Chapter One
“Your turn Phoebe,” Jess said, “Truth or dare?”
Phoebe beamed. “Dare of course!” she pronounced.
“All right then. Can anyone think of a hard dare for Phoebe?” Jessica asked. The others chuckled. It was impossible to think of hard dares for Phoebe – she found them all easy. There was nothing she wouldn’t do!
“I’ve got one!” Daniel cried after five minutes deliberation.
“Shh,” Annabelle hissed, giggling.
“What is it?” Phoebe whispered, sounding sceptical. Daniel very rarely came up with good dares. They always seemed to involve eating something disgusting, which was all very well, but once you’d eaten worms at least one hundred times already they didn’t seem that exciting.
“I dare you to strip naked and stand outside in the garden for ten minutes!”
Cries of whispered protest filled the room.
“You can’t make her do that!”
“It’s bloody freezing outside!”
“What if someone sees?!”
“That’s tight! She’ll die out there. It’s way to cold to go out dressed – let alone naked!”
Phoebe waited silently until the clamour had died down. She looked at Daniel’s expectant face. “Go on Phoebe,” he urged her.
“I’ll do it!” she told them firmly.
“Does that mean it’s a good dare?” Daniel probed eagerly.
A laugh sounded from the corner of the room, where Charlie sat, clothed in shadow. “Daniel, the ice bitch has nothing to fear from a little cold. After all she is the queen of cool. Plus she has no problem with stripping for boys – she just doesn’t like to commit to real relationships,” Charlie informed him.
“Oh why don’t you shut your gob?” Phoebe snapped, “It’s not like you have a real relationship!”
Charlie yawned deliberately and stretched. His sheets slid down his body to reveal his naked chest. Every female eye in the room was drawn to him. “Why settle for one when you can have more?” he asked, smirking.
“Why don’t you go slit your wrists?” Phoebe suggested. She glared furiously across the room and Charlie returned it with just as much anger burning in his eyes. The others looked on helplessly. They hated it when these situations arose, which they often did. It was unfathomable. When the two had joined High School at the same time, both coming from the same school before it and they had joined the same crowd, everyone had assumed that they would be good friends. They had soon discovered how wrong this assumption was. Charlie and Phoebe hated each other. With a vengeance. The only reason anyone could ever find for it was that they had such different opinions about relationships. Charlie had soon made a reputation for himself as an easy going guy who always had several girls on the go, while Phoebe was known for her cool treatment of all boys when it came to going out. This attitude had earned her the uncomplimentary title of ‘ice bitch’ and the first person to let her know this had been Charlie. Now he used it as often as he could, always trying to get her back up.
Roxy giggled nervously, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over the room. “Will you two please be nice?” she begged.
“Yeah. You’re always at each other’s throats,” her boyfriend, Jamie agreed.
“Hey Phoebe! Are you going to the dare or what?” Adam demanded.
“Of course!” Phoebe returned, in surprise. The boys watched appreciatively as she began to tug off her clothes. Phoebe might not be very receptive to any advances made on their part, but she was still the hottest girl in school. Phoebe sighed in exasperation. They really are so empty headed sometimes, she reflected. They whistled appreciatively when she pulled her top over her head and began to snigger and catcall when she walked past them to go out. Shaking her head with amusement and frustration at their immaturity, she pulled open the door.
“Ciao,” she said, “Don’t leave me out there too long okay?” She slipped silently down the stairs, tiptoed down the hall and through the kitchen and stepped outside.
She gasped. It was freezing! She felt as if she might transform into a human icicle at any moment! She stood outside shivering uncontrollably, and listened to the whispered encouragement from the girls and the muffled laughter from the boys drifting down from Leanne’s bedroom window.
“Nice arse!” Joe called quietly.
Phoebe grinned and pulled her arms away from her shivering body to give him a cheeky wave. “I love your arse too!” she assured him.
“What about mine?” Jamie demanded.
“Sorry Jamie you’re taken. I can’t spend time admiring your arse – Roxy might get annoyed.” After her ten minutes were up, she came back inside and clambered up the stairs to collapse groaning on the bed when she re-entered the bedroom.
