Kiss Read online

  'Yes, I know. I'll shut up, I promise. But I can't wait till you meet him, Sylvie, j u s t so you can tell me if I'm making a total fool of myself. In f a c t . . . we were thinking, Gerry and me, would you come and join us today?'

  'No! Don't be silly. You don't w a n t me.'

  'We do! Gerry's dying to meet you. I've told h i m so m u c h about you. You could come swimming with us. You love swimming, and it's such a fantastic pool. Then we could all have Sunday lunch together. Yes, it'll be great! H a n g on j u s t one tick and I'll phone Gerry—'

  So it wasn't properly arranged. Maybe they h a d n ' t even discussed it. I could j u s t imagine Mum's furtive whispering on t h e phone: 'Yes, I know, I'm sorry, darling, I wanted it to be just us too, but I feel so bad about leaving Sylvie again.

  It's so sad, she just keeps moping after her childhood sweetheart when anyone can see that isn't going to get her anywhere.'

  'No, Mum!' I said angrily, as if she'd actually said it.

  'Why not?' Mum said. 'You'll like him, I know you will. And you'll have to meet him some day, won't you?'

  'Well. I will. If it lasts,' I said.

  M u m h a d expressed exactly t h e same doubts b u t it was mean of me to say it back to her. She didn't get cross with me or tell me I was acting 210

  like a horrible jealous baby. She kept smiling at me bravely, and patted my shoulder.

  'OK then, pet. Well, I'll let you get back to sleep. I'll come and say goodbye when I'm off, right?'

  She walked slowly out of my bedroom, waiting for me to snap out of it and say something sweet. I kept quiet. She trailed down the landing to t h e bathroom – b u t after five minutes I h e a r d h e r singing Knowing Me, Knowing You, in her bath, even doing a funny voice for t h e Ah-ha! part.

  I p u t my head under my pillow and tried to blot h e r out, to blot out Carl and Paul and Miranda, to blot myself out entirely until I was the blackness and the blackness was me.

  Mum lifted the pillow an hour later. 'Anyone hiding in t h e burrow?' she whispered, b r e a t h i n g fresh smells of coffee and perfume and tooth-paste into my black lair. 'I'm off, sweetie. I feel terrible leaving you, b u t I'm still going to do it!

  I've j u s t h a d a chat with J u l e s — '

  'No!'

  'She says lunch is around half one, b u t come round a n y time.'

  'Nor

  'Oh, for God's sake, stop being so difficult,'

  Mum said. 'Now, I have to go, I'm late already.

  Give me a kiss goodbye, eh?'

  I sucked in my lips until they disappeared.

  M u m b u r s t out laughing. 'You used to do t h a t when you were cross with me when you were 211

  two!' she said. 'OK then, don't kiss me. Love you, babe.' She patted the duvet above my bottom and t h e n walked to the door.

  'Kiss kiss,' I mumbled under my pillow.

  T h e n I went back to sleep, down down down, though there was a ringing and a banging, and t h e n a knock-knock-knocking.

  'Sylvie, dear, are you awake?' Miss Miles was at my door.

  'I'm having a bit of a lie-in,' I said.

  T o u r friend's downstairs, dear,' she said.

  I jumped right out of bed, tugged on jeans and a T-shirt, and r a n barefoot out of my room, past Miss Miles, down the stairs – b u t it wasn't Carl.

  Miranda was sprawling on our living-room sofa, h e r boots propped up on t h e arm.

  'What are you doing here? And get your boots off t h a t sofa, you're making all dirty marks,' I said.

  'You certainly got out of bed t h e wrong side this morning,' said Miranda, raising her eyebrows. 'Dear, dear. Shall I m a k e you a cup of coffee? You look as if you need one.'

  She swung h e r legs off t h e sofa and waltzed off to t h e kitchen as if it was her house.

  'Would you like a cup of coffee too?' she asked Miss Miles, who was hovering in t h e hall.

