by Carmen Reid
Gina began to fiddle nervously with her hair and everyone noticed the unhappy colouring of her cheeks. 'Umm, well . . . yeah, but . . .' she began. How the hell was she going to explain this?
Since their art gallery date, Gina had been playing it cool again. She'd told Dermot that she was too busy this weekend and had only offered to 'pop into' the café to say hello. It wasn't just the Scarlett note in the diary that had made her decide not to invite Dermot to the Halloween party; it was also because – due to the 'prowler' – Mrs Knebworth was policing the invitation list like a jailer: every boy invited was listed by age and school. It wouldn't have surprised Gina if they'd had to bring their birth certificates to the door to get in.
But Gina hadn't wanted to put Dermot's name down on that list. She knew he would be the only boy not from one of the private schools and she felt embarrassed about it. The Neb was bound to raise her eyebrows, sniff and ask lots of nosy questions.
Nor did she want to make him feel awkward. She didn't want the Neb interviewing him; she didn't want the other snooty boys at the party looking down their noses at him either. Plus, she was going to have to ask him about Scarlett before she could ever kiss him or go on a date with him again. She was going to have to. No matter how scared she was of hearing the answer.
'Yeah but what?' Dermot asked Gina bluntly. 'Yeah but unfortunately I'm not from St Snooty's and I don't have a dinner jacket hanging in the cupboard, so why even bother asking me? Is that how it is?'
'No!' Gina protested.
'It's fancy dress, anyway,' Amy broke in.
'Oh well, I could have come to that, no problem, Gina!' Dermot insisted angrily. 'I could just have come as myself and everyone would have been totally horrified!'
A very uncomfortable feeling was building up in Gina. Everyone seemed to be looking at her; everyone seemed to be blaming her. No one knew the other reason – the real reason why Gina just couldn't relax and enjoy Dermot's company; couldn't yet treat him like a real boyfriend.
'I know all about Scarlett,' she exclaimed, feeling her heart hammer in her chest. 'I know, Dermot.'
'What?' He sounded utterly astonished.
Gina was on her feet; with shaking hands she was scrambling for her bag and her jacket. She just wanted to get out of here. This was the most embarrassing situation she'd ever, ever found herself in. Dermot's dad was coming out from behind the counter; in a moment he was going to tell them all off. Min, Amy and Rosie were all looking at Gina in complete astonishment.
'But what's that got to do with anything?' Dermot called after Gina.
'I think we should just get out of here,' Amy told her friends. They all began to collect their things together so they could follow Gina out.
'And if you see Jason,' Amy aimed at Dermot, 'can you just tell him that boys are a big fat waste of time?'
The moment they walked in the front door, Mrs Knebworth spotted Amy and called out to her.
'In my sitting room, Miss McCorquodale. I've a surprise for you.'
'Oh, brother,' Amy said in a low voice. The Neb's surprises were never usually good ones. What have I done now? she wondered.
The upright piano in Mrs Knebworth's sitting room was overwhelmed by a stunning bunch of pink flowers. Fat pink peonies, deep pink roses, luscious heads of sweet William, all beautifully wrapped in cellophane and tied with a broad satin ribbon.
'Those are gorgeous.' Amy pointed at the flowers, hoping to soften up the Neb for whatever was coming. Perhaps she was going to ask her to dress up as a pumpkin and greet people at the door?
'Aren't they just?' the housemistress agreed. 'I've taken the liberty of putting them in a vase. I hope you don't mind.'
'I don't mind?' Amy asked in confusion. 'Why would I mind?'
'They're for you, Amy.' The Neb gave Amy a rare smile. 'And it's not even your birthday! Lucky girl. There's a card.'
Amy couldn't believe it. Why would her dad send her flowers? Flowers just weren't really his thing. Diamonds, yes; flowers, no.
'Flowers?' Amy murmured in confusion as her friends crowded into the room behind her, eager to take a look at the blooms, not to mention the card.
She tore open the little envelope and read the words: So sorry to miss you. Got called to match at short notice. Will see you tonight. Jason xx.
