Seven
‘You all look amazing!’ Suzy says as she surveys the costumes for our performance. ‘I knew it would work.’
My fear that we would end up in bikini tops made of shells and long fish tails covered in scales was completely inaccurate. Instead, Suzy has created outfits that aren’t too revealing at all, but at the same time manage to make us look very mermaid-like.
It’s Saturday night and Claire, Mandy and I are all wearing swimming costumes in different shades of blue and green. Attached to these are layers of matching sea-green chiffon fashioned into long skirts that taper in at the ankle. Our tail fins are attached to our flip-flops, so when we sit on our papier maché rock they look exactly like the tail fins of a fish as we swish them to and fro, but we can still walk.
Around our necks we have long necklaces made of shells, which Suzy tells us she collected off the beaches around St Felix, so we must put them back when we’re finished, or it will mess with the ecosystem. And on our heads, each of us has pinned one side of our long hair up with a comb covered in fake shells, which Suzy says she found really cheaply in one of the many beach gift shops.
Eddie and Rob are wearing colourful Hawaiian shirts and matching long shorts with the Fat Willy’s Surf Shack insignia. Suzy’s brother works part time at the shack in St Felix and managed to source them from some old stock kept out the back of the shop. Suzy also managed to obtain a broken surfboard at the same time to complete our ‘set’.
‘You’ve done so well, Suz,’ I tell her as I admire our outfits. ‘Considering your budget was the little bit of money we could all scrape together, I think you should take up costume design when you leave school.’
‘Thank you, Frankie, it’s lovely of you to say, but I don’t think so. I want to make a difference to the world when I get a job. I don’t want to sew for a living.’
‘I’m sure there’s more to costume design than just sewing,’ Eddie says. ‘But Frankie’s right – you really have done an incredible job. I can’t thank you enough.’
‘I’m just pleased I got to be a part of this, but I didn’t have to sing. I can’t bear the thought of getting up on that stage in front of everyone and making a fool of myself. But I’m sure you guys won’t,’ she adds quickly when she realises what she’s said. ‘I’ve seen you rehearsing, remember – you will all be wonderful!’
‘We’ll know in about an hour, won’t we?’ Mandy looks at her watch. ‘We’re due on around seven.’
‘I can’t wait to see you all together up on the stage,’ Suzy says. ‘I’ll be cheering you on from the audience. But right now, I have to go and find Miss Johnston. I said I’d help with seeing people to their seats. The hall looks amazing, by the way – wait until you all see it. Frankie, your backdrop is the pièce de résistance
; it sets everything off beautifully!’ She hugs us all before she goes. ‘Break a fin!’ she calls as she leaves us in the drama studio that is being used as a temporary dressing room for all the acts.
‘So now what?’ I ask as we watch Suzy go. ‘Do we just wait?’
‘Nah, I’ve found somewhere we can secretly watch everyone else,’ Mandy says, beckoning us over into a huddle. ‘I want to see what the competition is like.’
‘Is that allowed?’ Claire asks, looking worried. ‘Miss Kelly said we were to wait here until we’re called.’
‘Sod that,’ Mandy says. ‘I ain’t staying here cooped up with all these losers. Have you seen Jenny Meadows? She keeps giving me daggers.’
‘I’m pretty sure it’s me she’s aiming those dirty looks at,’ Rob says. ‘She hasn’t forgiven me from dropping out of her orchestra.’
It had quickly become clear that it was going to be impossible for Rob to take part in both acts. Due to a ‘scheduling conflict’, as Miss Kelly called it, there wasn’t going to be enough time for Rob to change from the black suit and tie he was due to be wearing in Jenny’s orchestra into his surfer-dude outfit. Because of the varying sets all the acts were using, it was necessary for our two groups to perform one after the other.
Jenny didn’t take it too well when Rob informed her that he was going to be performing with the Misfit Mermaids, and not the Octopi Orchestra, as Jenny chose to call her group, and she’s been bad-mouthing us ever since to anyone who would listen.
‘It’s not even Octopi,’ Suzy said when Rob told us. ‘That comes from there being Latin involved in the original meaning of the word. Some people think because there’s Greek origins it should be Octopodes, but actually Octopuses is correct because the word is English.’
We all listened politely to another of Suzy’s explanations. ‘Technically there shouldn’t even be a plural involved at all,’ she continued when none of us responded. ‘Octopuses are solitary creatures; they’d hate to be in a group of any kind.’
