Viva Alice! (5 page)

Chapter Ten

T
he next morning, Gavin gave me another swimming lesson. Once again he was really nice and helpful. Once again, Alice sat by the pool, pretending not to watch, pretending she didn’t mind that I was the one getting all the attention.

‘Watch out, Megan,’ she said after a bit. ‘Or before you know it, you’ll end up at the Olympic games.’

‘She very well might,’ said Gavin. ‘She’s good enough.’ And I had to dive quickly under the water so he wouldn’t see how red my face had gone.

When my lesson was over, and Gavin had
gone back inside, Alice, Grace and I decided to check out the communal pool. We picked three sunloungers near the snack bar, right in the middle of the action.

‘OK,’ said Alice, as soon as I had got comfortable. ‘We’ve got work to do.’

‘Work,’ I wailed. ‘Aren’t we supposed to be on holidays? What work do we have to do?’

‘It’s time for us to find a nice girl for Gavin,’ said Alice.

‘Maybe he doesn’t want a girl, nice or otherwise,’ said Grace. ‘Maybe he just wants a quiet life.’

‘A quiet life isn’t an option when Alice is around,’ I said giggling. ‘Haven’t you figured that out yet?’

‘But what if––?’ began Grace before Alice interrupted her.

‘Hey,’ she said. ‘What about that girl over there?’

She was pointing at a blonde girl who was lying at the other side of the pool.

‘Well, she’s very pretty, and she looks about the right age for Gavin,’ I said. ‘What do you think, Grace? You’re the one who should decide. Remember the girl we pick might one day be your sister-in-law.’

Before Grace could answer, a boy came and sat down next to the blonde girl. He leaned over and gave her a big smoochy kiss.

‘Good choice, Alice,’ said Grace.

‘Oh, well,’ said Alice. ‘You win some you lose some. Now what about that girl coming out of the snack bar?’

For the next half hour, Alice picked out lots of girls and Grace and I rejected them for one reason or another. Grace said no to one girl, just because she didn’t like her swimsuit. I said no to another girl because she reminded me a bit of Melissa. I felt a small bit guilty, judging all these strangers, but I didn’t say anything
because it was also great fun.

We were just thinking about going back to the villa, when a girl came and put her towel down on a sunlounger near us. She was tall, with long dark hair. She wasn’t exactly pretty, but she looked nice, like she’d be kind to puppies and small kids and stuff. As she sat down, she looked at us, and smiled for a second, but when her smile faded, her eyes seemed sad. Then she opened her book and started to read.

‘OMG!’ mouthed Alice to Grace and me. ‘She’s the one.’

Suddenly I felt nervous. I was totally afraid of what Alice was going to do next. My best friend has no idea how to be subtle.

I jumped up and started to roll up my towel.

‘We should be going,’ I said. ‘It’s nearly time for … dinner … or … lunch … or our nap … or something.’

Grace took the hint, and she stood up too and started to get ready to leave. Alice wasn’t giving up though. She stood up and went over
to the girl.

‘It’s a nice day, isn’t it?’ she said, which I thought was a bit pathetic. Who wants to talk about the weather? Especially in a country where nearly every day is nice?

The girl was polite though. She smiled at Alice and nodded.

‘Is that a good book?’ asked Alice.

The girl smiled and nodded again, but she had a puzzled look on her face. I guess she was wondering why this stranger kept asking her stupid questions. I couldn’t bear to watch any more.

‘I’m going back to the villa,’ I said. ‘Anyone coming?’

Alice pretended not to hear, so Grace and I walked towards the exit, and waited. And waited.

We watched as Alice sat on the end of the girl’s sunlounger, like they were best friends.

We watched as the girl put her book down and said something to Alice.

We watched as Alice laughed like the girl had just told her the funniest joke in the universe.

Then we waited some more.

In the end I had to go back. I felt sorry for the girl who might one day be Grace’s sister-in-law.

‘Come on, Alice,’ I said. ‘It’s getting late. We really, really need to go now.’

‘Bye, Robyn,’ said Alice, as if it was perfectly normal to have your friend pulling your arm and practically dragging you along the edge of a swimming pool. ‘Maybe I’ll see you here tomorrow?’

‘Sure,’ said the girl. ‘I guess I’ll be here.’

‘She’s perfect,’ said Alice as we walked back to Grace. ‘Totally perfect. She’s really nice and friendly, but not totally vain and prissy like some girls her age are. And best of all – she hasn’t got a boyfriend.’

‘You asked her?’ That was brave even for Alice.

‘Not exactly,’ said Alice. ‘I just said that I’d love
to have a boyfriend, and she said I shouldn’t be in any hurry about that. She said her boyfriend broke up with her three weeks ago.’

‘Aw, that’s kind of sweet,’ I said. ‘Maybe she and Gavin can be sad together.’

‘And then they can get over it all, and be happy together,’ said Grace, sounding enthusiastic about the plan for the first time.

‘Anyway,’ said Alice, ‘Her name’s Robyn. Her dad is English and her mum is Spanish – that’s probably where she gets her dark skin from. She lives in England, but she comes here for a few weeks every year.’

