I laughed and suddenly realised that I hadn’t eaten all day. ‘Sounds great,’ I said.
As we made our way back down to the village, with Cat on the back of my bike clinging to my waist, we saw Dad overtake us in his van. He stopped a few yards in front of us and leaped out.
‘Where have you been?’ he asked. ‘Everyone’s been looking for you. Don’t you ever have your mobile switched on?’
‘No, I mean, yes. Why? What’s happened? Is Mum all right?’
‘It’s nothing like that. No, everyone’s fine. Charlie Bennett’s been looking for you. Something about locations and you being the only person who can help her.’
Cat raised an eyebrow and grinned.
‘Here’s the number she left,’ said Dad, thrusting a piece of paper into my hand. ‘She asked that you phone as soon as you can.’
‘But I was fired,’ I said.
‘Think you might find that what Charlie wants has slightly more sway than Roland Rat,’ said Cat.
‘Yeah. Right. Course,’ I said, dialling the number.
Charlie was hugely relieved when I got through to her.
‘I need a beach where there’s good access,’ she said. ‘The ones up at Whitsand are stunning, but no way can we get all the props and the lights and the cameras down those cliffs. I know there are beaches at Kingsand and Cawsand, but there are too many people around there, not to mention the boats and evidence of modern-day living. Can you think of anywhere else we could use?’
‘Easy. You’ve got two choices,’ I said. ‘There’s the beach down near Portwrinkle, it’s just past the village at Crafthole on the left. Easy to get on to and not a café in sight. Or the beach out at Penlee Point. It’s down below the ruin I showed you, to the left, kind of hidden away.’
‘Excellent,’ she said. ‘I knew you’d come through. But where have you been? I looked everywhere at unit base, and Roland didn’t seem to have any idea where you were.’
‘I was sacked.’
There was silence at the other end. ‘Roland?’ she asked finally.
‘Yep.’
‘Well, you’re hired again, that is if you’d like to be. Meet me at unit base in half an hour and we’ll go out and check out Portwrinkle and Penlee Point.’
‘Will do,’ I said.
Cat laughed when I clicked my phone shut. ‘The kid stays on the movie,’ she said in a fake American accent, puffing on an imaginary cigar.
‘Something like that,’ I said, smiling back at her.
CHARLIE WAS well pleased with the locations that I showed her and, spurred on by my change of fortune, I decided to come clean with Dad about the camcorder as soon as I got home that evening.
He was totally cool about it.
‘Could happen to anyone in this house,’ he said as he watched Amy trying to force feed mashed potato to her teddy bear. ‘I only wish you’d told me about it at the time. I could have got cousin Ed to sort it.’
‘I didn’t want you to think that I was a total prat,’ I said. ‘You know, breaking my new toy on the first day.’
‘No worries,’ said Dad, then he laughed. ‘I already think that you’re a total prat so no change there.’
‘Thanks, Dad,’ I grinned back at him. I knew what he’d said was his strange way of telling me that it was OK.
After supper, I charged upstairs and dialled Lia’s number. Hopefully, my new run of luck will extend to getting back with her, I thought as I crossed my fingers and prayed.
Sadly that idea was a no go as she wouldn’t take my call.
‘I suppose you could try flowers again,’ said Becca, when we met in the catering tent the next day. ‘She was bowled over last time.’
I shook my head. ‘Been there, done that.’
‘Chocolates,’ said Mac.
‘A love poem,’ suggested Cat.
‘Me am Squidge, am full of folly,’ Mac began. ‘Messed things up, am velly solly.’
‘Very romantic. Not,’ I said. I was grateful for their support, though. At least they were still my mates, and even though Becca had been a bit sniffy with me at first, after she’d given me the third degree over the kiss with Savannah, she’d decided that I wasn’t a rat after all.
‘I could write a love song for her,’ suggested Becca.
‘Noooo,’ we all chorused. Her songs are worse than Mac’s poems though no one’s had the nerve to actually tell her truth about them.
‘Why not?’ she asked.
