Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 01] (5 page)

‘I promised I’d help
Dad do his shopping at the wholesaler’s,’ I lied.

‘You could come after.
It won’t take long with your dad. Look. I’m sorry about last night. I suppose I
didn’t think. Nesta was on her own and the wicked stepsisters were visiting
round at ours. I had to get out. I knew you’d be OK. At least you’ve got a
normal family.’

I had to laugh at
that. ‘Normal? Us? What planet are you on?

I have to say I know
what she means though. Her setup is pretty complicated.

  
1
 
Her mum and dad got divorced about seven years ago, when
Izzie was little, then her mum remarried.

  
2
 
Her stepdad’s a lot older than Izzie’s mum and he has two
grown-up daughters from his first marriage, both accountants like their father.
Izzie calls them the wicked stepsisters.

  
3
 
Oh. And her dad remarried as well. He married someone a lot
younger. Anna. At least Izzie likes her. She had a little boy, Tom, who’s two
now and Izzie completely dotes on him.

So, see what I mean?
Stepsisters, a stepdad and a step-mum
and
a stepbrother as well as her
real mum and dad.

Pretty complicated.

Izzie wasn’t giving up
on me. ‘Oh, please come over, we haven’t had time on our own for ages.’

Understatement, I
thought, but I couldn’t stay mad at her. We’ve been friends for too long and I
don’t want to lose her.

‘OK,’ I said,
realising that now I was going to have to help Dad. ‘After I’ve finished with
Dad, I’ll get him to drop me off at yours.’

It was on the way to
Izzie’s that I saw Him. We were driving through Highgate past St Michael’s
school, and he was coming out of the gates with another boy. We were stuck in
traffic coming up to the roundabout and as the car slowed down, he darted
across in front of us. A ten out of ten, a face like Leonardo DiCaprio’s but he
was taller with olive skin and dark hair. Absolutely drop dead
goooorgeousissimo.

I watched him walk
away down the pavement on the other side. It was like time stood still and
suddenly I understood what all the fuss is about. Usually I never see boys I
like. Not really. Even at Hollywood Bowl, I’ve never seen anyone who’s caught
my eye. Not like him. I wonder if he goes there to the movies? I wonder who he
is? I must find out. I’ll persuade Izzie to come up to Highgate and hang out.
There are loads of cafes there. He must go into one of them sometimes after
school, all the St Michael’s boys do. My heart was racing. It had happened. At
last. Love at first sight. As we drove on, I felt elated. I had a goal. Meet
that boy.

Izzie lives a few
roads away from me on the Finchley borders. Their house is one of those mock
Tudor jobs, detached, with gardens at the front and back. It’s very neat inside
and so quiet compared to the bedlam at ours. The kitchen looks like an
operating theatre, all white and steel. I always feel I have to talk quietly
even when there’s no one there.

Izzie’s mum likes
things just so. Izzie says it’s because she’s a Virgo and they’re
perfectionists. Even though they have a cleaner in every day, Mrs Foster still
likes to clear around us if we’re there. I’m a bit scared of her - like once I
was eating an apple in the hall when I was waiting for Iz.

‘Where are you going
with that apple?’ she said, coming up behind me.

‘Er, nowhere,’ I said.

‘Well, don’t drop bits
on my clean carpet, will you?’

And she went into the kitchen
and brought me out a knife and a plate. Eek. She wouldn’t last ten minutes in
our house.

I’m glad she’s not
back tonight so Iz and I have the place to ourselves. Izzie’s room is different
to the rest of the house. It’s the only room that has any colour as Mrs Foster
favours neutral shades, on the carpets, curtains and walls. And she only wears
black. Black with pearls. Always immaculate and expensive-looking. Her dark
hair cut into a severe bob to match her personality.

Izzie painted her room
herself and she’s done it a deep turquoise. ‘A very healing colour,’ she told
me. And she’s got purple curtains and cushions. It looks vibrant and
interesting. Like Izzie.

She lit one of her
nice smelly candles then cranked up the computer. I looked at her posters.
Ewan, of course,

Suzanne Vega, who’s
one of Izzie’s heroines, and a dolphin. Izzie’s big on them. She wants to go
swimming with them one day. Honestly, she’s more like my mum than I am.

I flopped on the bed
and Izzie sat at her desk and starting pressing keys.

‘Right, I’ve been
dying to try this. I got some new software and it works out a personalised
horoscope for you,’ she said. ‘You were born May 24th, Gemini, right? What
time?’

‘Five past midnight,’
I said. I remember because it’s Dad’s birthday as well and Mum says I was his
birthday present. Only just made it by five minutes though.

Izzie punched in the
information. ‘Give it a few minutes and it will tell us all about you. While
we’re waiting for it, we’ll do the Tarot cards.’

She gave me the pack and
I started shuffling. ‘Have you done your chart yet?’ I said. ‘Yep,’ grinned
Izzie. ‘Aquarius, sign of the genius, humanitarian, eccentric…’

‘Barking mad, you
mean,’ I said. ‘And I dunno about the genius bit but the rest sounds like you.
I suppose you are humanitarian most of the time when you’re not swanning off to
see films without me.’

Izzie threw a pillow
at me. She knew I was teasing. ‘What did you think of that lesson with Mrs
Allen?’ I asked. ‘Sad, wasn’t it?’

Izzie nodded. ‘I’m
going to write a song about it.’

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘It’s
a bit of a depressing subject for people to listen to.’

‘Ah, but songwriters
have as much power, if not more than some politicians.’

