Looking for a Hero (13 page)

‘I’ve done a shepherd’s pie just the way you like it with cheese on top of the mash. Everyone’s downstairs. Lewis and Ethan . . .’

‘Is there pudding?’

‘Damson crumble.’

My stomach started to rumble. ‘With custard?’

‘And vanilla ice cream.’

‘I suppose I’d better eat something.’

Mum smiled. ‘I think you ought to and . . .’

‘What?’

‘Leela and Brook both called. They said they’d come by to pick you up around seven to go over to Zahrah’s to get ready for Mikey’s party.’

‘I told them I wasn’t going.’

‘I know. Leela told me. She said to tell you that she’s coming to collect you anyway.’

‘She’s very bossy.’

‘I know. I like her. So, have a bit of food and go out and enjoy yourself. So Bruno hasn’t been in touch? You know what the best revenge is?’

‘What?’

‘To live well. Go out and have a good time.’

I stared at the picture of him.‘You know what. I will. Just give me a moment. I have to do something.’

Mum got up.‘OK. See you in five then.’

I nodded. I waited until she had left the room, then I got my scissors out, picked up the photo of me and Bruno and cut it into a hundred tiny pieces. ‘There, that’s what I think of you,’ I said, letting the pieces fall into the bin. ‘Now where’s that stupid poem you sent because that’s going in the bin as well.’

I cut up the poem and took a deep breath.
Onwards,
I told myself.
I’m going to go out and make boys fall in love with me, but I shall be aloof and unobtainable and break
their
hearts for a change. That’s what I’ll do.

I went downstairs, had a great supper and a laugh with my family. Then I went back upstairs, put on the rust-coloured silk dress that I’d worn in Italy, blow-dried my hair until it looked super glossy, did my nails and waited for the girls.

The doorbell rang and Mum called up the stairs that Leela and Brook had arrived.

I checked my appearance in the mirror and looked out of the window up at the clouds.

‘Your loss, Bruno,’ I said to the sky.

‘I hope he’s invited the neighbours,’ said Brook when we got to the road where the party was being held. We could hear the music pounding already.

We made our way to the door where a crowd of teenagers were standing in the garden and Mikey’s mum and dad were crossing off names on a guest list. Zahrah spotted Ryan standing on his own opposite the house and waved. He came over to join us and we manoeuvred our way through the crowd, gave our names and were ushered inside.

‘We’re with them,’ said a girl’s voice behind us.

‘Is that right, India?’ asked Mr Davidson. I turned to see a blonde girl who was frantically nodding at me and, for a second, I panicked because I didn’t know what to do. ‘Er . . .’

‘You go on in, India,’ said Mr Davidson and he turned back to the girl. ‘Listen. I’ve told you, if you’re not on the list, you can’t come in.’

Mickey came out of the kitchen at the back of the house. ‘Hey, you made it,’ he said, helping me off with my coat. ‘Put your stuff upstairs in the bedroom on the left.’

‘What’s going on, Mikey?’ asked Leela. ‘Who are all the people outside?’

‘Gatecrashers,’ he replied. ‘The girls are the worst - they’re so pushy.’

‘I’d have thought you’d have let spare girls in, knowing you,’ I said.

Mikey grinned. ‘I checked them out first, don’t worry, but Dad was very firm. If they’re not on the list, they don’t come in. I think Mum and Dad are nervous - they’ve heard so many bad things about teenage parties.’

‘It’s probably not a bad idea not to let people in if you don’t know them,’ said Zahrah as Ryan helped her off with her coat. I was surprised to see that she let him do it - Zahrah is usually so independent and it was unusual to see her acting girlie. She was wearing an ivory T-shirt, a long amber necklace and earrings, a brown ruff skirt that barely covered her bum, dark tights and knee-length suede boots. She’d applied more makeup than I’d ever seen her wear before and she looked stunning.

Mikey looked her up and down. ‘Wow Zahrah, you look amazing,’ he said, and Ryan put his arm around her as if to say, Yeah and she’s with me. Mikey got the message and turned to face Brook, Leela and me. ‘In fact, you all do.’