‘Let alone one run by Jenny Meadows – eh?’ Mandy quipped. ‘Don’t worry about it, Rob. You’re better off with us mermaids.’
Now, Mandy sighs impatiently. ‘Come on, Claire! Do something daring for once in your life. I’m going to watch the others and see what competition we have.’
Reluctantly, we follow Mandy out of the drama studio and along the school corridor until we’re on the other side of the school hall and on the far side of the stage.
‘Look,’ Mandy says, as she begins to climb up a ladder. ‘This leads up to the lighting rig, but there’s a little viewing area where we can watch from above what’s going on down below on the stage.’
‘Mandy, we’re wearing flip-flops!’ I say in disbelief. ‘I’m not climbing a ladder in flip-flops with a huge great fish tail attached to the front.’
‘What about the rest of you?’ Mandy asks, already pulling off her flip-flops so she can climb the ladder. ‘Are you game?’
‘I’ll do it,’ Rob says. ‘Why not?’
‘Eddie?’ Mandy is already halfway up.
‘You know I don’t like heights,’ Eddie says stoutly. ‘I’m staying down here. Actually, I think I’ll just go and check Kevin has definitely got our music prepared. I don’t trust him at all. Why Miss Kelly put him in charge of sound, I have no idea. He can barely turn on a Walkman without help, let alone provide the accompaniment for a whole show!’
While Eddie heads purposefully down the corridor, I look at Claire, but she anxiously shakes her head. ‘I’m not going up there; we might get in trouble.’
Rob is already climbing the ladder. ‘Come on, Frankie. It might be fun?’
‘Usually, I’d already be following you because I’d be in jeans and trainers,’ I say, watching him climb. ‘But I’ve got an incredibly tight long skirt on. I’m finding it difficult enough to walk in this outfit, let alone climb a ladder!’
Rob hesitates, and I wonder if he’s debating whether to go or whether to stay with me.
Since our ‘date’ on Monday evening, Rob and I have only managed to see each other alone a handful of times. We’ve seen each other at school plenty – when I’d catch him glancing at me across the classroom and I’d smile shyly back at him. Or when we managed to sit next to each other in a school assembly and Rob slipped his hand into mine, so they were clutched together hidden between our chairs.
We didn’t think anyone would notice, but, the following maths lesson, someone wrote on the whiteboard Rob 4 Frankie
inside a heart with an arrow through it. I flushed the exact shade of red as the marker pen the words were written in. But our dates – if you could call them that – when it was just the two of us were perfect, and I loved spending time with him. Rob was kind and funny and he made me laugh. We actually had quite a lot in common, as well as our love of rock music. As I spent more time with him, I realised that Rob really was a bit of a misfit like the rest of us. Having moved schools so many times, he always felt like an outsider, which gave him a vulnerability that made him even more attractive.
One night, we were down on the beach at dusk when Rob drew a heart in the sand with a piece of driftwood. Like the heart on the whiteboard, he wrote inside FH 4 RM Forever
and I almost cried. How could this be so perfect? Something surely had to go wrong. I was only fifteen and even I knew life was never this easy. Usually, my life felt like I was trudging along through thick mud, but right then it felt like I was floating along on a fluffy white cloud.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get better. It had.
As we stood on the sand together, holding each other’s hand and gazing at the heart, Rob gently squeezed my hand so I turned to look at him.
As quick as a flash he leaned in and kissed me – but not on the cheek like he had before. This time, it was fully on my lips.
As he pulled away, I stared at him. Partly in shock, partly in awe at how quickly my heart was beating – who knew it could go quite so fast and beat quite so hard?
‘Was that . . . OK?’ Rob asked.
Speechless, I nodded.
‘Only, I’ve never kissed a girl before. Not properly.’
‘Really?’ I managed to gasp.
Rob, looking worried, nodded. ‘Could you tell?’
I shook my head.
‘Should I do it again then?’ he asked.
‘Yes, please,’ I said, already leaning forward.
And that moment, standing on the sand of Morvoren Cove, as the sun began to set, was where Rob and I shared our very first kiss.
Sadly, the rest of our week had to be split between school, homework and rehearsals. But now it was finally showtime, then shortly after that the end of the school year, so I was looking forward to six weeks of summer holiday, hopefully filled with lots of Rob.
‘You go!’ I say, waving my hand at him, confident he’d be quite safe with Mandy. Mandy is my friend and even though she likes a handsome face, I know I can trust her. ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’
‘Sure?’ Rob asks, still hesitating.
‘Sure.’ I nod.
Rob smiles then he continues up the ladder behind Mandy.
