Knowing Me Knowing You by Mandy Baggot Read Free Book Online Page A

circus, ’ Kate commented taken aback by what they had walked in to.
    ‘ It does look a little chaotic, ’ Joel admitted.
    There was no time to consider the situation they had found themselves in as a loud exaggerated scream had them turning round and coming face to face with a woman with bright pink hair, piled high on her head. She was wearing a black t-shirt with Knowing Me Knowing You embroidered on it in sequins.
    ‘ There you are! I take it you’re Kate and you must be - is it Joe? ’
    ‘ Joel, ’ he corrected.
    ‘ Joel, right, Brian! New name badge over here! It’s Joel not Joe. Hi, I’m Becky, but everyone calls me Becks. Gosh aren’t you tall, ’ the pink haired girl spoke as Brian arrived with the altered name badge . S he stuck one on each of them.
    ‘ Look, Becks, this is all a bit spontaneous for us . W e really don’t know what to expect, with the questions, ’ Kate babbled nervously.
    ‘ Oh you’ll be fine, you’re the second couple on, we drew names out of the hat. What will happen is that Larry, the guy in the silver over there, he will call you onto stage . H e’ll ask you a little bit about yourselves and then you Joel will be put into a booth at the side of the stage. It’s supposed to be glass but it’s plastic, they’re working on a glass one for the final. You’ll have headphones on and be listening to music and Larry will be asking Kate some questions about you. Then when she’s answered the questions, you’ll come back onto centre stage and give your answers. We want as many correct matches as possible to get you in the top two couples and through to the regional heat, ’ Becky explained in double quick time.
    ‘ Can’t I go into the booth ? Joel’s a little claustrophobic, ’ Kate spoke hurriedly, dreading stage time on her own.
    ‘ Oh, are you? ’ Becky asked, looking at him with concern.
    ‘ I’ll be fine, especially if I have music to listen to, ’ Joel replied, putting an arm around Kate and making her feel even more uncomfortable.
    ‘ Did I mention the Love Dove? ’ Becky questioned.
    ‘ What? ’ Kate remarked.
    ‘ The Love Dove, he’s over there . H e’ll lay three golden eggs during the course of the show and if he lays an egg when you two are on stage you get to answer a bonus question that will win an instant cash prize and an additional Kissing Gate on the board, ’ Becky said with excitement in her eyes.
    ‘ Wow Kate, doesn’t that sound great, ’ Joel answered.
    ‘ I’m egg-static. ’
    ‘ Great, well I think I’ve covered everything . T he show’s going to start in a minute so if you just follow me round here we’ll get a bit of powder on you and give you some briefing notes, ’ Becky spoke and she swung her pink hair around and headed off at breakneck speed.
     
     
    Within minutes they had both been powdered and lip glossed and were waiting in the wings as the Knowing Me Knowing You show kicked off on the function room stage and aired to viewers at home.
    ‘ I just want you to know that this is probably the worst night of my life, ’ Kate whispered to Joel.
    ‘ If you’re going to fill in a customer satisfaction sheet on my performance can you maybe tone that sentiment down a bit? ’ Joel replied.
    ‘ I completely blame you for this. ’
    ‘ What? How can you blame me for this? I didn’t instigate it. ’
    ‘ You’ve made me get up here and you took away my drink. I was going to slip away into the night away from all this ridiculous behaviour. I never thought I’d actually say it but I would rather be watching the African slides again, I mean what is Frank thinking of? This is so downmarket for him, so trashy, it’s as bad as, I don’t know, having to appear on an episode of Jerry Springer, ’ Kate continued to speak.
    ‘ It ’ s fun, ’ Joel responded, looking through the briefing notes.
    ‘ You have got to be kidding me! Fun! This is your idea of fun! I knew there was something wrong with you . I can’t believe