I’m permanently busy.
He didn’t respond again. She waited about two minutes before turning her head into her pillow and sobbing her heart out. It was the right thing to do, but it felt oh so wrong.
***
Jack was in a bar with several friends and quite a few girls that he had been considering making a move on. Instead he found he was staring at his phone in surprise and wishing he’d sent Sophie flowers months ago. He looked at the girls around him. None of them were a patch on her. He tried to think of something to text back that would make her like him again but he couldn’t think of anything.
Had he totally blown it? He’d had a really hot, kind, funny, smart girl who was really into him and he’d taken it for granted. She wasn’t playing any kind of flirting game with him; it actually looked as though she didn’t like him anymore.
He turned as a girl called Kelsey, or something like that, tugged on his arm. He talked to her for a bit but his mind was busy turning over how he was going to win Sophie back. He had thought about her a lot since Christmas and somehow he was suddenly convinced that she might just be the only girl for him. Now he just had to work out what to do about it…
Further Flirting Games
Book Three
Chapter One
“Because if a woman's heart was free a man might have hope.”
Bram Stoker, Dracula
“New boy! New boy. Gorgeous new boy,” Sophie Jones cried, bouncing into the West Tower Common Room before completely running out of breath and panting with her hands on her knees.
Her friends looked at her in surprise. Sophie never usually had a hair out of place, let alone look all pink-faced and puffing. Clearly her news was exciting.
“Gorgeous Newboy?” Rose frowned thoughtfully. “Wasn’t that the horse that won the Derby last year?”
Alex shook his head “You’re thinking of Gorgeous George. Perhaps she means Neptune? He won the Grand National.”
Sophie waved her hands at them in disgust, still trying to catch her breath. “Not a horse, you geeks! A new boy. Here at Compass Court.”
“Oh, cool.” Grace joined in with a smile. “Bit of alright is he? Details please.”
Sophie regained her composure. “Yup,” she nodded, “and I call dibs. He’s Scottish.” She looked at the three of them with delighted satisfaction.
Alex raised one eyebrow rakishly, and did a bad Sean Connery impression, “Well, if you like Shcottish Mish Moneypenny. I can show you a bit of Queen and Country.”
Rose laughed. “He might not be from Edinburgh. He could be from Glasgow like Billy Connelly and be all fecking ijit, and get arrsed.”
“He’s not! He’s a Highlander. Like Mel Gibson in Braveheart. How romantic is that?” Sophie grinned.
“But didn’t Mel Gibson have a really dodgy accent in that film? He sounded like an Irish Aussie.” Alex looked confused.
Sophie rolled her eyes at him. “That’s not the point, Alex! He doesn’t have a dodgy accent. It’s adorable, Och aye, and all that sort of thing.”
“So you’ve spoken to him?” Grace pumped.
“Uh huh, I’m his assigned guide for the next couple of days.” Sophie hugged herself. “And he is fit fit fit.”
“Good.” Grace was pleased Sophie finally seemed to be getting out of her depression over Jack.
Sophie had been crazy about Jack, Alex’s older brother, for years, and last year had finally pulled him; but then he’d left their school for University and not called her again for months. Recently he had seemed to be trying to rekindle things between them, even sending Sophie flowers on Valentine’s Day, but it had been way too little too late as far as Grace was concerned, and she had encouraged Sophie not to return any of his texts or calls. But after getting the flowers last week Sophie confessed that she had texted him – but only to tell him she wasn’t interested, so hopefully that was the end of that. Sophie had been moping around like a wet Sunday ever since, so Grace was delighted that she was finally showing an interest in someone else.
“His name is Torrin Frazer,” Sophie continued, “isn’t that sexy? Anyway, shut up because he’s on his way here now, can you believe he’s in our Schoolhouse? So I ran ahead to warn you all to keep your hands off.” She rummaged in her school bag and, grabbing a hairbrush, quickly pulled it through her blond hair, returning it to its usual sleek bob. She was just reaching for some lipstick, but quickly dropped it unused back into her bag when Torrin Frazer came into the room. He was clutching a map of the school and looked very relieved to have found her.
