I Think I'll Just Curl Up and Die (7 page)

Laura peered through the semi darkness.

It was Jon.

Laura gulped.

‘Hi Jon,' she said. Perhaps there was a God after all.

‘Oh, it's you,' he muttered, without quite the degree of enthusiasm Laura would have liked. ‘I might have guessed. So you're as clumsy on foot as you are on a bike, I see.'

‘Sorry,' said Laura, cursing herself for not appearing more sophisticated. ‘I've got a lot on my mind – I wasn't thinking.'

‘That,' said Jon, ‘is abundantly clear.' Suddenly he brightened. ‘Er – have you come here with Sumitha?'

‘Not really,' said Laura, who was not about to have her rival intrude on this precious conversation, even if she was now spoken for. ‘Did you come with Rob? Chelsea never said.'

‘Yes – I think he's hoping that girl Mandy Fincham will be here,' said Jon, with a grin. ‘I reckon he's got the hots for her.'

I wonder how that little gem of information will go down with Chelsea, thought Laura.

‘Is Sumitha sitting with you?' he persisted.

‘No, she's on the floor, dancing,' snapped Laura. And then remembered that
Yell!
magazine said that bitchiness got you nowhere and that snide remarks were a turn off. ‘But yes, she is with us,' she admitted grudgingly.

‘Oh good,' said Jon. ‘Over here, is it?' he added gesturing towards where Jemma sat in splendid isolation.

He headed off in the direction of their table, all the time peering anxiously around the dance floor. Laura thought
desperately for something to say. ‘Did you have a good summer?' Damn, she thought; that was a naff line for a start.

‘What? Oh, yes. Yes, it was as a matter of fact,' said Jon, frowning as he watched Bilu and Sumitha gyrating wildly under the spotlights.

‘Did you do loads of drawing?' she asked.
Show an interest in their hobbies
, the article had said.

Jon looked at her properly for the first time.

‘Yes I did. How did you know that I draw?'

‘Jemma Farrant told me you want to be a cartoonist,' said Laura. ‘She's one of my best mates – she lives next door to you.'

‘Oh, yes, the chubby one,' Jon said vaguely, his gaze darting round the room.

Sadly, he said that just as they came within earshot of where Jemma was sitting morosely sipping her drink. That's it, thought Jemma, tears pricking behind her eyes. That is it. From now on, I'm giving up calories, carbohydrates and fat. She pushed her Pepsi away – she wasn't sure whether it was a diet one or not and she wasn't taking any chances.

‘Is Sumitha related to that guy she's with?' Jon asked. Perhaps there was a perfectly logical explanation for them being together, he thought.

‘Very distantly, I think, but not so as it counts,' said Laura. ‘Well, put it this way; because he is some sort of distant relative of some cousin a zillion times removed,
Sumitha's dad approves of him. Sumitha approves of him because she is madly in love.' Put that in your pipe and smoke it, she thought.

‘With Bilu?' said Jon. ‘Sumitha fancies Bilu Chakrabarti?' He sounded both incredulous and wounded.

‘You know him?' asked Laura.

‘Yes – he's in the Sixth Form at my school,' said Jon.

Of course, thought Laura. Sumitha had said he went to Bellborough Court.

‘I don't think it is at all a good idea for Sumitha to be seeing him,' continued Jon. ‘He's a right self-opinionated, spoiled …'

‘Well, I'm sure that Sumitha is quite capable of looking after herself,' said Laura. This conversation was not going at all the way she had planned.

‘Anyway, he's going around with another girl in the Sixth Form – Natalie someone or other. Mind you, he changes girlfriends like most people change their socks,' he added bitterly.

Just then, Sumitha and Bilu reappeared with Chelsea and Rob.

‘Hello, Sumitha, how are you?' said Jon. ‘You look great,' he added shyly.

‘Hi, Jon,' said Sumitha without taking her adoring eyes off of Bilu's face.

‘Well, if it isn't old Joseph,' said Bilu, slapping Jon on the back and causing the contents of his second glass of Dr Pepper to shoot over his shirt. ‘Year Eleven night out, is it?
Watching how the big boys perform?' And he laughed loudly at his own wit. Sumitha joined in, although she wasn't exactly sure what she was laughing at.