I turn to Claire. ‘Shall we go back to the drama studio?’
Claire shrugs. ‘I don’t think we have a lot of options dressed like this, do we?’
We begin to walk – or waddle might be a better description – back towards the drama studio.
‘Is everything all right with you and Rob?’ Claire asks as we wander slowly down the school corridor together.
‘Why – do you know something?’ I ask a bit too quickly.
‘No? I just meant how’s things going, that’s all.’ Claire looks puzzled.
‘Ah, I see. Yes, it’s all good . . . I think.’
‘What do you mean “you think”?’
‘I’m just not sure there is a me and Rob. Not yet, anyway. We’ve only had a few dates. That doesn’t exactly make us a couple . . . or does it?’
‘You’re asking the wrong person,’ Claire says calmly. ‘I’ve never even been on a date with a boy.’
‘None of us apart from Mandy had until Monday,’ I tell her. ‘That’s why I’m a bit confused. He seems keen enough and everything, and we get on well when we’re together. But what if I mess it all up?’
‘Why are you going to mess it up?’
‘I don’t know. What if I’m not interesting enough? What if he goes off me and decides he likes someone else better? He seems to enjoy being a part of our group as much as anything. Maybe that’s what he really wants, and I’m just a way in.’
Claire pauses at the door of the drama studio. ‘We’ve all seen the way he looks at you, Frankie. I think he really like you. But maybe he likes being a part of our gang as well.’
I think about this. ‘You might be right. He did say he was quite jealous of our relationship before he got to know us.’
‘There you go then. He likes you and he likes us – nothing wrong in that. I really think you’re over thinking everything.’ Claire stands back a little to let another girl come past us into the drama studio.
‘Thank you, Claire,’ the girl says. She turns and smiles at me as she passes. ‘Hi, Frankie,’ she says in a soft Irish lilt.
I smile politely back. She’s tall and slim, and dressed in long white trousers with wide bottoms, a white short-sleeved blouse and a pale-blue knitted tank top. Holding back her long blonde hair is a matching blue scarf tied elegantly at the bottom of her head, so it hangs down with the rest of her hair. She looks like a 1930s movie star as she wafts elegantly into the room.
‘Who’s that?’ I whisper.
‘That’s Marnie,’ Claire says. ‘She’s Rob’s replacement in Jenny’s orchestra.’
‘Jenny got a replacement? I didn’t know that. Does she go to this school? I don’t remember seeing her before.’
‘Apparently she’s starting properly next term. She’s moving from Ireland, but she’s having a few days here before the summer holidays as a sort of taster, I think?’
‘Oh, right. Bit odd, isn’t it, though? New pupils usually just start at the beginning of term.’
‘Don’t ask me. I just heard that Jenny was super pleased to find her. It’s completely revamped their act apparently.’
I look through the door of the drama studio and see Marnie laughing with some of the other ‘Octopi Orchestra’.
‘Bet they’re not as good as we are – even with her,’ I say. ‘Now, we must keep an eye on the time. If it gets near our slot to be on stage and Mandy and Rob aren’t back, we’ll have to go and find them.’
Luckily, Mandy and Rob seem to have some idea of time, as they arrive back in the drama studio just as Miss Kelly is rounding us up to go and wait in the wings at the side of the stage.
‘Here they come!’ I say to Miss Kelly as they dash through the doors of the studio. ‘I told you they’d just gone to the toilet.’ I glance at Mandy as we’re ushered along the corridor. ‘You’re cutting it fine,’ I say.
‘Nah, we knew what we were doing.’ Mandy is, as ever, completely oblivious to any panic or stress. ‘We had a great view of everyone who’s gone so far. And you know something, I think we might have this in the bag.’
‘Don’t get too confident,’ I tell her, lowering my voice as we approach the stage. ‘We haven’t been on yet.’
‘Funny,’ Mandy whispers, as we enter through the door and crowd into a tiny area on the side of the stage. ‘That’s exactly what your boyfriend said.’ She looks ahead of us to Rob, who’s towards the front of our little group with Eddie.
‘Rob’s not really my boyfriend. We’ve only been out a handful of times.’
‘He seems to think he is.’
‘What makes you say that?’ I ask immediately, keen to know more.
Mr Stevens, the drama teacher, who’s also acting as the stage manager, turns to look at us. ‘Girls! Quiet, please. The next act is about to go on.’
‘Sorry, sir,’ I whisper back. I wait until Mr Stevens has turned away from us before I speak again. ‘Why?’ I ask Mandy in the lowest voice I can manage. ‘What did he say?’