We dutifully did a twirl for him. It was good to have our efforts appreciated. We’d spent ages at Zahrah’s house, crammed into the small room that she shared with her sister Aisha. We’d swapped jewellery, helped each other with our make-up and tried on loads of each other’s clothes before we all settled on what we were wearing. I had on my silk dress with a hip belt over skinny jeans with my cowboy boots and ropes of Zahrah’s brown and cream shell necklaces. Brook looked divine in a steel-grey Charleston dress that was pure vintage, which her mother had picked up in a boutique in Greenwich Village last time they were in New York, and Leela was wearing black trousers and a black silk halter-neck that she’d borrowed from Brook. She looked really sophisticated.

Ryan and Zahrah offered to get drinks and, as soon as they’d gone, Mikey pulled me into the corner and beckoned Leela and Brook to come with us.

‘You haven’t forgotten your promise, have you?’ he asked. ‘The snog lesson?’

‘But what about Amy?’ I asked. ‘She’s not going to like it if she sees you kissing four strange girls.’

‘Amy couldn’t make it. It’s her brother’s twenty-first tonight and she couldn’t get out of it,’ he said. Then he made his lips pucker. ‘So ready when you are.’

‘Later,’ said Leela. ‘First we have to check out the talent.’

‘But you promised,’ said Mikey.

The night is young,’ said Leela, and she pulled Brook and me towards the back of the hall. ‘And the girls and I have things to do.’

Mikey stuck his bottom lip out.

‘Later,’ said Leela. ‘Promise.’

He slouched off to join his parents, who were still fending off unwelcome guests. Once he was out of earshot, Leela leaned towards Brook and me. ‘OK, let’s split up and have a look around. Check out who’s here. Meet in the kitchen in . . . say, half an hour to discuss step two. Synchronise watches.’

We checked our watches to see that we all had the same time and then Leela went upstairs, Brook into the front room and I went into the back. I began the casual ‘Oh I’m looking for someone I know’ scan while taking in the boys there and which ones were in a couple and which were single. My heart sank when my glance reached the left corner, for there was Joe with a stunningly pretty petite blonde girl in a short black dress. She had her hand up on his shoulder and was laughing at something he had said. I felt such a stab of jealousy. It hit me before I could tell myself that I didn’t care about him any more. He saw me looking and waved. The girl looked over at me too. She didn’t look very friendly so I decided not to go and talk to them. Besides, he might have asked me about my new Italian boyfriend we’d boasted about on Monday.
Arghhhhh, I hate you Bruno,
I thought for the hundredth time that week. Just at that moment, Eddie O’Neil cornered me and slipped his arm around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Joe watching from the other side of the room so I gave Eddie my full attention, and within minutes, he went for the snog. I didn’t resist because I wanted Joe to see that I wasn’t pining over him. Eddie put his lips on mine, opened his mouth and started moving his head around. The kiss felt very sloppy and all wrong. And then he stuck his tongue right into my mouth and started sloshing it around. It made me think of a washing machine on rinse cycle. It was horrible, too wet with saliva, and I stepped back as soon as I could. Eddie tried to pull me back to him but I shook my head.

‘That was just an early Christmas kiss,’ I said so as not to hurt his feelings.

‘How about another for New Year?’ he asked.

Over my dead body,
I thought. ‘Er . . . maybe closer to the time,’ I said as I headed for the cloakroom in the hall, feeling a sudden need to wash my face. I didn’t care if Joe had seen me pull away from Eddie. I wasn’t going to do dog-slobber kissing, not even to make Joe jealous.

Half an hour was almost up, so I checked back in the kitchen but none of my mates were in there. I went back into the hall where Mr and Mrs Davidson seemed to be having a hard time holding back a crowd of teenagers who were doing everything they could to get in and Mr Davidson was pushing the door closed with all his might. Seconds later, there was the sound of glass smashing in the front room, a scream and everyone came running out into the hall, a shaken-looking Brook included.

‘That’s it. I’m going to call the police,’ said Mr Davidson. ‘I’m not having any more of this. Mikey! Where’s Mikey?’

Mikey came out of the front room with a boy who had a cut on his forehead and was looking very pale. ‘Someone threw something. I think it was a brick,’ said Mikey.

