Chapter 55

Katie was waiting for them as they walked to the door.

“Hi, come in.”

After shedding their coats they went through to the kitchen. Her mother was there taking a tray of something that smelled amazing out of the oven.

“Mum, this is Hannah, Julian and Andrew.”

Mrs. Gibson looked up and said ‘Hi’ before turning back to get another tray out the oven. Katie was trying to lead them into the house but two teenage boys had smelled food and were not going quietly into the good night. Mrs. Gibson laughed and gave them a couple of plates so that they could grab some of the hot food. The Gibson’s had a large family room with a conservatory off it which was where everyone was hanging out. There were more than 30 people in the room and Andrew knew about half of them. There were a bunch of guys from Katie and Julian’s years that he didn’t really know and some of the older girls he recognised but didn’t know to talk to.

Then the chaos started. Moira practically tackled him with a hug. Tanvi immediately came over and said hi, followed by Suzanne who also gave him a hug. Poor Julian looked quite upset and then suddenly his eyes blinked and he smiled. Andrew saw him looking over at June Wyatt. She had been in Andrew’s class the previous year but Andrew was not as close to her and Mary Jones as he was to Hannah, Allie and Kate. Julian wandered off in her direction and Andrew hoped the pair of them hit it off.

Keeping Hannah close by Andrew moved over into a corner and there was a bunch of ‘what did you do for Christmas’ chat to break the ice. Allie came over and said hi. They had drifted apart over the last year after she turned him down for any more dates and then when Andrew stopped music that term. They were still in a bunch of classes but he never had time to talk to her on her own. It was a shame as she was a lot of fun. Other members of the hockey team also came over. Andrew spoke to all the girls in his year other than June who was otherwise engaged. Some of the guys had drifted over as the girls came and talked to him. Most seemed harmless but there were a couple that reminded Andrew of Murray Jones. Obnoxious and petty, bullies who like to throw their weight around. The usual high school pains in the arse. Often jocks, who have a lousy reputation for a reason. These pair were typical.

As with all these dickheads Andrew figured it was better to ignore them. They wanted some of the girls to pay attention to them and were getting more and more frustrated that it wasn’t happening. They were in Katie’s home and her parents were around somewhere. They were going to have to calm down or they would be out on their ear. Fuck them.

It was Tanvi who sprang the first surprise of the evening. It started innocently enough when she talked about how she had always wanted to go to New Zealand. There was a lot of talk about New Zealand, all the while she was looking at him.

“Andrew, have you ever been to New Zealand?”

Klaxons were starting to sound.

“No, I have only ever been to France once when I was seven, no I was only six. Other than that I have never been overseas.”

He looked at her suspiciously. Here it came.

“Do you know anyone from New Zealand?”

The picture of innocence. Devil! Andrew thought for a moment ‘Okay, let’s see if you will call my bluff Tanvi?’.

“Nope, I don’t know anyone. Do you Tanvi?”

Her confident air took a dent for a second but she rallied quickly.

“Yes there was a girl at school last year called Mary from New Zealand. She was an exchange student for six months. She had such interesting stories.”

Trying to keep telling this story on two levels was giving him a headache. Time to change the subject.

“Never mind New Zealand Tanvi, tell us about India. How long have your family been in Scotland? Were you born here or in India?”

Andrew was actually interested but it was also the chance to get away from what Tanvi knew about him and Mar.

“Yes I was born here. Dad moved here with his parents after Independence. He went to university here in Edinburgh and became a doctor. He has limited memories of India and I have never been. I will go back and see the extended family one day but this is home. My parents are thoroughly westernised now. You’ve met Dad. We might not be the McJindals” this made everyone laugh “but we feel no less Scottish.”

That broke the ice and they had a long chat about family histories. Several people were descended from the English who enforced the Union back in the 1700s. Others were Scots as far back as they were able to tell. Andrew was one of those.

“Dad and one of his cousins have researched the family tree back to the late 1400s in Caithness. That area was all Norse and Viking until the middle of the 1200s. So we’ve been here for more than 500 years but if you could take it further back we are probably Norwegian. All conjecture though. As Tanvi said, it doesn’t make me feel any more or less Scottish. She has been Scottish for a year longer than me!”

Andrew had never really thought about stuff like this before. Scotland was an overwhelmingly white country. There were not a lot of minorities, 1% maybe. He didn’t know. It made him stop and think. He never thought of himself as Norwegian or Viking, that would have been absurd. He blended in with all the other whites from wherever. Tanvi thought of herself as Scottish yet stood out as a minority. It was odd. He looked up and several people were staring at him.

“What?”

