I bit into the chocolate brownie with such eagerness that some of it broke off and landed on the concrete. I peered down sadly at the lost crumbs before chewing slowly, savouring the sweet taste of sugar and calories. Cassie had been teasing me with the brownie all the way through two hours of History class this morning. At one point it had gotten too much and Cassie’d had to fight me off of her as I made a grab for her bag. Now though, the waiting definitely seemed worth it.
I glanced back at Cassie to see her producing a second brownie from her bag. She unwrapped it and broke a piece off.
“What have you done to deserve that?” I asked. “I had to have a conversation with Sonny. Do you know how hard that was?”
Cassie popped a piece into her mouth and did an exaggerated chew. “I,” she said, through a mouthful of chocolate. “Gave you the advice that got you that brownie.”
I rolled my eyes and shoved more brownie into my mouth.
“Besides,” she said. “You couldn’t honestly see me going to Keke’s and not buying one for myself.”
I swallowed. “I suppose. But you do know you should give me yours too.”
Cassie recoiled further up the bench at seeing my eyes on her brownie. “Why?” she asked.
“Because I’m going to have to put up with Brandon after lunch,” I said, with a sigh. “He’s so annoying.”
“I think it’s cute that he likes you,” Cassie replied, breaking off another piece of brownie. She lifted it to her nose and breathed in the chocolaty scent.. “Anyway, it’s not like he gets to talk to you properly. You have to talk in French.”
“Yes, for the most part, but he goes off topic. Last time he kept saying I was beautiful.” The memory made my spine tingle. “It’s creepy.”
“But I suppose it would be romantic if you’d been having the conversation with Sonny?”
I felt myself grinning and I didn’t even care that I probably had chocolate stuck in my teeth. “Yes. Yes, it would.”
Cassie stuck her tongue out. “Hypocrite.”
I hovered my brownie inches from my mouth. “No. A hypocrite is someone who says something is wrong, even though they do it, too. I’m just saying it’s weird to be complimented by someone I don’t like, but it would be different if Sonny did it.”
“Because you fancy the pants off him.” Cassie scooted back towards me and patted my head. “If only he could see you now. Your hair blowing in the wind. Your amazing smile. Chocolate all over your face.”
I reached up to wipe my mouth and Cassie started giggling.
“Maybe he could help lick it off,” she said with a wink.
I felt my face flush red. “Cassie!” I exclaimed, my eyes on the group of girls that were passing us by.
Cassie just laughed some more. “What?” she asked. “You want to kiss him right?”
My stomach knotted at the thought Cassie had just placed in my mind and my cheeks still burned. “Yeah.”
“Well then.”
“It sounds weird when you say it like that, though,” I reasoned. “It’s embarrassing.”
Cassie rolled her eyes and finished off her brownie. “It’s the truth. You shouldn’t be embarrassed that I know you’re going to be imaging snogging his face off when you should be practicing your French with Brandon.”
I thrust my hand over her mouth. “Will not!”
She pushed me off of her and I fell back against the arm of the bench, my head getting poked by branches from the bush we were sitting by. I ran my hand through my hair to rid it of leaves. All the while Cassie laughed.
“Seriously though,” she said, once she’d composed herself and I’d used her hair brush to thoroughly make sure all plant life was gone. “I wonder if Brandon’s ever seen your kissy face?”
I screwed up my nose. “I don’t make faces when I talk to him unless you count all of the fake smiles I give him.”
“How do you know?” Cassie asked. Her eyebrows were raised and she folded her arms. “You can’t see what your face looks like without a mirror.”
“I just know, okay.”
“Alright, fine. But if we have to do speaking practise with our partners in French class next lesson, then I’ll make sure to watch you really closely.”
“Whatever,” I replied. “All you’ll see is me feigning interest in what he’s saying.”
***
I blamed Cassie when we walked into French class and were told to sit next to our speaking practise partners. She was the one who had tempted fate. Cassie gave me a gleeful look as she sat down in her seat and I slowly made my way over to Brandon. I’d almost asked to swap partners when we’d been paired together at the start of term, but the thought of having to give a good explanation for my request had stopped me. I didn’t think ‘because he creeps me out,’ would be a good enough excuse.
My body filled with dread as I neared the desk I shared with Brandon. He was already sat down, flicking through his text book. I took a deep breath as I spotted him glancing at me. When he saw me looking he glanced away again but I couldn’t ignore the expectant smile on his face. I wondered if he knew how badly I wanted to turn and run back out of the classroom, but then it hit me; if he knew I didn’t like him then he wouldn’t be trying to get me to go out with him every time he spoke to me. I made a bet with myself. I give it two minutes before he either compliments me or asks me out. I dropped my bag onto the table with a loud thud and he peered up at me, pretending to notice me for the first time.
