Waiting for Callback by Perdita Cargill Read Free Book Online

by Brian). Where was my phone?
Practically everyone had left. Lens was doing that thing with the keys that made it really obvious that although he loved us all dearly he wanted to go home.
    ‘See you later, Elektra,’ said Archie on his way out of the door and I gave an awkward little wave because . . . well, because that’s how smooth I am.
    I could hear familiar barking coming from under a pile of props. A pile of props I hadn’t been anywhere near.
    My phone defied the laws of physics.

‘I was bullied by my teachers . . . Can you believe that? This math teacher gave me an F because she said I smiled too much. And I’m great at math! I think
     they just found it weird that I wanted to act, you know?’
    Chloë Moretz
    ‘And when he said “see you later” he might have meant that he
wanted
to see you later.’ Moss and I were hanging by the school gates after a
particularly trying Wednesday and she was analysing my recent dazzling ‘exchange’ with Archie. ‘He
might
have meant that it would be nice if you guys were to meet up . . .
later.’
    I just looked at her with the sort of despair that that suggestion deserved.
    ‘Well, why would you be in his cover pic if he wasn’t into you?’
    Maybe I’d been a bit overexcited about that. ‘We’re all in his cover pic, the whole class.’
    I got my phone out to show her. I was just a tiny pixel at the back of a wide group shot. Daisy was much more in focus than I was. Even Brian was.
    ‘. . . Your legs look nice?’ It was the best Moss could offer. It was so cold that everything we said came out of our mouths with its own little puff of steam.
    ‘You can only see one of them.’
    ‘No, two . . .’ She looked closer. ‘Oh, sorry, I don’t think that other one is yours.’
    ‘No, it’s Issam’s.’ It wasn’t a flattering mistake, but in fairness I was really hard to make out and there were a lot of limbs in that photo.
    ‘You’re going to kill me.’
    ‘What have you done, Moss?’ But I had a sinking feeling I knew exactly what she’d done because she still had my phone. ‘Oh, God, you liked it, didn’t
you?’
    ‘To be precise,
you
liked it. It was an accident.’
    It was not an accident. ‘He’ll think I’m a weird stalker.’ I was freaking out.
    ‘Well, you are.’
    Brutal.
    ‘He won’t even notice.’
    ‘He will notice. Everyone will notice.’
    ‘Just unlike it then,’ she said.
    ‘I have, but it’s probably too late.’ And now I felt paranoid that not only would he think I’d ‘liked’ his photo, he would also think I’d
‘unliked’ it. So I would look weird, desperate
and
indecisive.
    ‘But you need to let him know you’re interested. He’s not going to just realize, it’s not like you give out “come and talk to me” vibes.’
    ‘I do!’
    ‘I love you, Elektra, but you are seriously a long way along the sarcastic spectrum which doesn’t always make you the most approachable person.’
    She sounded like my mum. And my dad. And quite a few other people now I came to think about it.
    ‘Archie did hold me in his manly arms last week.’
    ‘Whaaaaaat!’
    ‘It was only because we were partners in the Trust Game.’
    ‘What’s the Trust Game? And can I play it with Archie too?’
    ‘We all stand in pairs and you have to close your eyes and fall back and trust the other person to catch you. And no you can’t.’ It’s been known to go horribly wrong. But
it hadn’t that time and the Trust Game was now my absolutely favourite drama game.
    ‘Was there any . . . tension?’
    ‘Not enough. But I sometimes think he’s watching me in class.’
    ‘That’s definitely a good sign. He’s probably a little bit obsessed with you.’
    ‘Or maybe I’m just a little bit obsessed with him and super aware of his every glance.’
    Moss grimaced; that was possible.
    Actually, that was true.
    ‘Maybe you should take up smoking and then you can go outside and smoke together on your break and get close.’ Moss