Kiss (7 page)

‘Don’t go outside. Stay in here, girls, and give us guys a treat,’ Raj begged.

‘Calm down, silly boy,’ said Miranda.

They disappeared outside.

‘Oh, man!’ said Andy.

Carl raised his eyebrows at me.

We all waited. We heard a lot of giggling going on, then slurpy sounds and moaning.

‘Listen!’ said Raj.

‘They’re just winding you up,’ said Carl.

‘And succeeding,’ said Raj.

Miranda and Alice came back into the den arm in arm, still giggling.

Miranda knelt to spin the bottle again. ‘
Now
whose turn will it be?’ she said.

‘Can’t we move on to some other game?’ said Carl. ‘Isn’t this getting a bit boring?’

‘I think it’s just starting to get really interesting,’ said Miranda, spinning away. The bottle stopped, pointing at Carl.

‘Aha! Your go again, Carl. So let’s see …’

She spun it again. Carl sighed, leaning back, hands behind his head, as if he couldn’t care less. I stared at the bottle for him, wondering if it would be me this time.

It wasn’t me. It wasn’t Miranda. It wasn’t Alice.

It was Raj.

‘Oh, no!’ said Raj.

‘Oh yes,’ said Miranda.

‘You’re cheating, Miranda. You’re doing it deliberately,’ said Raj.

‘Now who’s being a spoilsport?’ said Alice.

‘
I
am,’ said Carl, getting up. He held out his hand to me. ‘Come on, Sylvie. I think it’s time we went home.’

‘Oh don’t be so stuffy, Carl,’ said Miranda.

‘Loosen up, boys, it’s only a bit of fun.
We
did it,’ said Alice.

‘Well, just a quick peck, darling,’ said Raj in a silly camp voice, waving a limp wrist around.

‘It’s not fun, it’s childish,’ said Carl. He looked at me. ‘Are you coming, Sylvie?’

‘Yes,’ I said, knowing it was no use arguing with him once his mind was made up.

Miranda didn’t give up easily. She stood beside Carl, gazing up at him with her big brown eyes.

‘Don’t go, Carl. OK, you don’t have to kiss Raj. I agree, he’s not the most inviting prospect.’

‘Thanks a bunch!’ said Raj. ‘I have my followers, you know. Maybe I’m just not Carl’s type.’

‘We’ll play something else,’ said Miranda.

‘I’m tired of playing games,’ said Carl. ‘Night, Miranda. Thank you for inviting us. Night, everyone.’

He gave a quick wave and went out of the door. I shrugged helplessly and followed him.

Miranda didn’t come to see us out. We stumbled around in the dark, having to feel our way up the stairs because we couldn’t find the light switch. We emerged blinking in the brightly lit hall. The starburst clock hanging on the wall said it was only twenty to eleven.

‘Jules is not coming till eleven, Carl.’

‘Well, we’ll wait outside,’ said Carl. He fingered the stained glass on the front door one more time and then opened it.

It was cold outside and neither of us had jackets. I started shivering.

‘Jump up and down a bit,’ said Carl.

‘I can’t jump, I feel too dizzy. Do you think I’m drunk?’

‘I shouldn’t think so.’

‘Carl, what’s the matter?’ I said, tucking my hand into his arm.

‘Nothing. I’m fine.’

‘Why did you walk out like that?’

‘You know why. It was getting boring.’

‘You didn’t seem to mind when you kissed Miranda. Carl … did you kiss her properly?’

‘As opposed to
im
properly?’

‘I mean, did you give her a proper kiss on the
lips? You know, a real smoochy film-star-type kiss.’

‘Wasn’t that what we were supposed to do? Didn’t Andy kiss you then?’

‘Well, sort of. But no one was expecting you and Raj to have a proper
snog
.’

‘Look, he goes to my school. I’m not having him saying stuff. Do you understand now?’

‘Well. Not really,’ I said. ‘Hey, who’s this new friend of yours?’

‘What friend?’ said Carl.

‘Raj said you had this friend who plays football. You never told me about him.’

‘There’s nothing to tell,’ said Carl, and stalked off down the road.

I went running after him. ‘Don’t walk off and leave me!’

‘I’m not. I’m just stamping around a bit to get warm,’ said Carl. He reached out and took my hand. ‘God, your hand feels like ice. I’m sorry. Here, let me try and warm you up.’ He put my hands between his and rubbed them up and down.