‘Er . . . It ought to come from me,’ I said, then I looked at Cat. ‘Or maybe not. You could help if you would, Cat.’
‘Sure,’ she said.
‘Tell her that you believe me. And Becca, and Mac – tell her again that the kiss was part of a rehearsal. Explain that it meant nothing.’
Cat rolled her eyes. ‘Do me a favour. I told her all that yesterday.’
‘So why is she still not talking to me?’
‘She said something about not being able to trust you and trust being the most important thing in a relationship. Something about a promise you made her.’
I sighed. ‘I know, I blew it over that. But she can trust me.’
‘She said that it wasn’t the fact that you kissed Savannah and that it was on the front cover. She said it was the fact that you didn’t tell her about it and that she was the last person in Cornwall to find out. Made her look like a prat, she said.’
I winced. That must have been tough for her and there was nothing I could say in my defence. I remembered what I had told her about people only withholding facts from each other when there’s something to hide, or when there’s something going on that they didn’t want the other person to know about. And I hadn’t told her about the rehearsal or the photo. I’d hidden it from her. It’s weird, I thought. The two times I’ve withheld information in order to protect someone are the two times things have gone really wrong for me. First not wanting to upset Dad by telling him that I’d damaged my new camcorder. If only I’d been honest about it, it might have got sorted with Cousin Ed, end of story. Instead I got the job as a runner to pay for its repair and managed to get myself into a right mess. And second not telling Lia that Savannah had asked me to do the rehearsal with her. We’d promised to tell each other the truth, no matter what. Hah! I’d had the opportunity to come clean, but I hadn’t because I didn’t want to ruin her day. But by holding out, I’d ended up hurting her more.
‘You need to do something really cool,’ said Cat. ‘Not the usual flowers and pressies. Do a Squidge. Something unique. Anybody can buy her stuff.’
‘Yeah,’ said Mac with a cheeky grin. ‘Do a Dawson.’
I smacked him lightly on the arm and the girls looked at us quizzically. ‘Private joke,’ I said. ‘But good idea, Cat. Do something unique. But what?’
‘I know,’ said Mac. ‘Last Christmas, when I asked my gran what she wanted as a present, she said that at her time of life she had all the nick-nacks she wanted and that she could buy herself anything else that she fancied. She said the nicest thing to get is an experience.’
‘Like what?’ asked Becca. ‘A night with a stripper?’
Mac laughed. ‘Nah, a night with a stripper at my gran’s age might kill her off. No, mum booked her a facial and I got her a manicure.’
‘So what you’re saying is that I should call up Lia and apologise again, then ask if she wants her nails doing?’
‘No, dufus,’ said Mac. ‘Nothing like that. You’ll think of something.’
We sat there for a while, chatting about what I could do. Then suddenly, I had an idea.
‘This just might work,’ I said.
It was all arranged for the following night.
First I sent Lia a handmade invite, with a picture of an orchid that I’d cut out of a magazine, in the corner.
You are invited to a private showing of Sleepless in Seattle.
Place: Squidge’s back garden
Time: Saturday at 9.30
Dress: Casual
Sleeple
ss in Seattle was Lia’s favourite film. I hired it from the video shop. After that I went shopping for all Lia’s favourite movie food: Haagen Daz pecan fudge icecream, butterscotch popcorn and plenty of elderflower cordial. When I got home, Mac came over and helped me with the garden. I got out all the Christmas lights and arranged them over bushes and trees so that the garden looked like fairy land. The unusually warm weather that we were having was still with us, and with a bit of luck it would hold for one more night.
Dad thought I was mad, but when Mum found out what the plan was she thought it was lovely. ‘It’s going to look sooooo romantic,’ she sighed. ‘How will Lia be able to resist?’
