by Mel Sparke
Maybe I’ll have to give up my job… she mused miserably. Ollie is Nick’s nephew after all, so if things just keep getting worse and worse, it’ll have to be me who leaves. And then, of course. I’d have to give up my flat…
Hot, self-pitying tears prickled uncharacteristically in Anna’s eyes as her imagination ran away with her and spelt out the worst-case scenario. The flat was so precious to Anna; it was tiny, but it was her own little bolt-hole, her security blanket, and she hadn’t been able to believe her luck when she’d landed in Winstead and found herself a job that included accommodation.
The thought of having that snatched away from her was too upsetting to contemplate.
“yooo-hoo!” came a call at the front door, accompanied by a sudden ring of the bell. “It’s only me! Cat!”
Anna leapt to her feet. She was normally very self-reliant, but right now, it was lovely to hear a friendly voice.
“Hi, honey!” said Cat, bounding in and enveloping Anna in a big hug.
Anna tried hard not to cough at Cat’s overwhelming cloud of perfume.
“It’s great to see you, Cat. But what are you doing over this way?”
“I’m here to help,” Cat beamed, a wide, red-lipsticked grin on her face. “So get your clothes off.”
“What?”
‘you heard. Strip!” giggled Cat, relishing her friend’s stunned expression.
“Oooooohhhh…”
“Is that the spot?”
“Yep. Owww…”
“You’ve got a real knot of muscles there, Ms Michaels. It’s a case of too much work and too much stress!”
“Tell me about it…” mumbled Anna as Cat massaged her back.
“Never mind. I’m here to help!” trilled Cat, stopping to warm more aromatherapy oil between her hands. “A free therapeutic massage for you tonight and then I’ll be at your beck and call all day Saturday!”
“Thanks, Cat,” said Anna dreamily, relaxing for the first time in ages. “I really needed this…”
“Thank your darling boyfriend. He’s the one that rang and asked me to come over and cheer you up.”
Anna, lying tummy-down on a fluffy towel-covered mat and naked apart from her white cotton knickers, smiled to herself. Matt really was proving to be a very thoughtful boyfriend – seeing to her welfare even when he wasn’t around himself to help.
Mind you, I suppose he thought Cat would just come round for a chat, Anna mused. He probably didn’t reckon on her using me as a guinea pig for one of the treatments she’s learned on her Beauty Course…
“You know,” said Cat, moving her hands in firm but gentle circles either side of Anna’s spine, “I still can’t believe you didn’t fill me in about Ollie when you asked me to come in and do his shift. I mean, the cheek of him! Already planning to go to the competition anyway!”
“I know. But that’s not what’s really bothering me about all this.”
“Then what is?”
“Well, it’s part of the reason I didn’t say anything when I phoned you and took you up on your offer to help in the caff: I hate the way everyone seems to be taking sides…”
“Like who?” asked Cat, still feeling out of the loop with her friends, what with their exams and her own college commitments.
“There’s Matt for a start – he’s so annoyed with Ollie for my sake. And I guess Kerry is probably on Ollie’s side for his sake. Then there’s the lads in the band – Andy and Billy are both leaning towards Ollie, understandably, because this competition could be really big for them all. But Matt says that Joe’s had a bit of a run-in with Ollie, because he sees my side of things.”
“Ah, Joe! What a sweetie!” cooed Cat.
“I know, but I don’t want any of this stuff between Ollie and me making things bad between the two of them. They’re such old friends!”
“But Ollie’s being a selfish git!” proclaimed Cat righteously. “And I should know – I’ve been a selfish git myself at times!”
Anna closed her eyes and smiled again at Cat’s very astute assessment of herself.
Still, it’s funny that I used to think of Cat and Sonja as so different, thought Anna, reflecting on the year or so she’d known Cat, her cousin and the others. But there are times when Cat is as friendly and kind as Sonja usually is, and Sonja can be as monstrous as Cat at her worst…
“So what about Maya? What’s she got to say about all this stuff? And what about my darling cousin? I bet she’s not short of an opinion…”
Anna gulped. She hadn’t wanted to get into this. It could only do what she dreaded most – make the sides issue more obvious.