  'Thank you, dear, but I'll leave you two girls to have a nice chat together,' she said, starting back up the stairs to her own room.

  I went up the stairs, too. 'I wish you hadn't let h e r in,' I whispered.

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  'Well, I didn't exactly. She was knocking very h a r d at the front door so I h a d to open it. Then she immediately barged s t r a i g h t p a s t me, demanding to talk to you. I j u s t about managed to make h e r wait in the living room. I h a d to use my fiercest teacher's voice too. She's one formidable young lady. I'm sorry if I've made things awkward for you, Sylvie.'

  I softened towards her. 'I'm sorry I moaned, Miss Miles.'

  'Not to worry,' she said brightly. 'It's good to have friends, you know, even very pushy ones.'

  I took her point. Miss Miles didn't seem to have m a n y friends at all.

  I went to t h e loo and washed my face a n d cleaned my teeth and brushed my hair, so t h a t I looked marginally better when I went downstairs again.

  Miranda h a d a mug of coffee waiting for me on the kitchen table.

  'Has your granny gone upstairs?' she asked.

  'Who? She's not my g r a n d m a , she's our lodger.'

  'Oh, yes, the lodger? said Miranda, as if it was the most eccentric thing to have, like a pet llama in the living room.

  'What do you want?' I said coldly.

  'Well, let's hope t h e granny-lodger stays upstairs, because I've got an eye-bulging tale to tell.'

  'You and your stories,' I said. 'Maybe I've h e a r d enough of them.'

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  'Why are you being so mean to me?' said Miranda. She put down her own cup of coffee and threw h e r arms round my neck. 'You're m e a n t to be nice to me. You're my best friend!'

  'Yes, I thought we were best friends, but then you cleared off when we were all playing t h a t stupid game of Hide and Seek a n d left me all alone in Kew Gardens!'

  'Oh, Sylvie, you poor little diddums, did you get fwightened?'

  'Yes, I was frightened!' I said, shaking h e r off.

  'It was horrible and I couldn't find any of you and the gates were about to close. How could you j u s t walk out on me and leave me there?'

  'I thought t h a t was what you wanted so t h a t you a n d Carl could cosy up together. I thought you'd fixed it all up with Paul. That's w h a t he said, I swear. You mean t h a t was all a dirty great lie?'

  'Well. Not exactly. He did talk about us pair-ing up. You were the one who insisted we all hide separately.'

  'Yeah, yeah, well, that's me, baby. I like to fly solo,' said Miranda, striking a pose and tossing h e r hair, sending herself up. 'Not t h a t it really worked out t h a t way. I did hope I might j u s t catch your Carl and indulge in a teeny bit of hanky-panky in the shrubbery, b u t no such luck. I couldn't find him. I h u n g around for ages.

  You weren't the only one, chum. Then Paul found me and he was in a really weird state, all fired up and telling me how much he fancied 214

  me. He actually said he loved me, truly. No one's ever said the 1-word to me before so I thought, OK, we'll go with the flow on this one. I thought you must have caught up with Carl by this stage so I was happy to head off with Paul.

  And wait till you h e a r w h a t happened!'

  'You said you thought they h a d a fight?' I said quickly.

  'What? Oh, Paul and Carl. Well, something happened, but Paul j u s t clammed up and wouldn't say. W h a t did Carl say then?'

  'He wouldn't say anything either.'

  'Boys! They can be so moody at times, especially your Carl, if you don't mind me saying so. Any way, Paul was absolutely all over me, saying such sweet stuff. He can be really romantic when he puts his mind to it. Yes, I know, it doesn't seem likely but I swear it's true. He offered to walk me all the way home from t h e station, and I said I h a d taxi money, b u t he wouldn't h e a r of me going in a taxi on my own.

  So he came home too. Mum and Dad were out at some boring dinner party, and Minna, our au pair, was holed up in h e r bedroom, crying on t h e phone to her boyfriend back home, so I asked Paul down into the