Jack watched the ebb and flow of parents, a scene that never really changed. Young Jasper Clements looked embarrassed as his mother openly cried and hugged him. Just behind him, he saw Gabriel Brenner climbing into a mud-spattered, ancient Vauxhall Corsa, looking moody and embarrassed for a different reason. His father was chatting up some of the mothers and wearing a dirty, torn Barber held together with black masking tape. You would never guess to look at him that he was actually Lord Wentworth and owned half of Gloucestershire.
Then Jack spotted the shiny blonde hair of Sophie Jones. She seemed lit up by the sunshine, wearing a short dress that showed far too much leg as usual and her large blue eyes were looking straight at him. Without a thought his feet started walking in her direction.
Sophie looked around, as if assessing possible escape routes, which made Jack’s pace slow, giving her the chance to leave and reprieve him of this sudden burden. He felt awkward. It wasn’t a feeling he was used to. He told himself that he needed to apologise again and that he needed to get back on friendly terms with her because she was a close friend of Rose. The guilt of not calling her was painfully acute, seeing her face-to-face. He wasn’t the type to shy away from something that needed doing, but in truth he had no idea how to handle Sophie. He never had.
She was a bundle of contradictions. She was loud and confident in a group, yet quiet and sensitive on her own with him. She came across as cynical and experienced in the ways of the world, but he had learned first hand that she was as innocent and naïve as a baby bird learning to fly. She merrily jumped without looking first, then seemed terrified by the drop.
He stopped in front of her. “Hi.”
“Hello, Jack. How nice to see you.” She sounded over polite and strained, yet the hopefulness in her eyes was a kick to the gut. She still had feelings for him. Christ. How did he tell her to move on? Because, really, he didn’t want her to. And yet, he knew that was selfish. What a pig to want her to stay just as she was for a few years until maybe one day…
No, he wanted her to stop thinking about him and have a great time. But perhaps she could do it in a longer skirt so that other guys would stop looking at her legs!
“Sophie…” he started, and then paused having no idea what to say. “I think I should apologise again,” he said, finally.
A flash of anger darkened her expression, but she didn’t say anything.
He ran his hand through his hair. “I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you.”
“You didn’t. I mean, I wanted you to.” She didn’t voice the thought that she still wanted him to.
She had sensed him before she had even seen him. It was like radar inside her when he was near. She had known he would be here today, but despite lying awake half the night coming up with clever things to say, now that he was here she could barely stop herself from throwing her arms around him and begging him to hold her once again.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Jack mentally slapped himself. Why on earth had he asked that?
She shook her head. “Are you?”
“Umm, yeah. Two or three girls at Uni. Nothing serious, you know. I don’t want a steady girlfriend.” There, he’d said it. So why did he feel like it was the wrong thing?
“Do you still have my number?” Sophie couldn’t believe she had so little pride as to ask, but she had wondered every day for six long months.
“Yes, of course.”
“Then call me some time. Or text me. I’ve got to go. Goodbye, Jack.” She forced herself away and over to her parents’ car that had just pulled up. She didn’t look back. She leaned in the car window to kiss her mother and then climbed into the back seat.
They were about a mile down the road when her phone beeped.
I like your new hairstyle.
That was all it said. But she could hardly restrain herself from bursting into tears of happiness. She was sure it was Jack’s way of giving her his phone number. If he truly wanted to close the door on the two of them then he surely wouldn’t have done it. She reread it a hundred times on the long journey home. Now if only she could think up the perfect witty reply…
More Flirting Games
Book Two
Chapter One
Boys, boys, boys! That’s all Sophie and Grace seemed to talk about this year. Maybe they’d throw in a little gossip, clothes, magazines and make-up. But otherwise it was boys. Boys they might like and the boy band they definitely liked, boys they knew and boys they wanted to know. School came a very poor second.
