by Mel Sparke
Anna squinted for a second. There was something different about Nick, but she couldn’t quite work out what it was. Then it dawned on her - it was the first time she’d ever seen her boss so neat and clean-shaven. It looked as if Cyndi was definitely up for smoothing the edges off her rough diamond.
“Um, it’s just the situation with Cyndi really,” Anna dived in, remembering what she was trying to say. “I mean, is she in charge? Over me and Ollie and everyone?”
“Cyndi? No! Of course not!” Nick grinned broadly in surprise. “She’s not even officially working in the café - she’s not allowed to, till we get all the mess with immigration sorted! It’s so great, her lending a hand like this…”
Anna remembered somewhere in the surprise of those first few days after her boss had arrived home that Nick had explained to everyone that since Cyndi was technically over in Britain on a holiday visa, she wouldn’t be able to have a job. But she would at least be able to help around the End, in an unpaid kind of way. Only, as Anna was discovering, Cyndi’s help was turning out to be more of a hindrance.
“Nick - I don’t mean to be funny or anything - but there’ve been a lot of changes going on. The thing is, I don’t feel fully in the picture which is making it hard to do my job properly,” Anna continued, picking her words carefully as she hoisted her box further up in her arms and rested a corner of it on the roof of the car.
“What changes? Like the curtains?” Nick frowned in puzzlement. “I know I’m a bloke, but I thought they looked kind of nice.”
“It’s not the nets,” Anna shook her head, staggering under her load as she followed Nick along the alleyway. “It’s lots of other stuff too!”
Nick turned round and the hurt puppy dog expression he was wearing reminded Anna fleetingly of Ollie, revealing a previously concealed family resemblance. Though Nick looks more like a battered old hound dog, Anna amended her mental image.
At the same moment, Anna realised that complaining was pointless. Nick had met Cyndi on holiday, fallen in love with her, travelled out to see her again, run off to Las Vegas and got married in a chapel playing Elvis songs, then whisked her back across the ocean. It was fair to say he was besotted. Right now, Nick was so in love that he couldn’t take even the slightest criticism of his new wife.
“Oh, look - it’s nothing really,” Anna found herself backtracking. “Forget I ever said—” She didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence.
“Sweetie pie!” grinned Cyndi, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen as they approached it. “Did you get those cute little serviettes from the store?”
“Yes - these are the right ones, aren’t they?” Nick replied bashfully, holding up a clear cellophane package.
“That’s right, sugar - the ones with the darlin’ little red roses!” Cyndi exclaimed, grabbing the package excitedly.
Anna winced, and it wasn’t just from the weight of the box she was carrying. She’d just had another vision - that of several burly workmen wiping egg from their mouths with tiny floral paper napkins…
God, love can be scary! thought Anna as she watched Cyndi and Nick smooching over the serviettes. ‘Specially when it turns your brain to mush!
CHAPTER 3
OLLIE FACES FACTS
“Do you guys want to come up to the flat? There’s a brilliant rock documentary starting on MTV in about ten minutes,” said Ollie, checking his watch.
It was Tuesday night and the four members of The Loud - Ollie, Joe, Billy and Andy - had just finished their regular rehearsal in the back room of The Swan, Ollie’s parents’ pub.
“Can’t. Busy tonight,” said Billy Sanderson, clipping his guitar case closed.
“Hey, hey!” laughed Ollie. “A hot date, eh? Don’t tell me you’ve stopped just flirting with Gaby and finally got round to asking her out!”
Gabrielle Adjani - an ex-girlfriend of Matt’s - had worked a few shifts at the End-of-the-Line café while Nick took off to America. Now that she’d rekindled her friendship with Matt and his crowd, she’d been popping into the End on a regular basis. Billy had soon become smitten - and his mates took great pleasure in teasing him about it.
“Nope, I haven’t asked her out yet,” Billy grinned broadly. “I haven’t plucked up the courage to do that - I’m still too scared Matt might thump me one for going out with his ex!”
Andy and Joe, busy taking apart their own gear, laughed out loud at Billy’s typically jokey remark.
