by Lucy Connell
I’d paused for breath and then asked myself what on EARTH I was EVEN SAYING.
‘I don’t have a girlfriend,’ he’d replied calmly.
And then he carried on talking about something else, as though I hadn’t given the weirdest speech of all time.
Anyway, I’m glad my strange rambling didn’t put him off and he’s here now.
‘It must have been amazing growing up here,’ he says wistfully, pushing his hair away from his eyes.
I don’t know why, but the way he does it is entrancing and I don’t realize that I’m staring, admiring that thick dark hair and how nice his side profile is, when he turns and catches my eye. I quickly look ahead, out over the fields, pretending that I’m nonchalantly admiring the view and my cheeks aren’t burning with embarrassment that he caught me gawping at him.
‘Did you go on a lot of walks?’ he asks.
‘Um, yeah, we did. Mum was really into her walking when we first moved here. I think because it was good exercise and distraction as she tried to move on from Dad. We spent a lot of time running about the countryside trying to cheer her up and forget about him.’
‘How are things with your dad?’
I shrug. ‘Not great.’
‘Have you seen him again?’
‘No, but Nina has. She sees him every weekend. He’s helping her achieve her dreams.’
I look down at my boots and try to kick some of the mud off.
‘You don’t want to see him?’ Miles asks carefully.
‘I haven’t really been given the chance. I know I shouldn’t be surprised considering the history, but he’s taken the easy path. Nina is in London every weekend so he just ambushes her. He knows she’s so nice and so in awe of him, no matter what he did in the past, that she’ll go along with it. She always put him on a pedestal.’
‘Have you asked to join them?’ Miles suggests. ‘Maybe Nina could tell him to stop randomly showing up and actually organize something properly so you can be there, too.’
‘Nina has suggested that, but I get the feeling he’s not so keen. I’ll just spoil the lovely time they have together.’
Miles frowns. ‘That can’t be true.’
‘Why isn’t he showing up here then? He’s made no effort with me and yet is buying Nina expensive cameras and hiring singing coaches for her. I bet he knows about my website but he hasn’t sent me anything to help towards that.’
‘Wait, slow down,’ Miles says. ‘What’s this about a singing coach? Nina doesn’t sing, does she?’
‘He thinks it will help her win the Guildhall showcase if she has more strings to her bow,’ I explain, rolling my eyes. ‘Apparently, Dad thinks it will impress these talent scouts he’s organized to come to her show. But I thought she was supposed to be impressing the Guildhall teachers, not talent scouts. I don’t know. I asked her to stop telling me what Dad thinks and to tell me what she thinks and she went completely silent. I know she doesn’t want to do it.’
‘She should tell him that,’ Miles says sternly. ‘She is good enough to win without adding another string to her bow, or whatever you said.’
‘That’s my point exactly, but she doesn’t believe that. She thinks Dad knows best. They have their own little music bubble and I’m stuck here. On the outside.’
I kick my boot against the rail again and a lump of mud comes flying off.
‘You’re not stuck here,’ Miles says gently. ‘And you’re not on the outside. You’ve got your mum and Nina. And me. You’ve got lots of other bubbles to be in.’
I laugh. ‘Yeah. I guess that’s one way of looking at it.’
‘How does your mum feel about Nina spending all this time with your dad?’
‘I’m not sure. I think she finds it a little weirder than she lets on. And I know she’s hating that he’s not making any effort with me, because she keeps asking me if I want to talk about it and how I’m feeling, blah blah blah. At least she’s got this guy that she’s dating. He seems to make her very happy.’
‘You know anything about him yet?’
I shake my head. ‘She is being very secretive, but I know she’ll tell us when she’s ready. It will be nice to meet him and make sure he ticks all the boxes.’
Miles winces, before chuckling to himself.
‘What? Why are you making that face?’
‘Because I can imagine that you’d be the kind of person who would actually show up with a clipboard and a list to make sure he does genuinely tick all the boxes.’ He laughs.
