Strictly Friends? (5 page)

‘Practice,' said Megan, grinning. ‘Come on, let's do that bit again.'

By the end of the lesson, Corinne had asked Megan if she would take a couple of the girls to practise at one end of the studio whilst Corinne worked with the others. Megan felt a surge of pride that Corinne wanted her to take on such responsibilities.

As they packed up, Mari looked enviously at Megan's shoes. ‘I wish I had shoes like those,' she said. ‘I'm not a big shoe fan, but those are so pretty. I love the strap over the top and the cute heels. And they're silver too – they look so professional.'

‘What size are your feet?' Megan handed them over. ‘Try them on – sorry, they're hot, I've been wearing them all through class.'

‘Are you sure?' Mari slipped a shoe onto her left foot. ‘Perfect fit!'

Megan grinned. ‘Tell you what then – why don't you borrow them for a while? I've got about six different pairs of ballroom shoes – I don't know where they all are at the moment because everything's still in boxes – but you're welcome to those until you get some of your own.'

‘Wow – really?' Mari stared at her for a second and
then suddenly gave her a hug. ‘That's so kind, you are sweet. Thank you so much. You know, you remind me of my friend Fliss.'

‘Yeah?'

‘She's really sweet and helpful too. A good friend.'

‘You should bring her along to salsa,' Megan told her.

‘I
so
would,' replied Mari as they headed out of the studio, ‘but she's on location at the moment.'

Megan stared. ‘She's what?'

‘On location. You know – filming. She's in a TV series.'

Megan stared. ‘Wow! That's amazing. How did that happen?'

‘Well . . .' Mari took a breath. ‘We did this play over the summer.
Romeo and Juliet
. And Fliss was playing Juliet and she was just totally brilliant. And this TV producer came along to watch and he really liked her, and so he asked her along to an audition for his new show.'

‘It sounds like something out of a dream,' said Megan.

‘It was! And she got the part and she started filming about a week ago and she's having to miss school and everything!'

Corinne came out of the main building to find
them still standing chatting. ‘Haven't you got homes to go to?' she asked, amused.

‘Mari was just telling me about her friend who's on TV,' said Megan.

‘Ah yes,' said Corinne. ‘Fliss. A very talented girl.' She pulled the main doors shut behind her. ‘A classic case of being in the right place at the right time. Even though it almost didn't happen.' She nodded to the girls. ‘See you next week. And thanks for all your help, Megan.'

‘What did she mean?' asked Megan, as Corinne headed off, her bracelets jangling loudly.

‘Fliss got injured,' said Mari. Her face darkened. ‘Just before the dress rehearsal. She fell off the balcony ladder.'

‘That's terrible.'

‘And it wasn't an accident. This evil girl put oil on the ladder deliberately so that Fliss would fall off.'

Megan's jaw dropped. ‘But that's—Why?'

‘She wanted Fliss's part,' said Mari, shrugging. ‘But she was rubbish. Completely over the top. She did the dress rehearsal and it was like the worst acting you'd ever seen. Victoria and I nearly walked out.'

‘Victoria?'

‘My other friend.'

‘Oh, right. So what happened?' Megan knew she should be getting home, but this story was the most exciting thing she'd heard since arriving in Parchester. And it was so easy to talk to Mari! She felt like she'd known her for ages, even though this was only the second time they'd met.

‘Fliss came back and confronted her,' said Mari with something like pride in her voice. ‘And Fliss had oil marks on her shoes, so there was nothing this girl could do. She was completely – what's the word? Convicted? Anyway, we all knew it was her, and she sort of incriminated herself too. So she got thrown out of the show. And good riddance too.'

‘But wasn't Fliss injured?'

‘She was, but her wrist was only sprained, not broken. And she bumped her head. But she was OK to come back and do the performance. And was
totally
brilliant, I might add.' Mari beamed. ‘I always told her she was talented, but she never believed me. And then this TV guy came and put her in his show!'

Megan shook her head in awe. ‘That's an amazing story. Like something out of a book.'

‘I know. Maybe one day I'll write the story of Fliss's life.' Mari grinned. ‘It'd be more interesting than mine.' She sighed. ‘Anyway, I'd better go.'

‘Me too. You coming next week?'

Mari grinned. ‘Are you kidding? This is way better than hockey.'

‘She sounds like a laugh,' Jake commented that evening over the phone. ‘I can't talk long, Stephen will be back with fish and chips any minute.'

‘She is. I really like her. I wish she went to my school.'

‘Suki still being annoying?'

Megan screwed up her nose. ‘I don't think she means to be. She just has this habit of saying things the wrong way. Even when she's trying to be nice. She basically told me the other day that I couldn't be any good at ballroom if I'd never done ballet.'

‘What!' Jake exploded. ‘That's ridiculous! The two are
completely
different!'

‘I know. And I tried to say that, but she's got this ballet teacher who tells her all this stuff and she believes it.'

‘I'd have punched her on the nose,' said Jake firmly.

‘No you wouldn't,' said Megan. ‘You've never punched anyone.'

‘All right,' Jake admitted, ‘but I'd have wanted to.'

‘Well, it doesn't matter. She wasn't trying to be rude. I think she just doesn't think about things before she says them.'

‘Really?' Jake's voice took on a quizzical tone. ‘That reminds me of someone I know . . . now who could it be?'

