The Boyfriend Bet (4 page)

“Shut up!” I snapped at her. She was the one who had
asked the rubbish ‘hypothetical’ question, allowing Jay to be so damn rude to
me.

Jay turned round to look at me; he was grinning in that
annoying way he does. “Hey, don’t shout at me, I didn’t say I didn’t like it. I
actually think you look quite fit...in a chavvy kind of way.”

“Unbelievable!” I shouted. I picked up an empty coke can
that was lying on the pavement near my feet and threw it at him. He just
blatantly takes the pee out of me and I have never ever met anyone that makes
me so mad. And the worse thing was I was obviously playing into his hands, I
could see him laughing as he walked off down the road.

“You shouldn’t let him wind you up like that,” Sarah said
knowingly.

“I know” I snapped and then I stomped off towards my
front door. I was in a seriously bad mood.

“I think blonde hair would really suit you,” Sarah was still
going on. “You said the other day you wanted a change.”

“Yeah but how pathetic will it look? Jay says Riley likes
blonde hair and then the next thing I‘ve got blonde hair!” I protested, I was
running my fingers through my hair. I did want to do something to it but I
didn’t want to look that desperate to impress Riley, even if I am. My hair is
very boring - it’s a dull dark blonde colour or some people would argue it is a
very light brown, either way it is nothing to shout about.

“Oh go on, let me put some blonde bits in it at least,
I’m really good.” Sarah whined. Bex was pulling a face at me. “We can go to the
shop and get one of those highlighting kits. How hard can it be?”

“Look, blonde looks great on you!” Sarah was holding one
of Ella’s clip-in blonde extensions against my hair. Luckily, I had been right
about Ella going out and it was just as well because she would’ve gone mental
if she knew we were touching her stuff.

“I thought we were supposed to be finding out stuff about
Riley.” I tried to change the subject before Sarah started trying to dress me
in Ella’s clothes as well. To be fair, Bex was sitting on the window sill,
looking out.

“Oh that reminds me, look what I brought! Sarah excitedly
pulled a pair of binoculars out of her bag.

“What the hell?” I raised my eyebrows at her.

“Yeah ‘cos that’s not creepy at all,” Bex looked up from
the window.

“You want me to stand in the street and peer through the
windows with those? Don’t you think someone will notice?” I said slowly to
Sarah. Sometimes I really wonder about her.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk. Hopefully he’ll have his
light on and we’ll be able to see right in!” Sarah jumped up, pulled on her
jacket. I just stared at her, totally stunned. “And change out of those
bottoms!” She stared back at me.

 “C’mon don’t tell me you’re up for it as well!” I
stared at Bex as she stood up from the window sill.

“It beats sitting here waiting for nothing.” Bex shrugged
at me. I sighed, as I found my favourite skinny, ripped jeans and swapped my
‘chavvy’ bottoms for them and then I pulled on my leather jacket. I scraped my
hair up messily in a band as I followed the other two down the stairs.

Sarah was already down the garden path and was
shamelessly staring into the windows next door. “I was right! Bedroom light on
and curtains not shut!” Sarah was pointing to the window upstairs.

I lowered Sarah’s arm. I could see right in. No sign of
Riley yet. “Oh my god, just think his bedroom is right next to mine; my bed is
literally right next to his bedroom wall!” I shrieked. Now there was a good
thought! I suddenly didn’t care that our house was right in the middle of the
row. This was now very good news.

“Can you see anything?” I was tiptoeing now, I wanted to
see if he had any posters on his wall or anything that would give me a clue
about him. All I could see was that someone had painted the walls electric
blue. Wow, it was pretty cool in comparison to what it used to be like in
there. We had an oldish lady live there previously; she actually looked after
me and Ella once in an emergency. She was ok but it’s a bit more exciting to
have the hottest person in school living next door, and his bedroom is next to
mine! Did I mention that already?

“Erm I can see some boxes,” Bex whispered.

“Oh my god I think his bed is next to your bedroom wall,
like next to your bed!” Sarah shrieked.

“Only with a wall in between,” Bex said dryly.

