by Jean Ure
Tanya was at the Dinner and Dance, of course. She came with a boy that everyone knew was her cousin. I did gloat a tiny bit, cos we’d been, like, rivals for so long, and anyway she deserved it. Trying to poach Matt! But somehow it didn’t make me feel as blissfully triumphant as I’d have thought it would. Just a little victory roll and then it was gone.
The big thing was Hattie and Simon. They were so sweet! It was like they were made for each other. They didn’t do much in the way of dancing, but every time I looked in their direction they had their heads close, engaged in these really deep discussions. Well, I’m guessing they were deep! Knowing Hattie – knowing Simon. You can just bet they weren’t involved in the silly sort of mindless frivolity me and Matt were. It was Hattie’s turn to be over-the-moon and I was genuinely pleased for her. She’s my friend and I couldn’t be jealous. She deserved to be happy!
The next day, which was a Saturday, Matt rang. He wanted us to meet up that evening. Even after the way he’d treated me, my heart still leapt. I was still flattered that he wanted me. But I’d made a promise and I wasn’t going to break it. Not even for the most gorgeous thing on two legs.
“Matt, I’m really sorry,” I said, “I can’t! I’m having dinner with my mum.”
“On a Saturday?” said Matt. “Saturdays are for going out!”
I said, “I am going out … I’m going over to my mum’s place.”
“Yeah?” I could almost see his lip curling. I just knew that he was sneering. He said, “That sounds like a bundle of laughs!”
“She’s my mum,” I said.
“OK, OK, so enjoy yourself. Have a ball!”
“Matt, I promised her,” I said. “I can’t not go!”
“Like I said, have a ball.”
He was making it very obvious he wasn’t pleased with me. Boys like Matt, they’re not used to girls taking a stand. They’re more used to them dropping everything on command. Jumping through hoops, to keep them happy. But suddenly, something had snapped and I just didn’t care.
“Too bad if you don’t like it,” I said. “Why not try Tanya? She’s desperate.”
I am not going to write what Matt said in reply. It was just two words and one of them was rude. I was so angry that I said them straight back to him. Who did he think he was? God’s gift to women?
Actually, I said that to him, as well, which made him say another two words, including the rude one, at which point I snarled, “Go boil yourself!” and slammed the phone down. I know it was really childish of me, but it was kind of satisfying. I bet I was the first girl who’d ever told the great Matt Stanton to go boil himself! Of course it meant that I was now boyfriendless, but I reckoned it was worth it, just for the pleasure of taking that conceited oaf down a peg or two. Tanya could have him and welcome. I wasn’t standing my mum up for anyone!
Not even for Dad, who at the last minute came over all pathetic and said how could I desert him on his first weekend on his own?
“Let’s go into town and have a meal! I’ll take you to Rosetti’s. Eh? How about that?”
“Dad, I can’t,” I said. “You know I’ve promised Mum!”
“That’s all right, tell her you’ve had a change of plan … something’s come up.”
But I wouldn’t; not even for Dad. I told him that maybe next week we could all go out together, him and Mum and me. I said, “You could take us somewhere extra special and show Mum that you still love her.”
Dad said, “Of course I still love her! I’m not the one that’s moved out.”
“So let’s arrange something,” I said.
Dad muttered that Mum wouldn’t want him tagging along, but he told me that I could go ahead and ask her, if I wanted. I knew he was feeling left out and sorry for himself, and that made me feel sorry for him, too. But I found that I wasn’t cross with Mum any longer; I could sort of understand why she’d had to get away. I just wished Dad could! I wished I could talk to him. I needed to talk! I needed someone to tell me that I was doing the right thing, going off to see Mum and leaving Dad on his own.
In the end I did what I always do in moments of doubt: I rang Hattie. Hattie was still up in the air about Simon, but she came back down to earth long enough to listen while I poured out my troubles.
“I promised Mum I’d go round, but Dad’s so sad! I don’t know if I ought to leave him. I don’t know what to do! I don’t want to let Mum down, but I don’t want to desert Dad, either!”
Hattie, as usual, was calm and practical. She said, “You’re not deserting your dad. You’re just going round to see your mum! Of course you must go. If you don’t mind my saying so, you’ve always been a bit of a daddy’s girl. You’ve never given your mum a chance. It’s time you got to know her better. I reckon that right at this moment your mum’s the most important person in your life.”
Hattie is such a comfort! Before speaking to her I’d been all muddled and anxious. Now I felt that I could see the way ahead a bit more clearly.
“Dear, darling Hattie,” I said, “thank you soo much!”
“You’re welcome,” said Hattie.
I asked her what she was doing that evening, and going all bashful she said “Seeing Simon.”
“Well, have an over-the-moon day!” I said.
“Yeah. Right,” said Hattie. She obviously hadn’t the faintest idea what I was talking about! “You, too.”
I thought, not this evening; it was too soon for that. But for the first time in ages I did begin to believe that there would be over-the-moon days. I just had to work at it.
Also by Jean Ure
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
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
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
Copyright
HarperCollins Children’s Books
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublisher Ltd,
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Hammersmith
London, W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2006
Text © Jean Ure 2006
Illustrations © Karen Donnelly 2006
Cover illustrations by Nicola Slater
The author and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.
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Source ISBN: 9780007164646
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2013 ISBN: 9780007402540
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