‘He couldn’t stop talking about you.’ Mandy grins like she always does when she has a secret she wants to share. ‘Asking me all sorts of questions, he was.’
‘Like what?’
‘Frances and Amanda!’ Mr Stevens raises his bushy eyebrows and gives us a stern look this time. ‘I really must insist you remain silent, or I shall have to ask you to leave.’
I have no choice but to stop with my questioning. But it’s so frustrating. I want to know what Rob said to Mandy about me.
Eddie, Rob and Claire shuffle forward a bit so Mandy and I can see the stage too, and the small movement means I find myself standing next to Rob.
He smiles at me. ‘Nervous?’ he whispers as the Octopi Orchestra begin to play on the stage.
‘A bit,’ I whisper back.
Rob reaches out his hand and takes mine, and for a moment I forget all about where we are and what we’re about to do. Rob Matthews is holding my hand again. Does life get any better than this?
I float back down to earth as I listen to the music, and I notice that rather than the formal attire the Octopi Orchestra said they were going to be performing in, actually they are all wearing jaunty white sailor suits, with little navy ties around their necks, as they play their various instruments.
And then I realise that I recognise the music they’re playing too.
‘This isn’t what we were rehearsing before,’ Rob says, listening intently. ‘It’s completely different.’
‘I think it’s from a musical,’ I reply. ‘It sounds like . . . Yes, it’s from Anything Goes
.’
As the orchestra finish their overture, Marnie floats effortlessly onto the stage from the wings opposite and begins to sing the musical’s title song, in a voice that not only fills the whole of the stage, but the entire school hall too.
‘What has this to do with the sea?’ I hear Mandy whisper behind us.
‘ Anything Goes
is set on a cruise ship,’ Eddie informs her. ‘The songs aren’t really sea-based, but I guess the show does go with the sea theme. Blimey, this girl can sing, can’t she?’
‘Yeah, but who is she?’ Mandy asks. ‘I haven’t seen her at school before.’
‘Starting next term apparently,’ Claire replies.
Although I can hear all this going on behind me, I’m not really focused on what they’re saying, I’m more concerned with what’s going on both in front of me on the stage, and also right next to me.
Marnie only sang for a few bars when I felt Rob’s hand loosen its grip on mine. Now she’s well into the chorus, his hand has dropped mine completely while he stares at the vision of effortless elegance on the stage in front of him.
I stand completely still next to him, trying not to feel hurt by his actions, while at the same time trying desperately not to hate the girl singing so beautifully on the stage.
Marnie sure can hold a note, I have to give her that. If Whitney Houston was standing on the stage right now, I don’t think her voice would fill the school hall any better than Marnie’s. But why does Marnie have to be so pretty as well? A fact that has clearly not missed Rob’s attention either. It’s just not fair.
I glance at Rob. His eyes are wide and a little glazed as he watches Marnie, who, now there’s a bridge in the music, is not singing, but tap-dancing instead, and her dancing appears to be just as good as her singing.
I look out into the section of the audience I can see from the wings. Rob is not the only one gazing in awe at Marnie, the audience too seem enchanted by this vision in front of them.
I turn to the Octopi Orchestra and Jenny Meadows meets my gaze. She smiles triumphantly back at me – and suddenly I realise how professional they all look in their crisp white matching outfits, and how silly we probably look with our cobbled-together costumes.
I want to turn around and run. Off this stage, out of this school, to anywhere that isn’t here – standing next to the boy who has only just noticed me, and yet who now apparently only has eyes for someone else.
The performance ends with Marnie giving one more rendition of the chorus. The audience immediately begin to applaud enthusiastically, a few people rise to their feet and there are cheers and whistles. Rob is clapping with them – a bit too keenly for my liking.
Marnie waits for the rest of the orchestra to join her at the front of the stage and then they all take a carefully rehearsed bow together. Then Marnie gives a little wave to acknowledge her admirers, before they all leave the stage together, exiting into the wings opposite.
Mr Stevens pulls the curtains from a rope at the side, and pupils wearing black clothes rush onto the stage and quickly change the Octopi Orchestra’s set for ours. Then before I know what’s happening, my friends are pushing out onto the stage, and I am carried along with them.
‘Places!’ Eddie hisses as I stand dumbstruck on the side of the stage. ‘Frankie! What are you doing? Get on your rock!’
I jump at his voice and see Claire and Mandy already waiting for me in their positions on our papier-maché rock. I hurriedly dash over and perch myself next to them on top of the grey paint.
