by Nova Weetman
‘I’m glad you didn’t,’ said Jack, looking at me with those brown eyes.
I looked away. What was it with Jack tonight? Was he flirting? This wasn’t how friends usually talked to each other. Was it?
As we started heading for the door, I realised he wasn’t waiting for Asha and I felt a flash of annoyance. He was the one who’d made it clear he was taken and expected me to forget everything that had happened in Melbourne, but now he was just leaving without her.
‘Aren’t you waiting for Asha?’ I asked, sounding as cross as I felt.
‘Oh, nah, she’ll turn up,’ he said casually, like she was a pair of shoes. It was bad enough he’d chosen her as a girlfriend, but now he didn’t even seem to care if he couldn’t find her. I didn’t understand him at all.
‘Turn up?’ I asked, tired of Jack’s games.
‘We’ve been fighting a bit,’ he said, shuffling his feet like he really didn’t want to talk about it.
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘You okay?’
Jack slung his guitar strap across his shoulder and shrugged. ‘Yep. All good.’
It was the perfect time to tell him I’d seen Asha kissing Sean. So why didn’t I? Maybe it was because the way Jack was acting made me feel that whatever was going on between them somehow involved me.
Instead of saying anything, I pushed open the front door to the record shop, and a freezing blast of wind hit me in the face. I zipped up my ridiculously large puffer jacket and started walking fast down the street.
‘Where are you going?’ Jack called behind me.
I was walking the wrong way. I trundled back towards Jack. ‘It all looks the same,’ I said, still a bit crabby.
‘No, it doesn’t,’ argued Jack. ‘Fancy bars and stuff that way. Shops and chippies this way.’
‘Chippies?’ I asked.
Jack smiled when he realised I didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘Come on,’ he said, crossing the road.
Carrying the guitar stand, I chased after him, dodging a black cab and getting tooted. It was lateish, but there were still lots of people around. I’d always known that London was busier than the suburbs of Melbourne, but it still surprised me just how busy it really was.
Jack stopped outside a shop. ‘Vinegar or gravy?’ he asked, handing me his guitar.
‘Oh, right. Chippie,’ I said, finally getting that it meant a fish-and-chip shop. ‘Um, tomato sauce?’ I added.
He screwed up his face. ‘Ew, gross,’ he said, disappearing inside the fish-and-chip shop.
While I waited in the arctic cold, I took a selfie and sent it to Gen. In it, I pulled a sad face and told her I was missing her (and the sun). After I sent it, I realised just how much. Gen was my bestie, and this was probably the longest we’d ever gone without talking. The more confused I felt about Jack, the more I wished she were here.
Jack came out and handed me a paper bag. ‘Sorry, no tomato sauce.’
He tore a hole in the end of the bag and all the steam poured out. I realised I’d hardly eaten since we’d left Melbourne. I was so hungry I couldn’t wait until the chips cooled down and I burned my tongue about twenty times. But they were salty and covered in vinegar and, I had to admit, delicious.
We walked along, turning here and there along rows of identical-looking houses. After a while, we turned down a tree-lined street. Finally Jack stopped and said, ‘Here we are.’ I looked up and saw we were standing outside a big, posh house, with steps leading up to a large front door.
The music was so loud we could hear it as we walked up the stairs. I felt all buzzy and excited. Here I was, rocking up to a party in London with Jack, when a week ago I thought I was going to be stuck at home all summer. How crazy was that?
Jack opened the door for me and we walked in.
‘Wow,’ I said. The walls were covered in paintings, there were cool-looking sculptures, and the carpet was bright red. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling. Mum would have loved it. It was even more full of stuff than her place. I was staring at an enormous statue of a lady, when a guy walked up and bear-hugged Jack.
‘Finally,’ he said.
‘Sammy, meet Frankie,’ said Jack, laughing.
Sammy let go of Jack and nodded at me, flashing his bright blue eyes. He looked nothing like Jack. Where Jack was scruffy, like most of the boys at my school, Sammy had short, neat hair and was wearing a shirt with buttons and proper pants. He was dressed more like my dad. But still, he was gorgeous. I couldn’t believe how many cute boys there were in London. Maybe Gen and I should relocate.
