Best Player: A Romantic Comedy Series (Dreaming of Book 1)

by Anne Thomas

  Louis and John had sat right on the end of a full row of computers, leaving Antal and myself to sit on two computers away from everyone else. I had been fiddling with the mouse mat, and he'd been staring at me, chin propped on his hand.

  "Huh?" I asked, attempting to raise one eyebrow.

  "Is it your birthday soon?" he repeated, one corner of his mouth quirking up.

  "Uh-huh." I nodded. "Next week. Monday."

  "Are you happy?" As he spoke, he turned back to the computer momentarily to tap in the password to access the website.

  "Happy? What d'you mean?" I successfully managed to peel the fabric covering from the foam on the mouse mat, and then carefully patted it back down again.

  "Are you..." He paused, not sure how to continue. "Happy for it?"

  "Excited," I supplied for him, and he nodded. "Yes, I suppose. How did you know it was my birthday?"

  He grinned. "John was talking to you." I knew what he meant: all week, John had been pestering me about my birthday, trying to force me to have a party or get together of some kind. I'd refused, because I couldn't think of anything to do, so I insisted that Halloween was my birthday party and left it at that.

  None of them were particularly satisfied, but who cares?

  "I shall get you a gift," he promised.

  "You don't have to," I frowned, biting my lip. "Please, I don't expect..."

  "I want to get you a gift," he assured me, shrugging, as a rubber flew over to our area of the IT room, courtesy of John. It hit Antal's monitor and landed on the desktop with a dull thud, and I twisted around in my seat to shout at John.

  "I shall get you a gift," Antal repeated as I turned back to my computer. This time, I didn't bother protesting, because after all – I'd secretly be delighted if he got me something. It was just another reason to be excited for my birthday.

  My birthday rolled around, and it was one of those birthdays where it's like you don't even feel like anything special is happening. Apart, that is, from when I got presents, but you know.

  My mother woke me up early with a cup of tea and a KitKat, wishing me a happy birthday. It was very nice of her, but I felt like pouring the tea over her head. I was pretty tired.

  I never got the chance to go back to sleep however before Gareth, Pete, Matty and Pascal all poured themselves into my room, chattering loudly for such an early hour. I glared at them all fiercely, even as they dumped presents in my lap.

  "Joyeux anniversaire!" Pascal shouted, tripping over my sheepskin rug and falling onto the bed with me. "You are fifteen!"

  "I know," I responded dryly, dabbing at myself where my tea had slopped over the edge of the cup from Pascal's fall onto the bed.

  "Open my present first," Pascal ordered.

  "Yours and mine," Matty corrected, perching himself on my computer chair. Gareth clambered onto the bed with Pascal and me while Pete decided to sit on the amplifier I got when I was ten.

  "Whatever," Pascal said dismissively, waving a hand in the air. She picked up two presents from the four. One of them was square-shaped and neatly wrapped (Matty's doing, most likely) and the other was odd-shaped and knobbly, basically bungled into paper and then taped (Pascal's doing, probably).

  "This one first," Pascal said, thrusting the odd-shaped one at me. I carefully placed my tea back down on my bedside table and took the present from her, pulling off the Barbie wrapping paper.

  "The paper is meant to be ironic," Matty explained. "Pascal, you should have given her the card first."

  "But the card isn't very interesting," Pascal frowned, and then grinned me.

  The paper came off very easily. Underneath were a lot of bracelets – all gold or brown in colour, some bangles and some beads, and one delicate-looking chain with little trinkets hanging off it.

  "They shall complete your outfit," Pascal informed me, and then she nudged the next present towards me. Carefully, I rested the bracelets next to my cup of tea and took the rectangular present into my hands.

  I struggled to open it, and shot a glare at Matty. "Bloody hell, Matt," I frowned, "What you wrap this with? Superglue again?" I kid you not; he once did wrap all his presents with superglue.

  He actually looked a bit sheepish, so I shook my head. Finally, I managed to tear all of the paper off to reveal a small hardback book. The title, written in bright pink lettering on a purple background, was "Le Livre de L'amour". The something of love. I groaned.

