Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 07] (11 page)

Dad got up from the
table. ‘I’d prefer it if you didn’t see Luke or go there again,’ he said, then
he left the room.

I was gobsmacked. I
looked at Mum and Tony. They looked surprised as well, but neither of them said
anything. The silence felt really uncomfortable.

‘What
is
going on?’ I asked. ‘What’s the matter with Dad?’

‘Beats me,’ said Tony.

Mum sighed and looked
after Dad. ‘I think… I think your dad should tell you.’

‘Tell me what? You’re
not getting divorced are you?’ I gasped.

‘No, silly.’

‘Is it because there
isn’t much money at the moment?’

Mum shook her head.

‘So what then?’

Mum sighed. ‘Look,
I’ll tell you part of the story, but then you must ask your dad.’

I sat down at the
table. ‘OK. Listening.’

‘Your dad knew Luke’s
dad. Years ago. I never met him, it was long before we were together, but I’ve
heard him talk about him.
Gianni De Biasi.
Apparently they were mates when they were lads,
in fact, more than mates from what I can make out. They were like brothers.’

‘Ohmigod! It’s true
what they say, it’s a
small
world. Well that’s
brilliant
,
isn’t it? They can meet up again. It will be soooo fantastic.’

Mum shook her head.
‘No. Something happened…’

‘What?’

That’s the part I
think your dad should tell you,‘ she said.

Oh
Brother!

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‘So what
did
happen with them?’ asked Lucy.

We were sitting in the
playground at break the next morning. TJ, Lucy, Izzie and me, squashed on a
bench trying to keep warm as it was a cloudy day with a bitter wind blowing.

‘Still don’t know. I
was about to go charging in to Dad and find out the rest of the story, but Mum
asked me to let him tell me in his own time. Somehow I got the feeling she was
right. It wasn’t the time to start demanding answers. I’ve never seen Dad like
this before and it wasn’t so much that he was angry, more like upset.’

Lucy nodded. ‘I think
you were right. Mum says you can’t force people to talk until they’re ready. In
fact, forcing an issue that is very painful may only make someone bury it
deeper.’

‘I guess I just have
to wait then,’ I said.

‘Poo,’ said Izzie.

‘I know.’

‘But we don’t know it
was painful,’ said Izzie. ‘All we know is that something happened.’

‘Sounds a biggie
whatever it was,’ said TJ. ‘A mystery. I wonder what it is.’

‘So do I,’ I said.
‘The suspense is killing me and patience is not my best virtue.’

‘Maybe they were both
in love with Luke’s mum,’ said Lucy looking dreamy. ‘You said she was
glamorous. If she still is now, then she was probably even more stunning when
she was younger. Maybe she was your dad’s childhood sweetheart then Luke’s dad
stole her away and your dad has never forgiven him.’

‘You’ve been watching
too many romantic videos, Lucy,’ I said.

‘Or maybe it was
your
mum that they both wanted,’ said TJ.

I shook my head. ‘No.
Mum said they knew each other before she came on the scene.’

‘Maybe Tony’s mum
then,’ said TJ, then gasped. ‘Maybe he murdered her! That would give your dad
good reason not to want to see Luke’s dad.’

‘She died in hospital,
bozo,’ I said. ‘She was ill. And if he’d murdered her, er, don’t you think he
might be in prison? Not running a chain of Italian restaurants.’

‘Oh yeah, sorry, got
carried away,’ said TJ. ‘Well, whatever the reason, I reckon it must have been
about love. Most of these types of things are.’

‘Or money,’ said
Izzie. ‘Maybe they were in business together and one of them did the dirty.’

‘I don’t think so,’ I
said. ‘My dad wouldn’t and Luke’s dad looks pretty decent.’

‘It might have been
something really small,’ said Lucy. ‘A misunderstanding that was never
resolved.’

‘It’s just like
Romeo
and Juliet’
said TJ. ‘Remember? The Montagues and Capulets, they were both
Italian, just like you, both families hated each other and Romeo and Juliet
were forbidden to see each other, just like you and Luke.’

‘Thanks a lot, TJ,’ I
said. ‘They both end up dead if I remember right.’

‘Only because
everything went wrong with their getaway plan,’ she said. ‘Juliet pretends to
be dead and Romeo thinks that she actually is, so he kills himself, then she
wakes up, sees that he’s dead and kills herself as well.’

Lucy rolled her eyes.
‘Not a comedy, then?’ she asked.

‘No,’ I said. ‘And I
can’t stand all that boring thee, thou and forthwith stuff.’

‘
Nesta
!’ said
TJ. ‘It’s one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. It’s a fab story. There’s a
movie with Leonardo Di Caprio as Romeo that’s worth watching if you don’t want
to read the play itself.‘

Oh, here we go again,
I thought. I’m being got at just because I don’t read as much as the others.
‘Shakespeare schmakespeare. Sorry, TJ, I just don’t think me and old Willie
speak the same language.’

‘You don’t know until
you’ve tried,’ said TJ.

‘Poo,’ I said.

‘Maybe Luke will
remember something,’ said Lucy. ‘Maybe he’s heard your dad’s name when his dad
has been talking about the past.’

‘But your dad doesn’t
want you to see Luke,’ said TJ. ‘Are you going to disobey him?’