‘Why are you so cross, Carl?’

‘I’m not cross with you, just your silly friends.’

‘You like Miranda.’

‘No, I don’t. She’s so needy, desperate to be the centre of attention all the time. She thinks she’s so outrageous when really she’s just pathetic.’

‘Is she pathetic at kissing?’

‘I don’t know. I haven’t had that much experience of kissing.’

‘Yes, but did you
like
kissing her?’

‘It was OK. Ish. It didn’t really do much for me if I’m honest.’

‘Well, maybe you should try kissing someone else as a comparison,’ I mumbled.

‘What? Someone like
Raj
?’

‘No!’ I took a deep breath. I didn’t feel quite drunk enough but I decided to go for it anyway. ‘Someone like me.’

Carl relaxed. He held onto my hands, leaned forward – and kissed my
nose
. ‘There! Happy now?’

‘Not my nose!’

‘You’ve got a nice nose, little and snubby and cute.’

‘Kiss me on my lips.’

‘Can’t risk it, Syl. We might get all inflamed and risk our beautiful friendship,’ Carl said, messing about.

I wriggled away from him, my feelings hurt. I didn’t want to joke about it. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to kiss me properly.

‘Sylvie? Don’t look such a saddo. Listen, I’m sorry I broke up the party. They were all just getting on my nerves. I don’t want to hang out with them. I want to be with you. Tell you what, let’s play Glassworld tomorrow.’

‘Really?’ I said. ‘You haven’t wanted to play for ages.’

‘Tomorrow afternoon, in the Glass Hut. Is it a date?’

‘You bet,’ I said.

JULES WAS SURPRISED
to find us standing hand in hand by the kerb, ready and waiting for her at eleven.

‘I was rather hoping I could knock at the door and get asked in,’ she said. ‘What’s it like inside?’

‘Fabulous stained glass, an Eileen Gray red lacquer table in the hall, Clarice Cliff china in the cabinet … You’d love it, Mum,’ said Carl.

‘So what about this Miranda and her friends?’ Jules asked.

‘They don’t live up to the décor,’ said Carl.

‘What are they like?’ Jules asked anxiously.

‘Oh, Mum. You know. Spoiled. Silly. Rich.’

‘Sylvie,
you
tell me,’ said Jules.

I did my best. I described Miranda and Alice and Raj and Andy in detail. I gave Jules a
censored account of our evening, leaving out the beer and the whisky drinking and the Snog Spin session.

I had to recite it all over again when I got home to
my
mum. She was in her nightie sitting at her computer in the living room, sipping a glass of supermarket wine. She was playing one of her old eighties compilations, Blondie and Yazz and Annie Lennox – all the girls she used to dance to in the long-ago days when she went clubbing.

I approached her warily, because she sometimes got all tearful. She gave me a surprisingly cheerful smile and asked me all about my night out. She switched off her computer but kept the CD spinning, her toes tapping.

‘You sound as if you had a great time, Syl. I’m so pleased,’ she said, getting up and giving me a hug.

Perhaps she’d had more than one glass of wine because she hung onto me, swaying a little, and then she started spinning me round, dancing with me. We pranced around foolishly, and then started up our own little dance routine, forwards, back, hip twitch, twirl, faster and faster till we lost our balance and fell about laughing. We were mucking around just like sisters. I felt like confiding in her.

‘I wish I was more like Miranda,’ I said.

‘Is she very pretty?’

‘No, not really, but she acts like she is,’ I said.

‘Ah,’ said Mum.

‘And she’s very keen on Carl,’ I said.

‘
Uh-oh!
’ said Mum. ‘What about Carl? What does he think of her?’

‘Well, he
says
he’s not very keen. In fact he said she irritated him. He called her a poor little rich girl.’

‘Then you’ve not got anything to worry about, silly.’

‘Well …’ I couldn’t tell Mum that Carl had kissed Miranda when he still wouldn’t kiss me.

‘Never mind Carl,’ said Mum. ‘What about the other boys? Did you fancy any of them?’

I stared at her. ‘Mum! I just want Carl, you know that.’

‘I know you two have been joined at the hip since you were tiny but you’re both growing up now. It might be time to move on to other friendships.’

‘Carl’s my best friend and my boyfriend and we’re going to get married – you
know
that, Mum.’

