Liz,
so I stayed right in front of him and put my arm against
the wall to his right, blocking his way.
'The thing is,' I explained, 'it's not that important. I
mean, we're not getting married or anything. We don't
have to go out for long – just a week or two maybe, and
then we can split. You can say you dumped me if you like,
although I'd kinda rather you didn't. Maybe we
could just say it was sort of mutual and we just drifted
apart.'
'Well, I hadn't really thought about splitting up since
we're not actually going out together yet. And I still
think we need to know a bit about each other first.'
He said yet . This was more like it. 'So,' I said again,
'what do you want to know?'
'Look, Kelly Ann,' he said, sounding a bit desperate,
'I'll meet you after school. OK? We'll talk then.'
'Fine,' I agreed happily. 'Where should we meet? Here
maybe? Hmm, perhaps not. A bit pongy. At the school
gates? Nah, too crowded. What about across the road by
the park entrance?'
'Anywhere, I don't care,' he kind of squeaked, clutching
himself now. Bloody hell, he must have a weak
bladder or something. Decided I'd better let him go
before he embarrassed both of us. There was no way I
could date a boy who still had 'accidents' after all.
I took my arm away from the wall and he raced into
the loo. I shouted after him, 'Four o'clock by the park
gates then!'
'Yeah, OK, see ya,' chorused some boys from the loos.
By the sounds of their high reedy voices, probably the
first years who'd been gawping at us a minute ago.
Ignored them and made my way back to Liz, giving her the thumbs-up
sign and smiling. Yes, job done!
Met him at the park entrance as promised, though he took
a while getting there and must have gone at the pace of
an arthritic tree sloth. He was probably nervous. Maybe,
just like me, this was the first time he'd done this kind of
thing. I suggested we go for a walk in the park as it wasn't
raining and there were loads of frogs in the pond last time
I looked. Maybe we could catch some.
As we walked I chatted away quite easily to him as I'm
used to boys' company. 'Last time I was here I caught
twelve frogs – two were really big ones. I put them all
back in the water of course, but one of them got eaten by
a seagull as soon as I let him go. He was called Freddie –
he was my favourite. The frog, that is, not the seagull.
Maybe I should have taken him home after all but the last
time I took frogs home Mum freaked out when she saw
them in the bath and made me take them back. Two
escaped on the way. One jumped down a drain but the
other got knocked down on the road. It's quite a
dangerous life frogs have, isn't it? They're not very tough
with their soft squidgy bodies. But being a tadpole is
worse, I suppose. Then again, not many tadpoles get
knocked down on the road.'
He'd been a bit quiet during all this. Maybe he was shy
with girls. Or maybe he was having trouble getting a
word in edgeways as it's true I do go on a bit sometimes
– not that I'm the Bionic Mouth like Mum says, but when
I'm interested in stuff I just like to express myself. What's
wrong with that? Besides, if he was shy, then my talking
would put him at ease so there would be no awkward
silences.
Finally he said, 'I'm not that interested in frogs.'
'Oh, right, OK then. Want to climb the tree by the
bench? Race you.'
I sped off and after a pause he ran after me but he was
pretty slow and I had a head start so I reached the tree
way before him, scrambled up, then sat on a branch to
wait for him.
When he finally got there I dropped down suddenly,
meaning to land right in front of him to give him a bit of
a surprise and a laugh, but instead I miscalculated and
kind of landed on top of him, which meant we both
crashed to the ground. My fall was broken by his body so
I was OK, but he was pretty winded so I suggested we sit
on the bench until he recovered.
After a few minutes he seemed OK so I suggested
climbing the tree again but he just said, 'No thanks.
so I stayed right in front of him and put my arm against
the wall to his right, blocking his way.
'The thing is,' I explained, 'it's not that important. I
mean, we're not getting married or anything. We don't
have to go out for long – just a week or two maybe, and
then we can split. You can say you dumped me if you like,
although I'd kinda rather you didn't. Maybe we
could just say it was sort of mutual and we just drifted
apart.'
'Well, I hadn't really thought about splitting up since
we're not actually going out together yet. And I still
think we need to know a bit about each other first.'
He said yet . This was more like it. 'So,' I said again,
'what do you want to know?'
'Look, Kelly Ann,' he said, sounding a bit desperate,
'I'll meet you after school. OK? We'll talk then.'
'Fine,' I agreed happily. 'Where should we meet? Here
maybe? Hmm, perhaps not. A bit pongy. At the school
gates? Nah, too crowded. What about across the road by
the park entrance?'
'Anywhere, I don't care,' he kind of squeaked, clutching
himself now. Bloody hell, he must have a weak
bladder or something. Decided I'd better let him go
before he embarrassed both of us. There was no way I
could date a boy who still had 'accidents' after all.
I took my arm away from the wall and he raced into
the loo. I shouted after him, 'Four o'clock by the park
gates then!'
'Yeah, OK, see ya,' chorused some boys from the loos.
By the sounds of their high reedy voices, probably the
first years who'd been gawping at us a minute ago.
Ignored them and made my way back to Liz, giving her the thumbs-up
sign and smiling. Yes, job done!
Met him at the park entrance as promised, though he took
a while getting there and must have gone at the pace of
an arthritic tree sloth. He was probably nervous. Maybe,
just like me, this was the first time he'd done this kind of
thing. I suggested we go for a walk in the park as it wasn't
raining and there were loads of frogs in the pond last time
I looked. Maybe we could catch some.
As we walked I chatted away quite easily to him as I'm
used to boys' company. 'Last time I was here I caught
twelve frogs – two were really big ones. I put them all
back in the water of course, but one of them got eaten by
a seagull as soon as I let him go. He was called Freddie –
he was my favourite. The frog, that is, not the seagull.
Maybe I should have taken him home after all but the last
time I took frogs home Mum freaked out when she saw
them in the bath and made me take them back. Two
escaped on the way. One jumped down a drain but the
other got knocked down on the road. It's quite a
dangerous life frogs have, isn't it? They're not very tough
with their soft squidgy bodies. But being a tadpole is
worse, I suppose. Then again, not many tadpoles get
knocked down on the road.'
He'd been a bit quiet during all this. Maybe he was shy
with girls. Or maybe he was having trouble getting a
word in edgeways as it's true I do go on a bit sometimes
– not that I'm the Bionic Mouth like Mum says, but when
I'm interested in stuff I just like to express myself. What's
wrong with that? Besides, if he was shy, then my talking
would put him at ease so there would be no awkward
silences.
Finally he said, 'I'm not that interested in frogs.'
'Oh, right, OK then. Want to climb the tree by the
bench? Race you.'
I sped off and after a pause he ran after me but he was
pretty slow and I had a head start so I reached the tree
way before him, scrambled up, then sat on a branch to
wait for him.
When he finally got there I dropped down suddenly,
meaning to land right in front of him to give him a bit of
a surprise and a laugh, but instead I miscalculated and
kind of landed on top of him, which meant we both
crashed to the ground. My fall was broken by his body so
I was OK, but he was pretty winded so I suggested we sit
on the bench until he recovered.
After a few minutes he seemed OK so I suggested
climbing the tree again but he just said, 'No thanks.
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