Chapter 2

As soon as Connie got inside Number 5, she called out a hello to her aunt, who entered the hallway to see Connie already disappearing up to her room, taking the stairs two at a time. Evelyn shook her head and smiled, sensing that Connie had avoided a face to face greeting because she was nervous.

Connie reached her room and opened the door, entered and sat down on her bed. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. Ever since she had first met Col, being around him had always made her happy, and now whenever she saw him, or even just when his name was mentioned, she got butterflies in her stomach. Connie glanced at her watch. She still had over five hours until he was going to pick her up, so it was far too early to start getting ready, but just sitting on her bed was making her nervous, but excited at the same time. She bounced on her bed frustratedly, wishing there was something she could do to take her mind off tonight.

I know she thought. I can ring Jane. She's always good to talk to, and she'll help me calm down and take my mind off things. Connie pulled her mobile out of her pocket, typed in Jane's number and pressed the green 'call' button. Jane answered after only four rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jane."

"Connie! It's good to hear from you. How are you?" Connie smiled. Calling Jane had been a good idea. Why hadn't she thought of it before?

"It's good to hear from you too. I'm fine thanks, how are you?"

"Great," replied Jane enthusiastically. "I'm not really doing much at the moment, but Anneena's coming round later and she'll probably find no end of things to talk about, so it's not going to be very quiet this evening!" Connie laughed, remembering their friend's loud, outspoken, but caring ways.

"So what are you doing today? Anything good?" asked Jane.

"Umm..." Connie stammered, feeling herself blush.

"What is it?" asked Jane, hearing Connie's hesitation. Connie hadn't seen much of her non-Society friends since school had broken up for the half term, and she'd felt too shy to mention it to anyone. Col had admitted feeling the same; he hadn't even told Justin. Skylark, however, had been delighted when he had heard the news, which wasn't hard to keep seeing as when Col had seen him, thoughts of Connie were filling his mind.

"I've got a date tonight," admitted Connie, chewing her lip nervously.

"Oh wow!" exclaimed Jane. "Who is it? How long has it been?" Connie couldn't help smiling at her friend's happiness and enthusiasm.

"It's been a couple of weeks," admitted Connie. "We just didn't say anything because we knew Anneena would ask a million questions and we didn't feel ready to handle them yet."

"True," mused Jane. "So who is he?"

This time Connie paused and didn't reply. This was much harder than she'd thought it was going to be. She hadn't told anybody yet except Argand, and Col had only told Skylark. Col's face surfaced in her mind, and Connie struggled to remain focused on her phone conversation with Jane. Just seeing his face in her mind took her breath away.

"Connie?" prompted Jane softly. She heard her friend exhale deeply on the other end of the phone line.

"He's Col," admitted Connie in a small voice, her thoughts still filled with him. How could she, plain, black-haired Connie, deserve somebody so popular, so amazing and kind, and- there was no other word she could think of to describe him- gorgeous?

"Oh my god!" cried Jane, pulling Connie back out of her thoughts. "That's so sweet, I'm really happy for you! When did he ask you?" This time, Connie blushed and smiled again, embarrassed but flattered by her friend's obvious delight for her.

"He asked me at the Society meeting a couple of weeks ago," replied Connie, mentally omitting the finer details from the conversation she would've had if Jane had been in the Society, such as the fact that she had just survived a fight with Kullervo and the meeting was actually a celebration of the fact that he was gone. Or not quite she reminded herself, sighing. She still hadn't told Col, or anyone apart from the Trustees, who had promised not to say anything, that she had Kullervo's powers now.

"That's so cute!" exclaimed Jane, grinning. "I'm really happy for you two."

"Thanks Jane," said Connie. "Just... promise not to say anything yet? Neither of us have told anyone, we've only just decided to tell you..."

"Of course I won't," assured Jane. "You can count on me."

"Thanks," said Connie in relief. "I'd better be going to get ready, he's picking me up in about four hours."

"I'd better go too," agreed Jane. "My mum wants me to tidy my room before Anneena gets here. Talk to you later."

"Talk to you later," echoed Connie, putting the phone down. Tossing it lightly onto her bed, she turned to her wardrobe and opened the doors, staring in at the mix of clothes hanging in there.

"Now," she groaned aloud. "What am I going to wear?"