Mrs Davidson rushed forward and ushered the boy to sit on one of the stairs. Mr Davidson opened the door and shouted out into the street, ‘Police are on their way’ And then he slammed the door and made the phone call.

I put my arm around Brook. ‘You OK?’ I asked.

She nodded. ‘Yeah. I think. They’re not from our school, are they?’

‘I didn’t recognise anyone when I came in,’ I said.

Mikey peered through the hall window. ‘They seem to be going, Dad,’ he said.

Mr Davidson looked angry. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Never again, I tell you. Never again.We shouldn’t have had the party this time. I’ve a good mind to go out there and thump the lot of them.’

Mrs Davidson’s back stiffened. ‘Don’t be an idiot,’ she said. You do that and you’ll be the one that ends up in prison. Let the police deal with it. Besides, these days, you never know who’s carrying a knife.’

Mr Davidson shook his head. ‘Little buggers,’ he said. ‘It’s all wrong you know. All wrong.’

‘I’m taking Matt to casualty,’ said Mrs Davidson, looking at the boy with the cut. ‘Now you hold the fort here while I’m out and, for heaven’s sake, don’t do anything stupid and don’t let anyone else in.’

‘Looks like they’ve all gone,’ said Mikey from his viewpoint by the window. ‘It should be all right now.’

The police arrived about half an hour later, by which time the crowd outside had disappeared. Everyone was talking about what had happened; it was like we’d all been given an almighty shot of adrenalin and from then on, the party took off and people were dancing, chatting, laughing and letting off steam.

‘Great party,’ said Leela when I finally got to meet up with her and Brook in the kitchen. ‘So how goes it with my team?’

Brook sighed. ‘No joy. Three boys, three rejects,’ she said. She held up the first finger. ‘One was just about OK, Martin, dark hair, nice smile. We got chatting and then I took him some food. Ee-yuk. He ate with his mouth open. Disgusting.’ She held up the next finger. ‘Second guy, Josh, cute but had bad breath.’ She held up the third finger. ‘Third guy was from our school. He’s sweet -Oliver, and I know that he fancies me. I actually let him kiss me but he kept his mouth so tight closed and gave me kisses like an old aunt would give you, you know, light pecks. Like he didn’t know how to join them up into a proper kiss.’

‘Sounds like a pigeon,’ said Leela and made her neck go back and forth like pigeons do.

‘But where are boys supposed to learn how to be good kissers?’ I asked. ‘Maybe you should have persevered, Brook, and shown him how to do it.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Brook.‘If you like him,
you
teach him. He’s in the front room last time I saw him, trying to get off with Mary Camberwell from Year Ten. No. I know what I want, he’s not here tonight and I’m not going to compromise.What about you, Leela?’

‘No result. I spent some time with Greg fromYearTwelve, but he is so boring, droning on about the best route to get here and the best route to get to school. He looks good, but who cares when his company sends you to sleep. And I spent about half a minute with Tony Johnson, but he’s such a creep, like, trying to get his hands up my top. He just doesn’t get it. He is never going to get off with anyone unless he learns to at least have a conversation before he tries the fumbly stuff.’

‘No one else?’ I asked.

Leela shook her head. ‘How’ve you got on, India?’ she asked.

‘Eddie O’Neil did the dog slobber,’ I said, ‘and that’s the sum total of my success.’

Leela looked at me sympathetically. ‘I saw Joe with Katie Morrison.’

‘Who is she?’ I asked.

‘She’s in the Lower Sixth,’ said Brook.

‘I’ve never noticed her,’ I murmured.

‘Are you OK?’ asked Leela.

‘Oh yeah. I am so over him,’ I replied. I saw Leela and Brook exchange a glance and added, ‘I am. I really am.’

‘’Course you are,’ said Leela, ‘and if it’s any consolation, I just heard him having a row with Katie upstairs outside the bathroom. I don’t think they knew I was in there. But of course, if you’re over him, you probably don’t care what was said . . .’

I narrowed my eyes. ‘Did I ever tell you that one of my talents is the ancient art of giving Chinese burns?’ I said as I reached out to grab her wrist.

Leela laughed and hid her arms behind her back. ‘No. You didn’t but your brother Dylan did.’