Then I look out front, and to my far right I see Rob getting his guitar ready at one end of the stage and, in the middle, Eddie waiting behind his microphone stand.
‘Are you all right, Frankie?’ Claire whispers as the stage lights go down and everything goes very quiet. ‘You seem a bit out of it. Have you got stage fright?’
‘No, I’m fine,’ I whisper just as the curtains are pulled back again and the bright stage lights come on above and in front of us.
The familiar music begins to play, and we launch into our performance.
I feel like I’m in a dream as I perform our carefully practised routine. I can see Eddie loving every minute of being our front man, and Rob to his side enjoying his role as lead guitarist.
Then I realise that the audience, many of whom are parents, know our song well; they begin clapping along and tapping their feet to the music, which only encourages our front man to become even more animated.
While Claire and Mandy perform with smiles on their faces, I feel like I’m on automatic pilot as I sway to the music alongside them. And as we come to the end of the song, and Eddie does a big flourish with his mic stand, it feels to me like we’ve only just begun.
The audience applaud and Eddie encourages us to all take a bow just like the act before us did.
As we line up, I spot Marnie at the side of the stage clapping along with everyone else, but she’s smiling at Rob as she does, and Rob, I’m gutted to see, is smiling back at her.
Leaving the stage, everyone around me is in high spirits, so I excuse myself by saying I just need to pop to the toilet.
After a few moments of trying to collect myself, I emerge from the cubicle, wash my hands and look at my reflection in the mirror, and for the first time ever I see everything that Marnie is and I’m not.
Marnie is pretty. I’m not.
Marnie is elegant. I’m definitely not that.
Marnie is curvy and womanly. I just look like a boy.
Why would Rob ever choose me over Marnie?
And as I stand there, I begin to cry.
‘There you are!’ Mandy says as she bursts through the toilet door. ‘We wondered where you’d gone. Shit, Frankie, what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ I sniff, furiously trying to wipe my eyes on my bare arm.
Mandy goes into the cubicle and pulls off what seems like half a roll of toilet paper. ‘Here,’ she says, passing it to me. ‘I wouldn’t rub yourself too hard with it, though – that stuff is like sandpaper.’
I dab gently at my eyes with the crunchy paper. ‘Thanks.’
‘Wanna tell me what’s wrong?’ she asks gently. ‘Is it Marnie?’
‘How do you know that?’
‘The way Rob went after her when we came off stage. It was like he’d been hypnotised or something. Completely in a trance he was.’
I look miserably in the mirror at myself. My mascara has now all smudged under my eyes, adding to the ‘mermaid in a horror movie’ look I’m currently sporting.
‘Why do you think he did that?’ I ask in a pitiful voice.
‘Dunno – he’s male, isn’t he? Most of them are a waste of space. That’s what my mum says and I’m starting to agree with her.’
I turn to face Mandy. ‘But I thought you liked boys . . . I mean, men . . . well, the male of the species anyway.’
Mandy shrugs. ‘They have their uses. But my girlfriends are far more important to me. You want my advice?’
‘Maybe?’ I reply hesitantly.
‘Sod him! If he wants to fawn over some blonde bimbo, then so be it. You, Frankie, are worth a hundred of him . . . no, make that a thousand. Don’t let him ruin your evening. We were fabulous out there tonight. Pretty sure we won’t win after the turn the octopuses put in, but even if we don’t, I’m gonna enjoy the rest of the night. I’ve got an amazing dress and I’m going to live it up and I suggest you do too. You don’t need a boy to make you happy, Frankie. Only you can choose to do that.’
Mandy’s unexpectedly wise talking-to does me the world of good. I wash my face as best I can with water, then I go back with Mandy to the drama studio, where I properly remove all my mermaid make-up, replace it with something a little lighter and get changed into my dress for the dance.
‘You lookin’ good, girl!’ Mandy says with a low whistle as she takes my arm ready to head back into the main hall. ‘The singing mermaid has transformed into one hot mumma of a mermaid! Where did you get the dress?’
I tell Mandy about Rose and her vintage dresses as we walk arm in arm back to the party together. The school hall has now been transformed from a theatre into a magical underwater venue for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. The chairs and the audience members have disappeared, and in their place are fifteen- and sixteen-year-old pupils all milling around looking a little awkward with their friends.
We quickly find the other mermaids, and, after we’ve all admired each other’s outfits, including Eddie’s electric-blue tuxedo and bow tie, we help ourselves to non-alcoholic fruit punch.
