Page 13 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘How do you mean?’
‘We just are.’ I shrug. ‘I’ve always called us a gang of misfits – that’s why we all get on so well. We all know how it feels to be a bit different.’
‘The Misfit Mermaids.’ Rob smiles.
‘What?’
‘The name for your group. You should call yourselves the Misfit Mermaids.’
I think about this for a moment. ‘Yeah, the Misfit Mermaids, I like it. It works.’
‘As long as Eddie is happy to be called a mermaid, of course.’
‘Are you kidding? Eddie will love it! Thank you, Rob, it’s a great idea. Er . . . this is me.’ I awkwardly point down the road we’ve arrived at the junction of as we’ve made our way up the hill out of town.
‘Oh, right. Our house is a few streets further on. Do you want me to walk you to your door?’
I desperately want to say, ‘Yes, please!’ but I’m worried it will make me seem far too needy. ‘No. I mean . . . thank you, but I’ll be fine from here.’
Rob nods and, feeling incredibly awkward once more, we stand in silence for what is really only a few seconds but feels like minutes.
‘Well . . . goodnight,’ I say eventually.
‘Yeah, goodnight.’
I turn to walk away.
‘Frankie?’ Rob asks suddenly.
‘Yes?’ I turn back.
‘Can I ask you one more thing?’
‘Sure.’ I can feel myself trembling inside. Is Claire right? Is Rob going to ask me out? What if he asks if he can kiss me? My mind runs rapidly over what I’ve eaten today. Will my breath be rank?
I suddenly realise Rob is already talking.
‘What I mean is, if I’m allowed to play guitar with you for the show. Would it be all right if I hung out with you too? I mean, like, all of you,’ he hurriedly adds.
And it’s then, just when I want to say something cool and interesting, that I utter one of the silliest sentences ever to come from my lips.
‘Erm, that depends . . . Are you misfit enough to be a mermaid, Rob?’
Four
‘Tell us what you said again,’ Mandy asks, grinning across the grass at me while we eat lunch on the school field the next day.
‘No, you heard me the first time,’ I reply firmly. ‘It’s bad enough I actually said that, let alone having to keep repeating it!’
‘I know, but I still can’t actually believe you asked Rob Matthews if he was mermaid enough to be a misfit.’
‘Misfitenough to be amermaid,’ Eddie corrects her, finishing off his bag of Wotsits.
‘I know what it was.’ Mandy’s grin widens. ‘I was just seeing if it sounded any better the other way around. And you know what . . . it didn’t!’
‘Oh, God!’ I bury my face in my hands. ‘I’m such an idiot.’
‘I’m sure you’re worrying over nothing, Frankie,’ Claire says gently, putting her hand on my shoulder. ‘He probably thought nothing of it.’
