Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 05] Read online

  Mates, Dates, and Sole Survivors

  Cathy Hopkins

  (Book 5 of “The Mates, Dates” series)

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  Background Color 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9

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  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  * * *

  Big thanks to Brenda Gardner, Yasemin Uçar and the team at

  Piccadilly, for all their support and feedback. To Rosemary Bromley

  at Juvenelia. And Alice Elwes, Becca Crewe,]enni Herzberg, Rachel

  Hopkins, Annie McGrath and Olivia McDonnell, for all their emails

  in answer to my questions. Also to Seeta Kadam, who sent me

  two lovely letters, but no return address.

  * * *

  C h a p t e r 1

  Summer Holts

  Contents - Next

  ‘This has to be the best feeling in the world,’ I said to Nesta as we walked out of the school gates on the last day of term.

  ‘I know,’ she said.‘Six weeks with no Miss Watkins… Six fabola weeks with Simon before he goes off to uni.’

  ‘And six weeks with Ben for me,’ said Izzie linking her arm with Nesta’s. ‘We’re going to work on loads of new songs for the band now we’ll have time.’

  ‘And I suppose we’ll be seeing you round at ours a fair bit,’ I said to TJ. She’s been seeing my elder brother Steve over the last few weeks and they’re both completely smitten.

  ‘What about you, Lucy?’ asked Nesta. ‘Going to give my poor brother a break at last? You’ve been giving him the runaround for months now. I don’t think his ego can stand much more of it.’

  Six weeks with Tony? The idea was appealing and I reckoned I was finally ready for a ‘proper’ relationship with him. We’d liked each other for ages and we had gone out for a while earlier in the year, but then I broke it off as it felt like it was all happening too fast. After that, there was a lot of flirting between us whenever I saw him round at Nesta’s and he did ask me out again a few times, but I turned him down. It’s not that I didn’t want to date him. He is gorgeous and funny and I love his company, it’s just that he has A Bit Of A Reputation when it comes to girls. Nesta had warned me that it was a different one every week at one time. She says he likes the chase, then drops them the minute they show they’re interested. So I had to play it carefully, or else by now, I’d be on his long list of rejects and broken hearts. But it had been almost nine months since I met him and he did keep trying, saying I was the only one for him, the lurve of his life. I thought, I can trust him not to mess me about.

  I grinned and pulled an envelope out of my rucksack. ‘I know,’ I said. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about him lately. And I’ve finally come to a decision.’

  ‘Which is?’ asked Nesta.

  ‘I’ve written him a card. Saying no more messing him about. I really like him and we’re on on ON.’

  ‘About time,’ said TJ.‘I don’t know how you’ve been so cool for so long. I think I’d have fallen at his feet the first time he asked me out.’ Then her face clouded. ‘Um, that is, er, I don’t mean I would steal him or anything, I’m just saying I think he’s gorgeous.’

  I squeezed her arm. ‘I know what you mean, TJ. But boys like Tony enjoy a challenge.’

  ‘Well, what is it?’ she said. ‘Eight… nine months you’ve made him suffer? I reckon that’s enough challenge for any boy.’

  ‘I can hardly believe it,’ said Izzie. ‘Last year, none of us had boyfriends. Now this year, we all have.’

  ‘It’s not definite yet,’ I said.

  ‘This time last year, I hadn’t even been kissed,’ said TJ.

  ‘And now there’s no stopping you,’ teased Nesta. ‘Snog Queen of North London.’

  This time last year, I hadn’t been kissed either. Tony was my first. That’s another reason I wanted to take it slow. I didn’t want to get tied to the first boy I’d snogged. I wanted to try a few others and see what they were like. There have been a few others now. No one important or serious. In fact, no one who’s come close to Tony. He still has the same effect on me every time I see him. My stomach turns over and I get all hot and my face goes pink.

  ‘You’re not just doing this because you’d be the odd one out?’ asked Izzie, pointing at my letter.

