Sweet Hearts

by Jo Cotterill

  ‘After what you did yesterday, nothing should ever scare you again,’ said Sarah, who was brushing her hair nearby. ‘You were amazing!’

  Fliss smiled. ‘Thanks. But I was terrified.’

  ‘Well, you did the right thing. I never liked Samantha, but wow! What she did to you! What a—’

  ‘Let’s not get into a slanging match,’ said Fliss hurriedly. ‘She wasn’t very nice, but I think she was really insecure too. She did it because she was desperate.’

  ‘You can’t feel sorry for her,’ said Sarah. ‘Not after what she did to you.’ She nodded towards Fliss’s wrist, which was still heavily strapped. ‘You could have broken that. Or your neck.’

  ‘But I didn’t,’ said Fliss, thinking back to how Samantha had behaved once she knew she had been found out. She had been utterly humiliated, and she had begged Fliss not to report her to the police. ‘It was all show. She was confident on the outside but not on the inside.’

  ‘Not like you,’ said Sarah with a grin, and she went back to brushing her hair.

  ‘Hear that?’ said Mari. ‘Confident on the inside, that’s you. You don’t need to play a character now to be confident.’

  Candy came into the tent. ‘Beginners please!’

  Fliss looked at her friends. ‘But it’s time for all of us to play our parts,’ she said. She gave a sudden smile. ‘Thank you, both of you. I’d never have found the courage to do what I did if it hadn’t been for you.’

  Mari pretended to wipe her eyes. ‘Aw, stop it, you’ll make me cry.’

  Fliss held out her arms. ‘Group hug!’ The three girls hugged each other. ‘Now, off you go,’ Fliss told Victoria, ‘and it’s “Two Households”, all right?’

  ‘Oh, good grief,’ said Victoria. ‘My hands are shaking.’

  ‘Get on with it!’ said Mari, pushing her out of the tent and laughing. When Victoria had gone, Mari turned to face Fliss. ‘Now you,’ she said. ‘Just you make sure you go out there and blow them all away. Show your mum and everyone what you can do.’

  The applause was loudest for Fliss and Tom, and Fliss saw her mother sitting in the audience, clapping so hard her hands were a blur. She looked like she was trying not to cry. Fliss blew her a kiss, and the audience clapped even louder. Tom squeezed her hand, and she turned to look at him. It was as though for the first time that evening she was really seeing him properly – not through the eyes of Juliet. He was tall and handsome, and his eyes were soft as they looked at her. She felt her stomach flip. Maybe . . . maybe it wasn’t too late for her after all?

  Jeanette rushed into the tent as they came off stage. ‘Felicity! Where’s my daughter?’

  ‘Mum! You’re not meant to be back here!’

  ‘I couldn’t wait to see you,’ said Jeanette, her words tumbling out of her. ‘Oh, Fliss! You were wonderful out there!’ She pulled Fliss into her arms, oblivious to the amused looks from the other girls. ‘You were amazing! You made me laugh, made me cry – oh goodness, I cried such bucketloads at the end!’ She hugged Fliss even tighter. ‘I can see how much you love it, my sweet.’ She pulled back suddenly to look into Fliss’s face. ‘I still think acting is an unstable career,’ she said seriously, ‘but I can see you’ve got real talent.’ She took a breath. ‘I’ll do what I can to support you if you decide it’s really what you want to do.’

  ‘Oh, Mum!’ Fliss’s face lit up. ‘It is, it is! Oh, I’d be so happy if I could act!’

  Candy, coming into the tent, overheard this and laughed. ‘You’re already on your way,’ she said. ‘Jeanette, you’ve got a very talented daughter there.’

  ‘I know,’ said Jeanette proudly.

  Candy hesitated. ‘Fliss, I might as well tell you now. There was a friend of mine in to watch the show this afternoon. He’s a TV producer. He wants you to audition for a new series he’s working on.’

  The whole tent fell silent for a moment, and then there was an outburst of whooping and cheering. ‘Fliss is going to be on TV!’ yelled Mari, grabbing Victoria and jumping up and down. ‘Our little Fliss!’

  Candy laughed again. ‘Well, not yet. But maybe. He was very impressed with you,’ she said softly to Fliss. ‘You did well. That’s the best I’ve seen you perform.’

  Fliss could hardly speak, she felt so happy. But she felt she needed to explain something to Candy. ‘I can’t really remember the play,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I mean, I can’t remember performing it. I was just in another world the whole time.’

  Candy smiled. ‘I know. That’s what marks you out as such a good actor.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Jeanette, who was still looking stunned at Candy’s news. ‘Get out of your costume and we’ll go have a celebratory supper.’