‘Funny I’ve never seen her before,’ said Grace. ‘We’ve been coming here since I was tiny.’

‘It’s fate,’ sighed Alice. ‘Fate kept her and Gavin apart until the perfect moment – which is like, now.’

‘Or maybe they never met before because they get different school holidays in England?’ I said.

‘Anyway,’ said Alice, who always prefers
exotic explanations to likely ones. ‘Who cares why they never met before? The important thing is that they are going to meet now.’

‘So what else did you find out about my future sister-in-law?’ asked Grace.

It turned out Alice had found out a lot – especially considering she’d only had about five minutes to do it.

‘Well, she goes to college in London. She’s in first year, same as Gavin. She hasn’t got any brothers or sisters, and usually she brings a friend on holidays with her, but this time she asked her boyfriend to come, and when he broke up with her, it was too late to ask anyone else, so now it’s just her and her parents. She says it’s a bit boring.’

‘Oh, well,’ I said, giggling. ‘I’m sure we can rely on you to give her a holiday she’ll never forget.’

‘Thanks, Meg,’ said Alice. ‘Good to know you’ve got so much confidence in me. Now I’m starving after all that hard work. Let’s get
some lunch, and then we can start to properly plan the romance of the century.’

After lunch, Gavin went for a run, so Alice, Grace and I were free to discuss our plans for the rest of his life.

‘Robyn told me she’s going out with her parents this afternoon, and she won’t be back till late tonight,’ said Alice. ‘That means we can’t make a move until tomorrow morning.’

‘And what exactly are we going to do?’ asked Grace.

‘Not much, really,’ said Alice. ‘We’ve just got to get Gavin to go to the communal pool, and then we’ve got to make sure that Robyn notices him.’

‘Getting him there won’t be a problem,’ I said. ‘He told me this morning that it would be easier to improve my swimming strokes in a bigger pool. I’ll just ask him to come with me
and give me a lesson there.’

‘Great,’ said Alice. ‘Good idea, Meg. Now, I’ve got a few suggestions for getting Robyn to notice Gavin. How about we secretly write a totally embarrassing message on the back of his t-shirt while he’s in the shower? Robyn could see it and feel sorry for him. Or we could swap his shower gel for hair removal cream, and when he’s going crazy wondering why his legs aren’t hairy any more, Robyn might ask him what’s wrong. Or we could unscrew the leg of his sunlounger, and when he sits down it’ll collapse, and Robyn could help him to get up. Or we could––’

‘Hey,’ I said holding up my hands. ‘How about you stop right there?’

Alice looked surprised, and actually stopped talking.

‘I know you’re trying to help and everything,’ I said. ‘But why do you always have to be so extreme? Why don’t we just get Gavin to the pool, and hope that Robyn is there, and
then, maybe they’ll just start chatting to each other – like normal people do.’

Alice sighed. ‘You’re right as usual, Meg. I might have let myself get a teeny-tiny bit carried away. Let’s try your idea first – but if it doesn’t work, we’re going for the extreme stuff, OK?’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘Deal. And let’s just hope that Gavin never has to find out exactly how extreme you can be.’

Chapter Eleven

T
he next morning, Gavin seemed happier than I’d ever seen him – which wouldn’t really have been all that hard. There was no sad music playing in his bedroom, and his still-blocked phone was nowhere to be seen.

‘Maybe he’s cured,’ I said to Alice as we went upstairs to brush our teeth after breakfast. ‘Maybe we’ve done enough. Maybe we can let him sort out his own love-life.’

‘No way,’ said Alice. ‘We’re just getting started.’

I sighed. Alice loves plotting and scheming.
Even if Gavin was the happiest guy on the planet by now, she still wouldn’t want to pull back.

‘I think Alice is right,’ said Grace. ‘We have to make sure Gavin is fully better. If we stop too soon, there’s a danger he’ll go crawling back to Witch-girl – and I soooo don’t want
her
back in our lives.’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘You both win. I know what I’ve got to do.’

When we went back downstairs, Gavin was sitting in the kitchen.

‘Hey, Megan,’ he said when he saw me. ‘Ready for today’s lesson?’

‘Hey, Gavin,’ I said. ‘Do you think you could come with us to the communal pool and give me my lesson there? Remember you said that would be better for my strokes?’

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Good idea. I’ll go get my towel and stuff.’

‘Take your time,’ said Alice sweetly. ‘We’ll go on ahead and find a nice place for us all to sit.’

As we walked over to the communal pool, I started to feel guilty.

‘Robyn seems like a really nice girl,’ I said.

‘Yeah,’ said Grace. ‘I agree.’

‘But in a way that makes it worse,’ I said.

‘Makes what worse?’ asked Alice.

‘We’re messing around with Robyn’s life to help someone else,’ I said. ‘Basically we’re using her.’

‘And the problem is?’ asked Alice. ‘It’s all in a good cause, isn’t it?’

‘Alice, don’t you remember what happened when we tried to set your dad up with my Aunt Linda?’ I asked.

‘I laughed so much when you told me that story,’ said Grace. ‘I wish I could have been there to see it.’

