Fifteen Going on Grown Up (7 page)

“No, I don’t, I can’t …”

Hally could not find the words she wanted to say. With a big sigh she let her fingers drop into her lap and looked at her two friends.

“OK, I give in. what are you going to do?”

Corrinne looked at Clia and raised her eyebrows. Clia frowned slightly, and pinched her lip between her thumb and forefinger. For a few seconds the only sound that could be heard was the humming of the bees in the lavender that grew around the edge of the deck.

“Got it!”

Exclaimed Clia.

Hally and Corrinne jumped so much that Hally knocked her glass over nudging Clia who let out a loud “Ouch!” as she bit her lip where she still held it pinched between her fingers.

The three girls folded up with laughter. Corrinne, who was still holding her glass drenched herself in lemonade; this only made the situation more funny to the girls and a fresh tide of giggles followed. After a few moments the giggles gradually subsided and Hally went into the kitchen to get paper towels for Corrinne. When she returned the other two had calmed down. Hally handed Corrinne the paper towels and topped up her drink before sitting back down.

“Well?”

She looked to her two friends questioningly. Clia smiled.

“Tomorrow we go back to the café at lunch time. It’s always busy then and everyone goes there, so if he’s new in town he will probably be there.”

Hally frowned. Corrinne saw this and quickly jumped in.

“You know statistically Clia is right.”

Hally giggled at her friend’s mathematical reference. Clia pounced on Hally’s happier look and continued.

“So we go to the café for lunch.”

“And then we…?”

Hally asked moving her hand in a circular motion to prompt her friend.

“Well we, we, well we will know when we get there.”

She said with a rush. Corrinne and Hally sat silently for a few seconds, then they all burst into giggles again.

“Great plan.”

Hally told Clia.

Chapter 5

Wes

After a very restless night Hally woke early and was showered and dressed long before anyone else in the family. Even Nathan was still in bed asleep, which showed the unusualness of Hally’s situation as he was normally awake and in front of his play station before going down to breakfast. Hally made herself some tea and toast and
settled at the table to eat. She hadn’t touched either when she was startled by her mum coming into the kitchen.

“Didn’t expect to see you down here.”

Mum said as she touched the side of the kettle to see how hot it was.

“Oh, had a bit of a rough night that’s all.”

Hally replied. Mum frowned a little as she lifted a mug from the cupboard and waited for the kettle to re-boil.

“Hally, is something wrong baby?”

She asked her daughter gently.

“No, not wrong…” she paused taking a sip of tea. “just…different.”

Hally told her mother, looking up at her. With her mug of tea made, mum sat opposite Hally.

“What do you mean sweetheart?”

She asked very gently. Hally smiled at her mum but her lower lip trembled a little as she tried to explain.

“Well there’s this boy. I don’t know him but Clia found out his name and how old he is. He’s called Wesley and he’s eighteen and we are going to the Hotspot café today to see if he’s there.”

She said the last bit quickly, took a great swallow of tea which resulted in her choking and spluttering.

“Careful babe, so what’s bothering you about this? Don’t you want to see him?”

Mum asked.

“Yes I do, that’s the trouble. What if he doesn’t even notice me?”

Hally said with real tears in her eyes.

“Maybe if you start at the beginning I will get a better idea of what you mean.”

Mum said with a little smile. Hally looked at her mother and tried a little smile herself. Then with a very big sigh she explained everything. When she finished mum stood up and made fresh tea. Placing a mug in front of her daughter she smiled and said.

“Hally you are a very beautiful young woman with very little experience of boys. (Hally opened her mouth to comment) But that’s good because it adds to your charm; and you also have a maturity that this boy can probably see. You are, fifteen going on grown up. If you like this boy, then make sure he notices you.”

“But how?”

Hally asked sounding panicky.

“Well you know, when I first saw your dad he didn’t know I was there. So, I simply walked into him. I sort of made out that I hadn’t seen him but, well it did the trick.”

Hally laughed. She had heard the story before, but it always made her laugh, and since her parents had been married for seventeen years and were still just as happy she figured it was a good plan.

“I just don’t know if I’m brave enough to try something like that though.”

She told her mother.

“Well you don’t have to do exactly that. I mean you probably won’t even have to. You are so pretty he’s bound to notice you anyway.”

Mum told her giving her a little hug. Hally lifted her shoulders and sighed a very deep sigh.

“Well… I had better go and get ready then.”

She said this in such a way that her mum burst out laughing.

“You sound as if you are going to an interview or something.”

She said. Hally stood up, took her tea and left the kitchen.

“Hally!” mum called “It’s only half past seven.”

Hally came back into the room with a deep frown.

“Oh cripes, that only leaves me like two and a half hours to get sorted.”

With that she spun around spilling tea down her front and took off upstairs.

In her room Hally sat on the edge of her bed for several minutes not doing anything. Her mug of tea sat untouched and cold on the bedside table. She simply stared at the picture on her wall. She had had the picture since she was tiny. It was a christening present from her grandparents. It showed a tiny baby in a soft pink crib being watched over by two beautiful angels resting on pure white fluffy clouds. Hally had always believed the angels were her grandparents. Thinking of her grandmother brought tears to her eyes; she knew she was over emotional at the moment and with a big sigh sat up straight looked in her mirror and said.