“You would not believe how cold it is out there,” she told them through chattering teeth, as she pulled her clothes on again.
“I’ll get you a hot water bottle,” Leanne promised, moving towards the door.
Phoebe nodded gratefully, “Thanks.” Waiting for Leanne to return she found herself suddenly surrounded, as she was teased, laughed at and praised alternatively. Glowing happily with her success, she reminded her friends that she never backed out from a dare. “Once I’ve decided to do it,” she said, “that’s it. There’s no turning back. It just doesn’t work that way.”
The night continued with the nine friends encased in a joyous bubble of fun. They spent the night drinking more than was good for them and as the alcohol consumption increased the dares became wilder and wilder. They finally slipped into a hazy sleep shortly before six in the morning and remained in that condition until they were awoken three hours later by Leanne’s little brother.
Chapter Two
“Argghh!” Thomas screamed. He was dressed in his armour and holding his best sword, ready to battle with the dragon. “Shut up Thomas!” the dragon groaned, “I don’t need this right now okay?” Thomas looked at the dragon in puzzlement. Usually she liked playing with him. He simply couldn’t understand why she and her friends where moaning and clutching their heads. “You aren’t s’posed to die yet,” he whispered.
“We’re not playing now Thomas,” his sister told him. Thomas nodded sadly and turned to leave the room, his plastic sword trailing on the floor behind him.
“Tell me why God created brothers?” Leanne asked her groggy, hung-over friends.
“I don’t know,” answered Roxy miserably, “and I don’t care. I swear I will never drink again in my life!”
“This is definitely the worst hang-over I’ve ever had,” Jamie said.
“You’re telling me!” Joe agreed. Adam simply moaned and clutched his throbbing head. Turning a pale shade of pea green, he ran out into the bathroom, where he began to empty his stomach of everything he’d ever eaten. “Nice,” Daniel grimaced, looking a little off-colour himself.
Despite their hangovers the gang began to get dressed, moving slowly and pulling faces at any sudden loud noise. They all knew from previous sleepovers that while Leanne’s mum had no problem with them drinking, she expected them to put up with any consequences. The gang preferred getting up of their own accord over Leanne’s mum –Sally – waking them. Sally’s wake up calls usually involved large buckets of cold water combined with blaring radios – and no one likes to be woken up like that, hung-over or not.
After they had all dragged themselves downstairs with the same enthusiasm as pigs being lead to the slaughterhouse, they sat around the kitchen table, concentrating all their will power on keeping their breakfasts down, while Sally fixed her beady gaze upon them. “Lovely morning isn’t it?” she asked her voice falsely sweet.
“Lovely,” they chorused not looking up. Adam was still looking decidedly green.
Sally smiled broadly and began humming as she prepared her and Thomas’ breakfasts. “There’s a letter for you on the coffee table Leanne,” she informed her unhappy daughter. “Thanks Mum,” Leanne replied dutifully, replacing the toast she had been attempting to eat on her plate. Walking at a tortoise’s pace she moved towards the living room. The gang continued forcing down cereal and butter-smothered toast when a loud piercing shriek came from the room Leanne had entered, just moments before. A collective wince went around the group as they heard it.
“Oh my God, you guys!” Leanne cried rushing in excitedly, her hangover forgotten, “You will never believe what I got in the post!”
“Just tell us then,” Adam grumbled, clutching his still ringing head.
“Do you remember the that time you lot helped me do that entry for the competition in Cosmo Girl?” Leanne questioned them.
A few nodded feebly and she continued satisfied, “Well we won a prize! Two tickets to the next ‘Teenz Only Park ParT’!!”
“Wicked!” Annabelle exclaimed.
“Shh,” Jamie hushed her.
“That’s great,” Charlie declared quietly.
“Yeah well I thought that, since you lot all helped me so much, we should sort of compete for them,” Leanne informed her friends, a happy smile on her face.