She closed the card and stuffed it quickly back into its envelope. This was just the final straw. He didn't call. He didn't show up. But he still sent extravagant bunches of flowers! He just didn't have a clue! He was so confusing, she just didn't think she could take any more.
This was the second time Jason had sent flowers. The first time, last term, it had been incredible. But this time it felt like a stunt.
'They look really nice in here,' Amy told Mrs K. 'I think we'll just leave them where they are.'
Chapter Twenty-five
As the party was due to start at seven thirty, by seven there was noisy, crowded chaos in the boarding-house dorms. Black netting and black maribou trims were unravelling, spider-web fishnets were ripping, witchy black and silver corsets were coming unhooked, black and purple hairspray cans were misfiring and causing all sorts of unexpected problems.
In the Iris dorm, Amy and Gina were surveying their costumes with a degree of contentment. Amy was a cute black cat in a long-sleeved cat suit and a headband with little black ears attached. Gina was wearing a witch's hat, a leotard and a short black tutu. Then she'd added black leggings so as not to give Mrs Knebworth palpitations.
Amy went to her chest of drawers and brought out a plastic box of her own. 'Do you want to see my bugs?' she asked Gina with a mischievous smile, and lifted the lid.
Inside was a small collection of very real insects: two spiders, one still moving, three black beetles, legs wiggling, and a moth.
'Eeek!' was Gina's reaction.
'I thought I'd try and create some fun. I mean, Dermot isn't coming, and if Jason turns up, I'll have to listen to a load of lies and excuses. So let's see who we can get to eat a real bug instead of a liquorice one.'
'Yuck! That is mean, Amy,' was Gina's verdict.
'C'mon, if I got Jason to accidentally eat crunchy Mr Beetle here, you'd laugh, wouldn't you?'
'Well . . . if it's Jason we're talking about—'
Just then the dorm door opened and in came Min. She'd been in the bathroom for some time and now the girls knew why.
Min – who had never, to anyone's knowledge, been interested in boys and had never had a boyfriend – slipped in with a shy smile, looking like the foxiest version of Morticia Addams ever.
Her slinky black dress had a slashed neckline and a side split that travelled all the way up to mid thigh. Her blue-black hair had been left loose, and the deep purple lipstick and black eyeliner made her look really grown up and gorgeous. But the mysterious thing was that she was fizzing with some sort of secret happiness; it kept bursting out with little giggles and smiles.
'What are you so pleased about?' Amy had to ask. 'Well, apart from the fact that you are going to be the most fabulous girl at the entire party.'
'Nothing!' Min insisted, but let out another giggle.
'You've got a crush, haven't you?' Amy asked. 'I can't believe I've not noticed who it is!'
Then she and Gina began working down the list of boys they knew were coming, with Min screaming out horrified denials at every single one of the names.
That was when they were alerted to a beeping noise coming from Gina's mobile.
'How come you've got your phone?' Min asked.
'My mom's calling me later, so the Neb said it was OK.'
Gina went over to her chest of drawers and took the phone out. 'Sounds like she's sent me a text.' But she opened the message and saw that it wasn't from her mother.
The message read simply: SCARLETT IS A SHORT STORY. NOT A GIRL. DOES THAT HELP? D.
'Oh no!' Gina said, sitting down on the bed, not taking her eyes off the phone screen. 'Oh no!'
Before she would answer anyone's concer
ned questions, she texted back the reply: I AM AN IDIOT. SO SORRY. G XX.
'Come on!' The shout came from outside their door. 'Time to go down and make sure everything's ready.'
Amy recognized the voice. 'That's Rosie. She said she was going as a frog! We've got to see her costume.'
Gina put the phone back into her drawer, then hurried out onto the landing, where Rosie was indeed dressed up as a frog, but a very cute green frog, complete with a tiara perched at an angle on her head.
'You know, I'm the frog princess: you kiss me and I turn out beautiful.'
'You're already beautiful!' Amy assured her.
'Look at you guys though – whoa!' was her reply.
Downstairs, the three common rooms given over to the party looked amazing. Large cobwebby nets had been draped over the doors and ceilings. Low green lamps gave off a ghoulish glow. Carved pumpkins lit with candles had been scattered around the garden and steps. Mrs K had insisted, due to fire regulations, there should be none indoors.
