Starting Over (10 page)

‘Good idea,' I said, ‘and if you have any other suggestions, you can email me or see me at school. And Andrea, I think this is a great idea. Let me talk to the director and see what he thinks.'

‘You mean you haven't already?' asked Andrea in an exasperated tone. ‘I would have thought that would have been the first thing that you did - you know, find out what direction
he wanted to take. Oh for heaven's sake, India,
everybody
knows that the show is the director's baby! It's his vision. I can't
believe
you haven't talked to him!'

Joe shot her a warning glance. ‘This is India's first time, remember?'

Andrea shrugged her shoulders. ‘OK, OK,' she said and collected her things up and headed towards the door.

Stupid, stupid idiot,
I told myself as I gathered my things.
Andrea was dead right. I should have talked to the director. Where the heck has my head been? These guys will think that a moron really has been put in charge.

There seemed no point in prolonging our part of the meeting and I could see that Barry was still talking to Mrs Maris at the front of the room, so I wrapped things up then made my way out of the hall. Outside, it was a lovely clear day and unseasonably warm for September. The others went and sat on a wall opposite, where Tim got out a packet of Malboro lights and passed them around, but only Gayle took one. I glanced over, wondering whether to go and join them, but I saw Andrea look in my direction then she stood and turned her back on me. Gayle stood and did the same. It was as if they were closing ranks. I got the message: not welcome. I realised that I had left my jacket inside, so went back in to get it, and when I came out, they all seemed deep in conversation.
Probably talking about me and what a disaster I am,
I thought and was about to set off home when Joe glanced up, then came over.

‘Don't let Andrea or the others get to you,' he said. ‘They're
actually all right when things get going and I am sure if you can come up with a good idea, they'll get behind it.'

‘I wouldn't count on it,' I said.

‘You can count on Tim and Mark. They're not into politics. And I'll do what I can. And speak to Barry. He's the director and a mate of mine.'

‘Have you got any idea what he wants?'

‘Not really. I saw him a couple of days ago and all he said was he wanted to do something different.'

‘That helps a lot. Not. What did you think of the pink theme?'

Joe pulled a face. ‘Bit camp for my liking. Let's try and come up with something else, hey?'

‘I really need to speak to Barry first I think, he's the director after all,' I said. ‘Have you got his number? I could call him later.'

Joe nodded. ‘Try him now. I'm sure he'd be cool.' He pulled a mobile out from his pocket, found Barry's number and handed me the phone. A moment later, Barry answered.

‘Oh. Hi. I'm India Jane —'

‘Scenery, right?'

‘Yeah. I . . . er, before we go off in a direction you definitely don't want, have you any idea what you do?'

‘Hah! I wish. To tell the truth, I haven't had much time to think about the scenery - too busy with the casting and getting the scripts finalised. Hey, India, I'd love it if you could come up with something. Why don't you brainstorm some ideas? Give me a call if you come up with something.' And then he hung up.

‘So much for his input,' I said as I clicked Joe's phone shut.

Joe laughed. ‘I take it he, er ... delegated all the responsibility to you.'

I nodded.

‘Mr Non-commitment — that's Baz.' Joe put his hand on my arm. ‘Great at passing responsibility down the line. Don't worry. We have loads of time. It's only a couple of painted canvas cloths in the end.'

I put my hand over his. ‘Thanks for being so supportive, Joe, I really appreciate it,' I said. Just at that second, Mia appeared around the corner and Joe pulled his hand away, but not before she'd noticed. I saw her stiffen as she approached us, then linked her arm through Joe's and gave me a curt nod.

‘Later,' said Joe as he was dragged off with her to join my scenery team.

‘Later,' I replied.
I'm not going to run away like a frightened rabbit,
I decided and I sat on the wall opposite the others and got my mobile out to text Erin.

As I was texting in my message (which basically said
Heeeeeeeelp)
I was aware that a couple more people came out of the prefab. Amongst them was Callum Hesketh, and I noticed him glance my way then pull away from the group he was with to come over to me.

He flashed me a kilowatt smile that revealed Hollywood-white teeth. ‘New girl,' he said. ‘How's it going?'

Part of me wanted to tell the truth and blurt out that I was having a crap day and a crap week and had no friends and felt
like a total loser, but I remembered Erin's golden rule for meeting new boys. Be fun, be flirty in the beginning, as boys don't want to hear if you're feeling desperate and it might give them the idea that you're a miserable git all the time.

I flashed Callum a smile back. ‘Excellent,' I said.

Callum sat on the wall next to me and I noticed Andrea look over and narrow her eyes. In fact, as I scanned the group opposite I noticed that Andrea wasn't the only one watching. Joe was watching too. And Mia was watching him. I turned my body as if to give Callum my whole attention.

‘So what you doing here?' I asked.

Callum jerked a thumb back towards the prefab. ‘Rehearsal.'

‘You're in
The Boy Friend?'

He nodded. ‘You?'

I shook my head. ‘In charge of scenery.'

Callum grimaced. ‘Shame.'

I gave him a light pinch on the upper arm. ‘Hey. You don't know that. You haven't even seen my artwork.'

Callum looked deep into my eyes. ‘No, I meant shame you're not in the play. I play the lead, Tony Brockhurst, and he has some snogging scenes and we could have had fun rehearsing until we got it perfect.'

Wow. He's not shy,
I thought as I felt myself go pink. And actually the idea of snogging Callum Hesketh gave me goosebumps. He was really attractive, with a lovely wide mouth with a plump bottom lip. Just asking to be kissed. And he was flirting with me.
I should flirt back,
I decided.
Why not?
Joe was
with Mia. There was no point in hanging on in the hope that he might suddenly become free. He had his arm casually draped over her shoulder. He looked comfortable with her. I had to move on.

