The Flirting Games (The Flirting Series - Young Adult) (6 page)

Ellie
was
feeling rather
neglected. Nate had openly made a spectacle of them both by sending her emails
and talking to her friends, and now he seemed to be avoiding her.

Was he saying he wasn’t interested?
Because that was just fine. Neither was she. She didn’t know what he was
playing at – it rather looked like he had forgotten about her – but if it was
still a game then she was determined to figure out the rules before she got
played. She felt he had taken it too far when he let Pam McBride slobber all
over him. Maybe she was supposed to get jealous? If that was the case then two
could play at that.

On Halloween it was her fifteenth
birthday and she went into Oakworth Village, as arranged, with Liam. She hadn’t
seen much of Liam in the last few days; she had stayed in the West Tower Common
Room studying most evenings rather than in the library where he often cornered
her. But now she decided to be as nice as possible. She linked her arm through
his to walk to the village, laughed at his jokes and didn’t duck when he gave
her a quick kiss. They found a table to themselves in the Fox and Hounds pub,
and he bought her a Diet Coke.

It was a visiting weekend at the
school and Ellie reckoned that most of the pupils from the Upper School who
didn’t have family coming to visit would be going into Oakworth Village. In
fact she was counting on it…

Jack Parkhurst was glad he had decided
to drive over to his old school and drop in on Alex and Ellie. Their parents
normally tried to do a Saturday visit once every couple of months, but as a
recent ex-pupil it was a great feeling to come up the driveway and know that he
wasn’t going back to his old room.

He smiled fondly at the grand old
building. Compass Court Boarding School had been his second home for seven
years and he’d been happy there.

It was an old manor house built
around the first ever proper fixed compass in Britain. It was built in a square
and the huge iron compass itself still stood in the center of the large
courtyard in the middle. A tower had been built at each corner making up the
four schoolhouses. The towers were each at the corner they were named after:
North, East, South and West. He’d been in West Tower House. He could see his
old window from the front drive.

Looking round the driveway, he
watched as various parents collected their children for a day out. He waved at
a couple of people he knew from the year below him.

You always got a funny mix at
boarding school. Kids were sent here for so many different reasons. His own
father was an army captain, in charge of training, and was sent all over the
country as needed, and his mother preferred to rent a house in barracks rather
than stay at home so they could be together. She hadn’t wanted the children to
get moved around all the time so they shut up the family house during term
time, which was why he and his brother and sister had all attended boarding
school.

Jack wandered into the main hall
looking for his brother and sister. Alex was in the courtyard with their
cousins, Rose and Toby.

Alex and Rose were both 16 and had
been born only days apart, and so they’d always been close. Toby was only 13
and Jack hadn’t ever really had much time for him as the age gap between them
was so large, he himself having turned eighteen last January.

He was more interested in finding
Ellie. As younger sisters went, Ellie was pretty cool. She was full of mischief
and sharp as a tack. He’d actually really enjoyed having her around when she
finally joined him and Alex at Compass Court. She was cheeky with his friends,
up for any dares and perfectly capable of charming her way out of trouble with
the teachers. Plus it was her birthday this weekend, and he was looking forward
to surprising her.

Alex saw him and made his way to
Jack, letting him know that Ellie was in the village pub.

Rose looked up and gave Jack a wave.
He waved back, but didn’t bother to go over. Rose and Toby had spent 3 weeks of
the summer holiday at his parents’ house while their own parents had been
abroad working, so he didn’t feel the need to chat to her again so soon. Not
that he’d seen a huge amount of her during that time. She had spent most of it
on her phone gassing away to her friends.

Rose seemed to have changed this
summer; she had blossomed from a kid into a teenager. She seemed far more
interested in fashion magazines and boys than she had been before.

Poor Alex, Jack smiled to himself,
he was getting left behind. He hoped Alex grew up a bit this year; he was too
skinny by half. It was such a shame that Alex preferred science to sport.

There were other faces he
recognized. Quite a lot of people nudging each other and pointing him out. He
tried not to feel gratified by it.

He was still smiling as he got back
into his car to drive into the local village. Maybe school days really were the
best days of your life…

***

Sophie Jones had been watching Jack
out of the corner of her eye from the moment he’d arrived to talk to Alex,
until the moment he drove away. Her stomach was clenched with longing. Jack was
just the most perfect guy she’d ever met. He was bright, funny, charming and
unfairly good-looking. Tall and broad-shouldered, not to mention the rippling
stomach muscles she’d been lucky enough to once get her hands on. He had floppy
dark brown hair, an infectious grin and eyes that twinkled pure golden brown
when he laughed. He was friends with everybody; everybody except her. She
wondered if he was avoiding her now. She felt like an idiot for throwing
herself at him. She guessed he didn’t respect her any more. Not that he’d said
so. But he had said he would call her and then he never did.

She wished she could talk to Rose
about it. But she couldn’t tell Rose. Rose would be outraged on her behalf and
probably try to force Jack to ring her. It would be really embarrassing.
Especially as her friends thought she was the authority on flirting. It was
true she wore her skirts short and, yes, she liked chatting up boys; she
thought she had gotten quite good at it. So why hadn’t she played the game
better with Jack? Could she have done anything different to get him to like her
more? The trouble was she had run out of time. It had taken her five years just
to get him to notice her as a girl, and then he had been leaving Compass Court
and there was no guarantee she would ever see him again.

She had known that the end of year
dance for the Upper School was her last chance. She’d had a few alcoholic
drinks for Dutch courage and then she’d flirted outrageously with him till he
took her up on it. It was just supposed to have been a bit of kissing in the
woods behind the school. But it had been far more. She had wanted him so much
and it had been amazing. Right up until the last moment.