  "It is a book of romance tips," Pascal beamed.

  "In French," I added for her, and she nodded. "Why?" I decided to ask. "I don't speak French."

  "No, but Billie does."

  "Are you suggesting I should get him to translate?" I demanded, and she nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

  "But of course," she giggled. "Or you can try some of the chat up lines on him."

  I flicked through the book. While I knew it was an old language, it all looked like gibberish to me. "I would," I replied testily, "If I even knew what the chat up lines were..."

  "Open mine next," Gareth requested, yawning. "I wanna go back to bed."

  "No one's stopping you, kid," I replied, opening his card first. I propped it on my bedside table and ruffled his hair. "Thanks."

  His present was wrapped in blue paper covered in teddy bears, which I think my mother bought so she could wrap our cousin's christening gift a few months earlier. It was rectangular in shape but it was softer, bendy. When I opened it, I found this adorable leather-bound notebook with handmade paper. It had a little leather tie so you could close it.

  I love notebooks.

  "Cheers, kid," I grinned, flicking through the empty pages. "Where'd you buy it?"

  "Continental market," he shrugged. "We went the other week."

  I hadn't gone because I had an essay to write for history. I gave him a one-armed hug and then picked up Pete's card.

  "Look, Nerys, I'm sorry about the card," he winced, before I'd even pulled it out of the envelope. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

  It was a kids card, to be quite blunt, complete with stupid little rhyme about sugar and spice and all things nice, and a crap cartoon to boot. I snorted.

  "Your handwriting hasn't improved," I teased him, eyeing his childlike script.

  "Shut up," he grumbled.

  His present was better: Death Note and it's sequel, Death Note: The Last Name. I'd wanted them for ages, but they'd always been too expensive in the shops at Llynmawr Mall.

  "Thanks, Pete," I smiled. "I might have to invite Sharon and Siân over to watch them," I then mused. They were, after all, fans of these films too.

  I kicked them all out of my bedroom then, but I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to go in the bathroom first and have a shower and get ready for school. This meant that while Gareth was still running around upstairs I was sat downstairs making my way through a bowl of cereal, having a one-sided argument with some woman on GMTV.

  "Having fun there, princess?" my dad asked as he strolled into the kitchen, looking highly sleepy.

  "Yeah," I told him.

  "Happy birthday," he then said, dropping a kiss on top of my head. "So what's the argument about?"

  "Breastfeeding." I scooped some more cornflakes onto my spoon and then eyed the TV perched on top of the fridge. "Be thankful Mum's not here or she'd be yelling the house down," I reminded him.

  "That is true," he agreed, dropping a teabag into his mug.

  "What's true?" my mum asked, bustling into the room with a brightly wrapped present tucked under one arm and a pale pink card in her hand.

  "Nothing," my father and me said together.

  She frowned at us, but then handed me the present and the card. "Happy birthday, cariad," she said with a large smile. "This is from both of us."

  "Thank you," I said as I tore the wrapping paper off a box of perfume. I recognised it as being my mother's favourite.

  "I know you like it, so I thought you might as well have your own bottle rather than having you keep on sn
eaking into our room to steal mine," my mother explained, while I removed the bottle from its box and gave a few good squirts onto the inside of my wrist.

  "Thanks a lot," I smiled, standing up to give them both hugs.

  I arrived at school about an hour later, and the bell had already rung for form time (we'd been late because Gareth had found a spider in his bedroom and refused to leave the house until my father disposed of the eight-legged creature. He's such a girl sometimes).

  I walked straight into form to find everyone, including Miss Moore, staring at me, and then I looked down and realised why. Glyn, sat on the front row, was brandishing a bouquet of marigolds at me, while in the row behind him, Beth fought her hardest not to giggle. Sat just next to him, Louis wore a similar facial expression to Beth.

  "Happy birthday," Glyn said in a proud voice, waving the marigolds. I reached down and took them gingerly, my brow furrowing even though I was trying to put on a grateful smile for his benefit.

  "Uh, um, thanks, Glyn," I said, lifting the marigolds up to inspect them. Bloody hell, I thought to myself, and then looked down again as Louis slid a box of Celebrations towards me.

