Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 04] (4 page)

‘Yeah, I do,’ I
replied, wondering what was going on. Wendy never normally gave me the time of
day, so why this sudden interest in Hannah? Sensitive and caring are not words
that come to mind when I think of Wendy. Mean and self-centred more like. But,
no one else had it.

asked about Hannah or
how I was, so maybe I’d got her wrong.

‘You going to the talk
tonight?’ she asked. ‘Sam Denham?’

I nodded.

‘He is gorgeous, isn’t
he? I saw him on morning telly last week. He was so funny. I wonder if he’s got
a girlfriend? Are you going to go for editor?’

I shook my head. I
wasn’t going to tell her, but Hannahs email had made me think. Maybe I
should
go for editor, it would be perfect to take my mind off things, plus, as Paul had
said, good practice for when I’m older. But I didn’t want to tell Wendy. I
didn’t want her thinking I was getting ideas above my station and anyway, I
might not even get the job.

Wendy got out her
mirror and applied some lipstick from her bag. ‘Great colour, isn’t it?’ she
said. ‘Natural with a hint of gloss. Good for us brunettes. Want to try some?’

‘No, ta.’ Us
brunettes‘
?
What is all this matey, let’s bond over a lipstick act, I wondered. What
does
she want?

‘Er, TJ…’

‘Yeah…’

‘You know that
exercise we had to do for maths…?’

Ah. So that was it. I
felt my face drop. I couldn’t help it. For a split second I thought someone was
being friendly because they might have cared about me. Obviously not.

‘Well I meant to…’
Wendy continued.

‘You want to copy my homework?’
I interrupted.

‘Oh, TJ,
could
I? You’d be doing me the most
enormous
favour and you know what Mr
Potts can be like if anyone hasn’t done it…’

‘Actually, maths isn’t
my best subject…’

Wendy stiffened. ‘It
comes so easily to you but if you’re going to be precious…’

‘I’m not. Here take
it,’ I said and got my book out of my bag. I couldn’t be bothered arguing.
Maths didn’t come easily. I had to really work at it and the last bit of
homework had taken hours after lunch yesterday and I still wasn’t sure I’d got
it right. But I wanted friends not enemies and Wendy could be really nasty when
she wanted to be.

Just at that moment I
caught Izzie Foster watching me from the bench to my right. She raised her
eyebrows and half-smiled at me.

‘Thanks. You’re a doll,
TJ,’ said Wendy, grabbing my maths book out of my hand. Off she went, leaving
me sitting on my own again.

Izzie was still
staring. She was sitting with her mates Lucy and Nesta and, like most of the
other groups of girls dotted around the playground, they looked like they were
having a good time, just relaxing in the sun. Nesta was at one end of the bench
rubbing lotion on to her legs and Lucy was at the other with her skirt hoiked
high and her legs stretched out to get the sun. Izzie said something to them
and they both looked over, then Izzie got up and came to join me.

‘Hey, TJ. I was just
thinking. You heard from Hannah?’

‘Wendy’s already
borrowed my homework,’ I said.

‘What homework?’ asked
Izzie, looking puzzled. ‘I saw you sitting on your own and suddenly remembered
that Hannah’d gone. I wondered how you were doing?’

So people
had
noticed me sitting on my own. Well, I didn’t need anyone’s pity.

‘I’m fine,’ I said,
getting up and putting my half-eaten sandwich in the litter bin. ‘Got to go.’

I was going to go and
sit and read in a cubicle in the loo for the rest of the lunch break. That way
no one would see me on my own and feel sorry for me.

‘So, to sum up,’ said
Sam Denharn from the stage later that day, ‘you’ve got five main rules and if
you stick to them, you won’t go wrong.’

I turned the page of
my book to write more notes.

‘Rule one,’ he said.
‘Your job is to stop people just flicking through the magazine. You have to
draw them in to actually read what’s on the page. You do this by having hooks
on the page. These are pictures, titles, words under the picture that give an
idea what the feature is about, a quote and the picture captions. Now, if
people scan your page, they can quickly access what it’s about. So, the title
and the captions should be… what?’