“Harriet! Hi.” His voice was already annoyingly up-beat and my eyes narrowed as he pulled my chair out for me. “Looking forward to French?”
I sank into my seat without a word. I wasn’t going to ignore him. I was just going to ration the amount of times I answered his stupid questions. Don’t be so mean. The voice in my head surprised me into answering him.
“Uh, sure. I think I did okay on the homework.”
Brandon’s beam reminded me of a kid who had just been granted a free run in a sweet shop. “I think the second half was more difficult. The parts about the directions and travel.”
I nodded even though I’d found it easy. I kept telling myself that I didn’t want to be intentionally mean to Brandon, but I couldn’t help wishing that he’d disappear and be replaced by Sonny. At least then I’d want to come to French class.
I hadn’t wanted to take French as an A-level, but Mum and Dad had assured me that being able to speak more than one language would get me into a better university. Cassie had taken French A-level on the basis that she fancied our teacher. She’d been gutted when she’d found out Mr. Rivers had been transferred to another college to be replaced by Mrs. Freeman. She said the perm and specs didn’t really have the same appeal as a strong jaw line and muscly arms.
I found myself turning in my seat to gaze at Cassie. She was staring into the middle distance, her tongue absentmindedly tracing her lips. She kind of looked like she was making out with an invisible person and I got the giggles. I bit my lip before facing the front of the room again.
“Are you okay?”
Brandon’s voice made me jump and I picked up my pen to try and distract him from the fact that he’d frightened me. “Yep. Just thinking about French things.” What?
“Like French fries? And frogs?”
“French kissing.” The reply was out of my mouth before I could stop it. I felt my cheeks burning as I watched Brandon’s beam take over the bottom half of his face. Oh God. I bet he thinks I mean with him. “You know. I-I wonder why it’s called that? I mean, it’s not like only French people kiss with tongues.” Stop talking! I kicked myself under the table and glanced behind at Cassie. She was still staring at nothing, her speaking partner twiddling his pen in his fingers at the lack of someone to talk to.
“You have a point,” Brandon said and I turned back around to see him looking at me closely. The urge to run from the room was even stronger than before.
“Yeah, but it’s not really relevant to the lesson, is it?” I said, gesturing to the front of the room where Mrs. Freeman was writing the lesson objectives on the board. “We should be talking about.” I squinted to see what she was writing through her curly hair. “Uh, relationships.” Great.
***
“That sounds hilarious!” Leanne said. “I bet the whole lesson was awkward as.”
I nodded. “Just a bit,” I replied, sarcasm dripping from my tone. It amazed me that Leanne had the ability to be at all sympathetic. When I’d confided in her about the whole Brandon situation over a month ago, she’d just laughed. Then, after realising how much it was getting to me, she’d suggested that I call the police. Yeah, like that would actually help; they’d ask me if I was being harassed or stalked and, when I replied ‘not really,’ they’d shake their heads and tell me off for wasting time. Now, after explaining about the moment in French class today when I’d mentioned kissing, Leanne had burst into laughter after patting my head patronisingly.
“Really though,” Leanne said, her attention now on me and not the pile of clothes on her bedroom floor that she’d been trying to sort for the last half hour. Up to now, most of the stuff was in the ‘wash’ pile, not the ‘give away’ pile that Mum had suggested. “It’s not the end of the world. Just let him see you snog another guy and then he’ll back off.”
I rolled my eyes at Leanne’s so called advice. “I’m not just going to snog a random guy.”
Leanne threw a pair of lemon coloured shorts into the ever growing wash pile and shrugged. “It doesn’t have to be a random guy.” The look on her face made me blush and run a hand through my hair for something to do other than hit her.
“Oh yeah?”
She nodded, her back combed hair sticking out around her face like a fan. “You know.” She winked, flashing a black eyelid at me.
My stomach knotted as the full extent of her idea came to light. I raised my eyebrows and picked a top up from the wash pile, tossing it in my hands. “I’m not snogging Aiden, just to get rid of Brandon.”
Leanne’s smile reminded me of a cat that had got the cream. “I didn’t say it had to be Aiden,” she said, sounding amused. “You were the one to say his name.”
“I don’t have many guy friends,” I said pointedly. “Besides, he was who you were thinking of too.”
Leanne bit her lip. “I think you’d be cute together.”