‘Yeah, well, wouldn’t you if it was your mum?’ I say defensively. ‘She deserves the best. He has to be perfect. It’s nice to see her dating again, though. You know, she hasn’t really since we moved here.’
‘She was too busy dragging you and Nina on countryside walks.’
‘Something like that.’
I smile as a memory flits across my mind and Miles nudges me.
‘What? What are you thinking about?’
‘It’s stupid.’
‘Go on.’
‘It’s just … well, when we first got here, sometimes Mum would get a bit down. Understandably. She was amazing at being upbeat and positive most of the time, but sometimes something would remind her of Dad and she’d get this look on her face. I hated seeing her get that look. Nina has the same one. Their faces just cloud over with sadness.’
‘What, and you don’t have that expression?’ he asks curiously.
‘They overthink everything. Mum and Nina, I mean,’ I explain. ‘Anyway, I’d see Mum get this look on her face because she’d see a flower or something and it would remind her of the time Dad once bought her that kind of flower … you know, that sort of thing. And Nina would start getting really sad, too, so I had this … stupid thing I would do to cheer them up.’
‘Yessss? And that was?’
I bury my head in my hands, laughing. ‘I can’t believe I’m about to tell you this.’
‘You can’t not tell me now. I’ve never been more intrigued,’ he says. ‘Come on, Nancy. What did you do to cheer up your family when they were down?’
I take a deep breath. ‘I would run around the field and pretend to be Maria from The Sound of Music. The bit where she’s running across the hills at the beginning. It was so silly but it would make them laugh every time. It never failed to cheer them up. I haven’t thought about that in years, but now I remember so clearly running around the grass in circles, belting out that “hills are alive” song.’
‘I see,’ Miles says, his dark eyes shining. ‘Any chance of a demonstration?’
‘No. Absolutely no chance.’ I hold my hand out and look up at the sky. ‘I think it might be about to rain. I felt a raindrop then. We should start heading back.’
‘Oh, come on! You can’t tell me about this Maria-from-The-Sound-of-Music thing and not actually act it out.’
‘Yes, I can. I’m not showing you.’
‘I can’t picture it.’
‘Yes, you can.’
‘I need cheering up.’
‘No, you don’t.’
‘I’m going deep into my thoughts. I’m getting a clouded look on my face. Nothing will cheer me up at this stage apart from Maria from The Sound of Music, lead role played by Miss Nancy Palmer. Moving to the West End next spring.’
‘Nice try, Miles, but it’s not happening,’ I say stubbornly.
‘Why? Are you embarrassed? I’ll sing it first if you like and then you can come in. Join in when you’re ready.’
‘What? No.’
‘Let me get the right starting note and then you bring in the harmonies.’
‘Miles! I am not singing any harmonies with you! What are you doing?’
He hops down from the fence and takes a few paces forward.
‘I’m getting into character. I’m assuming that you didn’t just sing at your mum and Nina; that you did the moves too? You said you ran across the field, like Maria ran across the hilltop.’
‘I wish I had never told you,
’ I groan, as he clears his throat. ‘And it really is starting to rain. I definitely felt a raindrop that time. What are you doing? I’m not going to …’
Before I can finish my sentence, Miles throws open his arms and begins to bellow ‘The hills are aliiiiiiiiive’ while running round on the grass in a wide circle. I burst out laughing, almost falling backwards off the fence.
‘Come on,’ he says, pausing his performance to grin at me. ‘You’re supposed to have joined in by now with your beautiful vocals!’
‘You look ridiculous!’ I say through wheezes, as he launches into the second line of the song and runs round in another circle.
When a cow begins mooing along with his completely out-of-tune singing, I’m laughing so hard that I’m bent over double on the fence, clutching my stomach. It starts to rain but neither of us care.