‘Well, I’m going to go
to my acting class and oh,
quelle surprise
. Luke just happens to go as
well. Tony knows I met Luke at acting class, but Mum and Dad don’t. What they
don’t know, won’t hurt them.’

‘Text us as soon as
you find out anything, oh Juliet,’ said TJ as the bell for classes rang
summoning us back to lessons.

It was great to see
Luke again on Wednesday in the acting class and this time he was there right on
time.

‘I need to talk to you
later,’ I whispered to him as Jo asked us all to stand in the centre of the
room for warm-up exercises.

After a few stretches
and a bit of limbering up, we went on to an improvisation where we had to get
into groups of three, then act out a scene showing two people that got on well
and didn’t like the third person. First, Jo asked us to do the scene with
dialogue and then again showing the same scenario with mainly body language. It
was soooo interesting as, like the last class, it showed that the way people
hold themselves can reveal more than what they say. It made me more determined
than ever to walk upright and not slouched over like some saddo. I might not be
able to smile with confidence any more, but I can at least walk as though I
believe in myself.

Following that, we
played games where we had to throw out suggestions for creatures and actions.
Izzie said, ‘Bees buzzing,’ and we all had to pretend to be bees.

Then, someone else
said, ‘Sheep grazing,’ and we all had to do that. It was a real laugh,
especially seeing all these middle-aged people acting like five-year-olds and
rolling on the floor. It felt more like playschool than an acting class.

Then, Jo started
putting newspaper on the floor. ‘Twelve pieces,’ she said, then counted the
people in the class. ‘Twelve of you. Go and stand on a piece of paper and I’m
going to play some music. As the music plays, I move around the floor only
stepping on the paper. As you do so, I’m going to remove some of the paper,
then I’m going to stop the music and I want you to freeze where you are. Anyone
who has a foot on the floor is out.’

Definitely playschool,
I thought as I found a piece of paper and the music started up. It was
hysterical as, when the music stopped, we found that there were only eight
pieces of paper left on the floor. Panic broke out as everyone scrabbled to
stand on a piece of paper. A few people were out as they lost their balance and
stood on the floor. And so it went on until there were four of us left and only
two pieces of paper. Izzie, Luke, Jan and I. We had to really hang on to each
other so that one of us didn’t lose our balance and put a foot off the paper.
For me, it was a great excuse to wrap myself around Luke. He didn’t seem to
mind at all and held on to me tightly. He smelled divine, sort of citrusy and
warm and it felt great to snuggle into his neck with a legitimate excuse. Then
Izzie started laughing as she had her leg wound around mine and was losing her
balance and threatening to topple all of us over. That started me laughing as
well and soon all four of us were giggling like idiots, desperately trying to
hang on to each other at the same time and not lose our footing. As the music
started up again and people began to unfold, I found that I couldn’t. I seemed
to be caught in Luke’s jumper.

‘Oh
no
!’ I
cried as Luke tried to move away. A strand of wool from his jumper had got
caught in my brace, so I was attached to his neck like a Siamese twin.
‘Enuheraahh…’on’t ‘ove.’

Jo saw what was
happening and rushed over to separate us, but I felt so embarrassed. All the
rest of the group was standing laughing. Even Luke thought it was hilarious.
‘My animal magnetism,’ he said grinning, as Jo carefully extricated the wool
I’d caught on from my brace. ‘Girls just can’t bear to be apart from me.’

I felt stupid. I had
spent most of my time trying to talk through half closed lips so no one would
notice my brace, then I went and did something that brought it to
everyone’s
attention. Like me saying, er, just in case you missed the fact that I have
railway tracks on my teeth, watch this!

The rest of the class
went without a hitch and it was fun, but I couldn’t help checking my watch. I
was looking forward to the end, so I could get Luke on his own.

At last it was over
and, as we all trooped out of the school, Luke offered to give Izzie and me a
lift home.

‘Nice car,’ said Izzie
as he held the door open for us five minutes later. ‘I like these Volkswagen
Passats.’

I hadn’t even noticed
the car as I was so impatient to talk to Luke. Amazing that Izzie knew what type
it was, I thought as I got into the front seat. When did she become a car
expert? Up until recently, if you asked her about a car, she’d say, ‘Oh, er… it
was a green one.’

‘So what was it you
wanted to say to me?’ asked Luke as he started up the engine.

‘You won’t believe
it,’ I said and quickly filled him in on my dad’s weird reaction to hearing
that I had met his dad and what my mum had told me about my dad and his being
old friends.

‘Wow,’ he said. ‘Small
world, huh? And at least that explains why he did that double take on Saturday
night. Like he’d seen a ghost.’

‘I suppose he had in a
way, if he used to be mates with your dad. You do look like him. But have you
ever heard him talk about my dad? Matt Costello.’

‘Don’t think so.’ Luke
shook his head.

‘Nan used to call Dad
Matteo not Matt. Maybe your dad will know him as that.’

‘I’ll ask him when I
get home. Try and find out what happened.‘

After we’d dropped
Izzie, Luke drove up to Highgate and we stopped in at Cafe Rouge for a late
night hot chocolate. We soon got talking about films and, once again, I felt
aware of how much he knew about them and I didn’t. I decided to tell him about
how I pretend I’m a character in a film if I’m in a stressful situation.

‘So what character
would you be now?’ he asked.

‘But I only do it when
I’m stressed.’

‘Yeah. So what
character would you be now?’