Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 06] (14 page)

‘No. I’m Izzie’s
mother,’ she replied, and I could swear that her cheeks coloured a little.

‘No way,’ he said,
handing her the flowers. ‘You don’t look old enough.’

Mum raised an eyebrow
as though she didn’t believe a word of it, then she laughed. ‘Izzie never told
me that you were so charming. Now, what can I get you?’

Cigarette and a can of
lager, I thought, knowing Josh. But he just asked if she had Earl Grey tea.

‘That’s my favourite
too,’ she said, heading back for the kitchen. I’ll bring it up to you. Izzie,
do you want anything?‘

‘No, no, let me help
you,’ said Josh, following her, then turning back and giving me a
conspiratorial wink.

I had to ring Ben to
confirm a few last minute arrangements for the gig, so I left them to it in the
kitchen. As I dialled Ben’s number on the phone in the hall, I heard Mum
laughing at something Josh said. Boy, he really is good with mums, I thought.

Over tea, he and Mum
got to talking about his career. Anyone would think he’s a prospective husband,
the way she’s sizing him up, I thought, as she asked about his aims and
ambitions in life. He didn’t seem to mind, though, and chatted away happily
about plans for college. He even did the ‘I may study to be a doctor’ schpiel.

‘Come on, Josh,’ I
said after Mum had plied him with cakes and biscuits. ‘I’ll show you my room.’

‘And you must come and
have supper with us one night,’ said Mum. ‘I’m sure my husband would like to
meet you as well.’

‘That would be great,’
said Josh, getting up.

Once we got upstairs,
I showed him my room, then quickly went to the bathroom. The pre-gig nerves
were beginning to kick in and even though I’ve performed
a
number of
times before, I still get jittery inside. When I went back into my bedroom,
Josh was hanging out of the window, smoking a cigarette.

‘
Hey
, don’t
do that in here,’ I said, closing the door in a panic. ‘Mum will kill me.’

‘She won’t smell it,’
said Josh. ‘I’m smoking it out the window.’

‘You don’t know my
mum. She has the nose of a sniffer dog,’ I said and quickly lit a joss stick,
then sprayed the room with vanilla room spray. Josh stubbed out his cigarette
and threw himself back on my bed. It felt so weird to actually have him there
in my room, lying on
my
bed. If I was to choose an animal for how
others see him, I thought, it would be a panther. Lean, beautiful and ready to
pounce. Suddenly I felt awkward. I didn’t know where to put myself or how to
act. I think Josh was well aware off the effect he was having on me, and he
caught my hand and pulled me down beside him just as there was a knock at the
door.

‘Izzie,’ called Mum.
‘Can I have a word?’

I sprang away from
Josh and gave the room another spray. Oh poo, I thought. Is it because I closed
the door when I’ve a boy in my room or because she’s smelled the smoke. I went
out into the corridor and shut the door behind me.

‘Yes, Mum?’

She beckoned me into
her bedroom.

‘Close the door,’ she
said once we’d got inside.

Oh dear, she
definitely smelled the cigarette, I thought, as I shut the door. What a shame,
after it was all going so well.

‘I’ve taken on board
what you asked the other night about not saying things to you in front of
people, so…’

‘It wasn’t me
smoking,’ I started.

‘What do you mean?
Smoking?’ she asked, looking puzzled.

‘Um, er, didn’t you…
I mean… Why is it you wanted to see me?’

‘
Have
you
been smoking in your room?’

‘No. No. Course not.’

‘Because I won’t
tolerate it if you have.’

‘I told you I don’t
smoke.’

‘So what are you
talking about, then? Is Josh smoking in there?’

‘No,’ I said. It was
the truth. He wasn’t smoking in my room. At least, not any more. ‘Mum. What is
it you wanted?’

Mum looked at my
outfit. ‘I can’t let you go out looking like that,’ she said. ‘That basque
you’ve got on is too provocative. It gives out a message to boys, plus you’ve
got far too much make-up on for someone your age.’

‘But I’m performing,
Mum. On
stage
. Not going shopping in Tesco’s. I have to make an
effort.’