‘You’re the singer,’ said Sammy. ‘Nice work.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘nice party.’
He laughed. ‘Yep, sadly that’s what I’m known for.’
‘Actually,’ said Jack to me, ‘Sammy’s a violinist, but he only plays in orchestras.’
‘Not true, you just haven’t written me anything yet,’ said Sammy. ‘Maybe Frankie can write me a part,’ he said looking at me. ‘What do you think?’
I think I was blushing, because I stammered as I answered, ‘Um … I’m not sure I could write a part for violin … I don’t …’
Just then a song boomed from down the hall and Sammy grabbed both our arms, pulling us along. ‘Come on, I love this song!’
The lounge was heaving with people dancing, but as soon as we walked in, suddenly people made space. And it didn’t take me long to work out why. Sammy was a really great dancer. He used his whole body and he seemed to love it.
We weren’t really dancing together, just sort of dancing near each other. I really wished Gen could be here too. She loved dancing even more than I did, and she’d probably rival Sammy for awesome dance moves.
The music just kept coming, and half the tracks were things I’d never heard of, so Sammy promised to make me a list of stuff I had to look out for when I got home. Even though he was super cute, he somehow reminded me of one of Gen’s brothers. But it was nice to make a guy friend; I felt like we could muck around without being self-conscious at all.
I wished I could feel like that about Jack. I kept trying to forget he was there, dancing close to me, but then I’d turn round and see him, arms waving, legs jumping, and remember how much I liked him all over again. He wasn’t a very good dancer, but it didn’t matter. I liked watching him try to keep in time with the music, his hair flopping down over his eyes.
Then someone crashed into Jack and he bumped into me, sending me flying. ‘Sorry, Frank,’ said Jack. He instinctively grabbed my arm and pulled me up before I hit the ground. As I stood up, we were suddenly squashed together by all the people dancing around us. His brown eyes found mine and it was like everything stopped.
I’m not sure what would have happened if Sammy hadn’t danced right through the middle of us and split us apart. Would we have kissed?
It was a bit weird for a minute and then, because Sammy was bouncing around dancing, both Jack and I started up again.
I realised I hadn’t seen Asha at the party and I asked Jack where she was. He said she’d messaged him to say she was going home. The weird thing was he didn’t look upset about it, even though it was their big gig and his girlfriend had just gone home and then sent him a text. I wondered if she really had gone home or if she was with the drummer.
Just then one of my favourite songs came on so I stopped thinking about Asha and started singing at the top of my lungs. I knew all the words because Gen and I had listened to it a million times in her room.
‘I said, everything you know is just a dream
Everyone you know is gonna screeee-am!’
Jack and I were yelling in each other’s faces and laughing. Sammy was dancing, and he grabbed me and twirled me around and around. I started doing the moves that Gen and I always did to this song, and Sammy picked it up pretty quickly. Jack was struggling a bit and he looked a bit put out when Sammy pulled me into the middle of the group to dance with him.
As the song finished, Jack came up and touched my arm
. ‘We should go, Frank,’ he said.
Sammy heard him and held on to me. ‘No! She’s the best dancer here. You can’t leave.’
I laughed. But I knew Jack was right. Mum might have agreed to me coming to the party but I’m sure she wouldn’t be that happy if I missed our curfew.
When we walked out of Sammy’s house, it was raining heavily. We pulled on our jacket hoods and ran towards Jack’s house, laughing as we raced through the streets.
Lucky it wasn’t far to his house, because the rain seemed to be coming at us horizontally. We tried to be quiet as we burst in through the front door. I kicked off my wet Converse and Jack took off his coat.
‘Top night, Frank,’ said Jack as he gave me a big hug.
‘I’ll say,’ I said, feeling a bit weird hugging him. We were both really wet and I could feel his ribs and back through his clothes.
He held on to me a bit longer than he should have and then, as he let go, he smiled. ‘Thanks for being here,’ he said.
