Starting Over (16 page)

After our third session, he took my hand and looked deeply into my eyes. ‘India, I need to talk to you about something.'

‘Uhuh,' I said.
Riveting come back. Not. He's going to dump you,
said my inner Paranoid Penny.

‘You know I think you're fab . . .'

‘Uhuh,' I repeated as my inner Sensible Sadie thought,
You really must work on your conversation skills.

‘Well, I just wanted to make a few things clear and I hope you won't take it personally.'

‘OK . . .' I said as my heart beat a little faster and my inner Paranoid Penny perked up even more.
Oh God, here we go,
she groaned.
Dumped by someone you're not even that bothered about!

‘It's just . . . well, last year I was in a serious relationship and I don't want to get involved again so early on and I know that usually, at this stage of the game, girls start thinking that we're an item and expecting . . . you know, dates, little presents, phonecalls . . .'

I burst out laughing. He really was so full of himself. ‘You think I want a relationship with
you? As if.
Look, Hesketh, I've only just got to this school and I don't want to be tied down either so, a relationship with me? Dream on.'

Callum looked totally taken aback and I got the feeling that no one had ever said anything like that to him before. A new-found respect crept into his eyes and he pulled me close again.
‘Cool, Ruspoli. Good. So we're on the same page. Now? Where were we?'

Step one,
I thought.
You look at my bottom lip.

And so my new life drifted along. I knew my way around the school. I was almost up to date with my GCSE work and it no longer felt like I was studying totally different syllabuses to my last school. I had my make-do mates, Ruby and Nicole. We got on as long as I had no expectations and made no demands. I got their rules: I went along with
their
plans. I met where it was convenient for
them.
At times that were good for
them.
In between times, I had Mikey to sometimes walk home and have a laugh with and I had my casual boyfriend, Callum, who became keener and keener the more I kept him at arm's length. It wasn't an act either. I wasn't playing at being cool like I tried to do with Joe. I could cope. I could get by. I could compromise if I needed to. I was beginning to fit in.

And then Erin arrived.

Flight BA459 from Dublin had landed over forty minutes earlier. A whole crowd of people had come through Arrivals, but no sign of Erin.

‘She's probably been held up at the baggage collection point,' said Dad. ‘It can take ages to come sometimes.'

I craned my neck to see as the doors opened and more passengers came through pushing trolleys, scanning the waiting crowd.

Strolling along amongst the latest group of travellers, I noticed a pretty tall blonde girl dressed in jeans, navy Converse All Stars, a three-quarter-length black coat and an enormous blue scarf wrapped around her neck a couple of times. She was with a very attractive boy and was chatting away animatedly. She had an open face and looked like the type of person who
you could have a good laugh with. It was Erin.

I felt a wave of pure happiness flood through me and began to wave like mad as Erin's gaze searched the arrival lounge for us. She looked fabulous. Even better than when I left her at the beginning of the summer. Her hair was longer and the terracotta-coloured lippie she was wearing made her look more sophisticated.

‘Eriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!' I yelled.

She spotted me immediately, her face lit up, and she charged towards us, almost knocking over an old lady in front of her with her luggage trolley. We gave each other a dancing hug.

‘You look great,' she said.

‘So do you,' I said. ‘Totally.'

‘Hi, Mr Ruspoli,' she said, flashing Dad a grin. ‘Looking good too.'

‘Hi, Erin,' said Dad.

‘And who's this?' I asked as the boy she'd been chatting to caught up with us.

‘Oh, Jamie, this is my mate India who I was telling you about.'

The boy smiled and shoved a note into her hand. ‘My numbers. Call me,' he said, then set off towards a middle-aged woman who was waving at him further down the line.

Erin looked at me, raised an eyebrow. ‘Nice work, huh?'

‘Fast
work,' I replied.

‘We sat on the plane together. I pretended I was soooo nervous so he held my hand. Hahaha. Boys just love to act the big man, yeah?'

Dad rolled his eyes and laughed, took Erin's trolley and wheeled it off towards the short-stay car park.

And then we were off. Nattering, laughing, catching up, not drawing breath as we followed Dad out to Aunt Sarah's BMW. On the way home, we sat in the back and continued our catch up. It was like I had seen her only the day before and, for a brief moment when we were both quiet, I looked out of the window at the traffic on the M4 and thought,
I haven't felt this happy for ages.

When we got home and she'd done the tour of the house and been through my wardrobe and tried on anything new since I was in Ireland plus all my bracelets, earrings and bits of jewellery, she filled me in on everything about her life lately and I told her everything about my new life in London - about how quiet the house felt sometimes when everyone went about their busy lives, how lonely I felt some days without a real friend, how hard it had been catching up with my schoolwork, how I was supposed to be coming up with an awesome theme for the play and so far hadn't delivered anything, and finally how I'd seen some kittens who needed homes. Erin listened carefully to all of it and once again I realised how much I'd missed her and her genuine interest in me and my life.

‘So let's go and meet this Nicole and Ruby,' she said. ‘I want to see who you've chosen to replace me.'

‘Never
replace.
Ruby's gone to France. And Nicole's visiting her dad down in Bristol. Her folks are divorced.'

‘So good job I'm here,' said Erin. ‘You'd have been all on your own otherwise.'

I nodded. I didn't tell her that chances were I'd have been on my own even if Nicole and Ruby had been in town.

‘You got the number for the kittens?' she asked as she knelt on my bed and looked out of the window at the street down below.

I nodded and pointed at the details I had copied from the school noticeboard and then pinned up on the one I had behind my desk.

‘Cool. OK. Let's have some more carrot cake and then go and explore Londonium.'

