by Jacky Gray
He beamed, flashing a set of movie-star teeth. “Kat, you’re Blowsy. That’s terrific, I’m so glad it’s you.”
Kat checked the names. “You’re Bugsy, that’s brilliant, well done.”
Terry got totally carried away, lifting her high and twirling her round.
Liv noticed the ease with which he lifted her friend; he was stronger than he looked. “Congratulations you two; couldn’t happen to a nicer couple.”
“Yeah, but you’re Tallulah.” Kat gave her a squeezy hug. “You get to vamp it up and have some fun.”
Terry grinned at Liv. “You rock, lady. Made for the part.”
“Me?” She glanced away; something in his eyes spoke of kudos. The unfamiliar experience curdled her insides – in a good way. “You’re kidding ... surely one of the sixth form girls? I’d have thought Kirsty Williams would have got that.” She checked the list. “Oh, wow. My name is Tallulah.”
They turned as Luke and Jude approached the notice board and Kat couldn’t suppress her delight. “Hey guys, Terry’s got the main part, he’s Bugsy Malone.”
“Yeah and Kat’s my Blowsy Brown.” Terry repeated the twirl.
“Result.” Luke’s fist hit the air. “Who’s Dandy Dan?”
“We haven’t got that far.” Kat checked. “Oh my gosh, it’s Ray. Fantastic. And you’re Fat Sam, Luke. No fighting, you two.” With a mock glare, she returned to the list. “Jude’s the dancer – no casting against type there.”
Jude grinned. “Hey, I wonder if they’ve thought about doing it on ice ...”
Amid the chorus of groans and “No ways,” Ray wheeled up. “What, have they put Diana as Blowsy? Heaven forbid.”
“Yo, it’s Dandy Dan.”
Liv watched as everyone explained the casting again for Ray’s benefit, touched by the pride and camaraderie of the group as they celebrated their winning of the major parts. They moved away from the notice board to let several other hopefuls get a glimpse.
As the registration bell sounded, Liv found herself next to Ray and blurted out, “what happened to you at lunch?”
“Why, did you miss me?” His eyes sparkled their mischief.
“Not particularly, I thought Lenny mentioned something about needing help with automating a presentation.”
“Welcome to my lunch break. That was one tasty pizza.”
Liv frowned. “But I didn’t see you.”
“No, you were too busy flouting the health and safety rules standing on chairs. Your display looked pretty cool, though. Lenny loves it.” He winked and wheeled off, and she realised she’d better run or she’d be late for PE.
As she changed, Liv pieced together the clues. Lenny had provided two different pizzas, but the number of slices missing was way more than the maths teacher would manage. Liv knew sparrows with larger appetites.
After showing them what to do, Lenny went into her store-room and the girls got on with it. Ray must have been in the store-room. Where Lenny kept her computer.
Liv gulped. Could he have overheard their conversation? She tried to think back to what they were talking about, and stopped in her tracks. Terry. Ice skating. With a gasp, she pressed her hands to her burning cheeks. Had she really said the bit about how her skin tingled when he held her round the waist? Even if it was true. And then all the stuff about him being like a fifties pin-up and an athlete. Why couldn’t she control her big mouth?
She cringed as she thought of the damage her runaway tongue could have done. Carla only had to let slip a few choice comments and everyone would be gossiping about them.
Liv sighed; she’d probably re-opened the debate on Terry. Even worse, Ray must be thinking she’d got a right crush on the poor lad. Nice one, Tranter. Scuppered her chances with the boy of her dreams because she couldn’t resist gloating about someone finding her attractive. Even if the rest of the year group considered him a raging queer. Triffic.
Halfway through netball, she remembered Mel’s phone call last night about half term. “Remind me to tell you about Mel, later,” she hissed at Jude as they collided for the same ball.
“Come on, Olivia, don’t let her intimidate you. If you shifted yourself a bit, you’d have got there first.”
“Me, beat a gold medallist? Every day of the week and twice on Sundays.”