Rose Falcon was really enjoying being back at school this year. The summer had been great but her parents were always working and she had missed the girls. She and her younger brother Toby had spent three weeks of the holidays with her cousins, Jack, Alex and Ellie, but she had been on the phone almost every day to Sophie or Grace, or both of them.
She supposed that officially Alex was her best friend. Even though they were cousins, they had been born only days apart and had been close their whole lives, but at sixteen she had found that she and Alex had started to drift apart slightly. They were both in the same year at Compass Court Boarding School and both in the same Schoolhouse, West Tower, but this year she just seemed to be hanging out a lot more with Sophie and Grace and seeing less of Alex.
At a certain age you just needed good girlfriends, and Alex certainly didn’t want to talk about boys.
Rose, Sophie and Grace had shared a dormitory at Compass Court since they had started at the school over five years ago and though the three of them were very different they had bonded instantly.
Rose was arty, she wore her long wavy hair loose and when she was out of school uniform she tended to favour brightly coloured clothes and floaty dresses that complemented her auburn hair. She thought her tummy and her bum were too big, but they were curves which suited her well.
Sophie was always fashionable, with a perfect hourglass figure; she wore her jumpers tight and her skirts short. Her blond hair was highlighted and she spent ages every morning with a pair of straighteners getting her bobbed cut sleek and shiny so it curled just under her jaw line.
Grace, on the other hand, always pulled her brown-blond hair into a ponytail; she was the practical one of the three. Small and slim, she envied the curves of her friends and favoured much more casual wear. Jeans, fluffy jumpers and knee-high boots were all she would consider at this time of year and she rarely bothered with make up.
The fourth girl in their room, Diana, had never really been their friend.
Diana didn’t seem to have or want female friends. She was thin and had perfect, porcelain white skin, with an oval face, dark eyes and naturally red lips. There were a few girls in the year below who hung on her every word and tried to copy her waist length long dark hair, but she seemed hardly to notice them. Her aloofness seemed to make her even more attractive to boys, who fought to sit next to her and carry her books, but she acted as though they were merely annoying and had said ‘no’ the only two times a boy had been brave enough to ask her if she wanted to go on a date with him. Rose thought Diana was very beautiful but very cold.
The only person Diana was close to was Leo Flanagan. Both Diana and Leo were Irish, though both their families now lived in England, only about half a mile away from each other by all accounts. Rose thought that Diana and Leo might be related, but as neither of them spoke much to her or her friends she didn’t really know.
“Who are you looking at?” Sophie nudged Rose out of her reverie.
“No one.” Rose shook her head. “What were we talking about?”
“I was just saying what a dry term it’s been for boyfriends. It’s Christmas already and we’re all still single.” Said Grace
It was the 20th of December on the last day of their first term in Year Six. It was dark by five o’clock now and the Common Rooms were the cosiest place to be in the evenings. The three of them were sitting in the West Tower Common Room, enjoying the fact that as it was the end of term, they didn’t have to do any studyin
g. They had a low coffee table at one end of the room with a sofa and a leather armchair that they always tried to occupy to before anyone else. It was comfortable and intimate. There were no other seats close by so no one could overhear their conversations. Across the room in an alcove under a tall lamp, Leo and Diana were sharing a small table for two and it looked like they were actually doing homework.
“And I was wondering what’s going on with you and Ben Everest this year?” Grace continued as she swivelled sideways on the sofa to rest her feet against the radiator on the wall.
Rose shrugged. “You know how it is with me and Ben, he asks me out, eventually we kiss and then it just seems to fizzle out.”
“So are you ‘going out’ or not?” Grace furrowed her brow in confusion.
“Beats me. I would say probably not, seeing as we haven’t spoken in over a month. We had that snog at Halloween and we spent most of the evening talking. But we’ve hardly had time to speak since. He’s always got sporting commitments and I’ve been working on my English coursework most nights. It all just seems a bit of an effort to find the time and I’m not going to chase after him.”