‘The cows are coming in on the harmonies you are neglecting,’ he says, coming to a stop and holding his side. ‘Also, side note: Maria must have been in really good shape to do all this running and singing at the same time.’
‘That was beautiful.’ I grin, applauding him as he takes a bow. ‘Truly, I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘Well, you were right about the rain and you were right about a good Maria impression making people laugh,’ he says, as I wipe the tears from my eyes with my jacket sleeve. ‘It clearly works.’
‘And here I was thinking that you were merely a drummer for Chasing Chords. I had no idea that such vocal talent lay beneath the surface.’
‘Yeah, I keep that VERY well hidden,’ he says, coming to lean forward on his arms across the fence. ‘I let Chase steal all the thunder.’
As he talks about Chase, I notice his expression changes and he looks suddenly troubled, as though he’s just remembered something. He pulls up the collar of his jacket.
‘Everything OK?’ I ask. ‘You want to get out of this rain?’
He gives me a look. ‘It is gently spitting. I can hardly feel it.’
‘Well then, if you were putting on a sad face in order to try to get me to repeat your excellent performance, I’m afraid to tell you that it’s not going to happen.’
He smiles up at me, resting his chin on his hands.
‘Fine, I’ll let you off this time,’ he says. ‘It’s very sweet that you used to do that to cheer your mum up. She must have loved it.’
‘I used to do it when she was mad at me too. If she started talking about a bad report I’d got or something, I’d burst into song and start running around. Even if we were in public.’
‘So, it wasn’t just a performance confined to the muddy fields of Norfolk?’
‘Nope. I remember she was furious at me once when I skipped a lesson. When she started talking to me about it in the middle of a busy shopping centre, I turned into Maria and ran around singing about the hills. The other shoppers loved it and Mum had to forgive me; I was simply too adorable.’
He laughs. ‘That is genius. Music and public humiliation. No one could stay mad at you with such a combination.’
My phone beeps in his pocket and I give him a pleading look.
‘What if it’s an important message? It could be from Nina! Please, I promise I won’t look at the map and we can stay lost in these fields for no reason, even though it’s about to tip it down.’
‘Fine,’ he says, passing me my phone.
I groan when I see it’s a message from Layla:
Just a reminder to update the
music section today! We need
good stuff FAST. Jimmy’s website
is storming ahead. THIS CANNOT
HAPPEN
‘What is it?’ Miles asks, as I gladly hand the phone back.
‘Layla’s on at me about the website. My Tyler story is old news now and I haven’t exactly been able to match it. Our hits are continually dropping and I think it’s all my fault. I can’t seem to find anything good to report on. I feel so stressed about it.’
‘Why don’t you write about what you were saying when we passed that busker at the station? You said all that stuff about how much joy they can bring to passers-by. That would make a nice piece.’
‘I don’t think that would be good enough.’
‘What about what music means to you?’ he offers thoughtfully. ‘How it can bring people together?’
‘I’m not sure anyone would read that stuff. They want things a little more celebrity-based and exciting,’ I explain. ‘I have to think of something or All That Glitters won’t win the competition and everything I have going for me will be gone. This is exactly the reason Dad isn’t interested and Nina is the twin that everyone cares about.’
‘What?’ Miles blinks at me. ‘Explain.’
‘What else am I good at? This is it. I’ve found something I can do really well and people have begun to notice me again. But I haven’t been able to follow the Tyler story up with anything and so they’re all losing interest again. Next week it’s being judged and that’s it. Game over.’
‘So what you’re saying is, you need a new story to make things better?’
‘Yeah. You got any music friends with some new, big exclusive?’ I ask hopefully.
‘I do. I really do. I have a huge scoop!’
I feel a rush of excitement that he may be able to help. He points my phone at me and starts filming.
‘This is a BIG exclusive, for your eyes only. Nancy Palmer, THE Nancy Palmer, has kidnapped a ridiculously good-looking drummer and is now holding him hostage, completely LOST, in a field of suspicious cows. Nancy, what do you have to say for yourself?’