‘That was just a baby game. You don’t want to think about marrying Carl. You don’t want to think about marrying
anyone
. Where does marriage get you?’ said Mum, rubbing her bare finger where she used to wear her wedding ring. But then she smiled at me. ‘Well, getting married got me
you
, and that makes it all worth while,’ she said, giving me a hug. ‘Come on, let’s go to bed. It’s OK for you, you can have a lie-in on Saturday. I’ve got blooming work.’

She gave me a goodnight kiss and then
peered at me suspiciously. ‘Have you been drinking beer?’

‘Have you been drinking
wine
?’

‘I’m not thirteen years old, Cheekyface.’

‘I’m very nearly fourteen.’

‘Will you want a party?’

‘No! Just a birthday tea with Carl.’

It was his birthday next. I had his present all ready, carefully wrapped and hidden in the back of my wardrobe. It was an old crystal champagne glass, decorated around the stem with green grape vines. I’d found it in a Cancer Research shop. I wasn’t sure how old it was or whether it had any real value. I simply thought it was beautiful. I wished I had a pair so that Carl and I could drink pink champagne from them on our wedding day.

I dreamed about Carl when I went to sleep, but Miranda was in the dream too, and Raj and Andy and Alice. The bottle kept spinning and then I seemed to be spinning too, round and round until I was totally dizzy. I was in pitch darkness and I couldn’t grab hold of anyone to steady myself. I kept feeling for Carl but I couldn’t find him. He wasn’t there any more. He’d somehow crept out of the room.

I woke up and the phone was ringing and ringing. It was gone ten. Mum had left a cup of tea on my bedside table but it was stone cold now. I ran downstairs in my pyjamas, wondering if it was Carl, hoping he wasn’t going to back out of our Glassworld date.

It was only Lucy, desperate to know how I’d got on at Miranda’s party.

I told her exactly what had happened, needing to see what she made of it all. She kept giving little squeals.

‘That Miranda! What a C-O-W!’ she said, spelling it out. It was the nearest she got to swearing. ‘Fancy kissing Carl. And he seriously
let
her?’

‘Well, it was just a game. It wasn’t serious,’ I said anxiously.

‘Don’t be silly, Titchy, she’s trying to take him away from you. She makes me so sick. I wouldn’t have any more to do with her if I were you.’

I was pretty sure Miranda wouldn’t want any more to do with me now I’d walked out of her party. I decided not to tell Lucy that she’d asked me to be her best friend. It would make her even more vitriolic. She suggested we go shopping together in the afternoon but I said I was going to go round to Carl’s.

‘Oh, OK,’ she said. Then, ‘Can I come too?’

I took a deep breath. ‘Well, we’re going to be working on our book together.’

‘I could work on it too. I’m good at English, you know I am. In fact I’m thinking of being a writer when I grow up. I’ve written lots of stories about my teddies.’

I shut my eyes. I knew exactly how Carl would react if I brought Lucy along and suggested we introduce Billy and Bobby and Bernie to Glassworld.

‘Our story’s kind of private, Lucy. It’s just for Carl and me. We write it in Carl’s hut.’

Lucy sniffed at the other end of the phone. ‘It’s not a
dirty
story, is it?’ she said.

‘No it’s not!’ I said crossly.

‘It sounds a bit weird though. What’s this hut like?’

‘It’s where Carl keeps his glass collection.’

‘Yeah, that’s a bit weird too, a boy collecting glasses!’

‘It’s not just glasses. It’s all different kinds of glass – he’s got the most fantastic collection.’

‘Then show me, go on. Please. Ask me over this afternoon and take me round to Carl’s.’

‘I can’t, Lucy. Carl doesn’t ever let anyone in the Glass Hut apart from me.’

Lucy rang off, sounding very huffy. I worried that I’d hurt her feelings, but I couldn’t really help it.

I spent the rest of the morning working out new episodes of Glassworld to impress Carl. I invented a new character, a Princess Mirandarette, who lived in a glittering white snow palace. I drew her dressed in black velvet with a white fur hat and collar and black boots with spiky steel heels. I gave her a white snow leopard and a black jaguar for pets, and drew a huge black crow perching on her shoulder. I drew Queen Sylviana beside her. She was Queen of all Glassworld and I drew her in her purple robes of state with her ruby crown and her regal ruby high-heels, but she looked pale and powerless standing next to
Princess Mirandarette. Her leopard and jaguar looked like they could eat Queen Sylviana’s twin talking Siamese cats for breakfast.