“I think you should just dump him once and for all,” said Sophie. “You two have been on-again off-again since the first year, you’ve never done more than kiss and neither of you is getting the chance to date anyone else.”
“That’s true.” Rose thought back to her first year. It was Alex who had befriended Ben, they were in the same biology class, and then Alex had introduced Ben to her.
Ben was considered very attractive, though not traditionally handsome. He stood at over six feet and his large frame was reassuringly solid but his gentle personality made you feel you would be safe with him. He had brown hair that had a tendency to curl, big brown eyes and a friendly wide smile. There was something very appealing about his open countenance. So it was all the more confusing that he blew hot and cold with their relationship.
“The thing is,” Rose continued, “there isn’t really anyone else I want to date anyway.”
“No. The talent has totally dropped off now that Jack’s gone.” Sophie pouted. Rose laughed, as Sophie’s crush on Jack had been extreme and unrequited for several years.
“But I don’t want to date Jack.” Rose joked “That would be gross; he’s my cousin.”
Sophie kicked Rose’s foot off the table to show how little she thought of the joke.
“Sorry, Soph.” Her face softened at her friend’s down-turned mouth. “One day Jack will notice how lovely you are.”
Sophie glanced at Grace. They both knew that Jack had already noticed Sophie, but had decided not to tell Rose as she would only rail at Jack about it. Grace saw the look and nodded imperceptibly to show she still knew not to say anything.
Sophie and Jack had gotten together at the end of year dance for the Upper School at the beginning of the summer. More than gotten together. The trouble was that they had both gone home the next day and although Sophie had given Jack her phone number, he had never called. She was too embarrassed to tell Rose. Rose had spent some of the summer holidays with Jack’s family and she would have forced him to call Sophie. After discussing it with Grace, Sophie had decided this would be worse than Jack not calling. Unfortunately, Jack had now left Compass Court for University and Sophie was despairing of when she might get another chance to speak to him without looking obvious.
“Anyway,” said Rose “Didn’t you have a bit of a thing going this term with Danny Barnett in Year Five?”
“Barely.” Sophie snorted. “At first I thought he was cute, with his boy band looks and that fab hair.”
“His hair is only like that because he puts so much gel in it.” Grace said.
“Totally. Anyway, cute or not, he turned out to be really vain and immature. It lasted what? Only two or three weeks before he got on my nerves. I think he thought because I was in Year Six I would be easy or something. I’m not going to date anyone younger than me again.” Sophie stated.
“We were in the fifth year only a few months ago.” Grace reminded her with humour.
“Yes but we’re girls, we mature a lot faster. Danny was not decent boyfriend material. He actually seemed to think I would be impressed if he could guess my bra size correctly.” She rolled her eyes and then rounded on Grace. “Let’s not forget about you. What’s your tally been this term? Even worse than us, the only action you’ve seen is that you spent the North Tower Christmas Party in a corner with Jerry! What were you thinking? He’s hardly brain of the year.”
“I wasn’t interested in his brain.” Grace smirked. “I just like my men big.”
“I’ll bet you do. And just how big is Jerry?” Sophie waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“Not like that!” Grace laughed and threw a cushion at her. “You know what I mean. I like a bit of muscle on a man. I can’t stand skinny bony boys.”
“Maybe you should date Ben then instead of me.” Rose joked.
“Yes, because that’s what friends do to each other.” Grace said sarcastically.
“Tell me again what you’re doing this Christmas?” Sophie asked Rose.
“Well, as you know it doesn’t look like my parents will be able to leave South America until early next year,” Rose chewed her lip, “and Uncle John is training troops right up until Christmas day. So Jack’s organized it that we all stay at school during the holidays and his parents are coming just for Christmas lunch.” By ‘all’ Rose meant herself, her brother Toby, and her three cousins, Jack, Alex and Ellie.