‘Just wipe a bit of it
off,’ she said. ‘Your eyes are too heavy and that lipstick’s too strong.’

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll
wipe it off. Can I go now?’

‘Yes, but please don’t
be sulky about it. I bet that nice young man of yours would agree with me. Most
men prefer girls to look natural.’

‘Yes, fine. Whatever,’
I said, heading for the door.

‘No, Izzie, I
mean
it. Find something else to wear or you’re not going.’

‘I’ll wear my velvet
top. OK?’ I said, thinking that the sooner Josh and I get out of here, the
better. And I knew I’d better act compliant as I was about to tell her
something else. ‘Oh… and Josh said he’ll give me a ride on the back of his
bike, so you don’t need to drop me.’

‘Bike? What bike?’

‘Motorbike.’

‘No, Izzie. I’m not
letting you go on the back of one of those things. They’re dangerous. I’ll drop
you and Mrs Levering will pick you up. I spoke to her earlier and it’s all
arranged. And eat something before you go. I left a sandwich downstairs for you,
as you’ll miss supper.’

‘I’m really not
hungry, Mum. I can never eat before a gig.’

‘Then take it with you
and have it later.’

Poo and stinkbombs, I
thought as I went back to my room. She’d have me going to the gig with a flask and
cucumber sandwiches if she had her way. She really has no idea. And I’d really
been looking forward to arriving at the gig on the back of a cool motorbike.
The boys in the band would have been well impressed, but no, Mrs Killjoy had to
have her way again. It’s not fair. I met her halfway and brought Josh here and
yet she still insists on treating me like a little girl who has to do as she
says.

As soon as Mum dropped
me off, I made a dive for the ladies, where I binned the sandwich she’d made
me, reapplied my make-up and took off the top that I’d put on over the basque.
Mum really didn’t understand. I couldn’t possibly get up on stage in front of
everyone, looking like I was dressed for afternoon tea with my grandma.

When I came out, I saw
that Spider had turned up and was standing with Josh at the bar, and my heart
sank. He gave me his greeting sneer, and for the first time, I started to feel
sympathy for the boy that Lucy had dumped for being too possessive. It’s hard
when you like someone but don’t want to hang out with their friends or family,
because people come as a package. It’s like - like me, accept my mum. Like
Josh, accept Spider.

Not long after, all my
mates arrived - Nesta and Tony, TJ with Lucy’s brothers, Steve and Lai, and of
course, Lucy.

‘Bring on the show,’
Lucy said, grinning. ‘Your fan club’s here.’

I grinned back.
‘Thanks.’ It felt great to have them all there and made it feel more like a
party than a performance in front of a strange audience.

I introduced Josh to
everyone and he insisted on buying a round of drinks.

‘What would you like,
Izzie?’ he asked.

‘Pineapple,’ I said.
‘Need to keep a clear head for the performance.’

‘A
drink
drink might take the edge off your nerves.’

‘Maybe later,’ I said.
‘In the meantime, I have to remember my lyrics.’

The girls asked for
Cokes, Josh and Spider ordered lager as usual, and when we’d all got our
drinks, we stood at the back of the hall and listened to the first band. They
were awful. Most of the time, I try to be supportive of fellow musicians, but
even Ben caught my eye from the front of the hall and grimaced. Spider,
however, wasn’t as subtle and started heckling.

‘Geddoff! Rubbish,’ he
called from the bar.

Josh laughed and went
to get more drinks, but I didn’t think it was funny. I thought it was really
uncool. I moved away from Spider so that the musicians on stage wouldn’t think
that I was with him. Josh saw me frowning at Spider and when he brought me
another drink, he said, ‘Lighten up, Iz. They
are
rubbish. Better
someone tells them so they don’t waste any more of their time.’

‘Give them a break.
They’re probably just starting out,’ I said. ‘I’m sure there was a time when
even Robbie Williams sounded bad.’

‘Doubt it,’ said Josh,
then took my chin in his hand, looked into my eyes and kissed me quickly. ‘You,
my dear Izzie, are far too nice.’