“Nope, I’m not taking any chances,” Billy continued, still grinning. “I don’t want to see Matt’s rusty old Lada coming straight at me down a darkened alleyway one night!”
“As if!” chuckled Joe.
“He wouldn’t risk damaging his only form of transport,” put in Andy wryly.
“Anyway,” shrugged Billy, “I’m just taking my time - making sure Gaby’s not still hung up on him!”
“Nah, I can’t see it,” said Ollie, shaking his head. “She was cool when she found out he’s dating Anna now, wasn’t she? That’s not a sign of someone who’s desperate to get back with her ex, is it?”
“Whatever,” shrugged Billy. “I’m just going to take it slowly. There’s nothing worse than fancying someone who doesn’t fancy you back.”
“So,” said Ollie, getting back on subject, “if it’s not Gaby you’re seeing tonight, who’s the hot date?”
“Andy,” said Billy, nodding his head in the direction of the skinny bass player, who suddenly gave a hoot of laughter.
“We’re going to check out that new action movie at the late show at the Odeon. Y’know - the one with whatsisname in it,” Andy King explained to the others. “Either of you two fancy coming?”
“Yeah, go on!” Billy said enthusiastically. “There’s supposed to be some amazing special effects!”
“Nah, I can’t. I want to watch this telly programme - and I promised I’d give my sister a call tonight,” Ollie shook his untidy head of dark-blond hair so that it flopped over his eyes.
“Natasha?” said Billy, his eyes automatically lighting up at the mention of Ollie’s very pretty twin sister. “Couldn’t you phone her tomorrow or something? And tape the TV thing?”
“No, I’ve got to play the good brother and keep in touch with Tasha - she’s been feeling so fragile lately,” Ollie explained, plonking himself down on an amp.
“Is she OK now?” asked Andy, frowning in concern.
“Yeah - did she get things sorted out with her agency?” Billy chipped in.
All the friends knew what Ollie’s sister had gone through recently. She’d been modelling in Milan for the summer, but had been shocked to find that one rogue booker at her Italian agency had been sending girls to work for clients who expected a lot more than just fashion shots. At first, the round of parties she’d been invited to had seemed the usual fun, until she realised that everyone there was either a young, beautiful girl or a sleazy older man - and it didn’t take too long for one of these men to let her know exactly what he had in mind.
“Her agency in London was cool,” Ollie nodded. “They’d no idea all that stuff was going on, and when the office in Milan found out, the dodgy booker working there was sacked on the spot.”
“Who said models have a glamorous life?” Billy commented. “Well, good for Tasha - she obviously did the right thing by getting out of there. But anyway, what about you, Joe? Do you fancy checking out this movie?”
“No thanks,” said Joe, shaking his head. “I’m trying to spend as little money as possible right now.” He had helped out at the End-of-the-Line café from time to time during the summer, and the last couple of weeks he’d managed to cover a few holiday shifts at Central Sounds, the music shop in town, but things were financially pretty tight for Joe. He was desperate to save a bit of money prior to his big move to London and university.
“Of course! It’s not long till you’re off, is it?” said Andy.
“Nope.”
“Hey! Look at the time!” exclaimed Billy, glancing at h
is watch. “C’mon, Andy - we’ve still got to dump this stuff at your place. We’d better head off now or we’ll be stuck in the queue for hours.”
“See you guys!” Ollie yelled at their retreating figures as they pushed open the doors that led to the front bar. His words were drowned out by an ear-splitting clatter of cymbals crashing to the floor.
“Got ‘em!” said Ollie, grabbing the shiny discs where they’d fallen at his feet and passing them back to Joe to pack away. “Hey, are you OK, Joe? You were pretty quiet tonight…”
Out of all the boys, Joe was always the quiet one, even at the best of times. But Ollie - as his best friend - was the one most qualified to spot when Joe’s level of quietness had more to it than usual. Tonight was one of those times.
“I s’pose. Just got stuff on my mind,” said Joe, checking his cymbals over for any dents. “Thinking about London, I guess…”
“You’re still looking forward to going, aren’t you?” Ollie asked warily.