The gang digested this information gradually and considered exactly what Leanne’s plan might entail. “What d’you mean – compete?” asked Joe suspiciously.
“I thought we could do truth or dare – only at school. We could do it all the way up to the concert. The winner can have both tickets so they can take their boyfriend or girlfriend,” said Leanne.
“Cool idea!” Phoebe grinned.
“I’m in,” Jamie decided.
“Me too,” Jess announced. The remainder of the gang replied a little less eagerly - but then, they had had a lot to drink the night before.
Chapter Three
Leanne surveyed the classroom where the gang were gathered. It was an art classroom, which was slightly removed from the rest of the school. They’d been given permission to use it at lunchtimes by Mr Locton. It was a large, highly decorated room that provided plenty of space for the gang. However, it did have its downsides. Mr Locton’s office was just a little walk down the corridor from it and though he wouldn’t be able to hear much, if they got too rowdy, he was sure to hear something. Nevertheless, it was the best place on offer and the gang accepted it gladly.
They had all seated themselves together in small groups of two to four. Sat in one corner, whispering loving - and probably meaningless – words to one another, were Roxy and Jamie; the only couple within the gang. The pair had been going out for such a long time that most people couldn’t even imagine what it would be like if they split up. They were an almost perfect couple. One of the most stunning girls in school, Roxy had met her male counterpart in Jamie and he had found in her someone who was quite willing to do whatever he wanted. Most of the time, that is.
At a desk in front of the couple, Adam Joe and Daniel were sitting chatting. Or rather, Daniel and Joe were chatting. Adam was sitting gazing longingly out of the window. Not because he wanted to go outside, but because, in full view of the classroom window, Sasha Arnolds and her giggling group were leaning against a wall, deep in animated discussion. Adam had been in love with Sasha for as long as anyone could remember. He was probably closer to her than anyone else – the pair shared such close interests that they could always find something to talk about – but he still couldn’t pluck up the courage to ask her out because he thought that she was so wonderful that she couldn’t possibly want to go out with him.
Sasha was one of the most popular girls in school. The boys loved her flirtatious attitude and well-toned body, which though not as fine as those of the reputed school beauties – Roxy and Phoebe – was certainly good enough for most of them. The girls liked the way she treated them all the same, no matter how uncool or geeky they were. The teachers liked her for her hard working attitude and general politeness. So Sasha was in the perfect position where she pleased everyone.
Daniel (never Dan or Danny) was one of the most hopeless cases that ever existed. He worked extremely hard, started revising for exams about three months before hand and he still failed everything. It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it – his coursework was fantastic – but he simply couldn’t remember anything the moment he got into an exam. He completely panicked the moment he was confronted with his paper. His teachers couldn’t understand it. He was the only student that never seemed to need correcting and got full marks on everything else, no matter what the subject. Fortunately, Daniel was not one to dwell on things and so was not caused any great distress by this state of affairs.
Joe was the tallest boy in the entire school and so his appearance was slightly intimidating. Joe used his height to the best advantage and enjoyed towering over people, especially his teachers and his parents when they were lecturing him. He considered school to be just another stage for his comedy antics and was a known prankster.
Leanne herself was sitting with Jess, Phoebe and Annabelle – the self proclaimed gossip guru. Not that anyone dared challenge her claim. There was a rumour in the school that if Annabelle didn’t know something it wasn’t worth knowing. She always knew everything first and was so respected for her talents that pupils would pay for her to give them some information. Boys and girls alike who were suspicious of their partners would ask her questions and on the strength of her answers alone might either dump them or buy them expensive gifts to atone for their suspicions. Some people believed that Annabelle had a net of spies working for her but really she was just good at worming information out of people. She would store this information away in the back of her mind or piece it together with something else to come up with the juiciest pieces of gossip.