“Um, well, I don’t know about Maya. She’s hasn’t been around much.”
“Of course. Her mum and dad’ll still have her chained to her desk studying,” laughed Cat. “And what about Sonja?”
Anna gave an involuntary shiver at the memory of Sonja’s terse words downstairs that morning.
“Oh, are you cold? Will I bring the heater over?” asked Cat with concern.
“No, I’m fine.”
“Well, if you’re sure. So what about Sonja then?” Cat returned to her question, not easily deflected from her theme.
Anna thought for a second and then decided that if Cat went along to the Railway Tavern as usual tomorrow night, she was going to find out her cousin’s opinion pretty quickly anyway.
“Sonja seems to think I’ve, urn, been a bit harsh on Ollie, what with the competition being so important and everything,” Anna explained, trying to opt for the least inflammatory version of events.
It didn’t work.
“What? How dare she! Wait till I have a word with her!” exclaimed Cat angrily.
Anna bit her lip and tried not to yelp as Cat’s fingers dug agonisingly into her tender muscles.
CHAPTER 18
BATTLEZONE
Ollie marvelled at his ability to do two things simultaneously.
He remembered when he’d first become aware he could do it. At secondary school, his history teacher was one of the old-fashioned types, who often dictated pages and pages of facts for his pupils to scribble into their jotters. That’s when Ollie found he had the amazing ability to copy down everything, word perfect, while disengaging his brain and daydreaming about who’d be up for a game of footie at breaktime.
Now he was doing it again, singing one of The Loud’s tunes up on the stage of the Railway Tavern, without any of the audience realising that his mind was preoccupied with anything but the lyrics.
Once we get this competition out of the way on Saturday, I’ll fix it with everyone, he promised himself. Anna, obviously, and Joe too. I need to have a talk with Matt as well and get things sorted.
He glanced over at the mixing desk and saw that Matt was still looking as sour as if he’d sucked a jug of lemon juice through a straw. He’d arrived – late – with that expression on his face and only ten minutes to spare before the band were due to go on stage.
Mind you. I’m just grateful he showed up at all, thought Ollie, effortlessly launching into the chorus.
Matt had been ominously quiet all week, never showing his face in the End, and when Ollie had tried to phone him a couple of times, all he’d got was the answering service on Matt’s mobile and he’d never returned Ollie’s calls.
Ollie had had to resort to asking Anna if Matt had heard his messages, which outlined the plans for Saturday’s competition. That had been hard to do: Ollie and Anna had kept communication to the bare minimum over the last few days – “Is that order ready?”, “yes – there it is”, “Thanks” – and stretching it any further had seemed excruciatingly hard.
Ollie hated acting like this – he was a born chatterer – but he knew that he’d annoyed Anna so much that the best thing was to shut up, stay quiet and not risk winding her up any further.
That stiff only-talking-when-you-need-to rule was applying to his relationship with Joe too. His best mate was still acting really uptight and snappy with him, and even tho
ugh Joe was still suffering from the remnants of flu, it didn’t seem to OIlie that there was any reason for him to be that way.
Maybe he’s broken up with Meg! it suddenly occurred to OIlie. But he’s really into her… But what if she’s chucked him? That would explain his weird grumpiness. Maybe he doesn’t want to tell anyone yet. That would be very Joe…
OIlie made a mental note to be more understanding to Joe, just in case his guess was correct. And, at the moment, that was the best OIlie could do. He was so stressed out about the competition – especially with all the organising he had to do since the band’s manager, Nick, was too many thousands of miles away to be of any help – that he didn’t have his normal boundless supply of energy to deal with everything at once.
And, apart from the problems that were affecting him directly, there was more hassle brewing for another one of the crowd. According to Billy and Andy, something was up with Maya and Alex. Maya hadn’t shown up at photography club the previous evening, even though her exams were out of the way. Alex had apparently been asking the two lads if they’d seen or heard from her and had seemed pretty wound up about it.
