Chapter 18: Just How Things Worked

Clarissa greeted me at my locker Monday morning with a kiss that knocked me for six. Hell, we even got a few muted cheers from some of the people in the common room.

She stepped back from me, I stared at her and felt a bit goofy as I said, “Whatever I did to deserve that, remind me to keep doing it.”

With a flash of that killer smile, she said, “Just keep being you. And keep being my boyfriend.”

And just like that everyone accepted us as boyfriend and girlfriend. Of course, Clarissa didn’t give them much choice, she was The Head Villager after all. She could do pretty much what she liked and everyone accepted it without question. That was how things worked at Micester High.

We’d been walking together to the classes we shared since the start of term so that didn’t change. What did change was her holding my hand instead of simply walking by my side. Morning breaks, and the free periods we shared, were spent together and when we were apart because of our differing timetables, we’d exchange text messages. We spoke on the phone every night after school in addition to even more text messages going back and forth. I seriously considered calling my mobile operator to see how much it would cost to add unlimited messages to my plan for fear of going over my limit and being landed with a massive bill.

But for me, the biggest surprise was the lunchtimes. For as long as I could remember Clarissa had eaten with Emily and Grace and no one else had ever dared try and sit with them—it was one of the reasons they had earned the nickname The High Princesses. So when Clarissa insisted I go and sit with the three of them on Monday, to say I was shocked was something of an understatement.

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

“But ... I mean ... I usually sit with Kevin and Billy.”

“And the Simms twins and that other boy, one of the twins’ boyfriends.” On seeing my look she said, “What, you think I don’t notice these things? Look, I tell you what, sit with us today, and I’ll sit with you guys tomorrow. Deal?”

We alternated our lunchtime arrangements for the next few days until, in the middle of the second week, Emily and Grace got tired of sitting alone every other day and joined me and Clarissa with Billy, Ellie, Kevin, Lauren, Lisa and Lee. We ended up having to drag two tables together, which didn’t please the dinner ladies in the slightest.

After her attitude at The Halloween Ball, I was surprised just how quickly Emily warmed to me. By the end of that first lunchtime together, we were chatting like old friends, much to Clarissa’s obvious delight. We actually shared French class, which Clarissa didn’t take, so I suppose, technically, we had more in common than Clarissa and I did but that wasn’t the reason we got on so well. I think it was simply that Emily was happy I was making her friend happy. And Clarissa was clearly happy. No one smiles like that, or that often, if they’re not happy. Did I ever mention Clarissa had a killer smile? I think I might have.

Grace was harder to read. Over those first few weeks in November, she’d be as chatty with me as Emily one day and then blank me the next. I wasn’t sure what her problem was but she certainly had a problem.

I was delighted to see my friends welcome Clarissa and, to a lesser extent, Grace and Emily. Indeed, Emily, who was the most studious of the three, quickly became quite good friends with Lisa.

The only one who seemed less than pleased with the new social arrangements, excluding Grace’s tendency to blow hot and cold towards me, was Lauren. She ignored Clarissa completely during conversations, concentrating on her boyfriend and sister instead. But even though she did her best to put on a mask for me, I did notice the way she’d scowl at Clarissa if she ever joined in. Perhaps I should have said something to her, but I decided that she’d come around eventually and let it slide.

That was a mistake.

I still worked at Micester Hall but had cut down my shifts to just Saturday evenings. And since Clarissa’s mom wouldn’t let her go out if she had school the next day, the only time we got to spend together, other than at school, was on Friday nights and Saturday days. Fridays became our date night. We’d do something together in Westmouth, grab something to eat and then I’d take her home and get one of those dynamite kisses she had a habit of laying on me. We got together on Saturdays as well, but there was no guarantee we’d be alone. Emily and Grace came shopping with us in Westmouth one weekend, we went to London on the train with a large group of our friends another.

On the last weekend in November—which happened to be the weekend before my eighteenth birthday—we ended up at Westmouth ice rink. The Simms twins had promised to take their little brother and two cousins so the rest of us tagged along. I was getting better but still wasn’t as good a skater as Clarissa by any stretch of the imagination.

The whole group took turns holding hands with the three younger kids since it seemed fair that way. While Clarissa and I were going slowly, arms around each other’s waist, Lauren and one of her cousins passed us but as they did, the little girl—her name was Candy if you can believe that, some parents are just cruel—lost her balance and fell. Clarissa spotted what was happening in a flash and reacted just as quick, catching Candy before she hit the floor.

“Thank you!” Candy said with all the enthusiasm of a nine-year-old.

“No problem,” Clarissa answered. “Couldn’t have you falling on your bottom and getting it all cold and wet, now could we?”

Candy grinned and giggled. Then she said, “You’re really, really pretty. Everyone says so.”

Clarissa blushed and looked at me. I shrugged and said, “Out of the mouths of babes.”

“Hmph!” That was Lauren. She skated off to the side of the rink, bumping Clarissa’s shoulder as she did.

I stared after her, open-mouthed.

“What is her problem?” Clarissa said. “I was only trying to help.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But this has to stop. It’s gone on long enough. She’s being stupid.”