by Jacky Gray
“I’m sure she’ll be ok, Mrs Tranter. It only lasted a few seconds from what Ray said, and she seems fine now, a bit quiet maybe.”
“Thanks for bringing her home. I’m glad Ray rang me, any longer and I would have worried. I know she’s a sensible girl, and would have rung if anything was wrong, but this no-phone thing is annoying.”
“Don’t be hard on her; she was doing a good Samaritan bit. Ray got worried about missing a week and she does all the same subjects.”
Liv couldn’t focus on Ray’s dad’s explanation as Vicky helped her up to her room. She sat on the bed, needing to chill until the thick fog in her brain dispersed. Her mum brought a cup of tea, talking in a muffled voice. Liv likened it to the way speech sounded under the cabin pressure in an aeroplane on takeoff. Then her ears popped.
“Oh, dear. You do look sorry for yourself. The doctor said this might happen. Drink this and then lie down for a while; the best possible thing for you now is to get some rest.”
When she closed her eyes this time, everything went dark and quiet. She carefully made her way down a long corridor ...
The next day passed like a blur. Mr Johnston concentrated on Pride and Prejudice in English, bringing in a DVD of the TV series with Colin Firth doing a wonderfully dark and brooding Mr Darcy.
James tried his best at lunch, but somehow he didn’t seem anything like as witty as she remembered. It felt like someone had rubbed the sparkle off his charm. “Come on, babe. You always laugh at my Kevin the Teenager. What’s up with you, today?”
“Sorry, I’m not up to much. I had a bit of a funny turn at Ray’s yesterday. I slept through from half seven, but I’m still exhausted today.”
His face hardened at the mention of Ray, but as she frowned, he smiled and cupped her cheek with his hand. “Poor baby. You really have been through it, lately. You’re gonna need all the beauty sleep you can manage between now and Saturday night.” He blew her a kiss. “I promise you, it’ll be a night you’ll never forget.”
“I can’t wait.” Liv forced a smile in spite of her churning stomach.
“What have you got, tomorrow? Nothing too heavy, I hope.”
“Nope. RE first thing, double IT; biology and cookery after lunch.”
“Wow, what a doddle. Wish I had it that easy.” His grin was intended to soften his words, but he missed it completely.
She took umbrage, bristling. “We work hard the rest of the week.”
“I’m not contesting that.” But something evidently played on his mind as he finished his can of coke and scrunched it up in his hand, looking at her through half-closed eyes, his manner vaguely menacing. “So what did Donnelly do to you, yesterday?”
“Nothing, why? What do you mean?” Liv blushed at his unexpected question.
“Hey, calm down, just kidding.” But something unpleasant flashed in his eyes as the bell rang for the end of lunch. He stacked their trays together and escorted her to the science block as usual.
Chemistry sucked like a Dyson. If she’d recognised it, she might have worried about her inability to focus and participate in the lesson like a true Hermione clone.
Even Ray noticed something amiss. “What’s up with you? You’re very quiet today. Are you ok after yesterday?”
She watched as he measured the sodium chlorate, trying to figure if he was talking about his kiss or her blackout. “I … I’m a little tired.”
“I thought you said you slept through the whole evening. How can you be tired?”
“I just am; that’s all.” The anger hinted at her frayed nerves.
“Pardon me for breathing.” Although the phrase frequently formed part of the group’s banter, this time he gave it a raft of hurt energy.
“Come along you two, it takes a good ten minutes for the reaction.” Mr Pershore’s snark forced them back to the lesson. “Get a move on or you won’t have time to finish.”
The chemistry teacher clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Remember to make a note of what happens at each different stage.” He walked away.
Liv tried to figure out why she’d snapped at Ray, or why she went hot and cold every time he came near her. She found it impossible to concentrate and her actions were so clumsy she knocked things over and messed it up.
Ray had been patient way longer than she deserved, but he finally clicked his tongue. “Why don’t you just watch? Let me do it. Your mind obviously isn’t on the job; too busy mooning over that Proud character.”