Gina had come up with most of the inspired suggestions for the Halloween buffet. There was dark spaghetti, slimy pea soup, vampish beetroot soup, and jugs full of the specially mixed blood-red soft drink. Liquorice bugs had been dotted all over the food and plates.
But Gina still couldn't hide her disappointment at the sweet selection. Yes, there were white chocolate mice and skulls, pumpkin lollies and chocolate balls wrapped in special pumpkin foil, but it just couldn't compete with a proper American Halloween candy spread. What she really wanted to see were jellied pumpkins, chocolate pumpkins, sweets shaped into witches, broomsticks, ghosts and little black cats, seasonally decorated Reese's Pieces made of delicious peanut butter covered in chocolate, and pumpkin pie! When she had suggested making pumpkin pie to Mrs K, she'd received a very blank look.
One of the eager girls who had been posted at a window now announced with a mixture of nerves and excitement, 'I think that's a minibus pulling up. I think the boys are here!'
The music was turned up loud, the disco lights began to whirl around the room and there were several long minutes of almost breathless anticipation while costumes were tweaked, eyeliner smudged, lip gloss quickly reapplied. Then, with slightly forced laughter and over-loud 'hellos', the first group of boys entered the room.
It was hard to tell who was who – there were so many guests here all of a sudden and their costumes were so weird and wonderful. There were wizards of course. Lots of blue and black bathrobes had been pressed into service. Then several ghoulish monks, Frankensteins, Draculas, and someone in one of those horrible black and white frozen Scream masks.
'Oh no!' Amy exclaimed. 'I hate those screaming skull things, they give me the creeps. Niffy and I watched that film one half-term and . . . it's just horrible!'
The skull began to approach them, and even though Amy knew it was just a mask, she could feel herself shrinking back.
'Hi!' the skull boomed, and they immediately recognized Angus's voice.
'Hello!' They greeted him enthusiastically.
'I didn't know you were coming,' Amy began. 'You should have told us – we'd have had something to look forward to.'
'Oh yeah! But I'm only here for the beer,' he joked.
'There isn't any,' Gina warned him; she was now being jostled by the crowd of new arrivals.
'Well, that's the good thing about baggy clothing.' He flapped his black arms about. 'It can hide a lot of bulging pockets.'
'You've brought booze!' Amy whispered excitedly – a few mouthfuls of beer and she had a feeling her nerves at seeing Jason tonight wouldn't be quite so bad.
'Yeah, in subtle cans, so from a distance it will look just like Coke.'
'Very clever,' Gina agreed.
As they scanned over the Draculas and assorted ghouls to see who else they recognized, Min said she had to go to the bathroom and made her way out of the room.
'She looks great,' Angus told the other girls.
'We know!' said Gina. 'We just have no idea who for.'
Then Amy saw the most dapper Dracula of all coming in and knew immediately who she was looking at.
Jason was in his dinner jacket with a white shirt and white bow tie. He'd not bothered with fake fangs or even much white face powder; he'd just attached a silky cloak to his shoulders and swept his hair back from his face in the hope that this would be enough.
'There he is,' Gina prompted. 'Do you want us to hide you?'
'No, no,' Amy insisted. 'I've eaten plenty of garlic.'
'Oh, very good,' Angus laughed. 'That should keep the vampires away!'
With quiet determination, Amy walked steadily across the dance floor, where several witches and a ghoul or two were bravely kicking off the dancing.
As soon as Jason spotted her, he held his arms out wide and gave a leery 'Hello, baby,' as his opening line.
Which was a mistake.
If Amy had been angry before, she was furious now. How dare he 'Hello, baby' her!
She walked straight past him and into the corridor, hoping he would follow. It was quieter out there and she wanted to make sure he heard her every word. He seemed to get the message and was soon out in the corridor beside her.
They weren't alone there. Small groups of girls and boys were mingling under the netting and the dangling spiders, but Amy came up close to Jason so that she could hiss in his ear.
'Did you send me those flowers?' she began furiously.
'Yeah!' Jason was smiling. 'I knew you'd love them. They cost a fortune. What are you so annoyed about?'