  ‘But I am the odd one out,’ I teased. ‘You’re all tall and dark with long hair and I’m small and blonde with short hair.’

  ‘No. I’m the odd one out,’ insisted Nesta. ‘I’m the only one with dark skin.’

  ‘No, I’m the…’ started TJ.

  ‘I meant the only one without a boy,’ interrupted Izzie.

  ‘No, course not,’ I said. ‘I think I’m ready now and I want to see where it goes. To tell the truth, I started thinking that maybe I was messing him around and playing him along because I was scared of rejection. You know what he’s like…’

  Izzie nodded. ‘Yeah, and you’re right. You can’t let fear hold you back.’

  ‘I’ve been reading this book,’ said TJ. ‘It’s by this guy called DH Lawrence and it’s about a posh lady who falls for her gardener.’

  ‘Oh, Mills and Boon?’ asked Nesta.

  I laughed. Typical Nesta. Her idea of reading is flipping through Bliss or Now magazine. TJ, on the other hand, devours books - proper books. That’s why she gets on with my brother Steve. He’s a bit of a brainbox as well.

  ‘Um, no, not Mills and Boon,’ said TJ, ‘but it is a love story. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, it’s called. Anyway there’s one line I really like. Want to hear it?’

  We all nodded.

  ‘I can’t remember it exactly,’ she said, ‘as I didn’t write it down, but it’s something like: better a life of risk and chance than an old age of vain regret.’

  ‘Yeah, cool,’ said Nesta. Til buy that. You don’t get anywhere in life unless you go for it.‘

  ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway,’ said Izzie, quoting the title of one of the self-help books she loves so much.

  ‘So what did you say in the card?’ asked Nesta.

  That’s Lucy’s private business,‘ said Izzie, ’Don’t be so nosy.‘

  Nesta looked offended and poked her tongue out at Izzie. ‘I wasn’t. I was feeling the fear and asking my question. You don’t find out anything if you don’t ask what you want to know. So… go on, Lucy, tell us what you said.’

  I knew the note off by heart, because I’d written and rewritten it so many times. I wanted it to sound right - cool but romantic, so he could keep it as a memento to look back on.

  ‘I did it like one of those Japanese poems,’ I said, ‘you know, the ones with only three lines that we did in English last term. Haikus.’

  ‘Bless you,’ said Nesta.

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘The poems. They’re called haikus.’

  ‘Whatever,’ said Nesta. ‘So what did you write in your hiccup?’

  ‘I’m not changing, I’m just rearranging, my life to be with you.’

  ‘Ahh,’ said TJ. ‘That’s really sweet.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Izzie. ‘You should come and help the band with our lyrics. So what else did you put?’

  ‘Then I wrote, “Sorry for
messing you about over the last year, but now I’m ready. I know we have something really special and I want to make a go of it. Call me.” I wanted to keep it light, you know?’

  ‘Sounds perfect,’ said TJ.

  I took a deep breath and, as we passed a post box, I popped the card in. ‘Me and Lady Chatterley. No old age of vain regret for us. I’ve put a first class stamp on, so he should get it in the morning. Gulp. No going back now.’

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ said TJ. ‘I think you’ll make a fab couple and we can all do loads of things together - play tennis, go to movies, it’ll be great.’

  ‘OK,’ said Izzie, ‘so that’s Lucy sorted. But there’s more to life than boys. Let’s make some other goals for the summer holidays.’

  Typical Iz. She’s always setting herself goals and targets, then insists that we do as well. She says it’s important to think about what you want in life, then visualise it happening. I visualised me with Tony having a great time. My first proper relationship. It would be top. No worrying about whether you were going to pull or what boys were going to be where. And, did you really like him and did he really like you? Will he phone or should you phone him?… It would be good to be settled for a while. All of us. We could all just enjoy being with each other, hanging out as couples and no one having to worry that anyone was on their own.

