Sneaking out

Alec decided the next day he would get Jamie at break time and ask him what was going on before jumping to any conclusions they were fighting over a girl namely Rose. That hadn't been his intention when he'd made friends with her on the first day of the new term but it had turned out differently to what he had expected.

He set off to meet Rose, he couldn't change that or she may think he'd gone off the idea of them being friends but Rose was worried about something she had overheard her mother and Bob talking about, they seemed to be making some kind of plan and she feared the worse. Maybe she should talk to John or Alec's dad because she knew for certain her mother wouldn't listen, since she had mentioned that Bob should be the one to offer guidance to her.

Alec waited on the corner as Rose came out with her mother.

"So is that him?" her mother nodded in his direction, seeing a tall boy with mousy hair and wearing a blue blazer.

"Yeah, that's Alec. He's just a friend Mum," Rose insisted.

"Well he might be but he's still a boy, a teenage boy so just you watch out Rose. I think Bob wants to talk to you, about a few rules so maybe he'll mention boys to ya?"

Rose hoped not. "What do ya mean Mum? Alec's not my boyfriend," she insisted.

"Well not yet but ya spending a lot of time with him," her mother replied.

"Can't I have any friends that aren't girls?" Rose huffed, thinking she would miss the bus and Alec would go without her. "I have to go."

She started to walk off, leaving her mother to watch as she greeted Alec.

"Mum decided to talk," Rose was telling him. "All of a sudden she's realised I'm friends with a boy."

"Is that so bad?" he asked as they crossed the road. "Rose, I think I know what's wrong with Jamie. My dad pointed out a few things last night so I have to talk to him later, okay?"

"Yeah, ya should talk to him Alec. We can all be friends if he wants, I'm not stopping him."

"I know you are not Rose, it's him, dad says he knows why. I'll tell you later, when I talk to Jamie. When I do though, you might not like it."

"Watcha mean by that?" Rose asked as the bus approached.

"You'll see when we go upstairs," Alec replied, paying his bus fare after Rose did and following her up the steps.

Jamie didn't turn around when they sat down a few seats away but Alec knew he was talking about them.

"He had the nerve to come round last night," Jamie was telling the others.

"Well he's trying to make up for going off with a girl," Billy replied.

"Well he's not getting off so easily," Jamie insisted. "I told my mum I didn't want to see him but not why."

"She'll find out," Billy told him. "All mums do."

"Yeah and brothers," one of the others laughed.

"Take no notice of them Rose," Alec was telling her.

"Ya think it bothers me?" Rose replied. "I never bothered about boys at my old school, why should I start now?"

Alec wondered if she meant him until she nudged him.

"Present company not included," she grinned. "Though I don't know about your friends back there."

Alec thought he should have known she didn't mean him, he'd become her friend.

"Jamie's just jealous," he whispered to her.

Rose burst out laughing, getting her a frown.

"Shush Rose," Alec tried to warn her.

"Of what?" Rose tried to recover, still grinning and Alec frowning at her.

"I called for Jamie last night and his mother said he didn't want to see me. I think he's jealous that we are friends."

"He doesn't have to be," Rose replied, tempted to turn around.

Jamie had heard Rose laughing.

"See, she knows she stopped me and Alec being friends and she's laughing," Jamie tried to convince the others.

"That's rubbish Jamie, you're letting her get to you. Do something about it if it bothers you," Billy told him.

"Yeah, tell him Jamie," the others joined in, making Jamie turn away.

Billy tapped him on his shoulder as they approached the school.

"Get him on his own and tell him."

"Why, he won't listen," Jamie replied, seeing Rose and Alec get up.

Once off the bus, Alec waited for Jamie, who was hanging back.

"See ya inside," Rose told him, to give him chance.

Alec took the chance but as Jamie caught up, John was getting out of his car. Seeing his younger cousin look towards the other boy, he decided to leave them but caught up with Rose.

"Giving them chance to talk?" John asked her.

"It's my fault Jamie won't talk to him," Rose admitted.