“Oh, university and everything, definitely!” nodded Joe. “It’s just that at this rate, I’ll be sleeping in my Fiat in the car park!”
“Still no luck finding a flat then?” asked Ollie, helping Joe to finish taking apart his kit.
It wasn’t only kindness motivating Ollie to help out. When Joe got distracted, he often got clumsy too - which meant that he could well put his foot through the bass drum. With a gig to play on Thursday, this would be a disaster.
“Nope. I can’t find a room anywhere. I dunno what I’m going to do, 01…” mumbled Joe despondently. “I don’t even know why half these places bother to advertise - it seems like they’re gone before I can pick up the phone, let alone go down to see anything.”
“Hey!” said Ollie cheerfully, reaching over to punch his mate’s arm. “It’ll work out - it’s got to. Something’ll turn up!”
Joe looked at Ollie and was tempted to say, “Yeah, like what?” but he knew Ollie was just trying to do his best to sound positive. Not that that was the tiniest bit of help right now.
“Listen, I was thinking about something else too,” Joe began, knowing he was about to bring up a subject that neither of them was keen to talk about, even though it was something they couldn’t afford to ignore for very much longer.
“What’s that then?”
“Ol, I am going in three weeks…”
“I know!” laughed Ollie. “That’s what we were just talking about!”
“So you’re going to have to start looking for another drummer for The Loud,” mumbled Joe. “And soon…”
The smile faded from Ollie’s face as reality sunk in. It was Ollie’s worst failing: for all his optimism and good humour, he had a terrible habit of burying his head in the sand when it came to problems. And although Ollie had known about Joe’s plans to move to London for ages now, in his mind it was still something that was due to happen way off in the future.
“Yeah… a new drummer! I guess I’d better do something about that!” Ollie said unconvincingly, his eyes wide with surprise - as if it was the first time he’d registered that Joe would actually be leaving Winstead.
“Why don’t you put an ad up in Central Sounds? Like we did when we were looking for a guitarist and a bass player? When we found Billy and Andy?” Joe suggested helpfully, knowing that his best mate needed that extra little shove to get him going. Otherwise, The Loud were likely to end up playing at the Railway Tavern with a great big space where the drum kit - and drummer - should have been.
“Good idea - I’ll get an ad up on their message board tomorrow,” Ollie nodded.
“And what about putting a sign up at the gig on Thursday night?” Joe continued. “There’re plenty of people who come along every week to see us. Maybe your new drummer’ll be out there in the audience waiting!”
“Yeah, but he’s not going to be our new drummer, is he?” Ollie contradicted.
“How do you mean?” frowned Joe.
“He’ll just be our temporary drummer,” Ollie spelt out. “We’ve talked about this before, Joe - you’ll always be The Loud’s number one. You’ll be straight back in whenever you’re back for the holidays. This guy will just be filling in - keeping your drum stool warm for you!”
“Sure!” said Joe, grinning broadly.
But deep down inside, Joe wasn’t so sure. Of course he still wanted to be part of the band - he and Ollie had started the whole thing off together, after all. But the closer the move to London got, the more certain Joe was that his whole life was going to change - forever.
Even if his best mate was burying his head in the sand about that too…
CHAPTER 4
CAT’S SUPERSONIC SURPRISE
As Kerry Bellamy walked towards the gravel driveway that led to Matt’s - and now Cat’s - house, she could already hear music blasting out.
But she could tell from the girly pop vocals, as well as the live girly voices singing along, that the sounds didn’t have anything to do with Matt. He might be forced to play the likes of Steps at a birthday party he was DJing at, but he definitely wouldn’t be caught dead listening to them - at full volume - in his own home. Being the total music snob that he was, off duty Matt only listened to the latest, hippest dance tracks.
Kerry grinned; now that she’d turned into the driveway, she could see Sonja Harvey and Cat lying flat on their backs under the cherry tree, yelling away at the tops of their voices and waving their arms around in time to the music.
“That’s the laziest dancing I’ve ever seen!” she called over to both girls as she strode across the grass to join them.