‘I guess we could have,' I said. ‘But .. .just because I'm not in the play doesn't mean I couldn't give you some extra-curricular coaching.'

Callum laughed a deep throaty laugh and across the road I could see Joe glaring.
See Joe Donahue,
I thought.
Some boys find me attractive. So there!

‘India Jane,' said Callum, ‘I do believe we need to make a date to do just that.' He put his arm around my waist, pulled me to him so that we were really close. He looked at my mouth with hunger and I felt a shiver ripple through me. I thought he was going to kiss me right there and then in front of everyone, but he didn't. He just looked at my mouth for a few moments, as if memorising it, and then he looked into my eyes - and boy, did I feel some chemistry. Like my whole body went into meltdown. A voice in my head started talking gibberish, like
Yabberdabbiedoobie, yeah, mmmm, cor, lovely duckie yumskie yeah . . .
I forced it to shut up and pulled back a little.

‘Haven't you got a rehearsal to go to?' I asked.

He sighed and looked over at his audience on the other side of the road. ‘I guess, Bailey gave us a five-minute breather,' he said then he got out his phone. ‘Give me your number.'

I was about to blurt it out, but then I remembered Erin's second golden rule. If you can get a boy's phone number instead
of giving him yours, you will avoid that awful ‘Will he? Won't he? When will he phone?' phase as you will be in control of the situation. I got out my phone. ‘Tell you what, Mr Hesketh, why don't you give me
yours
instead and I will call you when I feel that the time is right for your tuition.'

Callum raised an eyebrow as if amused by what I had said, then he took my phone and punched in his name and number. As he turned to go into the hall, he gave me an appreciative up-and-down glance that made my pulse quicken. Then he smiled and gave me a brief nod. ‘Cool,' was all he said.

Cool is the last word I would use for how I feel. More like hot hot HOT,
I thought as I laughed and looked back over the street. Everyone had got up to go apart from Andrea, who was looking at me with pure hate. I didn't care. I flashed her a big smile. I was going to go on a date with Callum Hesketh.

A bit further along, I could see Mia and Joe waiting by the bus stop. Even from a distance, I could tell that they'd been arguing. She was standing with her arms crossed and her expression was sullen. He looked slightly stooped and thoroughly fed up.
Not my fault,
I thought as I turned to go home. Things were looking up. Between Mikey and Callum, I was beginning to feel less like Molly No Mates and more like Sally Some. Maybe life at Holland Park High was going to be OK after all.

‘I'm ho-ome,' I called as I let myself through the front door, but no one answered. I went through to the kitchen and found a note on the table from Mum saying that she'd gone to the IMAX cinema with Dylan. I raced up the stairs and knocked on Kate's door. Her room was empty. And so was Aunt Sarah's.

I sat on the top step of the stairs. ‘I
need
a pet,' I said to the hallway. ‘Someone to say hi to when I come home. Sometimes it's lonely and sooo quiet here!' I could hear the grandfather clock ticking away downstairs. A hum from the kitchen, probably from the American fridge down there.
Silent sounds,
I thought.
There's a contradiction.
But it
was
so quiet that you could hear it. I resolved to ask Mum when she got back about getting a kitten. In the meantime, I had a ton of schoolwork to do as I
was still struggling to keep up with the syllabus - but first, I had to talk to Erin. Mum gets a special phone deal where you can phone for next to nothing at the weekend so I knew I could get away with a phonecall instead of texting. Luckily she was there and I filled her in on the morning's events.

‘So what exactly is the plot of
The Boy Friend?'
she asked. ‘Give me the three-line outline.'

‘It's set in a school for young ladies. All the girls have got a boyfriend except the lead character, called Polly, and she feels left out . . .'

‘Story of my life,' said Erin.

‘What about Scott?'

‘Last seen in the arms of Mary McClaughin. I am so over him.'

‘No!'

‘Yes. Anyway, pray continue with ze plot. I need distracting from my sad plight.'

‘That's about it. Left-out actress, Polly, seeks boy. She falls for the errand boy, Tony, who delivers her costume. He's played by Callum, by the way. Errand boy turns out to be millionnaire's son.'

‘How very convenient.'

‘Indeed. Happy ending, everyone gets a proposal, and they sing and dance.'

‘Hurrah. I love a happy ending. You could do it Irish, all green with lots of Irish dancing about.'

‘Somehow I can't see Callum in green tights. Don't think
they'll go for it. I'm going to ask Aunt Sarah though. I'm sure she'll have a million ideas.'

‘Course. Sorted.'

‘Sorted.'

‘When will you call Callum?'

‘Later today or tomorrow. What do you think?'

‘No way!
Are you
mad.
You'll come across as far too eager if you do that. Treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen, that's the motto. Call him later in the week and, better still, accidentally-on-purpose bump into him at school so he can ask why you haven't called and you can be all casual and like, “Oh was I meant to call you? I forgot how we left it”. He will be so impressed, especially as he's the school babe and has girls after him all the while. Show him you're different. More of a challenge. Boys like him always want what they can't have.'

‘I salute you O Erin, Queen of the Green Lands for you are wise beyond your years when it comes to boys.'

‘I know, I just wish I had boys to practise my fantastic skills on over here. I hope you've got loads of prospective lovers lined up for me for half-term. I can't wait to get over there and explore.'

Erin couldn't talk for long as she had to go and meet a bunch of old mates, and once more, I was left on my own. I went into the kitchen and made some lunch - a Ruspoli special: cheese and tuna toastie. After lunch, I went and sat in the living room and flicked a few TV channels, but nothing appealed. I played a tune on the piano. I wandered through the rest of the house.
Went up and played on my computer, and all the while there was a voice in the back of my head saying,
It's the weekend and you're Molly No Mates. Again.