  ‘I will,’ said Fliss, suddenly remembering something, ‘but can I meet you out the front? I need to do something before we go.’

  Jeanette lifted her eyebrows knowingly. ‘Something to do with that handsome young Romeo, I expect?’

  Fliss blushed, aware that Mari and Victoria were pretending not to listen. ‘Yes. I need to tell him something. Then I’ll come straight back out, I promise.’

  ‘I’ll look after your mum.’ Candy took Jeanette’s arm. ‘Let me talk to you about drama school,’ they heard her say as she left the tent.

  Mari gripped Fliss’s arm so tightly she yelped. ‘TV! Fliss, do you know what this means? This could be your big break! You could be famous!’

  ‘Get off me,’ Fliss laughed, pulling her arm away. ‘I’ve got to pass an audition first, Mari.’

  Mari flapped her hand as though that wasn’t important. ‘Yes, yes, but when you pass it – the world is your lobster!’

  ‘Oyster,’ said Victoria.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The world is your oyster. That’s the phrase.’

  Mari looked taken aback. ‘Is it? I’m sure it’s lobster, my mum always says lobster.’

  Fliss slipped out of her costume while the other two were arguing. She felt almost unreal, as though all these amazing things were happening to someone else. Maybe she was still playing Juliet, and none of this was real? She took a quick glance in her hand mirror before grabbing her bag and leaving the tent quietly. Mari and Victoria were still arguing. Fliss grinned. She’d see them later – or tomorrow maybe. But now there was something she had to do.

  Tom wasn’t in the boys’ tent, and for a dreadful moment Fliss thought he had already gone home. But then Sean looked up and saw her. ‘Looking for Tom?’ he asked.

  Fliss blushed. ‘Yes. Has he gone?’

  Sean shook his head. ‘He’s helping bring props back from the stage so they can be stored here overnight.’

  ‘Oh, thanks.’

  ‘Good luck,’ Sean called after her, but Fliss pretended she hadn’t heard. How did Sean know? Had he been talking to Mari?

  She heard Tom before she saw him. There was a sudden clatter from behind a bush and some rude words. ‘Tom?’ Fliss rounded the bush and saw that Tom had been carrying the swords and dropped them on his own foot. ‘You OK?’

  He looked up, rubbing his foot. ‘Yeah. Just tripped over something and lost my grip.’

  Fliss helped him pick them up again. ‘Um, Tom?’

  He started off down the path again. ‘Yeah?’

  She hurried after him. ‘Can we . . . I need to talk to you.’

  ‘OK, well, I’ve sort of got my hands full at the moment.’ Tom reached the boys’ tent and passed the swords to Sean.

  ‘Oh, Fliss was looking for you,’ said Sean. Then he caught sight of her. ‘Ah.’

  Tom turned to face Fliss. ‘So – uh . . . what did you want to talk about?’

  Fliss was uncomfortably aware of Sean listening inside the tent, and there were several other boys trying not to look interested too. Doug waggled his glasses at her. ‘Can we – go somewhere else?’

  Tom glanced back into the tent. ‘I guess so. Where?’

  ‘Um.’ Suddenly Fliss knew exactly where she wanted to go. Surprising herself, sh
e moved forward to take Tom’s hand. ‘Come with me.’

  Her heart thumping in her chest, Fliss led Tom out of the wooded area, across the clearing and up into the bandstand. The afternoon sun was losing its warmth and people were heading home. The bandstand was empty.

  Tom looked puzzled. ‘Here?’

  Fliss faced him. ‘Here.’ She took a breath. ‘I’ve got some things to say and I want you to just listen until I’ve finished, OK?’

  Tom nodded, his eyes fixed on hers.

  Fliss took another breath. You can do this, she told herself. You faced Samantha. In front of everyone. You can surely tell Tom how you feel about him. But this was a lot scarier than the confrontation with Samantha. She twisted her fingers together to try to give herself strength. ‘I have to tell you . . .’ she began, but that didn’t sound right. ‘I wanted to say . . .’ That wasn’t right either.

  Tom said nothing, but his gaze seemed to go right through her. Looking into his eyes, those deep blue pools, seemed to give Fliss the courage she needed.

  ‘Ages ago,’ she said, ‘you asked me to go for a burger or something with you. I turned you down.’ Tom opened his mouth, but Fliss hurried on. ‘No, don’t say anything. I turned you down because I was scared. I didn’t know how to be with you; how to even talk to you. I only felt confident when I was in character – playing a role. And when you started going out with Samantha, I thought I’d blown it. I thought you’d gone off me. But then there was that thunderstorm . . .’ Fliss’s voice faltered, and she cleared her throat. ‘The thunderstorm,’ she said more firmly. ‘And you – you were going to kiss me. And I really wanted you to.’ She looked earnestly at him. ‘Really wanted you to. But all the time, I knew you were going out with Samantha. And that made me scared again. I thought you were just messing around. To be honest, I didn’t know what was going on. But I was too scared to take that step – to risk it. And you already had a girlfriend! So I couldn’t do anything.’

