Strictly Friends? (13 page)

‘Yeah, someone at dance told me,' Megan replied.

Danny looked a bit put out that this news wasn't a surprise.

She went on hastily. ‘It sounds really cool.'

He shrugged. ‘It's all right. A lot of standing around most of the time. But the money is good, and it means I can buy stuff for my skateboard.'

Megan looked down at the handlebars. ‘What about this bike?'

Danny shrugged. ‘Oh, that's one of Paul's old bikes. He gave it to me.'

‘He
gave
it to you?' Megan stared. ‘Aren't they expensive too?'

‘Yeah, but Paul's rolling in it.' Danny grinned suddenly. ‘It's probably why Samantha's going out with him.'

Megan wrinkled her nose. ‘For his money?'

‘Yeah.' Danny laughed. ‘Well, she hasn't got any of her own, has she? Not since she lost dear Daddy's approval.' He laughed again.

Megan felt a bit surprised that Danny didn't seem
to feel sorry for Samantha at all. But then Samantha had got into a lot of trouble, hadn't she? Maybe Danny was still angry with her about that. It made her curious to know more about him. He didn't really act like a supportive big brother to her. Megan couldn't imagine being that mean about Owen, no matter how annoying he was being.

The practice track was swarming with eager youngsters trying their skills. ‘It looks a bit crowded,' said Megan doubtfully.

‘There's always space for one more,' Danny said. ‘You just have to act confident.'

Megan got on the bike and took a breath.

‘Now, remember what I told you.'

She nodded. ‘I got it.' And then she was off! This was crazier than driving a go-kart! Every bump, every jolt sent shudders through her. The saddle was no protection, but Danny kept yelling, ‘Stay up on the pedals!' and then suddenly she hit her stride and flew over a hump, landing with a thump but managing to stay upright. Megan grinned and gripped the handlebars even tighter. This was mad! Crazy! Wild! She loved it!

It wasn't until she heard Danny yelling that Megan realized she'd been round the practice track five times already. Suddenly embarrassed, she pulled off the
track and rode over. ‘Sorry!' she said breathlessly. ‘I forgot what I was doing.'

Danny grinned. ‘Looks to me like you had it figured out just fine. You're a natural.'

‘Really?' Megan pulled off her helmet and scraped her hair back from her flushed cheeks. ‘It does seem to come quite easily. I mean, nothing like you. But I thought I was better than some of the other people practising.'

‘Way better,' said Danny appreciatively. ‘But I had to call you over because I need the bike back. My next race is coming up.'

‘Oh no, I'm so sorry!'

He laughed. ‘It's fine. I'm not late or anything.' His expression suddenly sobered. ‘You look amazing.'

Megan didn't know what to say. ‘Oh. Thanks.'

‘I liked it earlier,' he said suddenly, ‘when you ran over to me. After the race.'

‘Oh.' Megan blushed.

‘I think you're really cool,' said Danny.

‘Really?' Megan felt hot and cold all over.

He nodded. ‘Really.' And then he leaned forward and kissed her. Right on the lips. Right in front of everyone. It wasn't a long kiss, but Megan felt for a moment as though her feet had lost their grip on the ground.

The loudhailer blared, and Danny's head jerked back. ‘That's my race.' He grabbed his helmet and turned his bike round. ‘See you in a bit.'

Megan didn't even have a chance to call ‘Good luck!' after him. She stood, slightly dazed, wondering if anyone had noticed what had just happened. The nearest people seemed totally uninterested in Megan. She couldn't see Samantha or Paul. She breathed out. Nobody had noticed. She wasn't sure if she was pleased or disappointed. The most momentous event in her life so far – her first kiss! – and no one had seen it!

No, that wasn't quite true. There was one person looking, though she was at a distance, and Megan only recognized her from the dark curtain of hair that fell across the blazing stare. If Jasmine had disliked Megan before, she certainly hated her now.

