Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 04] (5 page)

‘And he did call you
Lara Croft,’ said Lucy.

‘Yeah, he did, didn’t
he?’ I said. I’d forgotten that. ‘I thought he meant someone else at first. I
guess it’s because of my plait.’

‘Maybe. But you do
have a look of her. So, yeah,’ teased Lucy. TJ Watts - invisible? Hardly. Only
mistaken for the most sexy woman in cyberspace.‘

‘
Yeah’
I
said. ‘Don’t mess with me…’

I liked Lucy. She was
a laugh, like Hannah. She had a way of turning things round and making it all
seem OK.

Somehow it didn’t seem
to matter any more that Sam Denham had snubbed me. He probably didn’t even
realise he’d done it.

The rest of the
journey home flew by as Lucy and I chatted away. As I let myself into the house
later, I realised it was the first time in weeks that I’d actually felt happy.

Things were looking
up.

C h a p t e r
 
5

For
Real

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‘Make yourself at
home,’ said Lucy, flinging her bag down and opening the fridge.

I pulled a chair out
at one end of the pine dining table that took up half the kitchen. Before I
could sit, I was accosted by a golden Labrador who appeared from under the
table. He put his paws up on my chest and began to lick my face with great
enthusiasm.

‘
Down
,
Jerry,’ said Lucy as another dog appeared next to him and joined in the ‘let’s
wash the guest’s face’ game.

‘How many are there?’
I asked, wiping my face with my sleeve.

‘Two,’ said Lucy, opening
the French doors. ‘Ben! Jerry!’ she called as she ran out into the garden. The
dogs jumped down and ran after her, tails wagging. Once they were out, Lucy
stepped back inside and shut the door. The two dogs looked in through the glass
with bemused faces as if to say, ‘that was a
really
mean trick’.

‘I didn’t mind them,’
I said. ‘I like dogs.’

‘So do I. They’re my
best friends as much as Iz and Nesta, but they can be a bit much sometimes,‘
said Lucy, then added with a grin. ’And so can the dogs.’

She held up two
cartons of juice. ‘Cranberry or apple?’

‘Cranberry, please,’ I
said, settling into my chair. I liked Lucy’s house immediately. It looked like
the kind of place you could relax in. ‘Lived in’ as my mum would say. Every
surface was covered with books, papers and magazines, the walls were plastered
with paintings and drawings and there was a lovely old dresser against one wall
with colourful bits of mismatched crockery.

‘Hi,’ I said to the
boy who was sitting at the other end of the table and reading the latest John
Irving novel.

‘Uh,’ he said. Or, at
least, that’s what it sounded like.

‘Steve, this is TJ.
TJ, this is my charmer of a brother.’

Steve barely looked
up. He only grimaced at what his sister had said.

‘Oh, hi TJ,’ said
Lucy. I’m Steve. So
pleased
to meet you. I
would
look at you,
but then you are my
younger
sister’s friend so why bother? You’re too
young for me and probably stupid. Nothing you have to say will be of the
slightest interest to me. I am your superior in every respect and everything I
say, no
think
, will be over your head.‘

Steve’s mouth
twitched. He almost laughed.

‘Good book that,’ I
said, pointing at what he was reading. ‘I’ve read all of his but I liked
The
World According To Garp
best.’

Then he did look at
me. A strange look as though he was considering something unsavoury that a cat
might have brought in. I met his gaze and tried to look friendly.

‘New, are you?’ he
asked.

‘Ohmigod, it speaks,’
said Lucy, putting a glass of juice beside me. ‘Sorry about the juice. It’s organic,
but it tastes OK when you get used to it. My parents are both health freaks
so…’

‘We have to go out of
the house to keep our toxin levels up,’ said Steve.

‘In answer to your
question, no, I’m not new,’ I said. ‘New here, I guess. But I’ve been in the
same class as Lucy since we began secondary.’

TJ’s a brainbox like
you,‘ said Lucy. ’She’s going to go for editor of our school newsletter.‘

‘Really,’ said Steve,
looking totally unimpressed.

A brainbox? Was that
really how people saw me? How boring.

It got worse.

‘She’s arm-wrestling
champion as well,’ continued Lucy, who was oblivious to the fact that I was
squirming in my seat. D’oh. Thanks for the great introduction, Lucy, I thought.
Like hi, I’m TJ Watts, brainbox with muscles. How sexy is that? Not.

Steve put down his
book and did what all boys did when my arm-wrestling talent was mentioned. He
put his hand out.

At that moment, the
back door opened and another boy burst in and flung his bag on the table.
Blonde like Lucy, he looked younger than Steve, maybe fifteen or so, whereas
Steve looked like he was in sixth form.

‘Excellent,’ said the
boy, plonking himself down next to me. ‘Arm-wrestling. I’ll play the winner.’