“How the hell can you see his bed?”I asked.  I
looked at Sarah who was now standing on my garden wall with one hand clinging
onto the street lamp and the other hand was holding the binoculars and she was
staring intently into Riley’s bedroom. She clearly had no shame. Then the
curiosity of whether I actually sleep next to Riley (wall or no wall) got the
better of me. “Give me those!” I snatched the binoculars from Sarah just as I‘d
hoisted myself up onto the wall and was clinging onto the other side of the
lamppost for dear life.

“Not stalker-like at all.” I could hear Bex muttering. I
peered through the binoculars, wow I could see right in and then just on cue
someone looked out of the window. It felt like they were staring down the
lenses of the binoculars and directly into my eyes. I pulled the binoculars
away as quickly as I could manage. Jay was waving at us with that stupid
know-it-all smirk on his smackable face and then he shut the curtains. I
thought he’d gone out! Bex obviously failed to mention while spying out of my
bedroom window that he’d come back. I swear these two are useless!

“Bloody great!” I snapped at Sarah, “You were the one who
brought these and now I look like the totally weird, stalker freak that lives
next door!”

“You are.” Bex looked at me, her eyebrows raised.

“Argh! I just want to scream! There is something just so
totally and utterly infuriating about that Jay Jackson!” I spat.

“Why does he bother you so much?” Sarah said innocently.
“He’s actually quite cute, don’t you think?”

“No I do not bloody think so! He is so...so...annoying!”
I was practically yelling now. “And the worst thing is I have to go to bed
tonight and know that Jay Jackson is only about five feet away from me!” I was
already striding up the garden path, Sarah and Bex were sniggering. I felt like
throwing the binoculars at Sarah’s dumb head! I mean honestly, bringing
binoculars, you can probably get locked up for that sort of thing!

“If that’s Jay’s bedroom, then Riley’s must be at the
back.” Sarah’s eyes lit up just as we’d reached my bedroom again.

“Well, obviously,” I sighed, as I sat down on my bed.

“We could go out in the back garden.” Sarah continued.

“No!” I stared at her. What was I supposed to go
downstairs and tell Mum I was just going outside in the back garden to look
through the windows of the house next door?

“Have you still got that tree house?” Bex’s eyes were
lighting up and I knew what she was thinking. We’ve had a tree house at the end
of garden since, well since forever. I think it was already there when we moved
here when I was a baby. It’s in prime position right at the end of the garden.

“Yeah, but I haven’t been up there for years and Mum said
it’s unsafe, Peter isn’t allowed up there.”

“Yeah because Peter’s seven; are you sixteen or six? Do
you still have to do what your mummy tells you to do?” Bex was taunting me now
and I knew exactly what she was doing and it was working.

“No of course not, come on.” I got up and tried to make
my way down the stairs as quietly as possible. Peter was at his dad’s (yep, he
has a different dad to me and Ella) and I was pretty sure that Mum was watching
T.V in the lounge, so the coast was clear.

It was quite nippy outside and I couldn’t help thinking
how mad we were by the time we had walked to the end of the garden and started
to attempt to climb up to the tree house. There were basically just pieces of
wood nailed to the tree that were supposed to be a ladder. I was the first one
to the top, and despite the rotten wood and that damp woody smell, I have to
admit the view was amazing.

“Oh my god, he’s just got out of the shower!” I did one
of those excited shouty whispers that are actually really loud.

“What? Is he naked?” Sarah sounded a little too ecstatic
at the chance of seeing him in his birthday suit and she climbed the tree in
super quick time. She was soon standing beside me on the most unconvincingly
strong piece of wood but at that moment it seemed to be the last thing to enter
our minds.

“Nah, he’s got a towel on but still.” I whispered. Sarah
already had her binoculars out but I didn’t need binoculars to see that Riley
had a very nice, buff body. Sam, who the hell is Sam Smith? I am so over him!

“Hey I can’t fit up there!” Bex was whinging but we kind
of just ignored her, we had other things to think about. “It’s ok, there’s a
hole in the hedge and I can see right in!”

“Bex get out of their garden!” I hissed at her and I was
also slightly annoyed that she had made me divert my attention from Riley’s
bedroom window.

“Why hasn’t he shut the curtains?” Sarah whispered
without tearing her eyes away from the Jackson house.

“Maybe because he doesn’t expect anyone to be perving at
him round the back of his house,” Bex called up at us and as usual pointed out
the truth. It was true our houses weren’t overlooked from the back; we were
right on the edge of the estate and all that was behind the fences of our
gardens was a wooded area that eventually led to the playing fields.