He fought the usual instinct to check his fly.

“You really do get lost in your head sometimes don’t you?” this was Suzanne. “What were you thinking about?”

“The whole what is Scottish thing. A lot of people see Tanvi as Indian, yet she has never been there and thinks of herself as Scottish. Then there is that guy in the class who started this year who is English, Alex I think his name is. He moved here and unless you talk to him, people assume he is Scottish even although he goes on and on about being English. The differences were making me think.”

“Do you ever just relax and not overthink everything?”

Suzanne was laughing as she said it. He looked sheepishly around.

“Probably not. Once a nerd, always a nerd.”

Everyone laughed and the conversation moved on. Every time they talked about something he was told to not overthink it. Andrew had a fun time, Hannah had stayed beside him for most of the night and although quiet had contributed to the conversations. He still didn’t get it. He was getting no flirting vibe from her at all, unlike half the rest of the girls there. He was beginning to think that Leslie was right. Hannah had to want to talk about it though. Andrew went to pee and grab some more snacks from the kitchen. It was a beginner’s error on his part not to take reinforcements. Mrs. Gibson was there setting out more food.

“So I finally get to meet you Andrew.”

Another day, another interrogation by a parent. Andrew actually laughed out loud which was probably rude in hindsight.

“Hello Mrs. Gibson, what would you like to know?”

Let’s cut to the chase here.

“Sorry. I don’t understand.”

She sounded miffed.

“Oh my mistake I thought you had some questions for me, sorry. Great snacks by the way.”

Andrew turned to leave.

“You are too smart for your own good young man.”

So close to escape. He turned and faced her again.

“Not really. You are the.”

He paused here as he added up all the interrogations and meetings.

“Sixth parent who has wanted to talk to me as a result of being friends with their daughter. I am used to it by now.”

“I feel like I am late to the party then.”

She smiled as she said it. Andrew was buying none of it, he knew to keep his guard up. He stood silently waiting for her to speak. Where the hell was everyone else? Surely someone was hungry and would come and grab a snack. Unfortunately she anticipated this and asked him to follow her through into the dining room. Oh, a real interrogation.

“Having your daughter grow up is hard for a parent. Katie is our third and so we are battle-tested now. Maybe it is different with boys, I don’t know. For someone who is younger than her and who we have never met, she talks about you a lot. That is what intrigues us. We have no reason not to trust you. I don’t know what questions to ask you. Everyone always calls you odd although in a nice way. Maybe unique is better. Everyone knows you are the smartest pupil at the school.”

She waved away his attempts at humility.

“You are also kind and loyal. You have looked out for Hannah all night and people will notice that.”

Andrew needed to come back to that statement later.

“In some ways there are no questions, in others there are hundreds. It was nice to meet you tonight. To get to talk to the young man as opposed to seeing the bundle of clothes very carefully standing away from all the parents at a hockey game. I should let you get back. Katie will be mortified that I have nabbed you for a chat.”

Andrew left the dining room none the wiser about anything. He was barely out the kitchen when Katie grabbed his arm.

“Where have you been?”

“Your mother wanted a chat. I was in the dining room talking to her.”

He wasn’t going to sugar-coat this. Katie looked like she wanted to cry.

“I can’t believe she did that to you. To me. Oh my god. What did she want?”

“Relax. It was fine. I added it up while I was talking to her. She was the sixth parent to ask me some questions. There are no new questions to ask. I think she wanted to see what all the fuss was about. She called herself battle-hardened or something like that. Sounds like your two older sisters gave her a hard time growing up. I don’t think she did ask a specific question. She called me odd. Then felt embarrassed about that and called me unique instead.”

Andrew left Katie plotting the murder of her mother and went back through to the family room. Hannah was now sitting on her own, with no one talking to her. He said hi to a bunch of people but kept moving and sat down beside her.

“Sorry about that. Mrs. Gibson couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to me. It wasn’t even an interrogation but she went on a bit. How are you doing? Do you want to leave?”

He looked at her.

“No I am fine thanks Andrew. It is fun to people watch at these things. The subtle flirting, the blatant flirting, who looks at who. All those things. Your friend Julian seems to be having a nice time.”

She nodded with her head and Andrew saw that June now had her hand on his arm. Progress indeed.

“Anyway, when you are here people will wander over. It is already 9.30. There is not long to go.”

Just then Suzanne plopped down on his other side.

“Some people just will not take a hint. That pair are fucking annoying.”

She rarely swore so he knew she must be mad at somebody. The arseholes from earlier were looking over from the doorway through to the conservatory. They looked pissed off that Suzanne had come and sat with him and Hannah.