‘How can they?’ I
laughed. She was always coming out with mad stuff like this.

‘Well look at Bob
Geldoff. He did loads, didn’t he, when he did that Band Aid concert? Raised
more money than anyone in years. And look at Comic Relief. Millions in a night.
And John Lennon. “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” I reckon if you
can write a song or a book or make a film, sometimes you can touch more people
that way than boring politicians droning on. Music makes people think. They
listen to lyrics. Better than lecturing them or dropping a leaflet through the
door that only gets put in the bin.’

This is one of the
things I like best about Izzie. She makes
me
think. She’s so wise. Mum
says Izzie’s an old soul. When I asked if I was, Mum looked at me strangely and
said, ‘No, love, I think it’s your first time on the planet.’ I don’t know if
that was a compliment or an insult.

And Izzie’s right. I’d
only thought about being a volunteer and going wherever needed and doing some
cooking or clearing up or something. But if you could reach people and touch
them, there’d be more people to help. If only I had a skill like she has with
her song-writing.

‘I was talking to
Nesta about it at break,’ continued Iz. ‘She wasn’t into going and being a
volunteer and sleeping in a tent and having no MTV. She says her plan is to be
mega mega rich when she’s a model then she can give some of her money away.’

‘What, Nesta? I
wouldn’t have thought she ever thought about anybody but herself.’

‘You’ve got to give
her a chance, Lucy, she’s OK. And I think it’s a good plan. I mean, you could
give your time and be a volunteer, or you could become mega rich like Nesta
wants to be and give your money instead and pay to train volunteers .You know,
actually do something with your money as well as having a good time with it.
Best of both worlds.’

‘I guess,’ I said. I
didn’t want to admit that Nesta’s idea was pretty smart. Nesta. Nesta. Nesta.

‘Finished shuffling?’

I nodded and she took
the pack, sat on the floor and split the cards into three piles. Then she
consulted her book.

‘This is a Grand
Cross,’ she said, laying the cards out. ‘It tells you the Past, the Present and
the Future.’

I flopped on the
beanbag next to her. I felt happy. Iz and me. Me and Iz talking about stuff and
Iz predicting my future.

‘What does
it
say, Madam Rose?’

‘Oh, interesting,’ Iz
murmured. ‘Very interesting. The card that crosses you is the Wheel of Fortune.
It signifies a new chapter. A turning point.’

‘Tell me about it,’ I
said. ‘Decisions, decisions, decisions.’

‘The influence passing
over you is the High Priestess. She indicates potential unfulfilled but it will
be revealed.’

‘Oh, I hope so,’ I
said. ‘It’s been awful lately with everyone knowing what they want to do but
me.’ I pointed to the next card. ‘This looks
tres
interesting.’

‘The Lovers. In your
future, it indicates a love affair.’

‘Oh, fantastic…’ I was
dying to tell her about the boy I’d seen.

‘But there’s some kind
of trial or choice involved. Lucy, why are you blushing? You’ve gone scarlet.’

‘Izzie,’ I couldn’t
hold it in any longer. ‘I’ve seen someone…’

‘Someone?’

‘A boy. I think he
goes to St Michael’s…’

Izzie grinned. ‘And…?’

‘Well I’ve only just
seen him. When I was driving here with Dad. He was coming out of the school
gates and was absolutely gorgeous. Could that be what the Lovers means? Maybe
I’m going to meet him. Does it say anything about him?’

Izzie looked at the
card spread. ‘Maybe. Here. There’s the Page of Swords card in your future. That
could be him.’

I looked at the card,
a young man with a sword held high.

That
must
be
him. Who else could it be? It’s amazing. He’s so gorgeous. I thought maybe we
could hang out in Highgate after school one day…‘

‘Well if it’s in the
cards, you’ll meet him anyway.’ Izzie looked concerned as she read her book.
‘But he could be ruthless. The Page of Swords is sometimes deceitful. Not to be
trusted. So go carefully, Lucy. You don’t even know what he’s like yet.’

Nothing could dampen
my enthusiasm. ‘Oh, I could see he’s not like that. He had a really nice face.’

Izzie continued
looking at the cards. ‘Well let’s see what the outcome is.’

‘I don’t like the look
of the last card,’ I said. It had a picture of a tower on fire with a body
falling out of the window.

‘Oh, that’s the
Tower,’ said Izzie. ‘I know it looks a bit scary but actually it’s a good card
to get. It represents the influences around you and means in order to move
forward, old ways must be broken down but in their place comes greater freedom.
See, the card after it is the World, the outcome of the reading. That’s a
fantastic card to get.

It means happiness,
strength and success. The realisation of a goal. Wow. Lucy, this is a really
positive reading. I mean, it says there will be a bit of confrontation, change
and adjustment but the outcome is very good.‘

I left Izzie’s that
night feeling on top of the world. Even my personalised horoscope was good. And
she was going to do one for Nesta as well. Astrology’s one of Izzie’s career
choices. She might do it as well as being a songwriter. Lucky thing. It must be
great, having not only one idea of what you want to be, but two. And I still
haven’t decided on anything. Still, when Izzie printed my horoscope, it said
pretty much the same as the cards. It was all going to be all right. Break down
to break through, it said. It was all a process. I was going through a time of
change and mustn’t resist. The outcome was good.

Things were looking
up. It was going to be OK. Success. Achievement. Me and Izzie were all right
with each other again. But best of all, the Page of Swords. I couldn’t wait to
meet him.