“What was that, Tranter?”
“I said never in a month of Sundays, Miss Talbot. Not against a three-time gold medallist.”
“Hmmph. Just put some effort in and less of your lip.”
Is it any wonder she hated sports? How unfair to compare a blob to a girl who reached the finals of four events at the Fernley race meeting last week. Jude would have got golds in every event if Dirty Diana hadn’t put staples in her trainer, making her foot bleed a small pond. But they were working on a plan to give Diana a taste of her own medicine, with Luke’s help.
As they walked back to the changing rooms, Jude collared her. “What’s so important it nearly got us chucked off the netball court?” Spill the Mel-beans.
“Simply that she’s coming up at half term to sort us all out.”
“Fantastic.” Kat smiled. “I’ll ask Terry to get an extra ticket for Stratford. Which reminds me, Luke hasn’t said, yet. I’ll ask him on the way home.”
“Ray can definitely go.” Jude’s smile seemed a tad on the smirky side. “And his mum offered to bus a load of us over there.”
Kat clapped her hands. “Awesome, this is really coming together.”
Jude glanced at Liv. “By the way, Ray won’t be walking home tonight, he’s at the gym. I’ve got an extra practice session with Bernie; he wants to work on a new routine for the championship, so you’re on your own tonight.”
“Great.” Despite the automatic smile, Liv had a teeny wobble. Had she imagined Jude’s smugness when she talked about Ray’s plans? As though she were his confidante with Liv as some kind of rival. But surely anyone could see how much he fancied Jude: the way he ogled her perfect figure in her skating dress. Or the way he flirted with her in biology; they always seemed to have their heads bent together over something. It was perfectly obvious Ray’s feelings for Jude were reciprocated. And then some.
5 I Ain’t No Hero
“So then Nelson stumbled, but he still managed to ... you’re not listening are you?” Luke waved his hand in front of Kat’s face as they walked home.
“Sorry. I can’t get the slightest bit interested in Rugby. You’re better off talking to Jude; she understands all this competitive sports stuff.”
“I know, I just forgot; it’s been a while. So, what’s on your mind?”
“What do you mean?” Kat blinked.
“You’ve been away with the fairies ever since we left school.”
She sighed, worried her preoccupation might upset him. The twinkle in his eye said not, so she relaxed. “Two things actually. No, make it three.”
“And the first is?”
“This half-term trip to Stratford; will you be able to make it? I was thinking of your brother …”
“Sure, it’s all set. Pete will stay round at Aunt Sheila’s if Dad’s on a trip that day.”
“That’s a relief.” She couldn’t help but push. “I know things have been awkward between you and your dad just lately …”
“All done now. Since that incident last week when he caught us in my bedroom …”
Kat cringed. “Please don’t remind me.”
“… he’s been a changed man. He even offered to pay half, but the rest comes out of my Saturday job wages. And the second?”
“I didn’t know you had a Saturday job.” She frowned. “The second is Liv.”
“A condition of my caution; I had to show responsibility. What about her?”
“Mmm?” Kat’s brain struggled to keep up with the two simultaneous conversation threads. She tried to focus on one at a time. “She’s been acting strange; saying or doing weird things. It seems to be getting worse, recently.”
“Liv’s sharp tongue
can make her hard to like. It’s just her quick wit. She means no harm.”
His insight impressed her. “True. But she and Jude are always sniping at each other, lately. And she never seems to eat properly any more, always crispbreads and yoghurts.”
“That one’s easy; she’s obviously trying to lose some of that excess weight. It’s probably making her ratty.”
“I suppose so.” Kat should be shocked, but she knew it wasn’t personal, Luke was seeing it from a sportsman’s perspective. “Maybe Diana’s dreadful digs have finally got to her. She’s been so awful about Bugsy ...”
“Tell me about it.” They stopped to cross a road. “Even Cecily told her to shut up when she asked who wants to watch a blob being Tallulah.” Luke grimaced as he shook his head. “I just hope it doesn’t get back to Liv.”