'You were supposed to meet me this afternoon,' Amy went on.
'I know. I'm sorry, I got called into the team at short notice—'
She interrupted him with a sharp: 'Excuse me! Don't you own a mobile? Couldn't you have called me? Or sent a grovelling text? Were your fingers broken this afternoon?'
'I'm sorry, Amy!' he repeated. 'I couldn't find my phone and I couldn't get onto the payphone. I'm sorry.' And here he gave her such a charming smile and stretched out his hand to stroke her hair in such a tender manner that she might almost have relented and leaned up to kiss that shapely, ever so slightly arrogant pout if an image of the gazelle hadn't sprung up so clearly in her mind.
'We could have met in the morning. What were you doing earlier today that was so important?' she asked.
'Oh . . .' Dracula ran a hand over his slicked-back hair. 'There was someone I had to see.'
Oh yes, there certainly was, and Amy was going to find out all about it. 'Someone who?' she persisted.
'Just someone.' Jason shrugged his shoulders. 'It's not important – to do with school.'
'That is just bollocks and you know it,' Amy said, pointing a finger fiercely at his chest.
Jason had the sense to stay silent for a moment; he was trying to work out what was coming next.
'I saw you this morning. I saw you in Harvey Nichols with the tall blonde girl. You were holding her hand and squeezing her bum!' Amy added with as much outrage as she could muster. 'Out shopping, were you? Or taking her for a little treat up on the fourth floor? Buying her an ice cream, were you?'
Amy did not like the way her voice suddenly seemed to be cracking up over these words. She wished she was wearing a witch's hat so she could pull the brim down over her face and not let Jason see how upset she was.
What had happened to the person she had snuggled up to in her dad's nightclub all those weeks ago? Where was he?
Just face it, Amy – her dad's voice was ringing in her ears – maybe he's just not that into you.
'Oh here we go,' Jason began, but his voice sounded different. He didn't sound apologetic or kind or remotely lovely any more. He sounded just as angry as she was. 'You know, just because we've kissed and I've stayed the night at your flat doesn't mean you get to follow me around! I don't want a girlfriend and I definitely don't want a stalker,' he added. 'What's wrong with you and me hanging out and having fun when we can?'
'Fine!' Amy replied. 'That's fine! You
just hang out and have your fun with that . . . that . . . spindly mop-body,' was the best she could come up with under pressure. 'Don't bother me! I'm not interested! And why don't you just collect your flowers on the way out? I don't bloody want them. Give them to mop-girl.'
With that she headed as quickly as she could towards the flight of stairs that led up to the bathrooms. Up there, behind a locked cubicle door . . . Well, pretty much everyone who came into the bathroom would be able to hear her cry.
Chapter Twenty-six
'Have you heard from Niffy recently?' Gina was shouting into Angus's ear, so as to be heard above the music.
'Yeah.' Angus smiled broadly at the mention of Niffy's name. 'Today was a really big day: her mum was seeing the consultant to get a fresh round of test results. I'm surprised she's not phoned,' he added. 'I tried to get hold of her before I came.'
'Oh!' Gina was surprised she didn't know about this development. Maybe Amy did, but hadn't mentioned it because she'd been so distracted by Jason.
'Do you think it's going to be bad news?' she asked.
'No idea.' Angus shook his head. 'Could be bad, could be good, could be no change.'
His friend Charlie Fotheringham was swaggering towards them in a cobbled-together Frankenstein costume. How appropriate, Gina couldn't help thinking: she'd always found him a bit of a monster.
'Hey there, Yankee,' he began, looking at Gina.
'Hello,' she answered coldly.
'Now apparently, Angus' – Charlie leaned over towards him – 'you are the man with the beers.'
'Indeed,' Angus confirmed, and ducked a hand under his loose black outfit into one of the deep pockets of his combat trousers underneath. Then he handed Charlie a small tin of supermarket own brand, carefully chosen because of the silver and red packaging which made it look, from a distance and in dim disco lighting, just like a Coke can.
'So' – Charlie turned to Gina again and gave her a big smile – 'where was your glamorous Asian babe friend headed?'