  ‘So?’ said Izzie, looking at us all when we reached the bus stop. There’s no arguing with Iz when she’s off on one of her ‘Let’s improve ourselves’ campaigns. ’Come on. Resolutions for the summer hols?‘

  ‘Resolutions are for New Year,’ said Nesta, tossing her hair back. ‘You make them on January first then give up on them around January tenth.’

  ‘OK, I’ve got four,’ I said. ‘Number One: Hang out with you lot as much as poss. Two: You already know now - Tony et moi. Three: Stop blushing.’

  ‘I think it’s lovely that you blush,’ said TJ. ‘It’s really sweet.’

  ‘Noooo,’ I said. ‘It’s horrible. I feel so stupid and everyone stares like I’m a kid.’

  ‘No one ever really notices,’ said Izzie. ‘And Number Four?’

  ‘I’m going to make T-shirts,’ I said. ‘Like those ones on sale in Camden Market. You know, the ones with cool slogans on them.’

  ‘So what are yours going to say?’ asked TJ.

  ‘Don’t know yet. I’m going to start collecting good lines over the hols.’

  Just then the bus came, so all discussion was stopped while we piled on. It felt great to be alive. School was over. The sun was shining. The evenings were light until ten o’clock. I’d finally taken the plunge and posted my card, and I couldn’t wait to get his reaction.

  ‘What’s for dinner?’ I asked Mum when I got home.

  ‘Tofu burgers, broccoli and rice,’ she said, looking up from the counter where she was chopping onions. ‘Want to give me a hand?’

  Yuck, tofu, I thought, as I threw down my rucksack in the hall and went to join her. I wish she’d cook normal stuff sometimes. My dad runs the local health shop, so we always eat what he brings back. I know it’s good for you and you are what you eat, etc., but my secret fantasy is to come home one night and discover it’s chicken nuggets, baked beans and chips. It’s funny because the way we eat is Izzie’s fantasy. She loves health food, tofu and soya and quinoa. Sometimes I think we got the wrong parents. Izzie would love to live here; in fact, she almost does, as she comes round so often. Me on the other hand, I like living here, but I’d love to have supper at Nesta’s. Her dad’s Italian and does the most amazing pasta dishes, and her mum’s from the Caribbean and her spicy fish and peas is to die for. Amazingly, Nesta is as thin as a rake. I think if I lived at her house, I’d be enormous, so maybe it’s a good thing I have strange parents who make peculiar meals.

  Suddenly I thought of a good resolution for the holidays.

  ‘Mum, how about this summer, I cook supper a few nights?’

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ replied Mum, grinning.

  ‘Can I get the ingredients as well?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Mum.

  Just at that moment, the phone rang. ‘Whatever I want?’ I asked as I went into the hall and picked up the receiver.

  It was Tony.

  ‘Hi,’ he said. ‘What you doing later?’

  ‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Nothing for six whole weeks. We broke up today.’

  I decided not to say anything about the card. I wanted it to be a surprise when he opened it in the morning.

  ‘Fancy meeting up?’ he asked. ‘I wanted to talk to you about something.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Not on the phone. I’ll meet you at Raj’s in Highgate, say, in half an hour.’

  ‘Hold on, I’ll just ask Mum,’ I said, putting my hand over the receiver. ‘Can I go out for a bit? Promise I won’t be late. I’ll wash up when I get back.’

  ‘How can I refuse when you put it like that?’ Mum called back. ‘I’ll put your supper in the oven for you.’

  ‘See you in half an hour,’ I said to Tony.

  I put the phone down feeling a rush of anticipation. I knew what he wanted to say. He feels the same way I do and wants to make it definite, I thought, as I dashed upstairs and changed into my jeans and a T-shirt. A slick of lip-gloss, a squirt of the Angel perfume the girls got me for my birthday, then I ran out and caught the bus up to Highgate. I felt so excited. As I sat on the bus, I decided that I’d let him say what he wanted to say and I’d be cool about it, like, ‘Oh, I’ll have to think about it’. Then tomorrow, he’ll get my card and realise that I wanted the same thing as him all along. It was all working out so perfectly.