“Right girl, get a grip and sort out what you are gong to wear.”

She then laughed at herself for talking to herself, stood up and went to her wardrobe. Glancing through her clothes she debated on two outfits. Should she wear a denim mini, strappy top and flip-flops as it was hot, or jeans and T-shirt? She decided on jeans and strappy with flat sandals. The last thing she wanted was to wear heels and then go tripping over and making a real idiot of herself.

An hour later Hally stood in front of her mirror applying her makeup. She was always careful with this, her mum having shown her some time ago how to put it on to look natural and not like a painted doll. Today it seemed to be a real effort to get it just right, or so it seemed. Her eyeliner kept smudging and before long Hally realised her shaking hands were causing the problem. She abandoned the eye make-up to open her window and stand for a while just wondering why she was so nervous. He was after all just another boy, worse still one she didn’t even vaguely know.

Breathing deeply, Hally closed her eyes and let the warm morning sun shine on her face. She stayed like that for several minutes. After a while she opened her eyes and looked out across the garden. A few birds were pecking at the feeders and bird table. It was peaceful watching them, almost mesmerising and for some time her thoughts were just on the little sparrows and starlings. Each little bird furiously fighting for seed or breadcrumbs, constantly aware of the danger of predators. A squawking fight between two starlings brought Hally out of her reverie; she turned back to her room which for a few seconds appeared very dark after the glaring sun; walked back to her dresser and began again to apply her eye make-up.

Hally walked into the kitchen a half hour later, saw it was empty and carried on out to the garden. Her mum was hanging washing on the line and Hally without talking began handing her items out of the basket.

“You all sorted then sweetie?”

Mum asked. Hally looked into her mother’s eyes and nodded.

“Well you look very pretty.”

“Oh, does it look like I’ve gone over the top?”

She asked quickly.

“No, not at all, you just look very pretty.”

Mum assured her quickly.

“What time are Corrinne and Clia coming for you?”

“Well they’ll be ‘round at about ten and then we are going into town first then the café at lunchtime.”

“So what are you going to do whilst you are waiting?”

Mum asked holding a towel to the line and pegging it at the same time.

“No idea. Is there anything you need help with?”

She asked, hoping her mum would have something to occupy her for the next hour.

“Mmm…well you could go and drag your little brother away from his play station; (she laughed at the look on Hally’s face) only joking. No, actually, you could finish this off for me. Hally nodded and took over hanging the washing. But no matter what she did, her mind was in turmoil over the possibility of meeting Wesley.

“Wesley.”

She said his name out loud, realised she had and looked about to see if mum had heard. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her mum inside the kitchen. She had shocked herself saying his name out loud and realised that it was in fact the first time she had actually thought about his name. Up until then he was just this boy whom she had taken a real liking to. By speaking his name it all suddenly became very real and she began to tremble.

Mum gently took the shirt out of Hally’s hands and shook it out before hanging it on the line. She then took her daughter by the hand and led her into the kitchen. Hally didn’t speak, she just let her mum gently push her into a chair.

“My darling, what a state you have got yourself into.”

She told her.

“You were scrunching your dad’s shirt into a ball. It would have been impossible to iron.”

She finished with a small laugh. She then filled a glass with water and gave it to Hally who slowly sipped it.

“You seem more terrified than nervous about meeting this boy Hally.”

Mum told her. For a few seconds Hally just sipped. She then put the glass on the table and told her mum what had happened outside.

“You know what I think?”

Mum asked. Hally shook her head.

“I think you have built this meeting up into such a big thing that you don’t really feel you can cope. I mean he might not even be there, have you thought of that?”

Hally looked at her mum and a wide smile spread across her face.

“Yeah, course, he probably won’t be there. We can just have an ordinary day in town and go to the café as usual. Oh what an idiot I am. I should know better than to get all dippy about meeting a guy who might not even be there. Thanks mum.”

And she stood up and gave her mum a big kiss and a hug.

Hally was watching television when Corrinne and Clia arrived. Both girls were dressed in jeans, this made Hally feel much better about her choice of clothes.

After saying their hellos and goodbyes to mum the three set off for the town.

“What shall we do first? Do either of you need anything specific?”

Clia asked.

“Yep, I need new mascara, lip-gloss and eyeliner.”

Corrinne stated.

“That’s cool ‘cos I need Chandlers too.”

Clia told her. Chandlers was a small chemist where the girls could buy all their cosmetics and perfumes.

“What are you buying Clia?”

Hally asked. She asked this because Clia wore very little makeup and usually only went to Chandlers when Corrinne or herself needed to.

“Oh, I just want to have a look at some stuff.”

She told her friends. This puzzled them because Clia was normally very open about her actions.

“OK, give.”

Hally said to her. Clia looked at her and grinned.

“You know me too well Mackeller.”

The use of Hally’s surname was not rude, it was something the girls often did to each other, a bit like using nicknames.

“I want to check out some eye make-up advertised on television.” Hally and Corrinne raised their eyebrows. “I know that’s a surprise, but I just thought it was about time I started to look more like a woman.”

Hally and Corrinne giggled. They found this remark more than just funny. To them it was hilarious since Clia looked older than both of them and had developed her figure quite some time before either of them. She was also very pretty with dark thick hair and big brown eyes.

“Clia, you are stunning and you already look like a woman.”

Hally told her friend.