By this time, Spider
had started looning about, doing mad dancing in the middle of the dance floor.
Josh went to join him and soon people were looking at them and laughing instead
of watching the band. I felt so sorry for them, as I know it takes courage to
get up on stage.

‘Looks familiar,’ said
Nesta, coming over. ‘
Please
tell me that I was never that
embarrassing.’

‘Ancient history,’ I
said. ‘And at least you could dance.’

‘And what about Josh?
I thought he was ancient history.’

I shook my head. ‘Nah.
He’s all right, really. He’s got another side to him, once you get to know him.
He’s like a little boy who needs a bit of looking after.’

Nesta took a sip of my
pineapple juice, then looked at me with surprise. ‘Might be you who needs
looking after if you have any more of these. I thought you weren’t going to
drink again after that night at my house.’

‘What do you mean?
It’s only juice.’

‘Yeah, right,’ said
Nesta. ‘With a good measure of vodka in it.“

‘Ohmigod,’ I said. I’d
had two large ones. I was so thirsty and didn’t want my throat to be dry when I
sang. No wonder I was feeling light-headed.

‘Didn’t you know?’
asked Nesta

I shook my head.

‘You need to watch it
with him,’ said Nesta. ‘Slipping you drinks when you don’t know isn’t on.’

‘No, really, he’s OK.
He was probably trying to loosen me up, as 1 told him how nervous I was.’

‘That’s your problem. You
always see the best in people.’

‘And that’s yours. You
always see the worst.’

Nesta looked at me
with concern. ‘No, seriously, Iz. You take care with him. You might have
forgotten that he left you stranded the other night, but I haven’t.‘

‘But he apologised for
that,’ I said.

‘And that makes it all
right, does it?’

I didn’t like the way
the conversation was going. It felt like the great party atmosphere from
earlier had become heavy. ‘Look, Nesta, he’s OK. You should give him a chance
and get to know him. There are things going on in his life that you don’t know
about. Don’t be so judgmental.’

Nesta looked hurt and
I was about to apologise when Ben waved me over to get ready to go on stage.

‘Catch you later,’
said Nesta. ‘Have a good one up there.’

I felt confused as I
watched her walk back to Lucy and her brothers. What just happened there? I
asked myself as I went for a last minute lipstick check in the ladies. TJ was
in there combing her hair.

‘You nervous?’ she
asked.

‘Bit,’ I said.

‘And how’s the stud?’

I lifted the basque
and showed her. ‘It’s healed up nicely, see? I’ve been really good about
keeping it clean and it seems to have worked OK.’

‘Oh yeah. Looks great.
But what about your mum? Did she ever find out you had another one put in?’

‘Sort of,’ I said. ‘It’s
awkward. She read my diary. I know I put something about the new stud in there,
but I think she feels bad about having read it - knows she shouldn’t have - and
it’s been kind of unspoken since then. She knows, I know she knows, but neither
of us wants to say anything.’

‘Well, at least she
hasn’t told you to take it out again.’ ‘No. If she did, it would bring up the
whole diary reading thing again and I guess she doesn’t want to do that.’
‘Yeah,’ said TJ, slicking on some lip-gloss, then heading for the door. ‘OK.
Best of luck up there.’

‘Thanks… Hey, TJ. What
do you think of Josh?’ TJ hesitated. ‘Oh, I can’t say, Izzie. This is the first
time I’ve met him and we’ve hardly said two words. I can see why you fancy him,
but…’ ‘But what?’

‘Well, I know Lucy and
Nesta are a bit worried.’ ‘Why?’

TJ shrugged. ‘It’s
probably nothing, but he’s, well, he’s not like the rest of us, is he? You can
see he’s got an edge.’ ‘So? I think that’s what makes him so attractive.’ ‘I
know. Just, Nesta thinks he may be a bad influence.’ Suddenly I felt really
sad. So they’ve been talking about me behind my back, I thought. I hate that. I
always think if you have anything to say, say it to the person in question. That’s
what being mates is all about… but then maybe I’m growing away from mine. It’s
felt kind of weird with us all lately.