Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 01] by Dates Mates, Inflatable Bras (Html) Page A

after school?’ said Izzie,
waiting for the penny to drop.
    Nesta thumped her
forehead. ‘Except we
did
see him, didn’t we? Obvious. Obviouso. Tony
is the MC.’
    I nodded.
    ‘And he made you kiss
him,’ said Izzie.
    ‘And I told him to
stay away from you,’ said Nesta. ‘No wonder you hated me. Why didn’t you say,
Lucy?’
    ‘I thought you’d tell
him I fancied him and then I’d, I’d look stupid. If he knew I’d been waiting
for him to come out of school, I’d look like a real desperado.’
    At that moment, we
heard someone coming in the front door.
    Oh, let it be her dad
back from America, I prayed but of course, Murphy’s law, it was Tony.
    ‘Hiya, everybody,’
said Tony. ‘Wow. Is that little Lucy? Hey, you look great. Gorgeous.’
    He came and sat next
to me. ‘Want another kissing session?’
    Nesta and Izzie just
sat there gaping.
    ‘
What?’
said
Tony. ’Why are you all staring at me? What? What’s happened?‘
    Suddenly I got the
giggles and couldn’t stop. That set Izzie off then Nesta and soon the three of
us were holding our sides laughing.
    Tony got up and
stomped to the door. ‘Girls. Sometimes you lot can be really juvenile.‘
    ‘I thought he liked
girls with a sense of humour,’ I said, still laughing.
    ‘Not when it’s
directed at him,’ said Nesta. ‘And I won’t say anything, about, you know, him
being the MC, if you don’t want.’
    ‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘I
don’t
want.’
    ‘Anyway,’ said Izzie.
‘I reckon you could get anyone you want looking like you do now. Play the field
a while.’
    ‘Ah, but I have been
kissed by the Master,’ I said, giggling again.
    ‘Then you owe it to
yourself,’ said Izzie,‘ to see if anyone else can match up.’
     
     
     
     
    C h a p t e r   1 5
    Decisions,
Decisions…
     
    Contents - Prev / Next
     
    ‘So, girls,’ said
Wacko a fortnight later. ‘Next week I want your subject choices in. You’ve all
had plenty of time to think about it so I expect your papers on my desk on Monday.’
    Eek. Double eek. I
hadn’t thought about it at all. Not for ages. I’d been too busy having a good
time with Nesta and Izzie and making clothes and doing my bedroom.
    We’d spent the last
two weekends painting. Lai and Steve had helped and it looked fantastic. I
chose lilac mist for the walls and, as I’d seen in the interior magazine, we
painted the woodwork pale powdery blue. The room was transformed and looked
much bigger, as well as cleaner and brighter.
    Mum took me down to a
market in the East End to look for fabrics for the curtains and cushions but we
didn’t see any I liked at any of the stalls. Then we passed an Indian shop.
Rolls of beautiful materials were spilling out on to the pavement. I had to
stop. Lovely shimmering jewel colours with silver and gold borders.
    ‘Mum, let’s look in
there,’ I said, pulling her in.
    I found a roll of sky
blue
sari
fabric with a silver embroidered border. It would look
stunning against the lilac walls and it wasn’t too expensive. We made our
purchase then bought some lining and some curtain rails.
    When I got home, Mum
helped me do the curtains and we made them so that the lovely silver border was
at the bottom. We even had enough to swathe some at the top. It was the
finishing touch and made the room look floaty and soft.
    The overall effect was
lovely but had taken up all my spare time. Subject choices hadn’t even got a
look-in.
     
    Things were looking up
on the boy front too. When I go out with Izzie and Nesta now, boys look at me
as well. And not just the nerdy ones that no one else wants. Some quite cute
ones have given me the eye. But to my mind, no one came close to Tony.
    I saw him a couple of
times at Nesta’s but he ignored me. I don’t think he had recovered from us all
laughing at him. Then one evening, he came out of his room when I was going to
the bathroom.
    ‘
Psst
,’ he
said. ‘Lucy, in here.’
    I followed him in and
he shut the door. I stood there