  "Happy birthday," he said as I tucked the box under one of my arms and made my way round to sit in the chair next to Beth.

  "Thanks, Louis," I said.

  "I didn't know what else to get you so me and Adam figured that chocolate was our best bet."

  Beth reached across the table and slapped Louis across the back of the head.

  "I should know what to expect from Adam, then?" I giggled, resting the marigolds and the box on the desk in front of me. I pulled my bag up onto my lap and put the box inside it.

  "Are you doing anything this weekend, Nerys?" Glyn asked, twisting around in his seat.

  "Um, yes, actually, family dinner," I replied, glad that, for once, I was not lying to him. The dinner was for my birthday.

  "Any chance of an invite?" he asked hopefully.

  "Afraid not. Strictly family only," I now lied. In the past, a few of my friends had come over, mostly Siân because she lived so close. This time, Beth was going. She knew this, and snorted into her palm.

  "Maybe next weekend, then?" Glyn smiled brightly and turned around to face the front.

  "Uh, sure," I mumbled, and Beth patted me on the arm.

  "You have my full sympathies, Nerys," she grinned, and I swatted at her. "Your present is with Ann," she then went on to explain, "We all bought it together. Well, me, Ann, Siân and John did."

  I gulped. I knew present-giving traditions with my friends and you only chipped in like that if the present was expensive. I hoped it wasn't something silly, like a dress or something.

  After maths, I walked into IT to find presents from Elisha, Sharon and the other four in front of my computer. Elisha got me three pairs of bright, garish and childish socks (which I actually liked) and Sharon got me an Audrey Hepburn calendar. The third present was a hardback book, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. It was bound in black leather and had gold edging on the pages. It was the sort of over the top book that made me feel giddy.

  "Well, you are a bit of a freak," John reminded me with a shake of his head. "Only you could get giddy over a gold-embossed copy of Shakespeare. Seriously. At break, go hunt down the English teachers and freak out with them over it."

  I aimed a whack to the back of his head with my new book. He ducked, and glared at me.

  "Watch it," he snapped, "That book cost fifty quid –"

  "Yeah, don't dent it hitting his head," Sharon sniggered, and he turned his glare on her. Her smile immediately lessened in its intensity and she looked at her computer monitor, a blush creeping up her face. I took Sharon's revenge for her, by kicking John's leg.

  "Fifty quid?" I then asked, as he bent over to rub his shin. "That's a lot of money for a book."

  "Trust us," he replied, "We know."

  "But I'm very grateful," I spoke over the top of him, "My old copy of this is falling apart. Quite literally. I dropped it in the bath. It's Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix all over again."

  "I don't really care," John snorted, "Just, you know, rest in the knowledge you have to buy me a present worth at least twelve quid. Got it, Batman?"

  I stared at him. "Batman?"

  "Shut up. Got it?"

  I nodded, wordlessly. "I'll just buy one of those T-shirts you get from those magazines that come free with Kerrang!," I said flippantly. "They're really expensive, you know, for a plain T-shirt with some stupid logo printed on the front."

  "Those T-shirts," John said in a flat voice, "Are awesome."

  "Mate, you did not just say 'awesome'," Louis snorted from his seat on the computer desk opposite.

  "Yeah, that just lowers the quality of those T-shirts so much," I agreed, flashing a grin at Louis. John's face, like Sharon's had earlier, slowly turned red until he looked like he was going to start whacking his head off the keyboard.

  At break, I was fully expecting to be leapt on by Billie. Adam certainly did some form of leaping in that manner, presenting me with the much-anticipated box of Thornton's chocolates. As soon as he'd handed them over he was immediately disinterested, chomping his way through an apple. Of course.

  But Billie was nowhere to be seen. His friends were there, but he was not among them, and neither was Joe West.

  "Where's Billie?" I asked Liam casually. He shrugged.

  "Ill, I guess," he replied, and then he smirked. "Why? Miss him?"

  "Hardly," I scoffed, although that wasn't exactly true. "What about Joe?"

  "Oh, he's helping out at the LSU," Liam shrugged. "Dunno why."