‘TJ, other brother
Lai,’ said Lucy.

We nodded at each
other as Steve and I locked hands and put our elbows down. Steve tried to test
my strength before we began. I let my hand go limp in his, so he’d think I was
weak. This was going to be easy.

‘Ready, steady, GO,’
said Lai.

It was all over in two
seconds.

‘I wasn’t ready,’
objected Steve, as his lower arm hit the table. ‘You called GO too soon.’

‘Rubbish,’ said Lai,
pushing Steve out of his chair and sitting in his place. ‘You’re a puny
weakling. Right. Now me.’

We locked hands and
this time Steve called.

‘Ready, steady, GO.’

Lai was more of a
challenge. Ten seconds.

‘Wow. You’re pretty
good for a girl. Do anything else this well?’ he said, picking up my hand and
this time stroking it and looking at my mouth with what I can only describe as
longing.

Lucy whacked the back
of his head. ‘Take no, notice, TJ. Lai thinks he’s Casanova.’

Lai dropped my hand
and Steve did a kind of smirk. ‘Don’t suppose you can mend computers as well as
you arm-wrestle, can you?’

‘Maybe…’ I said.

The rest of the
evening went brilliantly.

I fixed Steve’s computer
no problem. He had one the same make as mine, complete with same operating
system. He was well impressed when I pressed a few keys and, hey presto, it
worked. He dropped his superior act after that and we got chatting about books.
The shelves in his half of the bedroom were heavy with them.

‘So who’s your
favourite author?’ he asked.

‘God, so many. Can I
do top three?’

He nodded.

‘OK, I know that
they’re kids’ books but I still love the Narnia books by CS Lewis.’

‘Yeah. They’re cool,’
he said.

‘And I like Bill
Bryson.’

‘Yeah,’ said Steve,
pointing to his shelf. ‘I’ve got all of his.’

‘And I loved
Alias
Grace
by Margaret Atwood.’

‘How’s the computer?’
called Lucy from the corridor.

‘Mended,’ Steve called
back.

‘Then stop hogging TJ.
She’s
my
friend,’ said Lucy, bursting in the door. ‘Come and look at
my bedroom.’

I got up to follow
her, feeling well chuffed. She’d called me her friend. I hoped I would be.
Steve and Lai too. They were all really easy to be with and, for once, I hadn’t
been tongue-tied when meeting boys.

‘Wow,’ I said, as Lucy
opened the door to her room. ‘It’s like a princess’s room. An Indian princess.’

‘Thanks,’ said Lucy,
looking pleased. ‘Me and Mum did it last year. The curtain material is from a
sari. I got it in the East End.’

On one of her walls
were cut-outs of people from magazines. Not the usual pop bands and actors — I
didn’t recognise any of them.

‘Who are all these?’

‘Dress designers.
Gaultier. Armani. Stella McCartney. I want to do design when I leave school.’

‘Well, I can see
already that you have a good eye for colour, Lucy. This blue, lilac and silver
looks gorgeous. I wish you’d come and do my room. It’s so boring. I think the
paint Mum used was called Death by Magnolia.’

‘I’ll show you some
clothes I’ve made,’ said Lucy, opening the wardrobe and pulling out a selection
of skirts and tops.

She held some of them
up against her and they looked good, even to me, someone who doesn’t know a lot
about clothes.

‘Maybe you could do a
fashion piece for my newsletter. Like, what’s in for the summer.’

‘Sort of five top
tips?’

‘Yeah. Summer
sizzlers,’ I laughed.

‘Love to,’ said Lucy.
‘And are you going to change the name of the newsletter?
Freemont News
sounds
soooo
boring.’

‘Exactly what I
thought. I
was
going to change it. What do you think of calling it
For
Real
?’

‘Brilliant,’ said
Lucy, ‘because that’s exactly what it isn’t at the moment and it’s
exactly
what everyone wants. You’re going to be so good at this, TJ. I can tell already
that you’re going to win.’

I shrugged. ‘I’ll give
it a go. But I was amazed to find out how many others are going for it after
Sam’s talk.’

‘I know,’ said Lucy.
‘Even stinky Wendy Roberts, though she was mega-miffed after Sam didn’t go for
her answer. I saw her face at the back. She was livid. Even more so when he
loved yours.’

‘She’s even more mad
with me today. She borrowed my maths homework and I’d got most of it wrong. Not
my fault if it’s my worst subject.’

‘Serves her right,’
said Lucy as the doorbell rang downstairs. ‘Don’t worry, one of the boys will
get it. Probably Nesta, she said she’d come over.’

Sure enough, Nesta
appeared moments later.

‘Hey,’ she smiled at
both of us and flopped on the bed. She looked slightly surprised that I was
there, but not unduly bothered. The whole evening was going so well. Maybe I
could be friends with her too?