"No, it's Jamie's choice, don't blame yourself Rose. If it hadn't been you, it would have been anyone Alec made friends with and besides, it sounds like you need Alec as a friend just as much?"

"What did he tell ya Sir?" Rose asked him, remembering he was hiding who he was.

"Enough. Why don't I come round to his house tonight and talk to you or you can both meet me in the park?" he suggested.

"It doesn't matter. Alec needs to make up with Jamie, I'll probably go straight home," Rose replied.

"That's very good of you Rose but it won't solve anything," John told her. "Jamie is jealous of you."

Rose already knew that.

"Then I'll just stay out of the way," Rose replied.

"Then it will be Alec who suffers, not Jamie. I have to go but think about what I said eh?"

Rose was already getting the message that Jamie didn't want herself and Alec to be friends, that he wanted things the way they had been before her arrival. If that were so, why encourage Alec to talk to her in the library then?

"Go back to Rose," Jamie was telling Alec as they stopped just inside the school playground.

"She sent me to see what was wrong with you. Why can't we all be friends?" Alec wanted to know.

"You know why, you spend more time with her, she was out to stop us being friends from her first day here," Jamie told him.

"No, how could she be?" Alec asked him.

"The way she kept looking across the library. Ring any bells Alec?"

Alec shook his head. So his dad was right then.

"I get it Jamie. You were the one who was too shy to talk to her so you made it out that she was looking at me?"

"What?" Jamie asked him. "No, she was looking at you Alec."

"So that's what this is about?" Alec wanted to know.

"You know it is, why did you want to keep going back and pretending you were waiting for a book to be returned?"

"Jamie, I was waiting for a book to be returned and you kept suggesting we hang around the library. You are just mad Rose was there and wanted me to talk to her because you never thought she would talk to you," Alec told him.

"Go away Alec, that's not true," Jamie protested.

Alec knew differently.

"So you want me to stop being friends with her so you can talk to her? Admit it Jamie. Rose wants to friends with both of us but if you act like that, she won't want to talk to either of us. Is that what you want, for her to go off and make friends with someone else? Jamie, she's on her own in a strange town and her mother's boyfriend scares her. Someone has to help her."

"What are you talking about?" Jamie asked him as they walked towards the entrance.

"She's scared of him Jamie and she needs our help. Think what you like but don't ask me to choose between her and you Jamie, I can't just leave her. If you make me choose then you decide to be friends with her she won't be any different."

"How would you know?" Jamie asked him, seeing Rose going up the steps.

Jamie rushed past him and going into the classroom, went to sit next to Billy again so Alec saw Rose sitting down and remembered what the class teacher had told them the day before, going to sit next to Rose.

"Any luck?" she asked him.

Alec just shook his head. All through the day and at break times, Jamie avoided the pair of them, John seeing them but not wanting to interfere until the last five minutes of the afternoon break.

"How's things?" John asked Alec as he and Rose sat on what had become their bench. "Want a lift home?"

"That reminds me, I forgot about the form for the bus pass," Rose remembered.

"Come on, I can drop you both off," John reminded them.

"Why not?" Alec shrugged his shoulders. "Jamie won't listen to me any more."

Rose felt sorry for him and it was all her fault but backing off now wouldn't make any difference. John told them to let everyone get on the bus and he'd wait for them a bit further down and no-one would notice they didn't get on, well so he hoped so agreeing, they went off to their last lesson.

"Sure you won't get into trouble John?" Alec asked as he sat in the front when Rose got in the back of his mini, wondering how John managed to drive it with his long legs.

Alec let them in the house, John assuming Alec wanted him to talk to Rose.

"So Rose, want to tell me what's wrong?" he asked her as she got her homework out.

"Ya mean apart from gettin' dragged up to Scotland to live with my mother's boyfriend?" Rose tried to joke.

"I know about that Rose," John smiled. "So, come on then, why are you scared of your mother's boyfriend?"