  He was already upstairs at Raj’s when I arrived. He was settled in the corner seat reading one of the ancient books they keep stacked on the shelves there. He looked up and smiled as I walked in and, as always when I see him, my stomach did a double flip.

  ‘Had your hair cut,’ I said.

  ‘It’s called a French crop. Like it?’

  I nodded. Not many boys can take their hair that short,

  I thought. You have to have good features and the right-shaped head. Of course, Tony had both. Good looks run in his family. Nesta is easily the best-looking girl in our school and Tony is probably the best-looking at his. Dark, with sleepy brown eyes and long lashes.

  ‘Take a pew,’ he smiled, as I slid in behind the table. I smiled back. We always said that when we went there, as the chairs are all old church pews.

  ‘Want some tea or something cold?’

  ‘A Coke would be good,’ I said, as I looked around. I was glad he’d chosen this place to meet. It’s TJ’s favourite place as well as mine. She says she always feels as though she’s in a novel from another era when she comes here as the decor is kind of Bohemian. It’s different from all the other cafes in the area - it has its own character, with the pews and heavy wooden tables and bookshelves heaving with interesting books.

  ‘What you reading?’ I asked.

  Tony pointed at the bookshelves. ‘Oh, some ancient history book. They have a weird collection here, a real mixture, from cookery to Dickens. All the books look about a hundred years old.’

  I nodded. ‘Like the nick-nacks,’ I said, pointing to a chipped statue of an Indian Maharaja on the corner unit above Tony’s head. It had been plonked next to a statue of the Buddha. ‘In fact, it’s a bit like our living room at home with all sorts of junk that doesn’t really go together.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Tony, indicating two brass trumpets that were hanging from the ceiling. ‘It is a bit mad. But I think that’s why I like it.’

  We spent a few minutes chatting about all the strange ornaments we could see — the Russian dolls and toy ostrich on one shelf, brass flamingos and ceramic elephants on another, the old sepia photographs on the wall mixed in with some framed ink sketches. I felt so comfortable sitting there with him that I thought it would be difficult not to spill the beans about my card and my Decision.

  ‘So, you had something you
wanted to say?’ I finally asked.

  ‘Er, yeah,’ said Tony, as the boy behind the counter left his computer and came to take our order. ‘But first, tell me how you are? Broken-up, huh?’

  I nodded. ‘Best feeling in the world.’

  ‘So what you going to do with the holidays?’

  I knew it. He was going to ask if I’d go out with him.

  ‘Oh, no definite plans,’ I said, looking into his eyes in what I imagined was a meaningful way. ‘Got any ideas?’

  Tony shrugged. ‘Not really. That is, um, Lucy… How can I put this…?’

  I longed to reach out and take his hand, tell him that I knew what he wanted to say and that I felt the same. But

  Nesta had trained me well. Stay cool. Don’t be too easy.

  Tony took a deep breath. ‘Thing is, Luce, well, we’ve been on and off for ages now and I wanted to get things straight between us. It’s not fair on you and it’s not fair on me. We’ve got the holidays ahead of us and it’s like a new chapter, for both of us, so… so, what I think is that, er… maybe we should make a clean slate of it.’

  ‘Clean slate? What are you saying?’ I didn’t understand.

  ‘Well, it’s not like we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, are we? We never really have been.’

  ‘No. No, course not. ‘Was he going to ask me if I would be now?

  ‘And I was thinking,’ Tony continued, ‘what if, say, you meet someone this holiday or I meet someone? It’s kind of confusing. Our situation, that is… me and you. Well, we’re not free and we’re not really committed.’

  ‘No, we’re not.’

  ‘So, what do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m not sure I understand,’ I said. ‘Are you saying you want to be committed or that you want to meet someone else?’

  Tony shifted awkwardly. That I want to be free,‘ he said finally.

  ‘You’re dumping me?’ I blurted.