Page 23 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘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 whiteboardRob 4 Frankieinside 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 insideFH 4 RM Foreverand 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?’
