months ago — they did a lot of wedding performances as well as some school gigs.

  ‘How did he meet her?’ I asked.

  ‘Some family friend’s barbecue. They’ve only been on one date, but he’s so smitten he wouldn’t hear of even going out for coffee with Chloe. Apparently this Alexandra girl looks like Charlize Theron and sings like Adele or something. Argh! I can’t believe we’re about four days too late! He and Chloe had an eighty-nine per cent compatibility too!’