Except she wasn’t mooning over Jimmy; he suddenly seemed shallow and a little too brash. And a lot too controlling. She tried to focus for the rest of the lesson.
Jimmy was waiting for her by the lockers after school, his whole body language expressing disapproval as she and Ray approached. The lads exchanged curt nods and Jimmy made a show of putting his arm around her, taking hold of one of the handles of Ray’s chair with his free hand.
“Hear you were taking care of my lady last night.” He squeezed Liv round the waist, forcing her closer to him.
Ray looked at him steadily. “She helped me with some maths.”
“I know. Bright as a button, my Olivia. Bright and sparkling like a precious jewel. My precious jewel.” He let go of Ray’s chair and kissed her in front of everyone, ignoring their noisy heckling.
Liv’s cheeks flamed when he finally let her go with a triumphant look, only to find Ray’s back to them as he retrieved books from his locker.
When they reached his bike, Jimmy hung onto her helmet. “I’m sorry for embarrassing you in front of all your mates, I didn’t realise I’m the jealous type. I guess I never had a girl worth being jealous about before.”
It sounded totally corny, but Liv was almost at the point where nothing he said or did would have made a difference. As far as she was concerned, she just wanted to get Saturday night over and done with. It really wasn’t fair to break it off before then.
She apologised to Ray on Friday break. He assured her it wasn’t a problem; he respected she was going out with Jimmy and promised not to kiss her again until she was a free agent. She desperately wanted to say it might be happening very soon, but the tiniest of doubts stopped her. Instead, she told him how much she appreciated his support.
Liv sat with the gang at lunch. This time, she didn’t sit next to Ray, but he sat on the opposite side and seemed to be going out of his way to direct all his witty remarks at her.
They’d just finished eating when a boy came over saying Mr Brotherton wanted to speak to Ray in the technology building.
“Oh right, thanks. Damn. If I’m late for biology, will you tell Dr B?”
“Sure.” Jude and Liv both replied.
They wandered down to the lockers and then slowly made their way to the science block. Liv felt on the point of bursting; she had to tell someone about the tussle going on in her head: her doubts about Jimmy and her feelings for Ray.
“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Jude shrugged. “I’ve known for ages you and Ray were made for each other. Me an’ Luke are always on about it.” She looked at Kat, who nodded confirmation.
“What?” Liv’s glance darted between them.
“Yeah, we’ve been trying our best to do the old Cupid bit, but so far too many people have got in the way: Terry, Mel and now Jimmy.”
“But ... how? When? Why?”
“You missed out what.” Kat giggled at Liv’s mystified expression. “It was pretty obvious right from the start. You two could almost be brother and sister you’re so alike.”
“And Ray’s been talking a lot to Luke just lately.” Jude picked it up. “They’re like a couple of old hens clucking over a chick who’s escaped the nest whenever you have lunch with Jimmy.”
“Just because he’s concerned about me doesn’t mean he wants to date me.” Liv couldn’t get her head round the idea the three of them had conspired to get her and Ray together. Even Jimmy said Ray fancied her.
“Oh, Liv. When will you open your eyes and smell th
e coffee? Ray told me how he sent ... was going to ask you out when you finished with Terry. But he went off sick for a week and that’s when Jimmy moved in.” Jude’s recovery did not hide the gaff.
Liv leapt on it. “Just a minute; you said he sent. What did he send?”
“Damn. He swore me to secrecy, but I’ve already told Luke and Kat. And you’re the one who really needs to know. That rose you got – it wasn’t Jimmy who sent it, but Ray.”
“And the sonnet?”
“And the sonnet.”
Dr B walked in and Jude scooted up to explain Ray’s absence. As she returned to her seat, Ray turned up looking well pissed off about something. He sat at a front row desk and didn’t turn round all lesson, shooting off as soon as the bell rang. Liv wondered what the IT teacher could have said to cause such a reaction. When they finally caught up with him in the technology block, she asked what Mr Brotherton wanted.
He looked at her coldly. “Nothing important.” He spat out the words, then wheeled across to the other side of the room.