‘Your wish is my command,' I said and disappeared downstairs to refill the tray with goodies we'd got in for her visit.

When I came back with a tray stacked with cheese scones, cake and hot chocolate, Erin was wearing one of my necklaces and a smug expression.

‘What?' I asked. I knew that look from old.

‘I got us an appointment.'

I felt the old familiar feeling. What was she getting us into now? Over in Ireland, she was always coming up with mad pranks or things to do. She's a Taurus, but has Aries rising, which explains why she rushes into everything headfirst. An appointment with Erin could mean anything from having a tattoo done to doing a dare (usually involving a boy) to pretending to be TV researchers (a great excuse to approach boys).

‘Okaaaaay,' I said. ‘With who?'

‘Kittens,' she said. ‘I called the number.'

‘But Aunt Sarah hasn't agreed yet.'

‘The lady who answered sounded nice.'

‘Young or old?'

‘Dunno. Old. She asked where I'd got the number and I said from your school and she said come right over. There are three left now so I reckoned we'd better get over there before they're all taken.'

‘But Mum will kill me and . . .'

‘We're only going to look, India Jane, and if you like one, you can reserve it and then we can both work on your Aunt Sarah when she gets back from land of the feta cheese. Oh come on. If we don't, someone else might get there first.'

I could see her reasoning. ‘OK. But we're not going to commit.'

‘Course not,' she said.

I looked up the address that she'd been given in my
A–Z
and ten minutes later, we had our jackets on and were on our way. It wasn't far and as we made our way along the streets, Erin fired more questions at me about Callum and Joe and Ruby and Nicole. It felt strange at first - as I hadn't talked so much about myself in ages - but I made sure that I asked her lots of questions back. I really wanted it to be a give-and-take equal relationship. Spending time with Nicole and Ruby had taught me that in a true friendship that it was important to have a balance.

Number fifteen was a semi-detached house on a road not far from Portobello Market. At the front was an open gate and
concrete forecourt in which were parked two cars, a silver Fiat and a black Mercedes.

We went up to the door and rang the bell. An elderly Indian lady in a white sari opened the door.

Erin flashed her a big smile. ‘We're here to see the kittens,' she said.

The lady smiled back at her and beckoned us inside. ‘Come. Come. You're Erin? Yes?' she asked as Erin nodded. ‘I'll fetch my daughter. Come. Come.' She held the door for us and we stepped into an immaculate cream hallway with a large Indian figure in the corner. From the four arms, I knew that it was the goddess Kali.

‘Pina,' called the old lady and, a few seconds later, an attractive lady with long dark wavy hair appeared. She was dressed in a navy suit and court shoes.

‘Hi,' she said. ‘Auntie said someone had called. You must be Erin and your friend . . .?'

I laughed to myself. Erin'd only been in London for two seconds and already introduced herself to the neighbourhood on the phone. ‘India Jane.'

‘Come this way and you can see them,' said Pina. ‘We hate to give them away but we have two cats already and can't keep them all.'

She led us into a light airy room at the back of the house and indicated that the kittens were in a box to the left of a brown leather sofa.

Erin was straight over. Like me, she's always loved animals -
at her house back in Ireland, her family have three cats, Beavis, Butthead and Buffy, an old dog called Nellie, a hamster called Spartacus and three black sheep - Beryl, Gloria and Doris.

I followed her over and knelt over the box. ‘Ohmigod,' I said as three adorable little faces looked up at us.

‘The black-and-white one is a boy and the two tabbies are girls,' said Pina.

I wanted all of them. The black-and-white one was lying on his back and the two girls were curled up together with their paws wrapped around each other.

The elderly lady came in. ‘Would our guests like a drink?' she asked.

Erin nodded, so I did too.

‘I'll bring you some lemonade,' said Auntie.

Pina handed me a piece of paper that had been tied to a string. ‘Here, they love to play with this. I'll go and help Auntie and you get to know the kittens. We haven't named them yet.'

As soon as she'd gone from the room, Erin was up looking at some photos on the mantelpiece. ‘These must be her children,' she said. ‘Nice-looking bunch. Ooh. And the boy's a cutie.'

‘Erin, those are private,' I said, but I couldn't resist going to have a look as well. I went over to join her by the fireplace. ‘Ohmigod!'

‘What?'

‘I know them. I mean her. I mean both of them. The girls.' In the photo were Leela and Anisha, standing with Pina and a handsome-looking boy who looked about seventeen. They
looked as though they were at an Indian wedding and were dressed in traditional style. ‘Leela goes to my school and I met Anisha in Greece. She works for my aunt over there.'

‘Bollywood babes,' said Erin. ‘And the brother's a total god.'

‘Yeah,' I agreed as we heard the front door open.

‘We have guests,' Pina called from somewhere.

‘Where?' asked a female voice I recognised as Leela's.

‘Come to see the cats. In the back room.'

Seconds later, Leela appeared with Zahrah and Brook. They were dressed in jeans, T-shirts and Converse All Stars (Leela's were pink, Zahrah's green with a stripe, and Brook's were turquoise). They all looked surprised to see me there and I felt totally embarrassed, like I'd been caught going through their private things. Not Erin though.

‘Hi,' she said and pointed at the navy Converses she was wearing, then at my red ones. ‘Snap. Cool sneakers.'

Leela smiled. ‘We're all members of the Converse club, hey? We ought to make up a secret hand sign.'

Erin nodded, made her eyes go crossed then did a strange trembly salute with her right hand. Leela immediately copied her and they both burst out laughing.

‘We're here to look at the kittens,' Erin continued. ‘They're so totally adorable, already we want all of them. Do you go to India's school?'