Dad, Mac and Will helped me shift furniture. Putting old cushions out on the lawn and blankets, in case it got chilly later on. We moved the TV and DVD player to the French windows, so that they faced into the garden. The last touch was to line the path with night lights in brown paper bags from the green grocers, weighed down with soil from the flower beds. They looked great, like Japanese lanterns. Cat and Becca offered to act as usherettes. They dressed in black trousers, white shirts and baseball caps so that they looked like they had a uniform on. I showered, changed, slapped on some of Dad’s Armani, and I was ready.
The stage was set.
The lights were lit.
Mum and Dad had gone next door with Amy to have a drink with a neighbour.
My brother, Will, stayed behind and was ready with the torch to show Lia to her place.
Becca was ready with the ice cream.
Cat was ready with chocs, popcorn and drinks.
There was only one person missing . . .
Lia.
Nine thirty passed. Ten o’clock. Ten fifteen.
‘She’s not coming, guys,’ I said, finally. ‘Might as well crack open the ice cream. No point in wasting it.’
Cat and Becca did their best to console me. Even Mac and Will had a go at cheering me up, by offering to light their farts, but I wasn’t in the mood. I’d blown it, all by breaking my promise to tell the truth, no matter what. I felt rotten. The truth no matter what. At the time of making the promise, I could never in my wildest dreams have imagined that the no matter what was going to be a snog with one of the most famous teen stars in the world. Even so, the bottom line was that I’d broken my promise and lost Lia.
WE WERE ABOUT to start the DVD when at ten thirty, the doorbell rang.
Will ran through the house and peeked through the front window. He ran back.
‘It’s Lia,’ he whispered. ‘Shall I let her in?’
‘Yeah, course,’ I said.
Will ran back into the sitting room, then turned and ran back to us. ‘Shall I give her the torch treatment?’
The doorbell rang again. ‘Yeah, course, the full works, but hurry or else she’ll think that there’s no one here and go home.’
Will went and turned the electric light off in the hall, switched on his torch and opened the front door. A few minutes later, he led a rather bewildered looking Lia through into the garden.
‘Wow,’ she said when she saw the set up. ‘It’s like Santa’s Christmas grotto.’
It was brilliant to see her. She looked stunning as always, with her hair loose down her back. But I could see that her face looked strained, like she’d been crying. It was obvious that she’d been going through it as well.
Cat and Becca sprang out from behind the rhododendron bush. ‘Would madam like some refreshments?’ asked Becca. ‘We have the finest quality popcorn.’
‘Or chocolate,’ said Cat. ‘At least what’s left of it. I’m afraid we ate all the ice cream.’
‘What’s going on?’ Lia asked. ‘What’s everyone doing here?’
‘Private showing of Sleepless in Seattle. As it said on your invite.’
Lia smiled at the others. ‘Doesn’t look very private to me.’
‘Everyone wanted to pitch in. I’m so glad you came . . .’
‘I wasn’t going to. I . . . I’ve been sitting at home . . .’
‘But you did come . . . I . . .’
Lia nodded. ‘I wanted to talk to you.’
I wished the others would go away for a few minutes. We needed to be on our own. But they were all there, like they were rooted to the ground, first listening to what I said, then to Lia, then to me, their heads turning my way then hers, like they were watching a tennis match and we were the players.
For a few moments, there was a strained silence.
Finally Will sighed tragically. ‘Remind me never to have girlfriend,’ he said. ‘Way too much hassle.’
Lia laughed and the ice was broken.
‘I’m so glad you came,’ I said. ‘I know Sleepless in Seattle is your favourite movie. And,’ I indicated the lights and everything, ‘I wanted to make it special.’
‘And we all wanted to help,’ said Cat. ‘Because it’s mad that you two aren’t getting on when you’re clearly crazy about each other.’
‘Crazy’s the word,’ said Will, rolling his eyes.
Lia shifted her feet awkwardly and I grinned at her like an idiot. She was here. Was there hope after all?
‘Would you like five minutes alone?’ asked Mac.
We both nodded.
‘OK,’ said Becca, ‘but then can we watch the movie?’
Mac punched her lightly on the arm.
‘Ow,’ she groaned. Mac pushed her inside and Cat grabbed Will and hoisted him in after them.
