by Jean Ure
“They must have been, or they wouldn’t have gone off together! That day we bumped into them in the shopping centre … I could just tell,” said Maya. “I knew there was something between them. That’s why I got upset when you had a go at me … cos I knew.”
I said, “Really?” Obviously not sounding very convinced. Which wasn’t surprising since I didn’t believe a word of it. She hadn’t mentioned that when she’d been crying and claiming he loved her!
“Honestly,” said Maya. “It was obvious! You can always tell when people are in love. Well, I can,” she said. “I can recognise the signs.”
Meaning: she could but I couldn’t. I am too boring and down to earth. To be honest I was still in two minds whether to believe the rumour or not, but later in the day we passed Jake in the main corridor. He was with a bunch of other Year Twelves so he wouldn’t have said anything in any case, but normally he might perhaps have given us a smile or a nod. Today he didn’t do either. Even to me, boring and down to earth though I am, it was obvious he wasn’t happy.
“That’s because he’s heartbroken,” said Maya.
I asked Mum, when I got home, whether she knew anything.
“Oh, so you’ve heard,” she said. “I suppose it was bound to get out. Yes, Jake’s poor mum has been distraught. All she had was a text telling her not to worry, but how could she help it? No idea where he was, no idea who he was with, no idea when he was coming back.”
“Mum, he was in love,” I said.
Mum sighed. “Love can really cast a spell, especially at that age. Though I must say I was a bit surprised … Jake has always seemed so sensible.”
Like me. I always seem so sensible. But it seems that even sensible people can sometimes have spells cast over them.
A year has gone by since the day Maya fell off her bike and got swept into Jake’s arms, and so far she hasn’t developed any more crushes. Maybe this is because Uncle Kev has been at home and she is starting to feel a bit more secure. This is what Mum thinks. Uncle Kev has promised faithfully that he isn’t ever going to go away again, and this time it really does sound like he means it. Dad gives a hollow laugh, but that is just Dad.
Needless to say the doggy hotel for pampered pooches never came to anything, but Uncle Kev has had another brilliant idea that he is working on. He is digging up the whole of his back garden and is going to plant vegetables all over it and sell them to the local minimart (where Maya once sighed over Anil). Unfortunately his garden isn’t very big so he is talking, if things work out, of taking over our garden as well. Dad says, “Over my dead body,” but Mum just laughs and says she doesn’t think he needs to worry.
At school we have a new music teacher, Mr Flinders. He is quite nice, but rather odd looking and not very young, so I don’t think there is much danger of anyone running away with him. Miss Hopwood never did come back and nobody, not even Linzi, seems to know what has become of her. Jake, on the other hand, is away at uni and according to Mum, according to Mrs Harper, he has a lovely girlfriend of his own age.
Maya swears that she is not in the least bit jealous. She says all that is behind her, and that in any case when you have loved someone you should want them to be happy. She insists that what she felt for Jake wasn’t just a crush but real true love. She also insists that you can’t choose who to fall in love with.
“It’s not something you have any control over. It just happens.”
I can’t help thinking that is a bit inconvenient if it leads you to fall in love with totally unsuitable people, but I don’t say this to Maya. She would only accuse me again of being unsympathetic. Maybe, she tells me kindly, I will discover for myself one day. Maybe I will fall in love and then I won’t be so quick to condemn.
I don’t say anything, cos I’m not yet sure, but I suspect I might already be in the throes … We went up to Sheffield again a few weeks ago and Owen was there and I got the feeling he’s definitely interested in me. We’ve been texting like crazy ever since I got back and now I can’t stop thinking about him! It’s not in the least bit painful so perhaps it is not yet real and true and that is still to come, but I am beginning to understand a little better how Maya was for ever walking round looking all dreamy with her head in the clouds and this soppy smile on her lips.
Not that I intend to have any soppy smiles. I think it would look silly with my sort of face, all round and freckly. But Dad did have to snap his fingers at me the other day and cry, “Hey! Dolly Daydream! I’m talking to you.”
I hadn’t heard a word he said! So maybe I am not quite as sensible and down to earth as Maya accuses me of being. She is not the only one who can fall in love!
Also by Jean Ure
The Kissing Game
Just Peachy
Lemonade Sky
Love and Kisses
Fortune Cookie
Star Crazy Me!
Over the Moon
Boys Beware
Sugar and Spice
Is Anybody There?
Secret Meeting
Passion Flower
Shrinking Violet
Pumpkin Pie
Boys on the Brain
Skinny Melon and Me
Becky Bananas, This is Your Life!
Fruit and Nutcase
The Secret Life of Sally Tomato
Family Fan Club
Ice Lolly
Secrets and Dreams
Jelly Baby
Special three-in-one-editions
The Tutti-Frutti Collection
The Flower Power Collection
The Friends Forever Collection
And for younger readers
Dazzling Danny
Daisy May
Monster in the Mirror
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