“If it does, we just have to tell her to ignore it.”
“Easier said than done.” As a gap appeared in the traffic, he grabbed her hand, pulling her across the road with him.
He became lost in his thoughts for a while, not speaking until they reached the park. “What you were saying about Liv and Jude bickering … I don’t know either of them as well as I know you, but even I can see they’re complete opposites. Liv is smart, intellectual, even. Whereas Jude is real sporty – a jock like me. They’re bound not to see eye-to-eye on everything.”
She gave him a teacher-stare. “And what pigeon-hole would you be putting me into? Luke Harper, amateur psychologist.”
“I’d have thought even yerself would have been knowing you’re an arty type. And a foine one yer are an’ all, to be sure.”
Kat cracked up into giggles. “Just who have you been listening to? Not even close to Dublin. Or Belfast. And nowhere in between.”
“Jimmy’s mate Paul was Irish. He’d have us in bits with his convoluted way of stringing sentences together.”
“You mean Jimmy Proud?” Her humour evaporated.
“Yeah. Sorry, Kat. I forgot.” Concern replaced Luke’s amused expression. He obviously realised he was talking about the sworn enemy of Kat’s brothers.
She calmed down. “No worries. It’s all over now, but that was actually the third thing. You said it helped when we talked before.”
His bland face gave nothing away, and she shrugged. “I wondered if you wanted to get any more off your chest. You haven’t said anything in a while.”
“That’s the good Catholic in you; confess your sins to get absolution.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just thought ...”
“No, I’m only teasing. You’re right; it did take a load off by sharing it with someone.” He paused, fiddling with the strap on his back-pack. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and husky. “I’m not proud of what I did and it’s not the sort of stuff I could discuss with my dad, or even Aunt Sheila.”
“But I thought you said you were getting on a lot better with him.”
“I am, but he wouldn’t want to hear this stuff. He’d take it all personally, like he was some sort of failure as a father or something. And Sheila would feel she had a duty to tell him. I’d rather not put her in the position of having to choose her loyalties.”
Kat gazed at him in awe; he really had grown up over this thing, talking with the wisdom of an adult.
“Don’t look at me like that, I ain’t no hero.”
“Maybe not in your eyes, but you’ve come through this whole thing so well. You could easily have turned into a rat-faced bully like Jimmy Proud.”
His downcast gaze dulled with regret. “I think you lot came along just in time. Any longer out in the wilderness and I’d have been picking fights daily. I really need to feel there’s someone in my corner, backing me up.”
Kat squeezed his arm. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I haven’t got a lot in common with Liv and Jude, but I know they’d always be there if I needed them. And Mel is coming up for half term so we’ll be the famous four again.”
“Great.”
Kat glanced at him sharply; he sounded anything but enthusiastic. Then she remembered he’d had some sort of argument with Mel before she left, so she changed the subject. “What’s this Saturday job? You kept that quiet.”
“It’s nothing special. I work at a garage a few hours every week. Chris, the owner, is a good friend of my aunt’s, so he’s dead flexible. Like when we went skating and for the races at Fernley. As long as I get the work done over the weekend, he doesn’t care if it’s Friday after school, Saturday morning or late in the afternoon. He’s a good bloke and he seems to like me.”
“So what do you do, fix the cars an’ stuff?”
“No way, you have to have all sorts of mechanic certificates. It’s mostly cleaning and sorting out the spare parts from the cars they dismantle, but I’m learning how to change spark plugs and filters ...”
“Ok, too much information. I wondered where you dashed off to the last couple of Fridays. Why didn’t you say something?”
Luke glanced away for a minute, then shrugged. “I really don’t want to be reminded of what I did. I’m not proud of the fact I’ve seen the inside of a police station and barely got away without a criminal record.”
“But surely having a Saturday job is a good thing? Loads of kids have them to earn some spending money. I’d have one myself if I didn’t have to look after Sinead and Connor when Mum works on Saturday.”
