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Did you bring any candles, Bella?
Yes, one. I don’t have anything to put it in, though.
Here, use this bottle. It’s almost empty. Did you bring anything to eat?
Uh, yes. Some cake, slices of buttered bread, cheese, two apples.
Anything to drink?
Water. Couldn’t find anything else.
No wine?
Not unless you’re Jesus and can transform it, no.
I’m not saintly enough. You might be, though. Saint Bella.
I’m not saintly.
Only teasing. I brought cigarettes.
They’ll smell it.
No, they won’t. We can hang out of the window. It’ll be fine. I do it all the time.
OK. Kate, I keep thinking about Peter. When I saw him last week, I thought he was going to hold my hand. We were standing really close together, under the tree, and his fingers sort of brushed mine. I don’t think it was an accident, I think he did it on purpose.
What happened?
I think I was so sort of surprised by it that I took a step back and then I couldn’t get that close to him again without it being too obvious. And then the conversation came to an end, so …
Is he going to the party tomorrow night?
Yes, and I think I’m going to wear my shirt that’s almost see-through, with lots of tiny pink flowers on it. I think he likes a very feminine look.
Why do you think that?
The woman who lives across the road from him, she told me.
What? Why did she tell you?
I had a cup of tea with her, we were chatting.
What, an old woman?
Hardly. She’s forty-two.
It’s more than twice our age. Trust me, that’s old.
Well, she knows what she’s talking about. She’s known Peter since he was a baby, and she was really sweet—we talked about him for ages. She knew his last girlfriend and said she was very plain and not terribly bright.
So he’ll definitely go for you, then.
Oi!
How did you even meet her in the first place?
She’s a friend of Miss Frome’s.
Oh, Miss Frome was there too?
Yes.
Bella, why act like you have to keep it a secret from me? We tell each other everything, remember?
Yes.
That’s a good idea about the pink shirt, then. You can have my black trousers if you like, because they’re too big for me now. They’ll fit you perfectly.
OK. Thanks.
We can go to the party together. Ask your granny if you can stay with me afterward.
OK.
My mother never knows what time I get in. The other night, I got in at three and thought I was in for it but no one said anything. Turned out they hadn’t got in yet, either.
That’s quite funny.
I suppose it is.
I think I should talk to Peter for you.
What do you mean?
At the party, tomorrow night. I can talk to him. Tell him that I think the two of you would make a good couple.
No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.
Why not? You’re not going to do anything about it. It’s been going on for months. You can’t keep mooning about all over the place. Something has to happen.
But supposing …
Supposing what, Bella-moo?
Supposing he doesn’t fancy me after all. At least this way I don’t know. I can dream.
You can’t dream forever, you’ve got to know one way or another. And it’s very likely that he does fancy you. He nearly held your hand last week, didn’t he?
His fingers sort of brushed mine. I might have imagined it. He was swaying a little bit.
Drunk?
I don’t think so, but he’d had a beer or two.
I’m going to have another ciggy. Want one?
No thanks. What would you say to him, though?
I’m not sure exactly. I could just ask him about who he likes, or what sort of girl he likes, and then suggest you …
Hmm. I don’t know.
I’d be very subtle.
Like you were with Mr. Garfield, you mean?
Shut up. He was the idiot in that scenario.
What scenario was that, then? I meant what you said the other day, when he went pink.
It’s too stupid.
Tell me, Kate. What happened?
We were talking, I can’t remember what about, something I’d gotten wrong in my homework, and he’d asked me to stay back after the lesson. Oh, I don’t really want to get into it.
Tell me.
He put his hand in my shirt, and just sort of … held it.
What? Left his hand there?
Yes, it was weird. He carried on talking. He didn’t even acknowledge what he was doing. He didn’t move his hand or anything. I didn’t know what to do, so I just carried on standing there, like an idiot.
Did you mind his hand being there?
I don’t know. Sort of. I didn’t like that he wasn’t even saying anything about it.
Then what happened?
After, I don’t know how long, a few minutes, he took his hand out, and then he gave me this long look and said: That’s between us, Kate. And I just nodded, and then I left the classroom.
Have you seen him since?
It was last week, we’ve had a couple of lessons but I haven’t talked to him by myself.
Do you think you will?
Depends. If I need something, I might. Don’t look at me like that, Bella. He’s not that bad. A coward more than anything else. I’m only cross that I didn’t tell him to stop.
He’s your teacher—how can you?
You always can. Now, shush. We were talking about Peter, not Mr. Garfield. I think you need to say something. And I can help you to do it.
OK, then. Maybe you’re right. I can’t go on like this. It’s better to know one way or the other. And maybe there is a chance that he does like me. We do talk quite a lot. Last time, he asked me what I was reading and he seemed genuinely interested in the answer. He wouldn’t do that if he didn’t fancy me, would he?
Probably not, no.
Boys don’t ask questions unless they want to kiss you, do they?
They want to rip all your clothes off, no questions asked.
Kate!
Only teasing. That’s a plan, then. We’ll go to the party together, I’ll talk to him, then you’ll kiss each other in the corner for hours and hours—
Stop it.
And we’ll sneak back to my house. Your granny will never know.
Copyright © 2022 by Jessica Fellowes