“Torrin, I’m so sorry I had to dash off, I needed to tell my friends, uh, something.” She gave him a wide smile. “Come and meet them. This is Rose, Grace and Alex. Alex will have to show you to your room because we’re not allowed into the boys’ dormitories. He’s in 14B.” She finished by turning to Alex.
After the two boys had headed off up the stairs to the dormitories, Sophie turned to the girls. “Isn’t he gorgeous? Don’t you think he looks kind of like R-Patz?”
Grace sighed and shook her head. “No, Soph, I think he looks like Jack.”
Rose agreed. “Very like Jack, only shorter.”
Sophie’s shoulders slumped. “Oh. Well, at least I’m consistent in my type. That’s not why I like him.” Her lips thinned defiantly.
***
Torrin couldn’t believe his luck. He’d hated his old school. It was only tiny and half the pupils had been members of his extended family, yet he had always felt like an outsider. Everyone there had known him his whole life and he could never shake his loser status. Maybe because he had collected bugs as a kid. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. He had no close friends and he’d never had a girlfriend. Now he could make a fresh start, as far away as physically possible from everyone he knew. Except for his parents of course; they had scored a Conservation job on a nearby reserve. It was, unfortunately, out of reach of local schools; but he’d jumped at the chance to come to Compass Court instead. The school had a great reputation for sporting achievements and he loved sport. Best of all, though, had to be the girls.
Sophie was a cracker, he’d almost passed out when the Head Teacher had called her in to take charge of his induction.
Sophie was a bit taller than he would have liked; he was self-conscious about being slightly shorter than her, but she had curves like the lowlands, and she had actually flirted with him. At least he hoped that was what it was. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure. She’d kept touching his arm and had sat really close as she’d gone through his lesson plan with him.
He tried to return his attention to where Alex was going; the place was like a rabbit warren of corridors that all looked the same.
“It’s four boys to a room,” Alex was saying. “Each room has its own bathroom that the four of you share. You also get a desk and a wardrobe each, which you can lock if you like, and only you four and the house master have the key code to the room.”
“Sounds great.” Torrin smiled, but inwardly his stomach dropped; in his excitement he hadn’t thought much about sharing a room. What if none of the others liked him?
Alex stopped at a door. “This is you, I’m in the next room down if you ever need anything.” He pointed to his own door. Torrin exhaled with relief. Alex seemed friendly and he was just next-door.
Alex raised his fist and knocked on 14B. But there was no answer. “Damn, Larry and Clarke are probably trying out for the rowing team down at the river. That’s Dave Larimore and James Clarkson.” He gave Torrin a look of pity, “I’m afraid you’re in a room with two sports nuts. Stinking socks drying on the radiator, that kind of thing. Leo moans about it all the time. He’s the third guy in your room, he’s probably in the art studio.
“You don’t like sport?” Torrin was amazed that anyone at a school like this wouldn’t.
Alex smiled “No. Science is my lady. Come and wait in my room if you like?”
Torrin nodded and Alex unlocked his door and ushered him in.
“Here, take my desk chair. I’ll use Clem’s. Sorry, that’s Jasper Clements. I don’t know why, but all the guys who play rugby seem to go only by their surnames. Of course that’s half the boys in our year, it’s the main sport here during the winter.”
“If they’d called me just Frazer back at home, then most of the pupils in ma school would have turned round. It’s a popular local name.” Torrin explained. “Do you think there’s any chance of me getting on the team? I realise the season is already nearly over.”
Alex looked at him critically. “There’s always a chance, the coach is very fair, but what position do you play?”
“Ah know I seem a bit wee for rugby, but I’m verra fast. I’d like to play on the wing.”
“Well, the team could certainly do with someone fast. Owen Lang has been on the wing most of this year and he’s got all the acceleration of a constipated caterpillar. I tell you what, why don’t I take you down to the gym now, instead of waiting here? We might find the coach.”