“Hi, Kez!” Sonja called back, pushing herself up on to her elbows, her honey-blonde hair piled up in a messy topknot.
“What took you so long, Kez?” said Cat, reaching over to lower the volume control on her portable CD player. “We’ve been here for hours.”
“A little thing called work, remember?” Kerry answered, pointing a finger at the white coat-dress that she hadn’t had time to change out of as she’d hurried to leave the chemist’s and make the most of her Wednesday half day.
Kerry worked every Saturday in Mr Hardy’s shop, but for the last couple of weeks she’d been working full-time, covering for staff summer holidays. She would be working there right up until she began teacher training college in the autumn. Kerry was hoping the money she was earning would see her through at least the first term of her course, even though she was going to remain living at home.
“Anyway, what are you two up to?” she asked, looking down at the pile of empty crisp packets and fizzy drink cans scattered on the grass beside the CD player. “I thought we were on a fitness kick? I thought we were supposed to be playing frisbee this afternoon?”
Lazily, Sonja stretched over and grabbed a luminous plastic disc from beside her. “Ready when you are!” she grinned at Kerry.
“Listen, can I get changed in your room, Cat?” Kerry asked, bending down and rooting around in her bag for her shorts and vest top.
‘“Course. As long as you bring more drinks and crisps when you come back out,” Cat demanded. “There’s a big bag of tortilla chips on top of the fridge!”
“How lazy are you two?” asked Kerry with a smile as she gazed down at her mates. “I’ve been working all morning and you still want me to act as waitress?”
“Oh, but you’re so good at it, you could practically get a job at the End…” Cat whined jokingly. Then, suddenly animated, she sat up with quite a different expression. “Kez, you’ve been in town today - you haven’t heard any more rumours about where Ben Fitzpatrick is, have you? The local paper said that filming started yesterday, but I can’t believe they didn’t mention where!”
“No,” Kerry replied, rolling her eyes. “I haven’t heard anything.”
Although she hadn’t seen Cat in the last couple of days, she’d heard from Maya and Sonja that Ben Fitzpatrick was practically Cat’s only topic of conversation right now. Kerry had to agree that he was very tasty to look at, and tha
t it was exciting knowing that a real star and his film crew were somewhere in Winstead.
But Cat was burning up with curiosity to the point of obsession. Kerry could see that, for Cat, it was like one of her favourite celebrity magazine stories coming to life.
“So how come you’re lying around here instead of scouring the streets looking for him?” asked Kerry, picking up the empty cans and crisp packets to take inside with her to bin.
“She tried that yesterday,” said Sonja, tipping her sunglasses down and staring meaningfully at Kerry over the top of them. “Only trouble was, she wore her new sandals and got ten thousand blisters. That’s what’s stopping her today.”
From her reclining position on the blanket spread over the grass, Cat raised both legs up inelegantly, her shorts riding up her bum, so that Kerry could inspect the damage.
“Ouch!” Kerry winced at the sight of the red-rubbed skin and watery bumps on her friend’s heels. “No man’s worth that much pain, Cat!”
“Well, he would have been - if I’d found him!” Cat moaned, her legs still aloft.
“Wow! Wish I had a camera!” came Matt’s voice from nearby, making them all jump.
Cat immediately rolled to a sitting position and stared up at her house-mate.
“What’re you on about?!” she snapped, more embarrassed than annoyed.
“Well, once you’re a famous TV star - like you’re always saying you’re going to be - I could sell embarrassing snaps of you like that to the tabloids!”
Sonja and Kerry couldn’t hide their giggles, even though Cat turned to each of them with don’t-encourage-him! glowers.
“What d’you want anyway, Matt?” Cat demanded, lowering her sunglasses on to the bridge of her nose in an attempt to regain her cool.
“I dunno,” shrugged Matt. “Maybe I came out here cause it’s my garden and I’m allowed to.”
“Very funny,” muttered Cat petulantly as Sonja and Kerry carried on sniggering.
“Or maybe it’s because Sonja and Kerry are my friends,” Matt continued, “and I felt like saying hello.”