I didn’t trust myself to speak so I just nodded. The house was so quiet and it just felt too close. I let Jack go, and started up the stairs. I wanted to get away from him - I just didn’t know how to be around him tonight.
Mum woke me up in the morning with a hot chocolate and some toast. She had to go and meet with the organisers of the award so they could talk through all the details. I was pretty happy to stay in bed, but soon after she left, Jack knocked on the door.
Great. I was in stripy pyjamas and had crazy morning hair.
Jack came in all dressed and looking hot, even after having no sleep. ‘You gotta get up. We’re going to be late,’ he said.
I groaned. ‘What for?’
He smiled. ‘I won us tickets to see Jaws of Death.’
‘Really? Oh my god, I’m dying to see it.’ I loved horror films. Especially ones that were so bad they were good. And so did Jack. We’d stayed up late one night watching Night of the Living Dead when he stayed with us. ‘Twenty minutes,’ I said, getting up, and wondering how I was going to get ready so fast.
‘You’ve got five,’ said Jack as he closed the door.
Five! It takes me so much longer than that just to wake up.
I grabbed the clothes I’d worn yesterday. Jeans, red jumper, and my very wet purple Converse. I didn’t have any other shoes so they’d have to do.
I dressed in three minutes with two left to fix my wild and crazy hair. One look and I gave up. It was definitely a ponytail day.
I ran down the stairs with a minute to spare.
The cinema was huge, and packed. We had 3D glasses on and massive boxes of popcorn, and I was sharing an armrest with Jack. I knew that I shouldn’t be so excited about sitting so close to him - he had a girlfriend. But I’d decided that I wasn’t going to think about Asha and Jack today. I was just going to hang out and enjoy myself. We settled down in our seats as the opening credits started.
At one point in the movie, when someone was about to be found by the guy with a rather large axe, Jack grabbed my arm, and I almost screamed. Did he do that on purpose? I couldn’t quite relax with his hand on my arm and I moved away.
As the credits rolled, we got up and walked out into the foyer. ‘Awesome, wasn’t it?’ said Jack. ‘That bit where she was hiding.’
‘I know. Terrifying,’ I said.
‘Come on. I’m starving,’ said Jack, even though he’d eaten all of his popcorn and half of mine.
It’s usually really strange coming out of a cinema during the day because it’s so sunny. Not in London. It was grey and dark outside and even though it was only lunchtime it felt really late.
‘Are you hungry?’ asked Jack. ‘I was thinking maybe we could head over to the East End, check out Spitalfields Markets and go to Brick Lane for lunch. Sound good?’
I nodded. ‘Yeah. Sure.’ I’d never heard of the places he was talking about, and I was a bit surprised he wanted to hang out for the whole day, but it sounded good to me.
We caught a bus to the East End instead of the Tube so Jack could point out famous buildings, statues, monuments and shops on the way. I realised I’d barely seen a dot of London so far - it was so huge and busy. I loved being among it all, and recognising famous street names from playing Monopoly at home. After a while I gave up trying to be cool about it. I was just really excited.
Eventually we jumped off the bus and Jack led me to Brick Lane, a street lined with curry houses, where spice hung in the air and the street signs were written in Bengali as well as English. Jack pulled me into one of the restaurants and pounced on two stools as people got up to leave so we were soon sitting down, squashed tightly together.
‘So this place does really amazing curry and it’s cheap and yum,’ explained Jack. ‘Sometimes there’s a queue right down the street,’ he added.
When I go out for lunch at home it’s usually just for burgers, not curry. I hoped that I’d like the food, given that Jack was so keen for me to try it.
‘I’ll just order some stuff to share,’ said Jack as he got up to go to the counter. While I waited, I looked around at all the interesting people there. There was a guy with a red Mohawk. A mum and a little boy. A really old lady perched on the edge of a stool. People on lunch breaks and people alone.
Soon an enormous plate of food appeared. I couldn’t quite work out what was what. There were heaps of pappadams and curries and relishes and pickles and it all just looked amazing and a bit overwhelming. Jack wasn’t waiting for me to start. He was hoeing in. I was a bit tentative at first but it was so delicious that it didn’t take me long until I was eating as fast as Jack.
