Following Flora by Natasha Farrant

after painting my nails pink and showing me how to make up my eyes. “Make sure you get up early tomorrow morning to use them. And if Jake comes around, put on just a tiny bit of lip gloss. You don’t want him to think you’re trying too hard.”
    â€œMy hair is
curly
,” I said, but she said that was different.
    The more he didn’t call, the more I wished he would. After Dodi had gone, I sat down at my desk and did my homework. I worked all afternoon and I tried not to jump every time I heard a telephone or the doorbell ring, and when Dodi called this evening for an update I pretended I didn’t care, but I do. At least, I
think
I do.
    If I wish Jake would call me, it means I really like him—doesn’t it?
    If Iris were here, she would laugh at the lot of us—Dodi being bossy and Jake’s rubbish e-mails and me being so nervous. Even though she died way before any of us were into boys, I know she would have made me feel better. It’s December today. For most people that means Christmas and holidays, but for me it’s the month when she died, and right now the only thing I’m absolutely certain about is how much I miss her.
    Â 
    MONDAY, DECEMBER 2
    Dodi gave me precise instructions about what to wear today, but I overslept, and then I realized all my tights have holes in them so I couldn’t wear my new puffball skirt like she said I should, and my jeans were all in the wash so all I had were some old dungarees that make me look like I’m about nine years old. Flora said I looked like an extra on a farming program but by then it was eight and I had to run to get to school on time.
    Dodi looked disapproving as I slid in next to her in assembly. “You’re red,” she said. “You haven’t done your hair and you’re not wearing any makeup. Also, you’re sweating.”
    â€œIs he here?” I panted.
    â€œTwo rows down, right at the end,” she sighed. “And what’s with the farm girl look?”
    â€œIt’s only Jake,” I said, but my heart was hammering. From where I was sitting, I could just see the back of his head. Tom and Colin were jostling him. Jake turned round and smiled this little smile, and I saw that he is looking very brown and fit from his holiday. I admit that is not what I was expecting. In my mind he was still what he always was before he went away, which was more pale and interesting.“Only Jake,” Dodi smirked.
    Dodi says that Jake has come home hot. I don’t know how I feel about this. It’s difficult enough coming to terms with the whole idea of having a boyfriend at all, let alone a hot one, and I think Jake is maybe a bit confused too. He bought me a bush hat with corks hanging from it and a boomerang, which are nice but hardly romantic. Then later, when we were walking home with the others, he barely said a word. I thought that maybe we would stop in the park or he would ask me over to his place, like he used to do sometimes when we were just friends, but when we reached our usual crossroads all he said was “See you tomorrow, Blue,” and we went our separate ways.
    I think this may all be a giant mistake.
    I ran into Flora on the way home. She and Zach both had free periods this afternoon, and she was all aglow with love after meeting up with him at Home Sweet Home. Jas was sitting on her own in the kitchen when we got in, surrounded by notebooks, and I think she found Flora as irritating as I do because she took one look at her and grumbled that her whole family was obsessed with romance.
    â€œGrumpy!” Flora caroled. “Where’s Twig?”
    Twig, Jas informed us, had gone straight from school to the railway bridge by the canal, to look at the trains passing underneath.
    â€œMaisie Carter has a little brother,” she spat. “Maisie’s little brother likes trains. Maisie was supposed to look after him after school today, but she had better