He looked around as a
few hands went up in the hall, including Nesta Williams’ who was sitting next
to me. Sam pointed at her to answer.

‘
Interesting’
she said and gave him a flirty smile.

‘Right,’ said Sam,
flashing a big smile back at her and keeping his eyes on her for a few moments.
‘
Interesting
. Or funny. These hooks are as important, if not more so,
than the copy.’

I was scribbling
furiously to get it all down when I noticed Nesta hadn’t written a thing. ‘Do
you need paper?’ I whispered to her, ready to rip out a page for her.

She grinned and shook
her head. ‘No, thanks. I’m just here for the view.’

You and half the
school, I thought. I don’t think a talk had ever been so well attended, not
only by the girls but also by the teachers. But then, most of the teachers are
aspiring writers, according to Hannah’s mum. She was a headteacher before she
left for South Africa. She told us that half her staff were secretly working on
novels and planning to get out of teaching.

‘Rule two,’ Sam
continued. ‘Make sure your picture or photograph is appropriate to the copy.
You don’t want a big smiley picture of someone next to a tragic piece. Rule
three. Use your pictures and captions in a creative way. For instance, you’re
doing a sports page and have a feature about tennis coaching. Any ideas?’

Wendy Roberts put up
her hand. ‘You could have a photo of some kids playing, with the caption
Learn
to play tennis’
.

Sam nodded. ‘You
could. It’s apt but not very inspiring. Any other ideas?’

I had one, but I
didn’t want to look a prat in front of everyone. Wendy was blushing like mad
after Sam had squashed her idea. I went over in my mind what I’d say if I could
only pluck up the courage.

Sam pointed at a girl
at the back.

It was Izzie Foster.
‘How about a picture of Pete Sampras in full flight going after a ball, saying
something like, “Are you the next Sampras?”’

‘Now we’re cooking,’
said Sam. ‘That’s more like it. Only it might be a bit intimidating, as most
people know they’ll
never
be the next Sampras. So, it might put them
off going. But, good idea. Any more?’

Me
me
, I
thought, trying to summon up the courage to put my hand up.

‘Come on,’ said Sam,
looking round at the rows of silent girls. ‘Part of being a pro is throwing
ideas into the pot and not feeling bad when someone knocks them down. It
doesn’t matter. We learn as much by our mistakes as our successes, if not more.
Come on, who’s going to stick their neck out?’

I could feel myself
going red as I put my hand up, but I was bursting to see what he thought of my
idea.

‘You,’ said Sam,
looking in my direction. ‘Lara Croft on the front row.’

I looked behind me. He
couldn’t mean me, could he?
Lara Croft
? But no one else had their hand
up.

He pointed at me
again. ‘You. Come on. Girl with the plait?’

Oh, he
did
mean me! I could feel myself going redder than ever. I took a deep breath.
‘What if you use a picture of, say, Tim Henman?’ I finally managed to get out,
‘on his backside with the ball bouncing past and a caption saying something
like, “even the best needs a little extra help?’”

‘Love it,’ beamed Sam.
‘It may not make you want to play tennis, but it will make you stop long enough
to read what’s going on.’

‘Well done, Lara,’
whispered Nesta as the red from my face spread to the tips of my ears.

‘Rule four. Never be
afraid to try new things. Rule five. In your layout, make sure the reader
always knows where to go next. And make sure the information is accessible,
especially in a magazine. Know your market. And not too many long paragraphs.
Break some of it up. You know, ten tips about this, five ways to do that and so
on…’

At the end, he took
some questions from the floor, but I hardly took in what was going on. I spent
the last ten minutes of his talk in a daze at having spoken to him. I was well
chuffed that he’d liked my idea. Loved it, in fact. I couldn’t wait to tell
Hannah later.