Some of it was a bit spicier than I was used to, but I drank the yoghurt drink that Jack had bought and it seemed to cool my mouth down.
‘Yum,’ I said, with a mouthful.
Jack smiled as he wiped the naan bread across the plate, mopping up the food. ‘Yep.’
Jack’s phone rang and he pulled it out, but didn’t answer it.
‘It’s just Asha,’ he said, and he tucked his phone away. A few seconds later, I heard the buzz that meant she’d left a message. I wondered why he hadn’t answered it, and what she’d said.
‘How great was that gig?’ asked Jack, with a mouthful of rice.
‘Pretty great,’ I said.
‘I can’t believe we have a permanent spot,’ said Jack, his eyes shining. ‘Maybe you can sing again next week.’
‘If you like,’ I said, feeling all messed up. It was like Jack was pretending he didn’t have a girlfriend. But he did.
We finished our lunch and walked outside. And just as we did, it started pouring again. Jack grabbed my hand and we ran for cover, squashing up under the tiny awning of a shop. I was soaked. My hair was all wet and sticking to my face. I was super aware of how close Jack was. It made me feel crazy. I knew I was falling for him and I didn’t know what to do about it.
‘Frankie,’ said Jack, looking down at me with those soft brown eyes.
‘Yeah?’ I said, my heart pounding so fast I was sure Jack could hear it.
He reached down and brushed away the wet hair from my eyes. And I knew what was going to happen.
He was leaning over to kiss me and I knew that if his lips touched mine I’d kiss him back.
But he had a girlfriend and even if he didn’t care about that, I did. It wasn’t right, even if she was cheating on him. I couldn’t kiss him while he was with Asha. Could I?
I really wanted to. I’d wanted to kiss him since the moment I’d arrived. And now I could.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I kiss him or not?
‘Okay, let’s do it,’ I said finally.
‘You won’t regret this!’ said Ellie, and she hugged me as if I were her closest friend in the world.
It was way too easy to slip out of our room through the sliding doors, jump down from the balcony and disappear into the trees. Sadly, the fact that it was so easy didn’t make me feel any less guilty, and I really hoped Dad wouldn’t find o
ut. I could only imagine how long I’d be grounded for if he did, and it was a pretty scary thought. But he and Jan were watching a DVD and Ellie had given them some excuse about why we weren’t joining them, and I was only going out for an hour. Then I’d sneak back, with or without Ellie, and all would be fine (fingers crossed).
As we walked up the road to Luke and Sarah’s house, I must have tugged at my dress about twenty times. Ellie finally asked, ‘Are you okay?’
‘I never wear dresses. It just feels weird,’ I tried to explain.
‘You don’t look weird,’ she said. ‘You look good, actually.’
‘Thanks,’ I said. But I got the feeling she was just being nice because I’d sneaked out with her.
‘Here we are,’ said Ellie. We were outside an amazing-looking house.
I was still half expecting Dad to chase me down the street and drag me back home, so I was relieved we’d made it.
It wasn’t like a normal beach house. It was on three levels and there were kids spilling out onto all the balconies and the lawn. It was the perfect warm summer night for a party and we could hear the music before we even got to the front door. Ellie stopped to chat to someone, but I kept going. If I was only going to be here for an hour then I wanted to at least have a dance and see Luke and Sarah.
The door was open so I walked in. The house was even more impressive inside. It seemed to be all glass and slate floors with huge paintings on the walls. It was pretty wild being at a party and not really knowing anyone.
‘Finally,’ said a voice.
I spun round and saw Luke. ‘Hi,’ I said.
‘Nice dress,’ he said.
‘Thanks.’ I suddenly felt a bit shy wearing Ellie’s dress, and added, ‘Nice, um, shorts.’
Luke laughed as he looked down at what he was wearing - shorts, a T-shirt and thongs. ‘My usual,’ he said.
‘Well, I’ve never seen you in clothes before,’ I said, smiling. I’d only ever seen Luke barefooted and in a wetsuit on the beach.
‘I dressed up for you, Frankie,’ he said, grinning at me.