“True. I suppose I associate the job with the whole sorry mess. Like a penance.”
“So don’t.” Clichés poured out. “Move on. Look forward. Get over it.”
“Easy for you to say. I still have visions of that poor kid’s face when they ...” he broke off, shaking his head.
“What poor kid?”
They reached the end of his drive and he stopped, gazing past her into the distance. Various muscles tightened in his face, reflecting powerful emotions.
“What poor kid?” she repeated.
He shook his head again, with a small grimace. “No. I’m sorry, Kat. Not here, not now.”
She took hold of his hand and clung on to it when he tried to pull away. Forcing him to meet her gaze, she tried not to flinch at the depth of misery and self-loathing. “Where and when?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if I can tell anyone about it. The whole thing was so sick.” He glanced away and came to a decision as his expression changed back into something resembling normality. “You’re right again. I should just get over it. I promise if I’m ever ready to talk about it, I’ll let you know. Ok?” His smile pleaded for her understanding on this one.
“Ok. See you tomorrow then.”
6 What More Could a Girl Ask For?
Mr Johnston’s announcement in English didn’t go down well. Several people were fed up with the interminable read through of Twelfth Night, and when he insisted everyone had to have a go, people groaned.
“Come on, this is not optional; it’s a compulsory part of the syllabus. You all have to do the oral paper and give a presentation, so you’re better off volunteering for a part you think you can do rather than waiting for me to give you one you can’t.”
Kat scanned round, annoyed because she and Liv were bursting to have another go. She knew it was pointless raising her hand until everyone else in the class had taken a turn.
Mr Johnston must have noticed her frustration as he glanced her way. “Look, I’m not expecting you to stand up at the front as Katrina and Olivia did. By the way, congratulations, you two.” He clapped his hands in their direction. “We have Blowsy Brown and Tallulah in our midst; along with Bugsy, Dandy Dan and Fat Sam. Well done Terry, Ray and Luke. I knew you could do it.” He grinned at Luke. “You’ll need a fair bit of padding, though.”
He scanned round the rest of the class with a sigh of exasperation, then spotted Carla’s raised hand. “At last. Do you want Olivia or Viola? Ok, I can see you as the grand duchess.” A couple more people raised tentative hands and he consulted his meticulous list of who’d not par
ticipated to cast the rest.
Somehow, it didn’t seem half as exciting to Kat when she wasn’t directly involved, and none of the readers managed to put in the characterisation required to make sense of the tricky speeches. Becky’s friend, Janet, did her best as Viola, but she was no Liv.
Kat’s mind wandered to yesterday’s conversation with Luke. He’d changed so much since his mum died. It couldn’t have helped that his brother, Pete, had meningitis and his dad struggled to cope with all this and hold down a job driving huge lorries all over Europe. She thought back over the last couple of weeks; something strange had happened since Ray started at the school. Luke had gone from an impossible, bad-tempered grouch with a chip on both shoulders, back to the charming, concerned boy she’d lived next to for most of her life.
Remembering that kiss; she blushed, scrunching down to hide behind her book. They’d been in his bedroom because he wanted her help to “get in touch” with his emotions so he could be better at acting and talking to girls. He’d teased her and somehow they’d ended up kissing when his dad walked in. Talking it over later, they both agreed they didn’t fancy each other and would rather stay friends.
But now she wasn’t so sure. Ok, he wasn’t drop-dead-gorgeous like Ray, but he was good-looking in a square-jawed, athletic sort of way. He might not have Ray’s first-class brain for maths and science, but he could more than hold his own with the rest of the class in all the subjects she shared with him. Luke had a fantastic body, no question about that, and she knew how kind-hearted and mature he was, with a great sense of humour to boot. What more could a girl ask for? That he fancies you, dummy. Her inner voice rolled its eyes, reminding that he’d made it perfectly clear there could never be anything between them. His speech went something like, “I value your friendship too much to ruin it by getting romantic …”
The bell rang for break, ending Kat’s line of thought.
7 We Could Have Been Anything