Megan laughed. ‘I am nowhere near as bad as Suki.'

‘Hang on a minute . . .' Jake's voice went quiet for a moment and then he came back on the line. ‘Stephen's just come in and Mum says we have to eat now.'

‘Oh, OK.' Megan felt disappointed. She felt like there was so much more she needed to tell Jake. ‘Talk tomorrow then?'

‘Uh, not sure. Think we might be going round to the neighbours'. They've got a welcome drinks thing.'

‘What, the ones in my old house?'

‘Yeah. I've got to be on my best behaviour.' Jake sounded as though he was grinning. ‘Maybe the day after. See you, Meg.'

‘Bye.'

Megan hung up and sat back on her bed. She hadn't had a chance to tell Jake about the boy again – the
one in the skate park. Even as his face swam into her mind, she felt a sharp twinge of excitement. His eyes – that startling grey – and the strange way he'd looked at her. She felt dizzy just thinking about him. And it wasn't the first time she'd thought about him since the previous week, either . . .

She wondered why he hadn't been there this evening. Where did he live? Which school did he go to? There had been two girls with him, hadn't there? Was one of them his girlfriend?

‘Oh, for goodness' sake,' said Megan out loud. ‘You don't even
know
him!'

But when she went to bed, she was already figuring out when she could walk past the skate park again.

Now that her mum had said it was all right to go out on her own, Megan found all the excuses she could to walk past the skate park. Fortunately, the post office and the small supermarket were near the arts centre, so there was often a letter to post or a pint of milk to pick up . . .

Much to her excitement, the boy was there most days after school, and Megan began to recognize the people he was with too. There was another boy,
shorter and less good-looking. He liked to whoop with excitement as he raced up a ramp on his skateboard. He was kind of stocky, with close-cropped brown hair and slightly sticky-out ears. There was a girl with the sort of long blonde hair Megan had only seen in shampoo adverts before. She seemed to laugh a lot, though Megan was never sure if she was actually amused or laughing for the sake of it. The other girl was very slim with almond-shaped eyes and long dark hair that often fell in her face. She reminded Megan of a girl she had known at Milton Park who was from Thailand. This girl sat and watched the others a lot, especially the tall dark boy.

Megan was fairly sure none of them went to her school. The boys sometimes wore a school tie that she didn't recognize, and she never saw any of them in the corridors at her own school. She was beginning to come to the conclusion that she would never actually get to speak to the tall boy again. She was destined to watch from a distance for ever.

And then one day, all that changed. Megan was walking back from the shops with a packet of raisins and a TV guide. She rounded the corner of the skate park as usual and immediately looked for the tall boy. He wasn't hard to spot. He was lining up his skateboard on what looked like a makeshift ramp, made
out of planks of wood, corrugated iron and bricks. It didn't look at all safe, but the boy was cheerfully calling to his friends, ‘Three-sixty off the end, right? Get your fiver ready, Paul, you'll have to pay up in a minute!'

The stocky boy called back, ‘No way! You can't pull that off. Get
your
money ready.'

The thin dark-eyed girl was anxious. ‘Please be careful, Danny,' she begged, whilst the blonde girl just laughed.

‘Don't blame me if you break both your legs.'

Megan stopped still, her eyes fixed on Danny. At last she knew his name! He was lining up his board when he glanced over and saw her watching him. There was a flash in his eyes, and then he grinned. Automatically, Megan felt herself smile back. He had such confidence! She had no doubt that whatever he was planning, he could surely do.

Danny paused for a moment, gathering his concentration. Then he kicked off the ground. His board slid down towards the ramp, gaining speed by the inch. By the time it hit the beginning of the ramp, the wind was blowing Danny's hair flat against his head. His face was focused, and his feet shifted tiny amounts to allow for the uneven surface. Megan held her breath. He was going to do it! It just needed
a smooth take-off from the end of the ramp, and then he would be flying high with the force of the jump . . .

But just as Danny reached the edge of the ramp, it buckled under his weight, and Megan gasped as the whole piece of corrugated iron slid off the bricks and crashed to the ground, taking Danny and his skateboard with it. There was an almighty crash as boy, board and bricks exploded in a shower of dust and debris.

‘Oh my God!' Megan was already rushing down the slope towards him. ‘Are you all right?'

Danny was lying on his back amongst a heap of rubbish, groaning.

‘Don't try to move,' said Megan breathlessly. ‘You might have broken something.'

There was a peculiar noise, and at first Megan thought, to her horror, that Danny was crying. Then she realized he was laughing. Danny sat up and looked at her, his shoulders shaking. ‘What a rush!' he said, his eyes flashing. ‘Woo-hoo!' He glanced down at his knees and grinned at the scuffing on his trousers. ‘There'll be some good grazes under there,' he said confidently.

Megan sat back on her heels and glared at him. ‘Aren't you hurt?'

‘Nah, not really. I've had worse.'

Megan glanced up. Danny's friends were heading over, exchanging amused looks and trying not to laugh. ‘I suppose that explains why your friends don't seem too worried. More fool me. I thought you'd fallen really badly.'

‘So you came rushing over to do your nurse bit,' said Danny, grinning. ‘That's so cute.'

Megan scowled. ‘Well, if you're fine . . .' She started to get up, but Danny grabbed her arm.

‘You've been hanging around for the last week,' he said. ‘Who are you?'