Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 04] (2 page)

‘Seriously though.
Looks like you had a lot of admirers there,’ said Paul, pointing back to the
football pitch.

‘Nah,’ I said. ‘Boys
are never interested in me.’

‘Looked to me like
they were
very
interested.’

‘Only because I’m the
arm-wrestling champ,’ I grinned. ‘I had to show them what’s what after we lost
at footie this morning.’

Paul gave me a look
and sighed. ‘TJ, you’re impossible. Wake up and smell the hormones, kiddo.
You’re easily the prettiest girl on the team.’

‘Me, pretty? Yeah,
right. Get real.’

‘I am,’ he said and
pulled on my plait.

‘You’re only saying
that because you’re my brother.’

‘No,’ he said. ‘You’re
always doing yourself down. Like you can’t see that you’re gorgeous.’

‘Now I know you’re
kidding. I couldn’t get a boy if I tried.’

‘Have you tried?’

I shrugged. ‘Er,
dunno. Not really. But… it’s like, I either talk alien or go into my Miss Strop
bossy act and start correcting their grammar. I mean. D’oh. How flirty is that?
Or else, I terrify them with my super-human strength.You know, humiliate them
by winning at arm-wrestling. Very girlie. Not. It just never seems to come out
right.’

‘It will, TJ,’ said
Paul gently.

‘But
when
?
Most girls in my year have sore lips from snogging. Me? The only sore bits I’ve
got are bruises from where some boy has kicked me in a football game. I’m
hopeless. Hannah was so good at the boy thing. They used to really like her.’

Paul looked at me with
concern. ‘Sorry about Hannah. Mum told me. When did she go?’

‘Fortnight ago,’ I
said as my eyes stung with tears. I was still feeling raw about her leaving but
I was determined not to cry like a baby in front of Paul. Hannah was my best
friend. And she’d just gone to live in South Africa. Yeah, in South Africa. Not
exactly the kind of place you can hop on a bus to when you fancy a chat. I was
missing her like mad.

‘You’ll soon find new
friends,’ said Paul.

Arghhh. If another
person says that to me, I think I shall scream. In fact, if Paul wasn’t my
brother I’d have socked him. People don’t understand. ‘
You’ll soon find
other friends’
, like you can go out and buy one in the supermarket.

‘I don’t
want
new friends,’ I said. ‘I want Hannah back.’

Hannah was a one-off. A
real laugh. I knew I’d never meet anyone like her ever again. It was her that
came up with the nickname Scary Dad for my father. And with her around, boys
never noticed I was tongue-tied or awkward — she babbled enough for both of us.
I could hide behind her and they never realised that my cool was actually
frozen shy.

As we turned into our
road, we almost ran into Mr Kershaw on the pavement in front of us. He was
walking his dog Drule. Or rather, Drule was walking him. Drule is a big black
Alsatian and Mr Kershaw was having a hard time holding on to the lead.

‘He can’t wait to get
to the park,’ he grinned as Drule yanked him forward.

I laughed and turned
to go in our gate but Paul stopped me.

‘Actually, TJ, don’t
go in yet. I didn’t just come to walk you home. I’ve got something to tell
you.’ ‘What?’

As he shifted about on
his feet, something told me that I wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

C h a p t e r
 
2

Giggling
Girlies

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‘ H ey, TJ,’ called
Scott Harris from his bedroom window. ‘Hang on, I’m coming down.’

Before I could answer,
his head disappeared and the window closed, so I sat on the front step outside
our house and waited for him. The Harris family has lived next door to us ever
since we moved here when I was seven, so Scott is the next best thing I have to
a brother besides Paul. Scott’s two years older than me and lately has
discovered girls. Or rather, girls have discovered him. He’s cute in that
Richie from Five kind of way and there’s often a group of giggling girlies
outside his gate. Scott liked to talk his latest conquests over with me and no
doubt that’s what he wanted to do now.

‘TJ,’ called Mum from
inside. ‘Lunch’ll be on the table in five minutes.’

‘Coming,’ I called
back. ‘Just got to see Scott for a mo.’ I was glad Scott was coming over, as I
badly needed someone to talk to. I was hoping he’d distract me from the sinking
feeling in the pit of my stomach. Paul had just told me that he was going
travelling with his girlfriend, Saskia. For a year, maybe two. Starting with
Goa, then maybe Australia and Tahiti. First Hannah, now Paul. What was going
on? My two favourite people disappearing out of my life in less than ten days.

‘Where’ve you been?’
said Scott, appearing round the rhododendron bush in our front garden.

I opened my mouth to
say ‘football’, but he was off again before I had time.

‘Been looking
everywhere for you.’

‘Good,’ I said.
‘Because I want to talk to you.’

‘Why? What’s
happening?’

‘Oh, everything,’ I
began. ‘You know Paul dropped out and everything, well, now he’s off
travelling. Hannah’s gone. I…’

‘Really? Cool,’ said
Scott, looking at his watch.