I try hard after Mandy’s pep talk not to look around for Rob, but occasionally I find my eyes moving around the room wondering where he is. I can’t see Marnie either, and I can’t help wondering if they’re somewhere together.
‘And so, without further ado,’ Mr Evans, our headmaster, continues his welcome speech from behind the microphone on the stage. ‘It’s time to announce the winners of the Enchantment Under the Sea talent show. Our audience were all asked to complete a voting slip as they left the hall tonight and I now have the results of their vote.’ He pauses to open a gold envelope and quickly scans the piece of paper inside. ‘In reverse order, third place goes to Jane Edwards, Melissa Jenkinson and Louise Roland for their very unusual and some might say unique performance of a traditional sea shanty to the Blue Peter
theme tune!’
There’s applause as the girls hurry up onto the stage to receive their prize – a box of seashell-shaped chocolates each.
‘And in second place we have . . . ’ Mr Evans pauses for effect. ‘The Misfit Mermaids with their splendidly sea-themed rendition of the Beach Boys’ “Surfin’ USA”!’
There are some cheers along with applause, and we all traipse up onto the stage to receive a similar box of chocolates with the addition of a sea-scented candle. Rob reappears to claim his prize with us, and I try desperately hard not to look at him.
Then we stand at the back of the stage in front of my backdrop with the other runners-up while Mr Evans announces the winners, who I think most people have guessed already.
‘And the winners of this year’s talent show are . . . the Octopi Orchestra with special guest, Miss Marnie Morrissey!’
So Marnie gets her own billing now
, I think sourly. This evening just gets better and better.
The Octopi Orchestra literally skip up onto the stage to receive their prizes – chocolates, candles and a voucher for ice cream donated by one of the ice-cream shops on the harbour.
I can’t help but glance at Rob as the winners claim their prizes, and as I suspected I find he’s gazing doe-eyed at Marnie as she collects her prize from Mr Evans.
‘And I have a wonderful bonus for you all this evening,’ Mr Evans says as I’m desperate to escape the stage. ‘Marnie has agreed to perform for us again this evening, along with some of our leavers. So, without further ado, I wish you all a wonderful evening of dancing, music and laughter, and I pass the microphone over to Miss Marnie Morrissey accompanied by,’ he quickly checks his card, ‘the Friday Rock Project!’
The prize winners are all encouraged to leave the stage by the wings. I glance back and the last thing I see is some of the older boys, carrying guitars and a drum kit, hurrying onto the stage, and Marnie, now wearing a long shimmering dress in turquoise blue, looking far too beautiful, preparing her microphone to sing again.
‘Hey,’ Rob says as he pushes past me out of the wings and down a couple of steps into the school corridor, presumably in a hurry to get to the front of the stage to see Marnie again. ‘Fancy a dance later, Frankie?’
I’m about to say, ‘Yes, that would be wonderful!’ when I remember what Mandy had said.
‘No, thanks.’ I stop at the top of the steps so I’m that little bit higher than he is, as he looks back at me with a confused expression. ‘I’ll be spending this evening with my friends. My real friends, that is.’
Rob stares at me for a moment, absorbing what I’ve just said.
‘Sure,’ he says, looking a tad bewildered. ‘If that’s what you want?’
‘It is.’
‘Right, then.’ He nods. ‘I need to get to the stage. I really want to see the show.’
I bet you do
, I think silently. I can’t believe you’re actually admitting it to my face.
Rob’s about to leave when he pauses and reaches into his pocket. ‘I almost forgot. Did you drop this?’ he asks, holding out a shell in the palm of his hand. ‘I assumed it came off one of your costumes. I found it on the stage just now.’
The shell looks like a cross between a conch shell and a horn shell, but, instead of being rough and spiky on the outside, it’s incredibly smooth and its mother-of-pearl appearance sparkles under the fluorescent light above us.
‘I don’t think so. It’s a bit too big to have come off any of our outfits.’
‘Well, you might as well have it,’ he says, hurriedly pressing it into my hand. ‘I’ve no use for it any more . . . Have I?’ He looks hopefully up at me, as the front of his sandy hair falls over his dark eyes, and for a moment I almost give in to his forlorn gaze.
But I hold my ground, and don’t say anything.
‘Fine. I see how it is.’ Rob gives me one last look, then he turns smartly and walks purposefully away down the corridor.
And all I can think about isn’t how jealous I am, or how upset he’s made me, but only why I hadn’t wished for something different . . .