Phoebe was a bit of a mystery to the rest of the gang. She had come to the school at the same time as Charlie so that she could join the sixth form. From day one she had received admiring glances from the boys and jealous stares from many of the girls. She had got herself a reputation for being unable to resist any dare and yet she refused to go out with any of the lads. The strangest thing about Phoebe was her all consuming hatred of Charlie. The pair seemed to have so much in common, apart from their disagreement about how relationships should be conducted. Charlie could almost always match her in outright recklessness and she could be just as easy going as him. Despite her little eccentricities she had become an essential part of the gang and was especially close to Annabelle.
Jess was Leanne’s best friend. They’d known each other since Jess’ birth, two months after Leanne. They, Roxy, Daniel and Joe had formed the gang in year six and since then the gang had become known for their close friendships with one another and their daring exploits. Jess was the youngest member of the gang, but no one ever mentioned it in her presence. She had been learning karate from age five and was almost as tall as Joe. Most people were a bit wary of her, but really she was as good-natured as a newborn kitten. She like Phoebe had an air of mystery about her. She was reputed to be going out with someone but wouldn’t reveal who it was.
The final member of the gang was Charlie and he was late. This was a usual occurrence as he had so many girlfriends that he was always getting caught up with one or another. His behaviour earned him respect from the boys and caused a great deal of curiosity from the girls. He had very easygoing relationships and everyone who went out with him was free to do anything they liked with anyone they liked. The only conditions Charlie seemed to have were that they had fun and allowed themselves to be known as one of ‘Charlie’s Girls’. Though his ideas weren’t everyone’s cup of tea they appealed to a lot of girls and he had found himself with over twenty girls by the time he’d been at the school just a week.
The gang waited for him and when he finally arrived Leanne exclaimed, “At last! Where have you been? We’ve been waiting ages.”
“What?” Charlie blinked at her, his face the picture of innocence, “I’m not late am I Daniel?”
“Nah,” Daniel answered him.
“Oh whatever,” sighed Roxy, as she resurfaced in the corner.
“We’re not playing today. Just gather round while I lay out the rules,” Leanne instructed.
The gang obeyed and the classroom was suddenly filled with the scraping of chairs as they were dragged across the floor.
“The rules are; we meet every week up until the concert and every week two people do a truth or dare. They don’t get to choose – we do. The winner is the one who does the most,” Leanne explained.
“That’s all very well,” Jamie replied, “but what about Phoebe? She’ll do them all. We might as well just hand the tickets to her right now.”
“I’ve thought of that,” Jess told him. “Phoebe’s going to have to do something a little more complicated.”
“She has to go out with Charlie and they have to convince everyone that they are the perfect couple,” Leanne finished for her.
“What?!” Charlie exploded, “She can’t be one of my girls!”
“She won’t be,” Jess answered smugly, “She’ll be your girlfriend. You’ll have to dump all your girls to go out with Phoebe. The two of you will have to hold hands in public, kiss in public, get-off in public and go out to the cinema and stuff together.”
“Let me get this clear. You want me to go out with Charlie for a whole month and you want me to kiss him in front of the entire school?!” Phoebe said incredulously.
“Yep,” Leanne agreed.
Phoebe’s inner struggle was visible to everyone. “Fine! I’ll do it,” she decided.
“Who gets the tickets?” Charlie enquired.
“I reckon it should be the one who we think is the most convincing. And that’s only if you do everything we tell you to,” Annabelle answered him quickly. The gang agreed with her enthusiastically.
“All right. I’ll do it,” Charlie said.
Leanne beamed. This is going to be a very interesting month! she reflected.
Chapter Four
Adam didn’t notice the others leave. He was too busy watching Sasha. From this room he had a perfect view of her. Not that he only liked her for her appearance. Of course he loved her personality as well. After all she was truly genuinely nice. Not a word that his English teacher would approve of but one that truly summed her up. Nice meant good. Nice meant kind. Nice meant helpful. Nice meant loyal. Nice meant friendly. Sasha was all of these things and she was so highly …
“Adam!” Crash! Bang! Adam clambered up miserably from where he had fallen. His chair was on the floor and beside were the coloured pencils from a pot he had knocked over as he fell. “For God’s sake Adam! I’ve been saying your name for the past ten minutes. It’s not healthy to spend all this time obsessing over someone you know. Why don’t you just ask her out?” Charlie asked, standing in the doorway, waiting impatiently as Adam retrieved the scattered pencils. Adam looked up and stared at him. “She’ll just say no.”