Jon said nothing. Beside Bilu, he felt clumsy and stupid. Rob shot him a sympathetic glance – he knew Jon was crazy about Sumitha but he got the feeling he was on a loser there. That was the trouble with girls; the ones you just wanted to be good mates with kept coming on strong and the ones you wanted to snog never took a blind bit of notice of you.

They all danced a lot more – all, that is, except Jemma, who by ten o'clock, was feeling really miserable. Everyone seemed to have boys after them except her. She just wanted it to be time to go home.

‘This is a cool place, isn't it?' said Sumitha to Bilu.

‘Not really my scene,' said Bilu. ‘OK for kids, but if you ask me, it's all a bit tame.'

‘Well, yes, I suppose it is really,' said Sumitha hurriedly.

He put his arm round Sumitha, who went all weak at the knees. ‘I know, let's you and me go burn some rubber,' said Bilu.

Sumitha looked mystified.

‘Pardon?' she said.

‘The car, silly!' Bilu smirked. ‘Let's see how she goes on the open road. We could bomb over to Ditchford Common.'

Sumitha was apprehensive. ‘Well,' she said, ‘Dad did say just to come here and straight home – and if I don't …'

‘Oh well, if Daddy's rules mean more to you than an evening with me, then I'll go and find someone who …'

‘No, no,' interrupted Sumitha in a panic. ‘It'll be OK. He'll never find out. They're dumb rules, anyway,' she added boldly, glancing appealingly at her friends who were listening in astonished silence.

‘Um, Sumitha,' began Jemma, ‘don't you think you ought to … '

‘Oh loosen up, Jemma – you sound just like your Mummy,' said Sumitha cuttingly. The others exchanged glances. This was all totally out of character. Bilu headed for the door.

‘Sumitha, you can't – you'll land yourself right in it with your dad if you don't watch out. Shouldn't you at least phone?' Laura piped in.

Sumitha chewed her lip. Then she took a deep breath and said, ‘See you around,' in a voice which didn't sound a bit like her normal one, and ran after Bilu.

Jon let out a long, slow sigh. He stared into his glass for a couple of moments and then, turning to Laura, he said, ‘Do you want to dance?'

Laura nodded eagerly. She'd done it. She had driven off the opposition. She had Jon all to herself.

For the next hour, she didn't give her mother's pregnancy or her own approaching sisterhood another thought.

Sumitha sat rigidly in the passenger seat as Bilu took bends at what seemed like breakneck speed. He had put the roof down and the wind was making her eyes water.

‘This is some machine, isn't it?' said Bilu, as he accelerated even more. ‘It's got ABS, alloy wheels – and just wait till you hear this audio system.' He pressed a button and Mashing Swede filled the air.

He accelerated over a hump back bridge and Sumitha's stomach lurched uncomfortably.

‘Can we stop for a bit?' she asked tentatively as the speedometer crept up to eighty.

Bilu turned to look at her. ‘Well, yes, if you like,' he said. ‘If that's what you want.'

He pulled into a lay-by and switched off the engine.

‘And to think I thought you were a timid little thing,' he said, pulling her towards him.

He's going to kiss me, thought Sumitha. Properly. Just wait till I tell the others.

Bilu planted a kiss on her lips and ran his fingers through her hair.

Sumitha closed her eyes. I am in love, she thought. And I like it.

What happened next took Sumitha completely by surprise. Bilu kissed her again, but this time pushing his
tongue into her mouth and letting his hands stray into the top of her shirt. He held on to her hair and it hurt. She pulled away hurriedly.

‘Hey,' said Bilu. ‘What's with you? That's what you wanted to stop for, wasn't it?'

‘No – yes – I mean,' began Sumitha. She wasn't going to admit that until that quick kiss in her grandmother's garden in Calcutta she'd never been kissed before – she dreamed about what it would be like but somehow this wasn't quite what she had imagined. In her imaginings, he would gaze into her eyes, and tell her she was exquisitely beautiful and that he would die without her. Then he would kiss her gently on the lips and do some more gazing. She wasn't sure about this fumbling bit.

She gulped. ‘I wanted to stop because I didn't like driving so fast,' she admitted.

‘Oh yes?' said Bilu mockingly. ‘Pull the other one.' He looked at her through half closed eyes. ‘You're a funny little thing, aren't you? One minute you are giving me the come on and the next you are acting all prim and proper. But of course, if you don't like being kissed … '

‘Oh, I do, I do really,' said Sumitha.

