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

at the
Lock?’
    ‘Well I could say I was Christmas shopping again.’
    ‘No, Izzie. I won’t let you. It’ll be really obvious. You’d look desperate and if there’s one things boys hate, it’s desperate. Honest, Izzie, you’re
losing the plot. What’s come over you? It’s usually you telling Lucy this stuff.’
    ‘I know. I hope she’s going to be OK with your brother.’
    ‘Don’t try and change the subject,’ said Nesta. ‘We’re talking about you and how you’re not going to the Lock today.’
    ‘Oh come on, Nesta, come with me. I’d do it for you.’
    ‘No. You’d be all weird if you did see him, wondering if he was going to call or not. You won’t be yourself. He’ll pick up on it. And what if he wasn’t there like
the fair last week? You’ll only feel down.’
    ‘So what should we do, then?’ I asked. I knew better than to argue with Miss Know-It-All when she’s in a mood like this.
    ‘Lucy and I are going to meet in Hampstead. See you there in half an hour.’
    ‘OK,’ I said. ‘But I can’t stay long, I have to go to my dad’s later.’
    Nesta and Lucy did their best to cheer me up, but I was sure that I’d blown it with Mark. I’d gone over everything I’d said to him a million times.
    ‘I just know he’s not going to phone. I think I was a bit off with him when I saw him last Saturday. He probably thinks I’m not interested.’
    ‘Relax, Izzie,’ said Nesta. ‘You’re over-analysing.’
    We were sitting in a café on Hampstead High Street and Nesta and Lucy were drinking cappuccinos while I sipped on a camomile tea.
    ‘My life is over,’ I said. ‘I will never have a boyfriend. I will be alone all my life. And I’ve got a big bum.’
    Lucy started laughing. We always played a game when one of us was having a moan. Who could outdo the others with the worst life. ‘Ah,’ she said, ‘but I look twelve when
I’m fourteen.’
    ‘Not since you had your hair cut,’ said Nesta. ‘You look at least twelve and a half now . . .’
    Lucy pinched her. ‘Excuse me! I haven’t finished my tale of woe. My parents are mad hippies.’
    ‘I think your parents are cool,’ I said. ‘I wish they were mine. That’s another thing to add to my list. I have the most boring mother and stepfather in the
world.’
    ‘OK, my turn,’ said Nesta. ‘I’m five foot seven and all the local boys are midgets.’
    ‘Well, what does that matter if you’re going to marry James Parker Henson? He’s tall!’
    When Nesta went downstairs to go to the loo, Lucy suddenly looked really serious.
    ‘Izzie, I have to talk to you,’ she said. ‘About Tony.’
    ‘What?’
    She shifted uncomfortably. ‘Well, you know what I was saying about him thinking I was too young for him? Well Nesta was right.’
    ‘What, about him wanting to grope you?’
    Lucy nodded. ‘I don’t know what to do. I mean, up till now we’ve just snogged but last night he said he wants to take it further.’
    ‘Oh God,’ I said. ‘What are you going to do?’
    ‘Dunno. I don’t want to take it further. I’m not ready. But if I don’t, I reckon he’ll dump me for someone that will. It’s awful because I really like him.
But you shouldn’t just do it because you want to keep the boy, should you?’
    ‘That’s the trouble when you go out with older boys,’ I said. ‘Wandering hands.’
    ‘What should I do?’
    ‘I’ve got just the thing,’ I said, as Lucy looked hopeful. ‘Have you got a photo of him?’
    ‘Yes. We had some done in one of those photo booths.’
    ‘OK,’ I said. ‘You do a spell. You cut the side of the photo with him on it and put it into the freezer and it will cool him down.’
    Lucy laughed out loud. ‘Oh come on. Get serious.’
    At that moment, Nesta came back. ‘What’s so funny?’
    ‘Nothing,’ said Lucy, clamming up.
    ‘Lucy was just telling me something one of the dogs did,’ I said, trying to change the subject.
    ‘Yeah, whatever,’ said Nesta, sitting back