Charlie froze for a moment then almost shouted in frustration, “What?! You’re always saying how nice she is. If she’s so nice then why would she turn you down?”
Adam sighed. Really, he thought, I do wish my friends would have some sense.
“She wouldn’t say yes because she doesn’t fancy me. She wouldn’t want to lead me on – that would be cruel.”
“How do you know?” Charlie demanded, his grey-blue eyes narrowing suspiciously.
“Because we’ve talked about it!” Adam burst out indignantly. Charlie laughed unkindly.
“You’ve talked about what she’d do and why if you asked her out?”
“Well obviously not me,” Adam muttered angrily, “but yes we have discussed what we’d do in that situation. Naturally, Sasha has more experience in that area than me.”
“Naturally,” Charlie mocked, “because you so obviously fancy her that every other chick realises they’d be wasting their time on you. You need to get out more man. I swear the way you act ain’t healthy.” He left and Adam followed, grumbling and muttering to himself as he did so. Charlie simply has no idea what was like to be in love! he thought, He’s far too busy getting off with as many girls as he can to really feel anything for anyone!
Chapter Five
Melissa was walking along just minding her own business when she came across something that would create some of the best gossip the school had ever known. Well, she wasn’t actually minding her own business of course. Then she wouldn’t have noticed it. Really she was wandering along with her eyes peeled to the activities of others. She thought that perhaps if she conducted some more observation then she could catch up with Annabelle and spread the stories first and her plan was paying off already! She rushed outside to share the news with her friends.
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed loudly as she reached them, “You’ll never believe what I just saw! I saw Charlie and Phoebe – together!”
Sasha looked at Melissa sceptically. “They’re always together. They hang out with the same crowd. What’s the big deal?”
“Yes but they were together together. You know like couple together. I swear they were,” Melissa protested desperately. Sash nodded with feigned interest as Melissa babbled on, not hearing a word.
Melissa always thought she’d discovered a new piece of gossip, but though she was quick to find things out, she simply couldn’t compete with Annabelle. Annabelle had always told someone before Melissa could. Sasha felt quite sorry for Melissa – if it weren’t for Annabelle then she would be the school’s gossip queen. Still Sasha couldn’t see why Melissa worried about so much because she thought it was a stupid thing to obsess over.
The gaggle of girls made their way into the dining hall, with Melissa still burbling excitedly. “And then,” she was saying, “I saw that they were holding hands so I knew that I was right.” Sasha glanced around herself, looking for a table and gasped. Sitting together at a table, completely alone were Charlie and Phoebe. She pinched herself viciously, checking that she really wasn’t dreaming.
I can’t believe Phoebe’s become one of Charlie’s girls, she thought, I mean she doesn’t like being in relationships and they hate each other – don’t they?
Phoebe had always fiercely maintained that she didn’t want to go out with any guys at the moment because they all still fancied other girls and dumped you as soon as they saw anyone more attractive. Charlie was the complete opposite of everything Phoebe had ever wanted in a guy, except for the good looks of course.
Charlie had his girls - girls who dated him because they’d heard how good he was, or they wanted to be different, or they wanted an easygoing relationship. Phoebe fitted under none of those categories. She could have anyone and yet she chose him. Why would she do that? Sasha asked herself in puzzlement. Of course, Charlie was good looking – extremely so – but still, it was a strange choice.
She wasn’t the only one wondering. Graham Arnlolds, a recent mate of Charlie’s, was also trying to figure out the reason. However, unlike Sasha, Graham was not curious about Phoebe. He wanted to know why his mate wanted to go out with the ice bitch. Surely she was more trouble than she was worth?
He spotted Charlie walking down a corridor and sprinted after him. “Oy Charlie!” he hollered after his mate. Charlie turned around, spotted Graham and waited as he ran up. “What’s up?” Charlie asked.