‘Good,' said Bilu and kissed her again, running his hands up and down her legs.

Sumitha chewed her lip. ‘I, er, perhaps we should be getting home,' she stammered. ‘You don't want to get into my dad's bad books for being late.'

Bilu threw back his head and roared with laughter.

‘Don't you worry about that,' he said. ‘I got your dad sussed the first time I met him. For him, I shall be the perfect Bengali boy, all charm, good manners – and celibacy. For you, babe, I aim to be rather different.'

And with that, he turned the ignition, threw the car into gear and with a screech of tyre on tarmac spun the car round and headed back into Leehampton.

What did he mean, giving him the come on? wondered Sumitha as Mashing Swede enquired,
‘Tell me girl, can you handle this?'
. Am I really prim and proper? If I am, he won't like me. I'd better change. Fast.

Which was not one of Sumitha's best ideas as events were to show.

‘They're late, Rajiv.' Mrs Baneji drew back the sitting room curtain and peered out into the street. ‘We said eleven-fifteen and it is nearly eleven-thirty. I knew we should have insisted they went with Mrs Gee.'

‘Don't worry so, Chitrita,' said her husband, putting down his newspaper. ‘We know she is in good hands – I expect there is a lot of traffic.'

Mrs Banerji sighed. Her husband seemed so sure that Bilu was perfection personified; only a few months ago he was forbidding Sumitha to go to clubs at all and now, just because of Bilu, he seemed totally calm about the fact that she was late coming home. And Bilu was driving that flashy car. She didn't approve of young people having everything handed to them on a silver plate but then, the Chakrabartis were very rich. Mrs Banerji knew well enough that, no matter what, he was a seventeen-year-old boy and her daughter was an impressionable and somewhat repressed fifteen-year-old. It didn't take a university education to work out that those were dangerous ingredients.

Just then, the car drew up outside. Mrs Banerji gave up a silent prayer of thanks and sat down in her chair, trying to look nonchalant.

Sumitha and Bilu came in, Sumitha looking somewhat apprehensive, Bilu his normal confident self.

‘Mr Banerji, sir, how can I apologise enough?' began Bilu. ‘Sumitha felt a little faint – the heat in the club I expect, so I drove very slowly to make sure she was all right. Do please forgive me for being late.'

‘That is all right, Bilu,' said Rajiv graciously. ‘Don't apologise. And thank you for taking such good care of my daughter.'

Sumitha's eyes nearly popped out of her head. She had expected a lecture for them both.

Her mother kept silent. The high colour on her daughter's cheeks did not quite tally with Bilu's story – and
Mrs Banerji had also noticed the look of guilt that crossed Sumitha's face when illness was mentioned.

‘Bed now, I think Sumitha,' said her mother.

‘I too shall retire,' said Bilu. ‘Thank you so much again for your hospitality, Mrs Banerji – that lamb biryani was so good at supper.' He smiled.

Mind you, he is a nice boy, thought Chitrita. Perhaps I am reading too much into things.

When Chelsea's mum had arrived at the club to fetch the girls, she had been feeling very uptight. Her producer had phoned to say that he didn't want to upset her but he couldn't help feeling that her performance on the show that morning hadn't been up to her sparkling best; Warwick had informed her that he needed eight hundred pounds for the first term's rent at uni, and worst of all, Barry still wasn't home and he hadn't even phoned to say where he was.

Ginny was beginning to feel like those women who kept writing to her agony column – angry with him for being so insensitive and angry with herself for yelling at
him so much lately. She knew she hadn't been in the best of moods since the holiday. She did hope nothing had happened to him. Perhaps he was with another woman. Oh no, he couldn't be. He wouldn't. If he was, she'd kill him. Dead.

As they had pulled into Thorburn Crescent, Mrs Gee had uttered an oath under her breath. Completely blocking her driveway was a huge white van, its rear doors wide open and banging in the breeze.

‘What the blazes … ?' she began. And stopped. Barry was staggering down the drive clutching a pile of copper pans and wearing, of all things, a chef's hat and butcher's apron.

She wound down the window.

‘Where on earth have you been? ' she snapped, relief that he was all right making her irritable. ‘I was worried sick. And whose van is that blocking our drive?'