  ‘Fliss . . .’

  ‘No, I haven’t finished.’ Fliss’s voice was beginning to shake again, and she knew she was coming up to the hardest part. ‘I don’t know why you went out with Samantha. I don’t want to know. But now you’re not . . . and what I wanted to say was . . . I really like you.’ She glanced up into his eyes again. ‘I can’t stop thinking about you. All those rehearsals we had together – I looked forward to them because I was going to see you. And I still feel that way. So . . .’ Here it came. ‘So if you want to . . . I’d really like to go get that burger sometime. If you want.’

  There was a long silence after Fliss had finished. She felt as though something heavy had been lifted from her shoulders. She had said it! And it hadn’t been the end of the world!

  But what would Tom say?

  He stared at her for a long moment, and then he smiled. It was the most beautiful smile in the world to Fliss. She felt the corners of her own mouth curl up in response. And then he was laughing and shaking his head, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Fliss felt a quiver of fear. Did he think she was joking?

  ‘You,’ he said. ‘What are you like? I thought you were this little mouse – and now it turns out you’re a lion!’

  Fliss smiled uncertainly. ‘Is that good?’

  He reached out to touch her face and his eyes softened. ‘It’s very good,’ he said gently. ‘You’re so amazing. I thought you were amazing at our first rehearsal. But you always seemed so quiet. I couldn’t tell what you were thinking. I thought you weren’t interested.’

  ‘I was, I was,’ whispered Fliss, mesmerized.

  ‘But you didn’t say anything.’ Tom sighed. ‘I never asked Samantha out, you know. It just happened somehow, and I wasn’t strong enough to say no. And I thought you didn’t care . . .’ His hand stroked her hair. ‘But now I know you do . . .’

  His face was inches away. ‘Yes?’ breathed Fliss. She couldn’t move.

  ‘I can see why you wanted to talk here,’ said Tom softly. ‘It’s the perfect place, isn’t it? No more playing a character. No more pretending to be someone else. Just you – and me.’ He bent his head to hers, and Fliss thought she might faint from the overwhelming feeling that was sweeping from her toes up to the top of her head.

  ‘Fliss! Fliss! Where are you?’

  It was Jeanette’s voice. Tom paused. He was so close Fliss could feel his breath on her cheek. He smiled and said, ‘Looks like we’re being interrupted again.’

  ‘I don’t care,’ Fliss whispered back. She had waited so long for this moment, she wasn’t going to let anyone take it from her! Without even thinking, she reached out and cupped Tom’s face with both hands. Then she kissed him on the lips.

  It was only a short kiss but it felt like it lasted for hours. Tom’s lips were soft and warm and Fliss thought for a second that her feet had left the ground. Nothing existed around her. It was only Tom – Tom and nothing and nobody else.

  When she pulled back, Fliss was smiling. Tom looked dazed. ‘You are the same Fliss, right?’ he said in a shaky voice.

  She nodded. ‘A sort of new and improved version, maybe.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘Yeah. Yes, I think so.’ She grinned at him. ‘So, call me, OK? And we’ll go out for that burger. Right?’

  ‘Right.’ He grinned back. ‘I guess you’re in charge. And, can I just say again – wow. I’m going to like getting to know the new you.’

  Fliss shook her head. ‘It’s the same as the old me. With a bit more confidence, that’s all.’

  ‘I like it.’

  ‘See you then.’ Fliss jumped the last few steps to the grass, leaving Tom standing in the middle of the bandstand, his curly hair ruffled and his deep blue eyes never leaving her. She picked up her bag and started across the park. The smile spread across her face, wider and wider, as she thought about all the incredible things that had only happened in the last day. The memories fizzed up inside her like fireworks and suddenly Fliss exploded into laughter.

  Fliss ran across the grass, faster and faster, as the light faded from the sky and the stars came out.

  About the Author

  Jo Cotterill has worked as an actress and a teacher, but now writes full time in her writing shed in her back garden. She lives in a little village just outside Oxford with her husband and daughter. Jo plays the flute quite well and the piano quite badly, and loves cheese more than anything – even chocolate!

  SWEET HEARTS: STAR CROSSED

  AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 9781407096742

  Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK

  A Random House Group Company

  This ebook edition published 2012

  Copyright © Jo Cotterill, 2010

  First Published in Great Britain

  Red Fox 2010

  The right of Jo Cotterill to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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