Torrin nodded enthusiastically and jumped up. “Aye. If you would’nay mind?” Was it really going to be that easy to fit in here? And what about the girls? He wondered if Alex was dating any of them and whether it was too soon to ask him.
He cleared his throat uncomfortably “So, ah, do you have a girlfriend?”
Alex blushed, “No. Not at the moment. Do you?”
“No. But I would like to. Sophie seems nice, and her friends – Rose and Grace was it?” Torrin asked, hoping Alex wouldn’t laugh at him.
“Sophie had a bit of a bad experience recently, but she’s definitely single. So is Grace, but Rose is going out with Leo, who you’ll be sharing a room with, so I wouldn’t consider her – if you were. I think Sophie might have the hots for you actually.” Alex grinned, giving Torrin a sideways glance. “But hey, don’t fall for the first girl you see, there are quite a few of them here, you know.” They both laughed and then dropped the subject as they re-entered the Common Room.
Torrin’s meeting with Coach Webley went well. The coach gave him a few practice kicks, catches and throws, then made him do a timed lap of the field. Despite the fact that Torrin was in “weekend clothes” and not gym kit, he clearly did fairly well, as the Coach promised him a place on the bench next Saturday as a substitute.
Coming out of the gym a short while later, he discovered Alex had been joined by Sophie and two dripping-wet boys who turned out to be his new roommates just returned from rowing on the river. They clapped him on the back at the news that he would be joining the team and Torrin felt an air of camaraderie that he never had before. He was going to fit in here, it was all going to be good. Feeling incredibly brave he put an arm around Sophie, and when she didn’t pull away, he kissed her.
Chapter Two
“Yes, there is someone I love, though he has not told me yet that he loves me.”
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Flora Kincaid tried hard to concentrate as her mathematics teacher droned on about the hypotenuse of a triangle. Looking at the blackboard for inspiration she copied down what he had written: “Soh-Cah-Toa”. It had something to do with some old Greek called Pythagoras and his lame pal Isosceles.
She couldn’t think of a single situation in real life where she would ever need to calculate the tangent of a right angle. She tuned out again. Ellie would explain it to her later. Or maybe not, she thought with a smile, as she noticed Ellie was staring out the window at some boys exercising on the school playing field.
The words Soh-Cah-Toa reminded Flora of a cheerleader chant back home in California. She envisioned jumping up and down, pom-poms waving, shouting “Sock-it-to-ya! Pythagoras is totally blah, Math class is really slow. Go team go!”
Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best of chants. Not that it mattered now. She had hoped to try out for cheerleading again this year but instead her mom had moved Flora to a boarding school in England, while she herself toured round Europe with her new husband. They didn’t have cheerleaders at all in England. She wasn’t too depressed about that though, chances were she would have fallen on her ass at tryouts again, or worse; the year before last she had been so nervous that she had thrown up spectacularly in the trash can before going in. The result hadn’t been pretty. Even worse, she’d been just wiping her mouth when all the popular kids had come past and seen the evidence. She had been called Puke-Chick for weeks after that, and had not been selected as a cheerleader.
In some ways her new school was totally stuck in the Dark Ages; the uniform was gross: girls had to wear unflattering knee-length skirts and the boys had awful drainpipe-like trousers, all in an ugly grey. Also, totally mediaeval, was the fact that students could get Internet access only in the library. Flora suspected they did that to make sure that anyone at all even went into the library. Who even needed books these days when everything was online?
But Compass Court Boarding School had a lot of other stuff going for it as far as Flora was concerned. She had been seriously lucky to share a room with Ellie Parkhurst, for a start. Ellie was popular and outgoing and the two of them had become best friends. Flora often wondered if she would have loved Compass so much if Ellie hadn’t taken her under her wing. Probably not.
The other main attraction of Compass Court was Gabriel Brenner. He was seriously hot and she felt it was love at first sight. At least it was on her side; she still had to make him notice her properly.