‘HE KISSED YOU!'
Mari cried, bouncing up and down on Megan's bed. ‘I can't believe it! That is so cool!'

‘Now you see why I couldn't tell you over the phone?' asked Megan.

‘Of course! Anyway, I was running out of credit so we couldn't have talked about it properly,' said Mari. ‘Though I can't stay long today. Victoria's going to this posh do and she's asked me to go with her.'

‘What kind of posh do?' asked Megan, interested. Mari mentioned Victoria and Fliss quite a lot but she never seemed to go into very much detail about them.

‘Oh, I don't know,' said Mari in a dismissive tone. ‘Some opening of an art gallery or something. Her parents have put up the money, I think.' She saw Megan's face. ‘I know. Victoria's got oodles of money. Her parents are always out working. She's got an au pair too.'

‘A what?'

‘You know, a sort of live-in home-help babysitter.' Mari flapped her hand helplessly. ‘It's kind of weird that Victoria and I are friends because our families are
sooo
different. My mother would
kill
for an au pair, but we'd only be able to pay her about twenty pence a week. I hate having no money. It's a good thing the salsa class is cheap.'

Megan felt even more glad that she had lent Mari her silver shoes.

‘Anyway, anyway,' Mari went on, ‘tell me
everything
. What was it like? Kissing Danny, I mean?'

‘Well,' said Megan, feeling a smile spread across her face, ‘it was . . . it was really nice.'

Mari stared at her. ‘Nice? Just nice?'

‘Um . . .' Megan's smile faltered. Now that she came to think about it again, she wasn't sure she could remember
exactly
how it had felt. She closed her eyes for a moment. There he was, leaning towards her . . . and she leaned towards him . . . and . . . Megan's eyes opened. ‘I can't really remember.'

Mari looked disappointed. ‘Oh.'

‘Do you think that's bad?' Megan was worried. ‘I mean, I should be able to, shouldn't I?'

Mari shrugged. ‘I dunno. I'm not an expert. I've
only kissed Sean a couple of times and they were both kind of by accident.'

‘It's just that . . .' Megan began, before Mari's words filtered through her brain. ‘You what? Mari – have you got a
boyfriend
?'

‘Oh yes,' said Mari carelessly. ‘Didn't I mention him?'

‘You certainly did not!' Megan spluttered. She couldn't believe she'd known Mari for weeks and Mari had never even spoken about it before! ‘But . . . what . . . who . . . what's he like?'

Mari leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling light. ‘His name's Sean. He's tall and he's got red hair.'

Megan waited expectantly. ‘And?'

Mari shrugged. ‘And what? He's all right. Not particularly good-looking.'

Megan felt baffled. ‘You sound as though you don't like him much.'

‘I do,' said Mari instantly. ‘Well – I think I do.' She sighed. ‘Oh, what's the big deal anyway? He's nice. He's funny. We have a laugh. Why does it have to be this massive BOYFRIEND thing?'

Megan stared. ‘I don't know. But I sort of thought you'd fancy him if you were going out with him.' Mari wrinkled her nose. ‘
Do
you fancy him?'

For the first time, Mari looked embarrassed. ‘I don't know. Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I don't.'

Megan didn't know what to say. ‘How does he feel about you?'

‘Oh, he fancies me,' said Mari airily. ‘He tells me all the time.'

‘Maybe he's hoping you'll say it back.'

‘But I'm not sure,' said Mari, chewing her lip. ‘How can I say it if I'm not sure?'

There was silence for a few minutes. ‘Maybe you'll sort of come to fancy him over time,' said Megan lamely.

‘We've been going out since the end of August,' said Mari. ‘Wouldn't I know by now?'

Megan bit her lip. ‘I don't know.'

‘You fancy Danny, don't you?'

‘Well – yes.'

‘So how does it feel?' Mari leaned forward. ‘I mean, when you see him, how do you feel? How do you
know
you fancy him?'

