Page 14 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘Yeah.’ Suzy nods. ‘I mean, what did he say after you said that?’
‘Not a lot.’ I say, lifting my head from my hands. ‘He sort of nodded and said something about he’d try, and then he left and carried on to his house.’
‘See,’ Claire says, trying to be helpful. ‘He said he’d try; that’s good, isn’t it?’
‘Tryto stay away from the Looney Tune more like . . .What?’ Mandy asks when we all glare at her. ‘I’m just being realistic.’
‘I’ve blown it, haven’t I?’ I say, sighing deeply. ‘Why I should have expected anything more of myself, I don’t know. But it all happened so fast – first it was the scenery and the nice waves thing, and then the flower shop and the rock music – and suddenly he was there walking me home! I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have time to prepare for that sort of pressure.’
‘Wait just a minute!’ Eddie sits down next to me. ‘What are you talking about? Are you saying there’s more to this than him stumbling upon us on the beach rehearsing, then offering to play for the group?’
‘Yeah, what do you mean “the nice waves thing” and “the flower shop” and what was the other stuff?’ Mandy asks.
‘Rock music, I think,’ Suzy answers.
I glance at Claire. She was the only one I confided in about the other stuff, because I knew she would keep quiet about it.
‘You might as well tell us everything,’ Claire says diplomatically so as not to drop me in it with the others. ‘You’ve started now.’
I nod and tell them everything that’s happened so far with Rob, from never speaking to him one minute, to everything else. Which, now I’m saying it, really doesn’t sound all that much.
‘So?’ I ask them when I’ve finished. ‘What do you think?’
‘It certainly sounds like he’s been trying to be places you might be, doesn’t it?’ Suzy looks at the others. ‘I mean, he may have genuinely wanted to buy flowers for his mum’s birthday, but he could have got some at the Co-op up on the hill, couldn’t he, and they’d have been much cheaper than from a florist?’
‘I think so too.’ Claire nods enthusiastically. ‘And what are the chances he’d be on the beach at the same time as us last night?’
‘Although,’ Suzy says, ‘that is a bit creepy if he’s been watching you, Frankie, and following you around . . . What do you think, Eddie?’
‘Sadly, I think this means he’s straight,’ Eddie says, sighing. ‘I had hoped not. But the others are right, Frankie. It’s a bit too much to just be a coincidence.’
‘Mandy?’ I ask when she doesn’t join in. ‘You’re awfully quiet. You always have an opinion on everything.’
‘Are you sure you want to know?’ Mandy looks serious.
‘Yes, just tell me. I can take it . . . ’
Mandy grins. ‘Oh, he fancies you all right.’
‘What?’
‘He fancies you – clearly. The signs are all there.’
‘B-but why would he do that?’ I look down at my loose T-shirt, and my baggy, pale-blue denim jeans held up with a wide leather belt. ‘There are so many other girls in the school that wear skirts and make-up and do their nails and stuff . . . Like you, Mandy. You try really hard to look good all the time. Why would he like me? I’m just a tomboy.’
Mandy shrugs. ‘I dunno . . . It’s a mystery to me . . . No, you daft thing, I’m kidding.You, Frankie, are gorgeous! We can all see it. But you for some reason can’t.’
‘Maybe that’s the attraction,’ Eddie says. ‘He likes herbecauseshe doesn’t know how pretty she is.’
‘Yes, that’s probably right,’ Suzy says. ‘You’re giving off the right pheromones, Frankie.’
‘The what-a-mones?’ Eddie asks.
‘Pheromones are substances that are secreted by a person, then picked up by a second individual of the same species,’ Suzy replies. ‘It’s a well-known fact in the animal kingdom, it’s how they attract a mate. But how it works within humans is not quite so well documented.’
This is nothing unusual – we are all pretty used to Suzy dropping scientific facts and figures into conversation with us.
‘Well,’ Mandy says. ‘Whatever you’re doing, either consciously or unconsciously—’