I narrow my eyes at him as he gives me a thumbs up.
‘Ready for your close up? I’m zooming in on your face!’ he whispers loudly. ‘Say something.’
‘It’s raining on my phone. Put it away.’
Miles gasps dramatically, before flipping the camera to selfie mode and filming himself.
‘She is truly mysterious. Will I ever make it out of here alive?’
I jump down from the fence and come into shot with him.
‘The truth of this story is that MILES is the one kidnapping ME, an innocent civilian, who isn’t allowed to look at her map and find us a way HOME before we both get soaked.’
He raises one eyebrow at the camera in an attempt to look suspicious. ‘Will we ever really know the truth?’
‘OK, stop recording now. You’ve made your HILARIOUS point. Now, I have this stupid video stuck on my phone, taking up valuable space. I thought you were going to give me an ACTUAL story.’
‘Wait, I have one more thing to say,’ he argues, as I grapple for my phone and snatch it out of his hands. ‘Spoilsport. I wanted what I have to say to go on the record.’
‘Oh really? And what’s that? Another exciting exclusive about mud being on your boot or something?’
‘No,’ he says, his tone suddenly serious. ‘That you’re wrong about Nina being the only twin that people care about.’
My eyes meet his and he smiles at me in that different way that he does. In the way that makes my stomach flip and my heart thud loudly against my chest.
He takes a step closer and, with no hesitation, he leans down and kisses me.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Nina
‘Can I be honest with you?’ Jimmy asks.
I lift my head up from where it’s been resting on the piano keys to look at his face on my phone screen.
‘Why not? At this stage, I really have nothing to lose so you can say whatever you want.’
‘OK.’ He takes a deep breath. ‘You need a break.’
‘Jimmy,’ I groan, ‘that is the LAST thing I need. I have so much to do. I can’t take a break now.’
‘Yes, you can. You need to. You remember that English exam last year? The one I worked so hard for that I messed up because I was tired and running on no energy? You remind me of how I looked then. Which, by the way, was terrible.’
‘Maybe I regret allowing you to be so honest.’
>
‘I was always going to be honest, whether you allowed me to or not,’ he says, grinning. ‘And you did wake me up at a ridiculous hour to talk, so you can’t expect me to be that nice at this time in the morning.’
‘It’s only eight a.m.’
‘On a Saturday. And we’ve been talking for forty minutes. But I forgive you. I need to try and get one last push for the website before voting closes, anyway. Have you voted?’
‘No.’
‘Why not? It’s so easy, Nina – the link is on the email that got sent round and it’s on the school homepage. All you have to do is click on it and it takes you straight to the voting page.’
‘That’s not the part of voting I have an issue with.’
‘Don’t tell me you’re letting your personal life get in the way of your professional judgement,’ he says, giving me a stern look.
‘What am I supposed to do, Jimmy? Choose between you and Nancy?’
‘Yes – everyone else has to. And hopefully they’re voting because of the content and the general excellence of the websites rather than on a popularity or personal basis.’ He sighs, knitting his eyebrows together. ‘Otherwise I don’t have a chance. Not only is their website really quite good, but Layla, Sophie and Nancy are celebrities at school. I could have sworn I heard someone gasp when Nancy walked past them the other day. How can I compete with that? No one gasps when I walk past.’
‘I’m sure that’s not true. And, if you want, I’ll start gasping every time you walk past,’ I say, stifling a yawn. ‘And your website is brilliant. It’s going to be a very close call.’
Nancy had been certain that All That Glitters wouldn’t make the shortlist for the student body to vote on. The competition was strong and, as much as she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to track down a good story to add to the website at the last minute, so their hits were much lower than they had been, something that wasn’t going to look good to the judges. Jimmy’s hits, on the other hand, were gradually growing every day, much to his total shock. Then the school announced this week that they were widening their vegetarian selection because of his petition. His website was really making a difference.