He’d stroked her face and told her
she was beautiful. He’d walked her back to her dormitory door and then he had
shattered her illusions by apologizing and saying it shouldn’t have happened.

***

As Jack steered the car down the
curving driveway, he glanced back at the school. It was then that he noticed
Sophie Jones standing near Rose.

He felt guilt lance through him at
the sight of her. She had cut her blonde hair since he’d seen her last; she now
wore it in a bob just above her shoulders. It suited her, though he’d liked it
long.

He remembered only too clearly how
he’d unclipped the piled-up style she had worn at the end of term ball last
year. He could still recall how silky it felt when he’d run his fingers through
it before they kissed.

Damn, he should have stopped it
right there.

He’d known how much she liked him.
But it was the last day of his final year and he’d had a fair bit to drink that
night.

She’d been flirting with him outside
the front door and he’d practically hauled her into the woods by the river to
kiss her. He’d never meant it to go any further.

He’d tried to apologize, but that
seemed to upset her. He liked her a lot and he really did fancy her, but he
didn’t want a long distance relationship and he didn’t want to start University
with a girlfriend to think about, especially one who still had another two
years at school.

He wouldn’t have minded having a
girl in the background just for a bit of fun, but he didn’t think Sophie was
that kind of girl. She liked him too much; he’d just end up hurting her even
more.

He still had her number in his
phone. He wondered if he should call her or maybe he could just text her.

He shook his head and put the car
into third gear. He needed to bring his concentration back to the road ahead.
The metaphorical road ahead as well as the real one.

Ellie had her back to the door, but
could hear people coming and going, when suddenly she heard Nate enter with his
friends. She could hear their voices at the bar, which meant they must have a
clear view right to her table. Sliding over on to Liam’s lap, she wound her
arms round his neck and began to kiss him. After his initial surprise, he
seemed pleased and kissed her back in earnest, his arms around her waist. She
thought she had been doing it long enough to make a statement and was just
about to move away when a voice made her freeze.

“Eleanor Parkhurst! I swear you are
so
in trouble!”

“Jack!” She jumped up, nearly
knocking over the table. Blushing from head to toe, she hugged him. “What are
you doing here? Sit down, umm, this is Liam Anderson.” She winced, waiting for
the explosion.

Jack sat down, laughing at her. He
shook hands with Liam who looked completely terrified at meeting the famous
older Parkhurst. “I remember you. You’re in South Tower?” Liam nodded dumbly.

“I did tell you I would try to drop
by for your birthday,” Jack explained, his eyes still twinkling on an
uncomfortable Ellie. “Alex told me you were here.”

“I’ll get some more drinks,” Liam
said, standing quickly. “Let you see your brother properly.”

“He seems alright,” Jack commented,
watching Liam walk away. “I guess I don’t need to worry about Alex’s last email
full of angst that you were getting involved with Nate Naverly?”

Ellie shook her head, unsure what to
say.

“That’s him at the bar isn’t it?”
Jack continued and Ellie nodded.

“And that would be Brenner beside
him? You know the girls in my year used to call them ‘Hell’s Angels’.
Apparently because they have both the names and the faces of Angels, but the
souls of Devils.” He smiled at the joke. “He must be 16 or 17 now?”

“Yes, I suppose so.” Ellie got a
stubborn look on her face. “I don’t know what Alex told you, but if you think
you have any right…” Her voice trailed off as Jack held his hands up in mock
surrender.

“Don’t look so worried, Ellie, it
was just a social call. Anyway you look like you have your hands full of Liam
Anderson. Let’s have a birthday drink and then I should be on my way; I’ve got
a long drive up to Manchester this afternoon.”

Ellie looked downcast that he was
leaving so soon.

“Cheer up brat. I’ll be back here
for Christmas, don’t forget. It’s only a short term.”

Poor little Ellie, he thought.
Actually not so little Ellie; she was 15 now. He wondered if he ought to say
something sensible about boys. Not that she would listen, he thought; she’d
already had a few boyfriends. He hadn’t approved, but at least it had all
seemed fairly innocent. Until now. Openly kissing in the pub! He wondered
whether to threaten Anderson about not taking it any further than that.

He looked at her, trying to assess
how boys her age saw her. She had inherited the same Parkhurst good looks that
he had. Her eyes were the same golden brown, framed by thick dark lashes, but
she wore her chestnut hair long, with a straight fringe over her eyebrows. Her
bow mouth was also just like his, but much more feminine.

Alex could be quite good-looking
too, he mused, but his looks were less obvious as he wore glasses and kept his
hair far too neat.

“Try to stay out of trouble, won’t
you?” he said, sounding like their dad.

Ellie attempted a smile. “There
isn’t nearly as much trouble to find without you here to cause it,” she
countered.

“Pleased to hear it.” He chucked her
under the chin.

Ellie was really glad to see Jack
and for some reason it mattered that he hadn’t tried to forbid her to date
Nate. Not that there was any chance she was going to, but his reaction had
crossed her mind late at night when she had briefly considered it and knowing
he didn’t seem to mind somehow made her feel lighter and happier.

After Jack left, Ellie and Liam went
back up to the school. She wanted plenty of time to get dressed up for the
school Halloween dinner; after all, it was also her birthday, so she had a good
excuse for making a special effort. It wasn’t remotely because she was hoping
to impress anyone with her sexy black dress; at least, that’s what she kept
telling herself.

***

Nate sat at the West Tower table and
watched Ellie walk in for dinner. She was wearing a long black dress. He wasn’t
sure he had ever seen her in a dress before, though he supposed he must have as
the girls often wore dresses for the Halloween dinner every year. It gave her
some curves that her school uniform didn’t. She was also wearing lipstick and
her chestnut hair seemed to glow in the candlelight that the school had laid on
for the occasion.