“You’re so lucky,” sighed Grace. “No parents, no schoolwork, just total freedom.” Her own parents were pretty strict and made her study several hours a day, even during the holidays.
And two weeks with Jack, thought Sophie, though she didn’t say it aloud. “I can’t believe the school are just letting Jack come and stay.” She said.
“Yeah, well, it is Jack. You know how much the Head Mistress thinks of him. I think she probably cried when he left last term.” Rose rolled her eyes.
She wasn’t the only one, thought Sophie. “When is he arriving?”
“Sometime tomorrow, you might see him before you leave, do you want me to ring and ask him?” Rose said.
Sophie shook her head. She didn’t want Jack to know she was bothered.
“So, who else is staying?” She asked.
“I’m not sure.” Rose’s eyes travelled back to where Leo and Diana were sitting. She had heard a rumour that they were both staying, though she couldn’t think why.
“Definitely Anne-Marie, the head girl, and I think a boy in Toby’s year, which will be nice for him.” Toby was thirteen and had not taken the news of his parents’ absence this coming Christmas at all well.
“So no one particularly interesting. No cute boys?” Said Grace.
Rose let her gaze linger on Leo for a second more. “No. No one interesting.” She confirmed.
Chapter Two
It was the first night of the Christmas holidays and Sophie Jones was settling back into her bedroom at home.
Her mother had attended Compass Court when she was a girl and had been enthusiastic about Sophie attending the same school. It was a two hour drive from school back to their family home in Wiltshire and her mother had been full of constant questions all the way. Sophie had tried to fill her in on everything that had happened in the Autumn term, but the truth was she wasn’t in the mood to chat to her. All she really wanted to do was ring Grace for some advice.
Now, finally, her mother had left her to unpack and she had some time alone. She pulled out her phone and looked again at the text message Jack had sent her. She called Grace.
“Hi Soph. Where are you? Are you home now? How are your parents?” Grace sounded pleased to hear from her.
“Yes, I’m home and they’re fine, but listen, something happened after you left today.” Sophie felt impatient to tell her everything.
“Oh?”
“Jack arrived just before my mum pi
cked me up and he came over and spoke to me!” She imparted dramatically.
“Whoa! How did it go?” Grace was clearly eager to hear more.
“I’m not sure, good I think. He said ‘Hi,’ then told me he was sorry again for taking advantage of me and that he didn’t want a girlfriend.”
“That doesn’t sound so good?” Sophie could hear the frown in Grace’s voice.
“No, but then he asked me if I was seeing anyone, and sort of looked pleased when I said I wasn’t.” Sophie struggled to recall word for word. “Then I asked him if he was seeing anyone and he said he was seeing a couple of girls at Uni but nothing serious.”
“Okay.” Grace drew out the word, showing she wasn’t committing yet to any thoughts.
“Then I asked him if he still had my phone number and he said he did,” Sophie continued, “and then I said he should call or text me sometime, and then my mum arrived and I left.”
Grace was silent for a moment thinking it over.
“Do you think you walked away looking cool or did you come across all pathetic and needy?” She asked warily.
“I’m not sure. Cool, I think. I haven’t told you the best bit yet.” Sophie said. “About ten minutes after we drove away I got a text from him.”
“You’re kidding! What did it say?” Grace was suddenly sounding much more excited.
“It says: I like your new hairstyle. That’s it.”
“Oh for goodness sake! That’s not much to go on. Why does he have to be so cryptic? Mind you, on a positive note, at least he does like your hair cut.” Grace laughed.
“I know right? What on Earth does it mean? Is he just trying to be nice? Or is he trying to start something? I wondered if maybe it was sort of something in between. Like he’s making a point of giving me his number but still being cautious not to sound keen?” Sophie poured out all her thoughts.
She badly wanted Grace to tell her that it sounded like Jack was interested, yet at the same time she was worried Grace would say he clearly wasn’t. Grace wasn’t the biggest fan of Jack, since he had slept with her friend and then not called her.
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