Liv froze like she’d been slapped as Jude and Luke swapped raised eyebrows. The lesson passed by in a blur and, at the end, Jimmy appeared, whisking Liv away so she couldn’t talk to Ray and find out what had gone on.
23 Manic Saturday
What a manic day Saturday turned into! Liv’s mum barred her from jogging first thing, instead putting her to work with the Christmas preparations. This involved baking dozens of mince pies, refixing decorations which had fallen as the blue-tac dried up, and tidying areas which accumulated layers of junk over the weeks. Then she had to take Davey down to the junior school for their Christmas Fayre.
Mum was at her most persuasive. “You don’t have to stay long, it’s just to show some support. I know what it’s like organising these things and then nobody shows up.”
“So you take him, mum.”
“I’d love to, as long as you do the food shopping for the week.”
Despite her protests, Liv enjoyed the experience, caught up in the enthusiasm of the little kids as they played silly sideshow games like roll-the-penny and splat-the-rat. She covered her ears at the squeals as they dived into barrels of polystyrene chips looking for the wrapped presents. Many of them zoomed around with their faces painted as snowflakes, Rudolph or, the most popular, Elsa from Frozen, complete with tiara. Liv even volunteered to do a quick fifteen minutes on the tea and coffee stand to allow one of her mum’s friends a well-deserved pee break. The innocent gaiety took her mind off its constant speculation about what the evening might bring.
Three thirty saw an appointment at the hairdressers and, when Liv got home, her mum asked for help preparing the early dinner.
Getting ready, Liv tried to visualise the event in a desperate attempt to calm her nerves, but the only clear picture was of her dancing most of the night. At least, that was the plan. Hopefully Jimmy wouldn’t be one of those guys who hung around the edge of the dance floor getting more and more hammered. If he was, she’d just have to dance round the handbags with Vicky and Laura.
As she applied her makeup the way Vicky showed her, Liv thought briefly about the way Ray had gone out of his way to support her in chemistry on Thursday and make her laugh during lunch yesterday. After Jude’s revelation about him sending the rose and the sonnet, his strange behaviour after lunch made no sense. What could Mr Brotherton have said?
She stared into the mirror, trying to instil confidence into the worried face gazing back. Trying her most encouraging smile, she battled with Snarky’s never-ending parade of the worst bad-bits of Jimmy Proud’s escapades to date. In amongst the plethora of contradictory signals and mixed messages, were glimpses of the anger simmering below the surface, and the air of barely suppressed danger.
Liv heard the doorbell ringing and Vicky clumping down the stairs to welcome Laura for their pre-party glass of wine. Wimpy took the opportunity to muzzle Snarky and make a plea for the defence. In amongst the reminders of Jimmy’s romantic side, Wimpy suggested that, even if the rose and sonnet weren’t his, they were well within his style. He was most definitely the type of boy for whom grand romantic gestures came naturally. Who wouldn’t fall for a guy riding up on his white charger, whisking her away to a cosy café and plying her with tea and sweetmeats? She giggled at the old-fashioned word, remembering the tale of the junior-school teacher who’d inspired his love of language.
Her musings were interrupted as the doorbell rang again and Vicky knocked on Liv’s door.
“C’mon, Olivia. Your Prince Charming’s here.”
She burst out of her bedroom. “Shhhh, he’ll hear you.”
“Wow, get you, little sis. You look terrific. Give us a twirl.”
“Don’t be soft. We’d better go, there’s so many butterflies flapping in my insides I’ll take off if we stand here much longer.”
She tottered down the stairs, on heels even she could see did wonderful things to her legs, to be met by Jimmy’s stare of open-mouthed admiration. Finally, he remembered the white rose in his hand.
“Here. You wouldn’t tell me the colour of your dress, so I thought this would go with anything.”
Liv swooned a little as her recent memory jumped up to bite her in the butt and Wimpy whispered, “Told you so.” In a smart suit, with his mop of hair tamed by product, Jimmy was movie-star gorgeous and words failed her.
