Beginning 4

His name was Kurt and he was five years older than her eleven years. He hung around with a group of boys his age, terrorising anyone who they felt they could, smoking and riding motorbikes. Her friends swooned over him every time he walked by, but she always found herself paying a lot more attention to his friend's tall pouting girlfriend (but knew this was wrong because girls weren't supposed to look at other girls like that, were they. She resolved to put more effort into looking at boys.) and his motorbike. Although she could see that he had broad shoulders and dark eyes and more than adequately filled his pants (all the aspects her friends all pointed out to each other in whispers whilst fighting with giggles) she just couldn't see what they saw in him.

But when he stopped one day instead of walking past, it was her that he looked at - not one of her giggling swooning friends - her that he talked to. She was taller than most of her friends, skinny from an early growth spurt, and her face had lost its childhood roundness in exchange for the thin elegance of an adult face much earlier than most. Though she could not know it at the time it was the feral genes deep within her that brought her to puberty earlier than her friends, her very own curse.

He gave her friends (still giggling behind shaking hands and knock-kneed at his nearness) a disdainful glance and then winked at her, making her smile at him softly, silently agreeing with his sentiment.

"Excuse me girls." He said. "I'm just going to borrow your friend for a moment." And he took hold of her hand and led her away from them.

"I've been watching you." Kurt told her, face serious. Shalimar thought about how terribly horror-movie that sounded and lost her self to giggles for a moment. Kurt frowned, looking rather hurt, so she quickly suppressed her laughter. "You're very beautiful and I wondered if you'd come to the movies with me?" The air was suddenly tense. 'Why not?' A voice said, 'A free cinema ticket.' 'But it's not right.' Another voice said. 'And you don't know him'

"I'd love to." She smiled. "When will you pick me up?"

Suddenly she was the centre of attention. Everyone wanted to know how she'd done it. She had a date with KURT. His name alone deserved neon lights and capital letters. And he picked her up that night on his motorbike and drove them to the cinema.

She yawned again, and looked down at Kurt's hand where it lay on her knee. She had the undeniable urge to push it away from her, or maybe to hit him. Perhaps hitting him would be more effective because pushing him away had failed once. He looked over at her and grinned and the light from the huge screen lit his face hideously. She turned back to the film. 'Think of your friends.' She thought to herself. 'What they wouldn't give to be in your place. To have his hand on their knee.'

It was his first prom. And he had invited her When her friends had heard that she had turned him down they had dragged her back to him to offer her apologies on her behalf. 'She's shy' they explained. "No I damn well mph urph." Came the hastily muffled call from behind them. 'She really would like to come with you. She's coming out shopping with us tomorrow for a dress.' There was a thump as the girl with her hand clamped over Shalimar's mouth collided with the floor and she stormed forward through the crowd. And she came face to face with Kurt, just about ready to tell him exactly how awful her date had been and give her friends a piece of her mind and smiled.

"Yeah, I'd love to come to the prom with you."

They were in someone's house, still part of the prom he assured her. They were sat on a sofa and he had his hand on her knee again. She wondered if it was a possessive thing. 'This is mine. See me hold it.' She wasn't sure if she wanted to be his. But she did love the dress that her friends had forced her into. Long (her choice) and tight fitting (theirs), her mother had done a double take and her father had given her a strange look. She looked every bit as old as the other girls here. Older than some of them. Someone handed something to Kurt and he grinned at them, giving them a high five. He stood and offered her his hand.

"Are we going now?" She asked.

"No, we have the whole night ahead of us baby." He slurred, pulling her close in to his body. She wondered how much alcohol had been in the punch that she'd refused as per her father's instructions.

"Where are we going then?"

"You just follow me." He smiled and pulled her up a flight of stairs. He stopped at every door and pressed his head against them (she could have told him if they were empty or not, but it seemed to be some kind of ritual and she didn't want to disturb him) until he finally came to an empty room. He swung the door open to reveal a double bed, what seemed to be the parent's bedroom.

"Jackpot!" He cried, throwing himself into the bed and dragging her with him. Not sure quite what was going on, Shalimar stretched out beside him. She still wasn't sure what he was doing as he started wriggling out of his trousers and tearing apart a small square plastic packet.

Ten minutes later Shalimar Fox would never be the same again.