  I probably should have thought of that earlier; if you can't find Joe West, he's usually to be found at the Learning Support Unit.

  "He wants to speak to you, though, Nerys," Tyler Haines piped up. "He was telling me in form. Dunno what about, though."

  "Thanks, Tyler." Returning to my group of friends, I pondered over this, but it was swiftly forgotten. It was probably just him trying to rope me into helping out at some kind of events day for Year 6s at the nearest primary schools. Most likely.

  As I reached my group of friends, though, all eyes fell on the bouquet of marigolds I still held in my hands. I felt like an idiot but I could hardly throw them away – that would be horrible for Glyn, no matter how creepy I found the guy.

  I looked down at the bouquet, wincing at the sight of the bright orange petals. My favourite flowers, but how the hell had he known that?

  "These are my favourite flowers," I said to my friends. "But...But I've never really told anyone that. It's not something I broadcast."

  "Yeah, but your front garden is full of them," Beth pointed out.

  "They're not mine," I reminded her. "If anything, they're Pascal's. She's the one that does the garden now that my dad's knee is acting up."

  "Didn't your dad plant them for you, knowing how much you love them and shit?" Siân asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Something like that." I sighed heavily.

  "In the language of flowers," Ann piped up, "Marigolds stand for grief, cruelty, jealousy, and sacred affection."

  "How the hell do you know that?" Siân asked, sounding disgusted.

  "Hey, maybe Glyn feels sacredly affectionate of you," Elisha sniggered. Everyone joined in with the laughter, while I blushed.

  "Oh, God, don't say that," I pleaded. "Now I feel like an evil bitch for wanting to chuck these straight in the bin."

  That only seemed to make them laugh harder.

  The day seemed to pass pretty swiftly after that without much happening, aside from everyone singing happy birthday to me – loudly, and badly, in the school canteen, drawing plenty of attention from everyone else. I didn't see Joe all day. I guessed he must have been very busy in the LSU, doing whatever.

  I was glad for Spanish, because that lesson always has a pretty calm atmosphere simply because there are so little people in the class and because everyone gets on with each other. More or le
ss. If you forget about Gwen, Evelyn and Linda.

  While waiting outside the classroom, Kerry Mully came over to wish me a happy birthday, and passed on a similar message from Nichola. She immediately struck up a flirtatious conversation with Louis, who received it happily.

  Then Antal arrived, looking slightly breathless and ruffled. Him being the much-adored boy that he was, nearly every girl in the MFL corridor turned to look at him as he swept through the crowds, a small, brightly-wrapped box clasped in one hand. He stopped in front of me, holding out the box in the palm of his hand.

  "Boldog születésnapot," he said with a very bright smile. "Happy birthday. It is not much but I want you to like it."

  "Uh, th-thanks, Antal," I mumbled, accepting the box. I carefully removed the wrapping paper and then the lid from the plain white box underneath. Inside the box was a lot of pale pink shredded tissue paper, and nestled amongst it all was a tiny, delicate, glass cat. It was a very carefully made ornament, dark pink in colour, with two miniscule dots of black for its eyes and nose and spidery thin lines for its whiskers. It was very pretty, and I adored it instantly. I loved little ornaments like this.

  We slowly edge into Mrs Brooke's classroom, my eyes fixed on the cat all the while. "It's really pretty," I told him as I removed it from the bed of tissue. "And it's pink! It'll match my room."

  "I know. That is why I chose it." I gave him a look, and he smiled. "Months ago, we were writing about our bedrooms in this class. You wrote your room was pink."

  I remembered it, briefly. Still, it was nice of him to remember a detail like that. I didn't remember what colour his room was.

  "Now I have to get you something for your birthday," I scolded him as we took our seats. I twisted around in mine to look at him, as he sat on the table behind John's and mine with Louis. "When is it?"

  "June," he replied, giving me a small smile.

  I turned back to face the front. "I don't suppose you mind chocolate?" I mused, scribbling down the date that Mrs Brooke was scrawling across the top of the whiteboard in my book. "It's just that, everyone's birthday falls around that time and I never seem to have enough money for anything more than chocolate."