“How thoughtful.” Liv’s mum was suitably impressed as she pinned the rose on Liv’s dress. “Beautiful. Sets it off a treat.”
A complete foil to his wife’s effusiveness, Liv’s dad didn’t say a word when he first saw her, but he had a strange look on his face – like his little girl had grown up or something.
Liv’s mum continued gushing. “I hope you all have a wonderful time. Don’t forget, just call if you want a lift home.”
“Thank you, Mrs. T.” Jimmy took Liv’s hand. “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”
Her dad gave Jimmy a distinctly suspicious look before ushering the four of them into his car. Liv squeezed into the back seat between the two girls, noticing how her dad stayed aloof as he drove, instead of his usual teasing banter.
Sitting in the front, Jimmy seemed to have lost his ability to charm any adult, remaining silent until the car stopped, then dashing to open the back door and help Laura and Liv out of the car.
24 She’s More into Cavemen
Ray stared at the screen. None of the internet’s vast and varied entertainments could hold his attention for more than a nanosecond. He clicked despondently at every advert and pop-up, wondering exactly who decided the world should become fixated on the antics of cute cats and performing dogs. He barely noticed the doorbell and Luke’s appearance in the room surprised him. “What do you want? Have you only just finished work?”
“Nice to see you, too, mate. I promised Jude I’d come round. She’s worried about you.”
“S’pose you’d better sit down, then.” Ray gestured to a chair.
“Blimey, mate. Hospitality bypass, or what?” Luke grinned. “Good job Caroline offered biscuits or I’d be outta here.”
“Sorry. Stuff on my mind. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” The half-bow was overkill, but Ray knew Luke would appreciate the irony.
“Steady on. There’s such a thing as ridiculous to sublime, you know.”
“Getting to the point sometime this decade would be nice.”
Luke grinned, he knew the score well. “Jude said something about you deffing Liv out yesterday in cookery and she’s been giving me earache ever since.”
“Liv has? Thought she was all cosied up with the great and glorious Jimmy Proud.” The bitter tone weaselled its way back.
“No, Jude has.” Luke’s gaze bored into him. “Anyway, I figured you shouldn’t be on your own tonight. What say you come round mine and I slay you at Total War?”
“Tempting, but no thanks, not in the mood for gaming.”
“How about helping me to download that pro
gramming app you were talking about? C’mon, mate. Resistance is futile.”
Ray glared, knowing how stubborn Luke could be. He wasn’t going away anytime soon, and yeah, company would be good. “Whatever.”
They bagged a lift as his dad went on the Saturday evening pizza run.
Half an hour later, they got bored watching the hourglass spinning and Luke started a one-man Spanish Inquisition. “Tell me again why you didn’t tell Liv on Wednesday? And don’t bull me with this ‘Didn’t get the chance’ nonsense.”
“We sorted out the vectors …”
Luke’s cough wrapped itself round a “Bull crap.”
“… then I kissed her and she blacked out. Dad took her home and she hardly spoke to me on Thursday.” As Ray’s summary tumbled out, he spotted the point when Luke’s attention snagged.
“Hang on; run that by me again. You kissed her and she blacked out?”
“Yep. I should’ve learned my lesson after the last time.”
“What last time?” Luke’s face telegraphed “struggling to process.”
“Come on. I’m sure I told you I kissed her backstage at Bugsy.”
“Yeah, but what’s that got to do with the price of cheese?”
“Duh! She blacked out then as well.”
The lightbulb illuminating Luke’s sluggish brain was almost visible. “Coincidence.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter now I know what she thinks of me. I won’t be doing it again.” That bitter tone was earning its keep.
“What does she think about you?”
“That I’m a pathetic cripple who has to ask a girl for help in maths.” Ray turned away in disgust.
Luke grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look at him. “And you know this how, exactly?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s obvious she just feels sorry for me; she’s more into the caveman type.”
“More excrement of the bovine variety. Liv spent half of yesterday afternoon telling Jude how she can’t wait ’til tonight’s over so she can give him his marching orders and go out with you.”