“I want to know what you’re doing with the ice bitch,” Graham told him curiosity burning brightly in his eyes.
“Oh,” Charlie replied, sounding mildly surprised at the curiosity, “She’s my girlfriend.”
“Well you don’t usually ditch the gang for one of your girls,” Graham said, his words sounding questioning.
“I didn’t ditch the gang; they all went out for lunch and Phoebe is not one of my girls. She’s my girlfriend. As of last night she’s my one and only,” Charlie explained.
Graham laughed, “Yeah like that’s going to happen. I bet that’s what you’re telling her and everyone but really, you’ve got just as many girls as you had before. Plus one that is.” Charlie spun around angrily and grabbed Graham by the collar. He shoved him against the wall savagely and growled, “Don’t you ever say anything like that again! I’ve been trying to get Phoebe to go out with me for as long as I’ve known her. If she even suspects that I’m going out with someone else she’ll dump me. And then I’ll kill you. I would never ruin everything by doing that.”
He released his hold slightly and Graham wriggled free, rubbing his sore neck. “All right I get it. There’s no need to be so violent,” he complained.
Charlie smiled. “You know you’re going to be so jealous. Phoebe’s way better than a load of other girls. You don’t get yet how good I’ve got it. ”
“All I get is you had it good but chucked it all for the ice bitch. Bet she’s really frigid,” answered Graham.
“Just you wait,” Charlie promised, “Then you’ll see.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Exactly.”
“I still think you’re a moron.”
“How many girls have you been out with Graham?”
“Err..”
“So we agree that I know best?”
“Yeah, yeah whatever.”
The pair continued in this manner all the way to their class, with Charlie assuring Graham that he was far more experienced when it came to girls and therefore knew exactly what he was doing. Graham remained sceptical and sarcastic, still maintaining that lots of girls had to be better than just one – no matter how gorgeous that one happened to be.
Chapter Six
Yet again the gang were sat in the empty art room, as everyone else in the school enjoyed their lunch break. They had pushed the tables to the sides and were sat lounging on the chairs in a sort of circle. Just in case anyone else should come in Charlie and Phoebe were sat side by side. They weren’t happy about it. On Phoebe’s other side was Annabelle and next to her were Jamie and Roxy. These two seemed to have cooled off a little recently and everyone thought it was only a matter of time before they split up. The only reason no rumours were circulating was Annabelle hadn’t said anything, so everyone assumed that nothing major was going to happen –yet. Sitting beside Jamie and Roxy, were Leanne, Jess and Adam, with Adam in the seat nearest the window. Daniel and Joe were sitting deep in conversation about the latest football results with Charlie.
Jess called the group to order and began, “Okay first things first – we have to decide what Charlie and Phoebe will be getting up to this week, then we have to decide on the order of who’s going. I’ve worked it out and we can all do three things and then if people are still equal we can have a play off.”
“Get Charlie and Phoebe to kiss publicly. That’s obvious,” Jamie decided.
“Everyone agree?” Leanne asked, looking around for objections.
“I don’t agree,” Phoebe declared.
Charlie looked at her and grinned, “What have you got to complain about?”
“Um let me think. Oh yeah. Having to kiss the biggest dickhead in school perhaps?”
“You should be grateful. Most girls in school would love to kiss me.”
“Well I’m not most girls.”
“I can see that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh nothing.”
“Oy! Just give it a rest!” Daniel shouted over them, “Can you two really not talk to one another without an argument breaking out?”
Once Charlie and Phoebe had stopped glaring and actually agreed, the rest of the gang began deciding on who was to go when. First was Jess, followed by Daniel and Joe. Next came Jamie, then Leanne. After her was Roxy and the last person was Annabelle. They would then start all over again with Jess.
Once this had been decided Leanne turned to the gang and asked, “Who’s got something for Jess?”
“I have,” Joe replied, “Truth.”
“O.K. Fire ahead,” Jess answered him.
“Who’s your mystery boyfriend Jess?”