‘Yeah, well,’ I sighed. ‘It might have been funny, but Alice and I got in a
lot
of trouble over it. Mum and Dad were really cross with me, and the worst thing was, they were right. It
was
mean to use Linda to try to make Alice’s
Mum jealous.’

‘Ancient history,’ said Alice. ‘And I’ve always hated history. And anyway, this is completely different. Gavin and Robyn are young, not like Dad and Linda. And we shouldn’t forget, if our plan works, Robyn will gain too. Gavin’s a total catch. Those two could live happily ever after, and it will all be thanks to us. We might even get to be bridesmaids at their wedding. What do you think, would pink dresses suit all three of us, or would green be nicer?’

We were at the pool by now, so I couldn’t argue any more.

I wasn’t sure if I was happy to see Robyn sitting in the same place as the day before.

Had she
any
idea of Alice’s plans for the rest of her life?

What would she have thought if she knew that Alice was already planning what to wear to her wedding?

Alice grabbed three sunloungers, conveniently leaving an empty space between herself
and Robyn. Robyn looked up from her book and smiled at us, and then we settled down to wait for Gavin.

After a few minutes, Alice nudged me.

‘Oh, look, Meg,’ she said, much too loudly. ‘Here’s Gavin. Wow, he looks good in those swimming shorts, doesn’t he? He should be a male model or something.’

As usual, she was getting totally carried away. She was right though, he did look totally cool. I half-turned, and smiled when I saw that Robyn was peeping over the top of her book, and looking towards Gavin.

Alice poked me again. ‘Up you get, Megan. It’s time for your swimming lesson. Gavin is soooo kind to help you like this. I think he must be the kindest guy I’ve ever met in my whole life.’

Feeling like a complete idiot. I stood up and walked towards the pool. I felt like everyone was staring at me, and that so wasn’t a good feeling.

As I jumped into the water, Gavin threw his towel onto the empty sunlounger next to Robyn. I rolled my eyes as Alice and Grace had a fit of winking and grinning at each other.

Then Gavin came and sat on the edge of the pool, and my lesson began.

It should have been totally embarrassing, having a public lesson like that, but after a few minutes, I almost forgot that anyone else was around. Gavin was really patient and encouraging, and soon I started to believe that I was the best swimmer in the world. Anytime I did something right, he smiled at me, and I felt like he’d given me a wonderful present, specially designed just for me.

I was really sorry when he stood up and stretched. ‘That’s probably enough for today, Megan,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to confuse you by showing you too much new stuff. Practise what I showed you, and we’ll continue tomorrow, OK?’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘I’d like that.’

Suddenly I felt that if Gavin asked me to swim to America, I’d happily have done it for a single one of his crinkly smiles.

As I went to lie on my sunlounger, Gavin jumped into the pool and started to swim. He was a brilliant swimmer, and barely rippled the water as he sped along. I turned around and noticed that Robyn had put down her book, and was watching him too. When he stopped swimming, after about ten lengths, I felt a really stupid urge to start clapping, like he’d just won a gold medal or something. Luckily, I was sitting on my hands, so a disaster was averted.

When Gavin pulled himself out of the pool, Robyn quickly picked up her book again and looked totally interested in it. I smiled to myself when I saw that it was upside-down. I hoped no one else noticed.

Gavin picked up his towel. ‘See you later, girls,’ he said as he started to walk away.

‘Hey,’ called Alice. ‘Come back.’

He turned around. ‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘Is
something wrong?’

‘No,’ said Alice. ‘Or, yes … or maybe … I mean … you see … there was this guy hanging around here earlier … and I thought he was a bit creepy … and he was staring at us …’

‘Where?’ asked Gavin. ‘Where is he? Maybe we should tell the lifeguard.’

‘It
might
only be my imagination,’ said Alice. ‘But just in case, will you sit here with us for a bit? If the guy comes back, he’d be totally afraid of you.’

‘OK,’ said Gavin, as he sat down on the sunlounger next to Robyn. ‘Happy to protect my little sis and her friends.’

‘Oh, said Alice, all casual. ‘Robyn, this is Grace’s brother Gavin.’

Robyn put her book down again and as they said ‘hi’ to each other, I noticed that they had both turned a bit red. I’m not an expert on boyfriend and girlfriend stuff, but I guessed that was a good sign. Nobody said anything for a minute. It wasn’t exactly awkward, but I
didn’t like the look in Alice’s eye. Was she considering something crazy like pushing them both into the pool?

Then, before Alice could do anything stupid, Gavin pointed at Robyn’s book. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘I read that at college last term, and loved it. What do you think of it?’

Robyn smiled at him, and I realised that she was really pretty when she smiled. ‘I totally love it,’ she said. ‘He’s a great writer. What did you think of his book about Africa?’

‘I liked it,’ said Gavin. ‘But not as much as this one. What did you think of the part where they go to Amsterdam? Wasn’t it totally creepy?’

And that was all it took. Grace, Alice and I lay back on our sunloungers and closed our eyes, and pretended not to listen, while Gavin and Robyn discussed every book they’d ever read, and every one they hoped to read.

Sweet!