Now it was Megan's turn to feel embarrassed. ‘Well, I – er . . . I sort of get this funny feeling in my stomach. Like it's buzzing or wriggling or something. It makes me feel a little bit sick.'

Mari screwed up her nose. ‘Sounds horrible.'

‘Not exactly – it's kind of weird and exciting at the
same time. Like – um – like when you have to stand up in Assembly and say something, or when you're in a play. Like nerves, I guess.'

‘Oh!' Mari's expression cleared. ‘I get you. Like stage fright.'

‘Yes, sort of. And then when he smiles at me . . .' Megan thought for a moment. ‘It's sort of like I keep noticing how good-looking he is. And it makes me feel warm because he's smiling at
me
, not at anyone else. And so that makes me more nervous to do everything right, because I want him to keep smiling at me. So I'm always really aware of everything I do.'

‘Sounds exhausting,' Mari commented. ‘Can't you just – you know – be yourself around him? I mean, like we're talking now?'

Megan laughed. ‘Of course not! I can't relax at all when he's around! It's like being next to a really hot fire; bright and exciting but you don't want to get burned. And besides, I can't talk about the stuff I like – dancing and that. Because he's not really interested.'

Mari was shaking her head doubtfully. ‘Doesn't sound like that much fun to me.'

‘But I get to do all this new exciting stuff!' replied Megan. Why couldn't Mari see? ‘Skateboarding and
go-karting and BMX riding – I've never done any of that before. It's like a whole new world.'

‘I feel a song coming on,' said Mari dryly.

Megan felt frustrated. ‘But it is. And it's really exciting – and he shows me how to do it, and it's
fun
.'

‘Dancing is fun.'

‘Yes it is, and I love it, but . . .'

‘You should make him do something
you
like,' went on Mari, her voice becoming stronger. ‘I mean, I know me and Sean aren't perfect, but I don't let him choose what we're going to do all the time. If there's something I want to go to – a concert, say – then he comes with me. Even if it's not something he'd have chosen. That's what you do.'

Megan felt a little bewildered. Hadn't they just been talking about how important it was to fancy someone if you were going out with them? And here was Mari now saying it was more important to share interests. ‘Maybe I will,' she said defensively.

‘You should. I know!' Mari's face lit up. ‘
Riverdance
is coming to the Parchester Apollo Theatre. You should take him. Then he'll see the sort of thing you like, and maybe he'll like it too.'

‘I'm not sure . . .' Megan began, but Mari interrupted.

‘Look, Megan, do you know how he feels about you?'

‘Not exactly . . .'

‘Then this is a good way to find out, isn't it? Because if he comes to
Riverdance
with you and is prepared to give it a go, then he obviously wants to make you happy, doesn't he? And
that's
how you can tell if he fancies you.'

Megan was bursting to tell Jake all about the BMX meet, but he sounded a bit tired. ‘Are you OK?'

‘Yeah, sorry. I just – there's lots of stuff going on here, Meg. My stepdad's been made redundant.'

‘What? Oh no, that's awful!' Jake's stepdad Stephen was an architect, like Megan's dad. Only he mainly designed residential homes rather than office buildings like Bryan. ‘When did that happen?'

‘Three days ago.' Jake sighed. ‘Turns out they'd been threatening to do it for ages, but he didn't tell Mum because he didn't want her to worry.'

‘Why did he lose his job? Did he – did he do something wrong?'

‘No,' Jake replied. ‘No, it's just that fewer people are having their homes designed by architects these days.
Fewer people are having extensions built. You know, there's just less work around because people haven't got much money right now. So the firm decided they'd have to let someone go, and since Stephen was the last one in, he was the first one out. He's gutted.'

‘I'm so sorry.' Megan thought about Jake's stepdad and how much fun he was to be around. ‘Can he get another job?'

Jake made a noise that sounded like a half-snort, half-laugh. ‘Where? There aren't many jobs for architects, as you know. Your dad was lucky to get his.'