As everyone got up to
leave, I noticed Sam making his way over to where I was sitting. I froze to the
chair. Ohmigod. He was coming over to speak to me. I could feel myself going
red again and breathless as I planned what I’d say. I tried my best to look
natural and smile as he approached, but I had a feeling I looked like a
grinning hyena, I was so thrilled.

As he reached the
front row, he knelt down next to me and turned his back.

‘So, did you enjoy the
talk?’ he asked Nesta.

‘Oh, yes,’ beamed
Nesta. ‘Fascinating.’

That wiped the smile
off my face. Literally.
Fool
, I thought, you utter
utter
fool. He had no intention of coming to talk to you.

I had a quick look
round and prayed that no one had witnessed it, but too late, I noticed Lucy
Levering hovering at the side. She’d seen it all. Me perking up with a stupid
grin, then Sam turning his back on me to talk to Nesta. God, how humiliating.

I looked away from
Lucy and got up to walk out the back door. Sam slipped into my vacant chair as
though I’d never been there and continued chatting to Nesta.

‘Hey, TJ,’ called
Lucy, as I reached the school gates and turned into the street. ‘Wait up.’

Oh, no. I wanted to
get out. Get home and hide. What did she want? I pretended I hadn’t heard and
carried on walking.

‘
TJ’
said
Lucy, catching up.

‘Yeah?’

‘That was a great
answer you gave in there.’

‘Thanks,’ I muttered
and carried on walking. It didn’t feel so great any more. ‘Bye, Lucy.’

‘What bus you
getting?’ she persisted.

‘102.’

‘Me too. We can go
together.’

‘Aren’t you going to
wait for Nesta and Izzie?’

‘Nah. Izzie’s gone off
to band practice. And Nesta. Well…’

‘Probably hoping
she’ll get a ride from Sam Denham,’ I said bitterly. I couldn’t help it. I felt
miffed. Nesta wasn’t even interested in writing or going for editor and yet she
was the one Sam had picked out for special attention afterwards.

‘A ride from Sam?’ Lucy
giggled. ‘That I’d like to see. He came on a bike.’

‘Really? I thought
he’d come in a flash car or something.’

‘I know,’ said Lucy.
‘But it
is
a flash bike. I saw him arrive on it in a helmet and clips
and everything.’ Then she added, ‘People aren’t always how you think they are.’

I felt awkward then
and a bit rotten about what I’d thought about Nesta. She can’t help being a man
magnet.

We stood in silence
for a few minutes, then Lucy turned to me. ‘I hope you don’t mind me saying,
but… back there, I saw… you know…’

I shrugged and tried
to pretend I didn’t care. ‘Well, Nesta
is
gorgeous. She has everything
any boy could ever want.’

‘What? A hairy chest
and big muscles?’ asked Lucy.

I burst out laughing.
‘I thought he was coming to talk to me. Or both of us at least.’

‘I know,’ said Lucy
gently. ‘I saw.’

‘I felt a right idiot.
Like I was invisible or something.’

‘I’ve been there,
believe me. I used to feel like that a
lot
when Nesta first arrived,’
said Lucy. ‘I mean, I know she’s my mate, but she is stunning, so people always
look at her before anyone else. And she’s funny, so people like her. It’s easy
to feel left out sometimes. I thought she was going to steal Izzie from me when
she first began to hang out with us. I thought she didn’t want to be my friend,
only Izzie’s. It was like I wasn’t even there. So, yeah, I know
all
about feeling invisible.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Oh, took a very
grown-up approach. Sulked. Acted like a baby. Felt
very
sorry for
myself.
Hated
Nesta. Then I got to know her. And discovered that she’s
really nice. In fact, she had been feeling the same way. She thought I hated
her
and didn’t want to be her friend.’

Just at that moment,
Sam Denham cycled past on his bike and jolted as he went over a bump in the
road.

‘If you think about it,’
said Lucy with a wicked grin, ‘men really ought to ride side-saddle.’

I burst out laughing
as I watched Sam wobble down the road and disappear round a corner.