Lia and I were alone at last.
‘About the . . .’ we both said at the same time.
‘No, you go,’ we both said, again at the same time. Then we laughed. ‘You first,’ we said, again together. Then we both laughed again.
‘So,’ I said.
‘So,’ said Lia.
‘Er,’ I said.
‘Um,’ said Lia.
‘It’s like . . .’ I said.
‘I know,’ said Lia.
‘I’m really, really, really sorry.’
Lia looked at the grass. ‘So am I. I’ve missed you. I’ve been sitting up at the house feeling miserable and wanting to call, wondering if it was too late and you hated me, then I thought . . .’
‘And I’ve been sitting here waiting for you, thinking that I’d blown it, cursing myself for being so stupid . . .’
‘So it’s not too late?’
‘Your call,’ I said. ‘It was me who broke the promise and I . . .’
Lia put a finger over my lips and shook her head. I got it: no need for words, no more apologies. Then, at the same time, we both moved towards each other for a great movie-style kiss.
‘Can we come back now?’ Becca called through the French windows five minutes later. ‘As we take it from the snogging marathon that things are OK between you.’
‘No, they’re not,’ I said. ‘We’re still not speaking.’
Lia laughed. ‘No, we only speak the language of lurve.’
‘Oh, vomit,’ said Becca, flouncing through the doors and flopping herself down on one of the beanbags. She lay there for a minute and looked up at the sky. ‘Fab night. All the stars are out.’
Cat, Mac and Will came into the garden and flopped down next to her.
‘After you, madam,’ I said to Lia.
‘No, after you,’ she said.
‘No, after you,’ I said.
‘Oh, for God’s sake stop being so nice to each other and sit down,’ said Becca.
We did as we were told.
‘Look at the stars,’ commanded Becca.
Again, we did as we were told and all lay back and stared up into the night sky.
It was a clear night, with every star in the galaxy twinkling as if competing for the Star of the Year competition. As I lay there – my mates on either side, my hand in Lia’s – I felt happier than I had for weeks, for months. Looking up at the vast canopy above me, I thought, these stars, these same stars, look down on Hollywood and they look down here on Cawsand village. You can fence off the world with maps – saying t
his is America and this is England and this is Europe – but who is going to do that to the sky that exists over it all, without fence, without border, without perimeter? I sighed a sigh of deep contentment. So I lived in the Rame peninsula, in some Cornish backwater, but up there were the stars and they twinkled to me that there were other locations waiting under their gaze for me to discover. But for now, I lived in a great place, with a great family and I had great friends. The future was looking good. Charlie had said I could look her up for a job when I left film school. She’d even made Roland write me a top reference for my CV! I was back with Lia. And life under the stars, as opposed to working with them (or snogging them), was good.
‘Ready, everyone?’ I asked.
‘Ready,’ they all chorused back.
I picked up the remote. ‘Right. Lights, camera, action.’ I pressed the remote and the movie started to play. Lia snuggled down in my arms, Becca curled up with Mac and Will looked hopefully at Cat.
‘In your dreams, made,’ she said.
‘One day, you’ll regret this,’ he said. ‘I may be young but I’m very experienced.’
That set us all off laughing. It felt great. Perfect mates, in a perfect location, on a perfect evening. It might be fun making movies, I thought but it’s even more fun watching them.
The complete Cathy Hopkins collection
The MATES, DATES series
1. Mates, Dates and Inflatable Bras
2. Mates, Dates and Cosmic Kisses
3. Mates, Dates and Portobello Princesses
4. Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets
5. Mates, Dates and Sole Survivors
6. Mates, Dates and Mad Mistakes
7. Mates, Dates and Pulling Power
8. Mates, Dates and Tempting Trouble
9. Mates, Dates and Great Escapes
10. Mates, Dates and Chocolate Cheats
11. Mates, Dates and Diamond Destiny
12. Mates, Dates and Sizzling Summers
Companion Books:
Mates, Dates Guide to Life
Mates, Dates and You
Starstruck Page 11
