thing pasted over that, now open to over-sixteens,’ Isobel said. ‘But all of Year 11 is assuming there’s no way of checking that, really.’
‘Yeah, it was just sixth form originally,’ Ian said. ‘And more of an excuse for a party than a charity thing. But then it looked like the tickets wouldn’t pay for any kind of decent entertainment, so they opened it up to your year because they wanted to sell enough tickets to make enough to get away with calling it a charity event, then they could get local firms to sponsor bits of it. And because a lot of sixth-form guys want to perv over you and your friends.’
‘That’s not something my friends are going to complain about,’ Isobel said. ‘It’s legit, then?’
‘I think we’re hoping it’ll even be
actually
good,’ Ian said. ‘I’m not on the committee, but Soph is involved.’
‘Are there still tickets?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, they want to sell loads. They’ve been given permission to open up the whole sixth-form block on the night, so it’s a bit more creepy and house partyish, with the Halloween theme. There’s teams of women at work making spiders out of old tights.’
‘Oh, just women?’ Isobel said, sarcastically. ‘What are the “men” doing, then?’
‘Don’t blame me, I’m not the factory manager! I just saw a bunch of them this morning surrounded by enormous spiders and they happened to be girls. Maybethey refused to let the blokes get their hands on their tights.’ Ian turned to me. ‘Your lot are going, aren’t they?’
‘My lot?’
‘I know that Steve and Dominic have bought tickets ’cause I was there when they did. Dunno about Jonah, I guess.’
‘Oh.’
‘You’re still going out with him, though?’ Ian said. He stretched with both arms, then let his hands rest on the top of his head.
Yeah, very casual,
I thought,
nothing uncomfortable here.
‘Yeah,’ I said. I sounded defensive. I wished that in loaded conversations like this you could practise the way you said things and choose the ones that sounded the best. I wanted my ‘yeah’ to sound light and innocent.
‘Ian,’ Isobel said, ‘just say it if you’re going to say it.’
‘Just say what?’ I asked.
‘Listen, I’m heading back into school,’ Isobel said. ‘Come and catch me up in a minute, Cass.’
‘Isobel,’ I called after her. ‘Well, this is weird!’ I said to Ian, when she’d gone.
‘It’s not, don’t worry. I just thought we should have a chat, face to face,’ Ian said. ‘You know I’m rubbish in email.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, smiling as I remembered the arguments we’d had when I used to interpret his emails to mean something incredibly important, and spend days being angry about them. ‘But to be honest, you’re just freaking me out a bit. It’s that brother-sister handover, what was that?’
‘I know, sorry,’ Ian said. ‘I just wanted to tell you, the other day when I said Jonah was dodgy, I was really out of order.’ He pressed his lips together in that Ian way. ‘I just wanted you to know that. It’s none of my business. But we’re still friends, aren’t we? So I was a dick, and I think it’s important that you log this one as my dickishness.’
‘Oh, Ian, come on. It’s fine.’
Ian pressed his lips tighter, but he wasn’t smiling.
‘He is nice, too, you know?’ I said. ‘I know all that business with him arguing with everyone earlier was a bad start as new boys, but they’re just used to that kind of debating in their old school, they had debating teams. They went to inter-school debating competitions.’
‘Yeah, I’m sure,’ Ian said. ‘Cass, you don’t have to . . .’ He stopped mid-sentence. I looked where he was looking and saw Steve and Lewis, then Dom and Jonah behind them.
‘Well, hi, Cassidy!’ Steve said, with a smile. I stood up, then stayed there awkwardly without movingforward as I wondered whether to go and kiss Jonah or something. It was excruciating.
‘No, stay,
‘Yeah, it was just sixth form originally,’ Ian said. ‘And more of an excuse for a party than a charity thing. But then it looked like the tickets wouldn’t pay for any kind of decent entertainment, so they opened it up to your year because they wanted to sell enough tickets to make enough to get away with calling it a charity event, then they could get local firms to sponsor bits of it. And because a lot of sixth-form guys want to perv over you and your friends.’
‘That’s not something my friends are going to complain about,’ Isobel said. ‘It’s legit, then?’
‘I think we’re hoping it’ll even be
actually
good,’ Ian said. ‘I’m not on the committee, but Soph is involved.’
‘Are there still tickets?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, they want to sell loads. They’ve been given permission to open up the whole sixth-form block on the night, so it’s a bit more creepy and house partyish, with the Halloween theme. There’s teams of women at work making spiders out of old tights.’
‘Oh, just women?’ Isobel said, sarcastically. ‘What are the “men” doing, then?’
‘Don’t blame me, I’m not the factory manager! I just saw a bunch of them this morning surrounded by enormous spiders and they happened to be girls. Maybethey refused to let the blokes get their hands on their tights.’ Ian turned to me. ‘Your lot are going, aren’t they?’
‘My lot?’
‘I know that Steve and Dominic have bought tickets ’cause I was there when they did. Dunno about Jonah, I guess.’
‘Oh.’
‘You’re still going out with him, though?’ Ian said. He stretched with both arms, then let his hands rest on the top of his head.
Yeah, very casual,
I thought,
nothing uncomfortable here.
‘Yeah,’ I said. I sounded defensive. I wished that in loaded conversations like this you could practise the way you said things and choose the ones that sounded the best. I wanted my ‘yeah’ to sound light and innocent.
‘Ian,’ Isobel said, ‘just say it if you’re going to say it.’
‘Just say what?’ I asked.
‘Listen, I’m heading back into school,’ Isobel said. ‘Come and catch me up in a minute, Cass.’
‘Isobel,’ I called after her. ‘Well, this is weird!’ I said to Ian, when she’d gone.
‘It’s not, don’t worry. I just thought we should have a chat, face to face,’ Ian said. ‘You know I’m rubbish in email.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, smiling as I remembered the arguments we’d had when I used to interpret his emails to mean something incredibly important, and spend days being angry about them. ‘But to be honest, you’re just freaking me out a bit. It’s that brother-sister handover, what was that?’
‘I know, sorry,’ Ian said. ‘I just wanted to tell you, the other day when I said Jonah was dodgy, I was really out of order.’ He pressed his lips together in that Ian way. ‘I just wanted you to know that. It’s none of my business. But we’re still friends, aren’t we? So I was a dick, and I think it’s important that you log this one as my dickishness.’
‘Oh, Ian, come on. It’s fine.’
Ian pressed his lips tighter, but he wasn’t smiling.
‘He is nice, too, you know?’ I said. ‘I know all that business with him arguing with everyone earlier was a bad start as new boys, but they’re just used to that kind of debating in their old school, they had debating teams. They went to inter-school debating competitions.’
‘Yeah, I’m sure,’ Ian said. ‘Cass, you don’t have to . . .’ He stopped mid-sentence. I looked where he was looking and saw Steve and Lewis, then Dom and Jonah behind them.
‘Well, hi, Cassidy!’ Steve said, with a smile. I stood up, then stayed there awkwardly without movingforward as I wondered whether to go and kiss Jonah or something. It was excruciating.
‘No, stay,
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