Mates, Dates and Cosmic Kisses by Cathy Hopkins Read Free Book Online

all right for her, she didn’t fancy anyone special. And whenever she did have her eye on someone, they always seemed to call. Lucy, on the other hand, was anything but chilled. Her
date with Tony had gone really well and she was seeing him again that evening after school. She was so excited.
    ‘Though he still keeps saying I might be a bit young for him,’ she said.
    ‘Probably because he wants to grope you,’ said Nesta. ‘And knows I’ll kill him if he does.’
    ‘No,’ insisted Lucy. ‘He’s not like that, honest.’
    Nesta looked at me and raised an eyebrow. She clearly had her doubts and I have to say, I shared her concern.
    I dashed home on Friday night and waited for the call. I kept busy watching ‘EastEnders’, then a DVD but by nine thirty, I was beginning to think Mark wasn’t
going to call.
    I rang Lucy and asked her to phone both our home phone and my mobile to check that both were working.
    The downstairs phone rang a minute later.
    ‘Home phone working,’ said Lucy. ‘I’ll try the mobile now.’
    A moment later my mobile rang. ‘Lucy again,’ she said. ‘It looks like it’s all in order. And Izzie, have you got a minute? I need to talk to you.’
    It suddenly occurred to me that Mark might be trying to get through at just that moment so I didn’t want to have a long conversation.
    ‘Can it wait?’ I asked. ‘Mark might be trying to get through.’
    ‘OK,’ she said, sounding disappointed. ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow but not when Nesta’s around. OK?’
    After she put the phone down I felt a bit rotten as I remembered she was supposed to have seen Tony after school. She probably wanted to talk about that and didn’t feel she could open up
with Nesta there seeing as he’s her brother. I hoped she was OK and made a mental note to make it up to her tomorrow.
    There was nothing else on TV I wanted to watch so I got out my love charms from the fair and decided to try one out to see if that would help the phone to ring.
    ‘Charm to make a boy sweet on you,’ I read. ‘Write your love’s name on a piece of paper, then sprinkle it with sugar and put it under your pillow and sleep on
it.’
    I found a piece of purple writing paper and thought that would be the best to use, as purple is a magical colour. I wrote Mark’s name on it in a heart then went down to the kitchen and
rooted in the cupboards for sugar.
    Brown or white? I wondered. Does it matter? I settled for the brown and sprinkled it liberally on my paper. Luckily Mum and Angus were next door watching TV, as they would think I was barking if
they’d caught me.
    I took my charm back upstairs and put it under my pillow. Immediately the phone rang. Amazing. It worked! I dashed down to the hall to answer it.
    ‘Is Dad there?’ said Claudia’s voice.
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’ll get him. But don’t be long, I’m expecting an important phone call.’
    I hovered on the upstairs landing as Angus took his call. Ten minutes ! Mark could have been trying to get through and Claudia would have ruined everything. What we clearly needed in our
house was Call Waiting, so that you could tell if someone was trying to get through when you were on the line. I must put it on my Christmas list, I thought, along with a lock for my bedroom
door.
    After they’d finished talking I went back into my bedroom to read but I couldn’t really concentrate as my mind spiralled into maybes again. Maybe this time he really had lost my
number. Maybe, maybe, maybe, zzzzz.
    I must have dozed off at some point because the next thing I knew, it was Saturday morning and my mobile was ringing.
    Oh thank God, I thought as I picked it up.
    ‘Izzie, it’s me,’ said Nesta. ‘Has Mark called yet?’
    ‘No,’ I replied. ‘Do you think I should go to the Lock to see if he’s working there today?’
    ‘NO!’ wailed Nesta. ‘No, no, no. Anyway, Lucy and I had a long talk about you this morning. We’re both worried. What would you say if he’s