“Who cares?” I muttered.

“Chuck us those binoculars, I wanna see!” Bex was calling
up to us again.

 “Oh my god, he is totally going to take that towel
off in a minute!” Sarah whispered.

“Give me the binoculars!” Bex was calling out again.
“It’s not fair, you two can see up there.”

“For god’s sake give ‘em to her and shut her up.” I
whispered to Sarah because someone was going to hear us if Bex kept shouting up
to us. Riley was doing his hair in the mirror on his wardrobe. I think he took
longer doing his hair than I did.

Sarah threw the binoculars down, supposedly at Bex. She
has such a lame throw and they crashed down loudly on the tin roof of the old shed
at the back of their garden which Bex was leaning up against in the shadows.

“Sarah!” I hissed at her. It was so loud even Riley was
now peering out of the window and Bex wasn’t helping the situation because in
her attempt to hide in the hedge, she was making more noise by tripping over.
God knows what was piled up around the shed but it was making a racket as Bex
was knocking it over and the hedge was now visibly moving to anyone who might
just happen to look out of the window to investigate the commotion.

Obviously Riley wasn’t the only one to see and hear that
something was going on out here. We could hear the backdoor unlocking, shit!
“Get those binoculars!” Sarah was whispering in my ear. The binoculars were
nearly in reach, we were right next to the shed roof up here. I grabbed a stick
and tried to hook the strap of the binoculars on to it.

“Dad, did you see something as well?” I could hear
Riley’s voice (he now had on a t-shirt and some jeans). He’d caught up with his
Dad who had now opened the backdoor and was peering out into the garden. Thank
god it was dark. “I saw someone out here.”

I leant over the side of the tree house. I had almost
hooked the binoculars. There was no way I wanted them to find these. I mean,
how dodgy would it look?

“What’s going on?” I could hear Jay’s voice now. Great,
just what I needed.

“There’s someone out here.”

“Really?” Jay didn’t sound surprised and I had a bad
feeling that he already knew it was us. I just needed to get those binoculars
back before they came down here to have a look and then found the binoculars
strap hanging suspiciously over the side of the shed.

“Have you got them yet?” Sarah barely whispered at me.

“Nearly.” I leant over further and I just about had them
hooked onto the stick. I was aware that Riley and his dad were slowly making
their way to the end of the garden, followed by the delightful Jay. I just
needed to pull the binoculars up and then we could keep still and hide up here
in the tree house.

“Bex, there’s not a lot of room up here, keep still!” I
could hear Sarah hissing at Bex who had now scaled the tree in her desperation
to hide and obviously had the same idea as me that the tree house was a good
place to not be seen. Well if we crouched down anyway.

I could feel Sarah being pushed into me as Bex was
desperately trying to duck down and then just as I was about to hiss at her to
keep still, the wood I was leaning on gave a loud crack and I screamed as I
fell through the air and out of the tree house.

Luckily or unluckily, whichever way you look at it, I
landed smack bang in the middle of the shed roof just as Riley, his dad and Jay
had made it to the end of the garden. As if that didn’t look bad enough my arm
was outstretched, stick still in my hand with the binoculars hanging from it
and dangling over the side of the shed.

“Hi!” I said as though it was perfectly normal to be
falling out of the sky. All three of them were just staring at me. “I
was...erm...the tree house is a bit rotten and old...” I tried to offer the
lamest explanation ever.

“What were you doing up there in the dark?” Riley’s dad
asked. He was talking ever so slowly to me, perhaps he thought I was mentally
unstable.

“And why have you got binoculars?” Jay just had to point
out. Riley was looking at me and I couldn’t read his expression, only that he
was completely stunned, probably by the revelation that his neighbour was a
complete nut.

“Erm...I was....bird watching, that’s it, bird watching!”
I said smugly. I could hear Sarah and Bex giggling.

“More like bloke watching.” Bex whispered, followed by
lots more sniggering. And if that wasn’t embarrassing enough I then had to
endure Riley’s dad helping me off the roof, telling me I was lucky I didn’t
fall right through and asking me If I was hurt and it was a good job he didn’t
call the police like he was going to.