I wonder if Maya will turn up here tonight? thought Ollie, his gaze moving round the room in search of the comforting vision of his girlfriend. Kerry had said that Maya was very off with her when she’d popped round to see her on Tuesday. If I had time, I’d phone Maya myself and see if she’s OK. Well, that’s another thing that’ll have to be on next week’s sorting-out-the-world list…
At last he spotted Kerry, but he wasn’t as comforted by what he saw as he’d hoped to be. Kerry looked tense and with good reason. Sitting next to her at the small table were two squabbling girls: Sonja and her cousin Cat seemed to be hissing like vipers at each other.
Please don’t let that be anything about the me and Anna bust-up, Ollie prayed silently.
But deep down he already knew that was just what it was.
“Can’t wait to hear what Nick’s been up to, can you?” guffawed Derek.
“Yeah, yeah!” Ollie chuckled, wishing he could wriggle away from the conversation he’d been trapped in since The Loud got off stage. But he couldn’t exactly; after all, Derek was the pub landlord as well as the guy who let them play this regular spot.
“Oh, sorry, Ollie lad – got to go. The missus is calling me over,” Derek suddenly excused himself, nodding over towards the woman behind the bar with the astounding collection of gold chains draped round her neck.
“All right. Eva?” Ollie called across, giving the woman a quick wave while silently thanking her for getting him out a dull situation.
I’ll find Kerry and say hello, Ollie decided, turning and making his way through the crowded bar, and then I’ll catch Matt and tell him in more detail about what’s happening on Saturday.
“Hey, gorgeous!” he said to Kerry, spotting her before she saw him on her way to the loo.
“Hi, Ollie – wow, am I glad to see you!” she smiled, relief written all over her face.
“Why, what’s up?” he asked, though he suspected he already knew the answer.
“It’s like everyone’s taking sides or something!” explained Kerry, nodding back the way she’d come. “I mean, at the table just now, Sonja’s sitting with Billy and Andy, bitching on about Cat—”
“I saw them arguing from the stage.”
”—yeah, well, it was all this ‘Anna’s in the right’, ‘No. Ollie’s in the right’ stuff. It was doing my head in! And now Cat’s standing over with Matt while he packs up the mixing desk and Joe’s over there too!”
“Oh, no…” sighed Ollie.
“Ol – you’ve got to sort this out! It’s just so horrible, everyone fighting like this!”
“OK, OK, I’ll try,” he reassured Kerry, reaching out and squeezing her hand.
Giving him a quick peck, Kerry smiled nervously and disappeared off to the loo.
“Right,” muttered Ollie as he bypassed Sonja and the other lads at the table and headed directly over to Matt.
Something was going on, he noticed, seeing Cat wrap her arms around Joe.
“Good luck!” Ollie thought he heard her say as he came closer.
“Hi. What’s up?” Ollie beamed, his lopsided grin as genuine and friendly as he could make it.
“Uh, nothing,” murmured Joe, his cheeks looking unmistakably pink with embarrassment.
“Nothing you’d be interested in, Ollie Stanton since you’re only interested in yourself!”
Cat’s sneer was like a body blow to Ollie. He’d been a brilliant friend to Cat in the past, giving her chance after chance when a lot of other people wouldn’t – even the time when her jealousy had made her try and split him and Kerry up. And now Cat seemed to have conveniently forgotten all that and was having a go at him. And when Cat decided to have a go, Ollie knew, being on the receiving end was not a good place to be.
“Cat!” he exclaimed indignantly. “Since when have I ever—”
“Sorry – got to go. Come on, Joe,” she butted in, linking her arm around a surprised-looking Joe and practically steering him away.
“Well, I didn’t see that one coming!” Ollie laughed sheepishly, looking hopefully towards Matt for sympathy.
But he was looking at the wrong person.
“Well, you probably won’t have seen this one coming either,” said Matt, the muscles in his chiselled cheeks twitching.
“What? What are you on about?” asked Ollie, puzzled.