I threw the top I was fiddling with at her. “No! I don’t like him like that. We’re just friends.” A picture of Aiden materialised in my brain. I mean, he wasn’t bad looking; nice eyes, skin and hair. But he just didn’t have the appeal that Sonny did. No leather jackets, tattoos or piercings. My heart boomed in my chest and I smiled before quickly wiping it off in case Leanne caught sight of it
“Suit yourself,” she said. I watched as she debated where to place a blue and green striped blazer that she’d bought to wear on her first day of college. That day seemed so long ago now, especially seeing as I was in my second year. She finally threw it in the ‘give away’ pile. “But I still reckon he’s cute.”
“Why don’t you date him then?” I asked, trying to sound witty.
Leanne shot me down with a tut. “Don’t be silly. Besides, I’ve got my eye on someone else.”
“Who?” I asked before I could stop myself. It had been almost six months since Leanne and Tom had broken up. Leanne was popular with the guys and it had kind of surprised me that she hadn’t found a boyfriend sooner.
Leanne got up from the floor and walked to the other side of the room. I waited with bated breath for her answer, but all she did was pick up a grey cardigan, drop it in the ‘wash’ pile and shrug. “It’s a secret.”
“But we share everything!” I pouted. “I confided in you about the Brandon thing.”
“Yeah, but this is different.”
“How?” I asked.
Leanne shrugged again. “It just is.”
I bit my lip and folded my arms across my stomach, creasing the blouse I was wearing. “Fine. You’ll tell me in time.”
Leanne laughed. “We’ll see about that.”
I shook my head and watched silently as she went back to sorting clothes again. The ‘wash’ pile was getting significantly bigger as the minutes passed and only two items had been sacrificed to the ‘give away’ pile. I leaned forwards to rescue a scarf. I’d seen Leanne wear it on several occasions and I’d always secretly liked the skull and crossbones that adorned the navy blue fabric.
“Can I have this?” I asked as Leanne looked up at me.
She smiled. “Sure.” She bent down next to me and tied the scarf around my neck. “It doesn’t really go with the blouse, but you could always wear it to the gig with one of my tops.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “What gig?”
“The one we’re playing at The Rooster. Sonny said about it on Saturday, remember?”
I tried to think back to the conversation we’d had at Retro Shack without blushing at the sight of him in his polo shirt and tight jeans.
“Yeah. But I didn’t know it was for definite.”
Leanne beamed and sat down next to me on the carpet. “I know, but Sonny managed to charm his way onto the booking list.” I thought I heard her sigh. “That kid could charm the wallet out of a rich man’s pocket.”
I cocked an eyebrow at her strange saying before shrugging. “Well I guess that’s good for the band.”
“’Course it is.” Leanne agreed with a fervent nod of her head. “It means we’re one step closer to getting a record contract.”
I held my breath, readying myself for another round of Leanne’s ‘When we’re famous’ stories. But instead, she went back to sorting her clothes.
“Did you ever hear back from LZ magazine? You know, you said something about there being a representative at your last gig.”
Leanne shrugged. “Yeah, but Roz talks a load of bull so it could have just been one of her crazy stories.”
I nodded. “Yeah. But you could always email them and ask them to review the gig. You know, as a sort of local band feature. The magazine’s only based a few miles away.”
Leanne dropped the jeans she was holding and stared at me with wide eyes. “What?”
“They’re only up the road. They might be interested in promoting local bands,” I repeated. “It’s worth a shot.”
“It sure is,” Leanne said, a huge smile working its way onto her face. “They could do a write up on us.”
“All you have to do is ask,” I said. “You could get Sonny to ring them, seeing as he’s so charming.” I tried to say it with an air of nonchalance, but just in case I was blushing, I turned away and studied the scarf I was still wearing. I sure knew his charm was working on me so what was to say it wouldn’t work on some big shot magazine type?
“You know what, I might just go and ring him. He should have left the gym by now.” She nodded to herself and made her way towards the door, stepping over the piles of clothes still strewn across the carpet. “Thanks for the idea, Harri. Help yourself to the clothes I don’t want.”
I smiled back at her and watched her disappear down the stairs. “I might just do that,” I muttered, picking up the blazer that was keeping the pair of jeans and a few t-shirts company in the ‘give away’ pile. Sonny thought Leanne was fun, so dressing a little like her might help me on my way to impressing him. I stood up, slipped on the blazer and observed my reflection in the mirror that hung on the back of Leanne’s bedroom door. Not bad. Now all I needed was a haircut.