D’oh? I thought. No.
Not cool. ‘Scott, are you listening?’

‘Yeah. Course. But I
need to ask a favour first.’

I sighed. ‘What?’

‘Hot date,’ said
Scott, with a grin. ‘I need to borrow a fiver. Just for today. I’ll give it
back to you next week when I get my allowance.’

Yeah, I thought, you
said that last week when I lent you two quid. But then I didn’t want him to
think I was a cheapskate. No one likes a cheapskate. I was sure he’d give it
back to me in the end.

I rummaged around in
my sports bag, found my purse and pulled out the fiver pocket money that Mum
had given me that morning.

‘Thanks,’ said Scott.
‘You’re a pal.’ ‘So who’s the sad victim this afternoon?’ I asked. ‘Jessica
Hartley. She’s from your school.’ I nodded. I knew Jessica all right. She was
hard to miss. Just Scott’s type, glam and girlie with long blonde hair.

‘Yeah. She’s in the
year above me. In Year 10. Anyway, as I was saying, Paul’s leaving tomorrow,
Hannah’s gone and it feels like…’

‘Actually,’
interrupted Scott, ‘talking about your school. Do you know Nesta Williams?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘She’s
in my class.’

Scott looked as though
he’d won the lottery. ‘Wow. You’re kidding?
How fantastic
. She’s like,
a five-star babe. Could you put in a word for me?’

For some reason this
irked me. Who did he think I was? First the bank that likes to say yes, now a
dating agency?

‘What about Jessica?’
I asked. ‘What about Jessica?’

‘Well, if she’s your
girlfriend, would she like you asking about Nesta?’

‘Hey. Not my fault,’
said Scott with a wide smile. ‘So many girls, only one me.’

My jaw dropped open,
but then I realised he was joking. At least, I
think
he was joking.
Sometimes, he acted as though he believed he really was God’s gift to women.

‘Oh, poor you having
to share yourself around us miserable impoverished girls,’ I said.

Scott laughed. ‘You
know, you’re really cool, TJ. You’re so easy to talk to. Like one of the boys.’

‘Thanks,’ I said,
feeling chuffed with the compliment. Easy to talk to? Maybe that was it. I
didn’t need to worry about being tongue-tied or saying the wrong thing. I don’t
need to talk, only listen. Maybe there was hope for me after all.

‘Anyway - Nesta.
What’s she like?’

It was out before I
could stop myself. ‘Oh - a complete airhead.’

I felt a bit rotten
saying that, as I don’t really know Nesta beyond the fact that she’s the
prettiest girl in the whole school. I’ve never spent any time with her.

‘Airhead’s OK,’
grinned Scott. ‘It’s not like I want her to
talk
to.’

‘Yeah, right,’ I said,
suddenly feeling miffed. Maybe it
wasn’t
such a compliment that I was
easy to talk to? Oh, I don’t know. Boys. They confuse me.

‘Wanna arm-wrestle?’ I
asked.

Scott looked at me as
if I was out of my mind. ‘
What
?’

‘Arm… oh, nothing,’ I
said, as I saw Jessica tottering up the road in strappy high heels. ‘Your
date’s here.’

Jessica appeared at
the gate and looked surprised to see me. She looked fantastic in a tiny white
tank top and white jeans with diamante bits sewn up the seams.

‘Hey,’ said Scott,
leaping up and going over to her. ‘You look good.’

Jessica was staring at
me as though I’d just crawled out from under a stone.

‘Thanks,’ she said and
jerked her thumb at me. ‘Sister?’ ‘Next-door neighbour,’ said Scott. ‘You know
each other from school, right?’

I smiled at Jessica,
but she didn’t smile back. ‘Can’t say I’ve noticed her,’ she said. Then,
flicking her hair as if dismissing me, she turned away.

‘See you later,’
winked Scott. He put his arm round Jessica, snuggled into her and whispered
something in her ear. Jessica giggled and they disappeared off down the road.
‘Er… nice to meet you, too,’ I called after them. Huh, I thought. You can act
as superior as you like, Jessica Hartley, but I know Scott’s got his eye on
someone else. One week and you’ll be history. So there. Stick that in your diet
yoghurt and eat it.

I sat out for a bit longer.
So much for my heart-to-heart with Scott. Paul was leaving and I felt
miserable. Who could I talk to? Scott was a waste of time.

‘TJ,’ called Mum’s
voice. ‘Lunch. On the table.
Now’
As I got up to go in, I saw Mr
Kershaw and Drule go past again. Mr Kershaw was jabbering away to Drule and the
dog was looking up at him as if he understood every word.

That’s it, I thought.
I’m going to ask Mum for a dog. She said I could have a pet ages ago. A best
friend of the furry kind. One who won’t leave the country.

Why didn’t I think of
it before?