“you’ve really upset Anna this time. Cat was round at her flat last night and heard all about it,” Matt growled. “So tonight, I’m going to help you shift the gear away and then that’s it – count me out.”
“Huh?”
“Well, I’m sorry for the sake of Joe and the other lads, but you’ll have to find someone else to do your sound on Saturday, Ol, ‘cause there’s no way I’m doing it!”
Ollie stood rooted to the spot as Matt heaved the heavy mixing desk under one arm and headed off to the exit.
“Hi, remember me?”
Ollie stared blankly at the girl who’d appeared at his side – but at this particular moment, he couldn’t do two things at once. He was too stunned by the catastrophe of Matt letting him down to go raking through his memory banks to find a name to match this face.
“I’m Holly,” said the red-headed girl helpfully. “I came to see you guys last week with Alex, remember?”
“Uh, oh, yeah,” spluttered Ollie, the penny dropping.
“I was just wondering, did Alex come tonight? I arrived half-way through your set, but I haven’t seen him…”
“Um, no, I don’t think he did,” said Ollie, trying hard to think straight.
“Oh, well,” shrugged Holly, looking faintly disappointed.
“Did he say he was coming?” Ollie asked, distractedly glancing over her shoulder as he saw Matt and Joe coming back in from loading up the car.
“No, no… I just popped in on the off chance,” shrugged Holly. “So… is, er, his girlfriend here then?”
“Maya? No, she’s not. Maybe they’re out together somewhere.”
“Oh. Oh, right,” Holly replied, biting at her lip edgily. “Well, I’d better go. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of other people to talk to!”
I wouldn’t bet on it, thought Ollie, watching her walk away. There seem to be fewer and fewer people wanting to talk to me every day at the moment…
CHAPTER 19
TESTING TIMES
Joe shuffled slightly on the low, seventies-style vinyl seat. It made a loud, farting noise, piling embarrassment on top of the misery and nervousness he already felt.
“I still think you ought to have cancelled this driving test!” his mum had twittered as he left the house that morning. She’d been holding out his jacket to help him on with it, he remembered now with a cringe. His mum really did think he was five years old and in need of help wiping his nose sometimes.
“Mum – I told you,” he’d moaned at her. “I’ve alr
eady passed my written driving test, so I might as well get the practical test out of the way now, while I’ve got the chance. I don’t want it hanging over my head for months!”
Especially if I’m not even here in Winstead to sit it, he’d said to himself, thinking of the secret he’d told no one but Meg so far.
“But you’re still not a hundred per cent over that flu and you’re exhausted with all your exams,” Susie Gladwin had prattled on regardless. “And Meg thinks so too. When she rang last night, I was just saying, ‘Well, he might not listen to his old mum, but he might listen to you!’ I don’t know why you didn’t give her a call when you got back in from playing at your gig!”
“Because it was late. Mum, and Meg has an exam herself this morning!” Joe had tried to protest. He hadn’t wanted to add that he was too depressed after the atmosphere of the gig to talk to anyone anyway – even Meg.
Joe was about to wriggle into a more comfortable position, but the fear of making the orange vinyl chair fart again soon put a stop to that.
Once this competition’s out of the way, I’ll have to speak to Ollie, clear the air, Joe promised himself, unaware that his best mate had made a similar vow the night before. But first, I’ve just got to get this test out of the way and the exam this afternoon…
Joe glanced across the glass-topped table in the middle of the room – laden with a mound of hopelessly out-of-date magazines – and spotted that the guy in his twenties sitting in a matching farty chair opposite looked even sweatier and more nervous than he was.
“Well, just try to relax, dear,” he remembered his mother’s parting words that morning. “You can only do your best. And, like your exams, you can always try again another time…”
And I’ve got to be nicer to Mum, Joe told himself. She irritates me sometimes, but she’s been really sweet and all I’ve done is grouch at her the last couple of weeks. I’ll have to buy her some flowers or maybe that Shania Twain CD she’s always singing along to on the radio…