Another great thing about Ellie was that her boyfriend, Nate, who was two years above them, was Gabriel Brenner’s best friend. What could be more perfect? Flora regularly daydreamed about the four of them going on double dates. It didn’t help, though, that she was only fifteen and he was seventeen. But it could happen – if Ellie had managed to get Nate to fall for her, then why couldn’t Flora get Gabriel?
Until recently Gabriel had been pretty “unavailable”. He had an older girlfriend who was a real live fashion model. But it was all over the school now that they’d had a row on Valentine’s Day and he’d broken up with her.
So now Gabriel was young, free and single! Just like her. Flora smiled and wrote his name in the right-angle triangle she had just copied off the blackboard, and then turned it into a heart shape.
Chapter Three
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”
Bram Stoker, Dracula
Grace Porter glanced down at the clipboard in her lap and was horrified to see she had doodled all over her notes. She was supposed to be focussing on the auditions taking place on the stage in front of her, but her concentration had gone from the moment Ben had walked on to the makeshift set.
Ah, Ben. Lovely, gorgeous, sweet Ben. Her expression had become dreamy as she allowed herself to indulge in watching him. This was one situation where it was OK to stare at him for as long as she liked without fear of him noticing, or one of her friends catching her doing it.
She looked back down at her clipboard with a frown. The page was covered with drawings of mountains, big mountains with snowy ice caps; some of the mountains even had little mountaineers climbing up them. It was what she always drew without thinking when her mind was on a certain boy, specifically: Ben Everest.
She tore off the page and screwed it up into a ball. Starting a fresh sheet she wrote across the top “Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Cast List”.
Raising her focus once more to the stage she watched Ben kiss the hand of her best friend, Sophie, and tried not to feel jealous; they were only acting. On stage Sophie giggled and flirted back, just as her character was supposed to. Grace took a deep calming breath. After all, she was used to seeing Ben with someone else. He wasn’t hers. Unofficially he belonged to Rose, her other best friend, which made him as “off-limits” as a boy could be. Rose now had a new boyfriend, Leo, but it was an unwritten rule that you never ever date your friend’s ex-boyfriend.
Barely looking down she began to rewrite her cast list. It was depressing how few of the roles had been cast yet; she hoped they
wouldn’t have to do much more auditioning.
Grace had a team of four others to help her. Her assistant, Felicity; the Producer, Owen; his assistant, Pam; and the Stage Manager, Bradley. The five of them had spent the best part of the morning on auditions now, and this was the fifth time they were watching the same scene being enacted, each time with a different set of people trying out.
Glancing around she saw that Owen was texting on his phone, that Pam was twiddling her hair and that Felicity was looking at Bradley, and not watching the auditions.
“Felicity!” she whispered none too subtly, “Whilst I appreciate that Bradley is clearly fascinating, do you think you could make some notes?”
Felicity went a bit pink but just stuck her tongue out at Grace. Bradley, however, grinned and gave Felicity an appraising look in return.
Grace sighed; this was par for the course, she supposed. She had read often enough in magazines about relationships that happened on the set of movies. There was something about the close proximity of a production that threw people together and invariably sparked new attractions. She just hoped none of it got in the way of the play.
Speaking of which, it was her turn to blush as Jerry Doury put his head round the door of the fire exit nearest to them. Only a couple of months earlier she and Jerry had indulged in a bit of a make-out session at a Christmas party, and she had been avoiding him ever since.
Jerry held up his phone to indicate he was answering a summons. “Did you want something, Owen?” he whispered, trying not to disrupt the auditions.
“Yeah, water.” Owen glanced at Pam, who nodded. “Two bottles of water. Cheers.” He flicked his fingers at Jerry, clearly dismissing him.
Jerry looked a tiny bit annoyed. Grace felt bad for him. Owen was supposed to be Jerry’s best friend but he didn’t treat him that way – more like his lackey. She wanted to smile at Jerry to soften the blow, but she fixed her eyes firmly on the stage instead until she heard the door shut quietly behind him.
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