The others murmured appreciatively amongst themselves. Finally they would get to know the name of Jess’ secret boyfriend and if she refused to tell then she’d be down a point so, either way, they won.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Jess told them.
“Yes you do!” Phoebe exclaimed.
Jess shook her head. “Not any more,” she said.
“Well who was he?” Joe asked.
“Yeah and that can be the truth, ‘cause you never told us you’d been dumped, so it’s the same thing,” Roxy added.
“Well he was Charlie,” Jess responded smoothly.
The outcry this announcement caused was incredible. “Charlie!”
“As in that Charlie?”
“You and Charlie?!”
“No way!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Yeah you’ve got to be lying.”
Jess’ only reply to the gang’s astonishment and disbelief was, “Why don’t you ask him?”
Joe twisted round to face Charlie and demanded, “Is it true?! Were you really her boyfriend?!”
Charlie nodded, unconcernedly. “Yeah, so? It’s actually your fault she hasn’t got a boyfriend any more you know.”
“My fault?! How was it my fault?!” Joe cried.
“Well because you agreed with those lot that it was a good plan to make me dump all my girls.”
“Still wasn’t my fault,” Joe huffed.
Next followed a very puzzling event. First Roxy went over to Phoebe and dropped some coins into her open hand, then Leanne did the same. The boys all stared. “What’s that all about?” Jamie asked.
“Oh I’m just collecting my winnings,” Phoebe smiled.
“What winnings?” Daniel enquired.
“We bet on everyone’s relationships. I happened to win this particular bet,” Phoebe explained.
“Isn’t Annabelle involved?” Adam asked.
The look he received from Phoebe was one of complete disgust. “Would you bet against Annabelle?” she demanded.
“Err … No I guess not.”
“My point exactly.”
“Phoebe always wins the ones involving Charlie,” Leanne added.
Charlie smirked, “Have you been checking out your rivals Phoebe?”
“Not at all,” Phoebe told him unperturbed, “I am simply the only one who has realised that you have a type and what type it is. Once you know you can spot one of your girls a mile off. You’re totally transparent.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
Sighing in amusement and frustration, the gang listened as the childish exchange continued.
Chapter Seven
“Okay,” Phoebe sighed, a pained expression on her face, “Let’s just get this over and done with.”
“You could try to be a little more enthusiastic. It’s not like I’m a bad kisser or anything,” Charlie complained.
Sighing again, Phoebe held out her hand stiffly. Charlie took it and together they stepped out into the corridor. They walked along, ignoring the few scattered whistles and catcalls, until they reached Phoebe’s form room. Charlie released her hand and turned to go. Suddenly, Phoebe pulled him back around and planted a quick kiss on his lips.
Blushing with shame, Phoebe began to walk into the classroom, but before she could go too far, Charlie’s hand darted out and he slapped her across the bum. She looked back forced a smile and blew him a kiss as she entered. “See you later babes,” Charlie called after her.
The people who had watched the entire exchange were astounded. The ice bitch had kissed Charlie! In public! After just one day! It was unheard of. If Phoebe could go out with Charlie and behave like that, then who knew what could happen? It truly made the impossible seem possible.
Certainly, that was what Sasha was thinking as she gazed surreptitiously at the boy she fancied. He was so fit! Not in the usual way – he didn’t have Charlie’s toned muscles or the handsome looks that characterised the ‘hot’ guys in school – but he did have an almost delicate appearance. He had sandy coloured hair and soft grey eyes, that seemed to pierce her soul. His hands were perfectly shaped, with long deft fingers; musicians’ fingers. Most boys with features like his would probably look a little girly, but not he. He managed to carry it off with ease.
Of course, he had more than just good looks to recommend him. They certainly helped, but Sasha could never go for a shallow thoughtless guy. He was kind and sensitive and he really understood her. She could talk to him about anything – and she did! They would discuss everything from world poverty to the latest crazes to what they wanted from life.
Oh he’s so wonderful, Sasha thought longingly. One day, she promised herself, [i]he will be mine. Sasha and Adam. It has such a lovely ring to it!
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