"Where do I start? I hear them talking and I think they plan on getting married or something 'cos my mum said I need someone to put me right. I just don't like the way he asks me things as well."

"What sort of things Rose?" John asked her. "Look, I'll help you if I can but you have to tell me."

"I don t know what else, they keep quiet most of the time but he wanted to know why I don't invite my friends round. I mean he doesn't get home until late anyway but I told my mum I'd made friends with Alec and she didn't sound so keen. Then she asked me about him this morning. Sorry Alec but she told me to watch out."

"What do you mean Rose?" Alec asked her.

His cousin started to laugh.

"I think we already talked about that Alec."

"Watcha mean?" Rose asked.

"Nothing Rose," Alec tried to tell her.

"Come on, you're both teenagers," John reminded them. "It's the time you start noticing things. Do I have to draw you two a picture?"

"Ya mean why Jamie's so mad with Alec, that he wanted to make friends with me and Alec did instead?" Rose asked him.

"I'm afraid so Rose. Jamie's mad Alec beat him to it and it won't be forgotten easily. He may get over it at some point I suppose but back to your problem Rose. What else have you heard eh?"

"The way he glances over at me then moves closer to my mum. I asked him for a lock on my door, he said he'd think about it."

"Blimey, you are worried," John told her. "Rose, just keep reminding him then but I hope I'm wrong about where you're going with this."

"What do you mean John?" Alec asked, seeing Rose's reaction.

"It may be nothing but he's concerned about you but if they're planning on marrying? He'll be your step-dad whether he adopts you or not."

"I heard something about putting something off or back, I didn't hear it all," Rose admitted.

"Maybe you're worrying over nothing eh? If you feel like they are talking about you, ask them. You can always talk to me or Alec's dad, okay?"

"Yeah, thanks John. Oh, should I still call ya 'Sir'?" she tried to joke.

"I'll let you off outside school. I should be going, you two finish your homework eh? Alec, have you shown Rose your stories?"

"Just the first one John. So what should I do about Jamie?"

"Blimey Alec, well, maybe let him see you want to include him in things? Best not call for him with Rose tagging along, see how it goes? Want me to pick you both up in the morning? Rose, you should hand that form in for a bus pass eh?"

"Yeah, I forgot. I got in the same time as mum last night, I have to tidy up and start making tea."

"Really?" John asked her.

"Yeah, she passes my cooking off as her own and she thinks he doesn't know but I bet he does?"

John tried to stifle a laugh.

"Sorry. Right, I'm off, see you both tomorrow and if you let the bus go, I'll watch out for you."

John left and they went into the living room.

"Did that help?" Alec asked her.

"A bit I suppose? Alec, do ya think it's my imagination?"

"No, I believe you Rose. I don't want us to stop being friends, do you?"

"What? No, I don't want to stop being friends Alec. It's up to Jamie what he wants to do. Was John being serious though?"

"About what?" Alec asked, wanting to tell her the rest of his first story.

"That we're teenagers and noticing things," she reminded him. "Alec, I am sorry that Jamie doesn't want to be friends with you."

"I know you are, it would have been over something else Rose if it hadn't been you."

After Alec's dad got home, they walked to the park and sat on the swings, surprised it wasn't busy. When Rose got home though, Alec was going to try to talk to Jamie again but thought he'd leave it a day or two but what was he going to do on Saturday now? Maybe he'd try going to the library and see if Jamie was there and if he was, show him he didn't hang around with Rose at weekends.

Rose had been hoping her mother wouldn't mention Alec to Bob, she didn't want to answer a load of questions but as they were both in the kitchen, mainly so Bob would think Jackie had been doing all the work, Rose was in for a surprise.

"Rose, it's not a good idea to spend all your time with one friend. Why don't ya make some more?"

"There's no-one around here Mum and I do have more friends," Rose replied.

"Well invite them over," her mother suggested.

Rose thought no chance.

"I could invite Alec around one night, if ya want?" she told her mother instead.

"Well, maybe? Rose, I don't want ya hanging around with him at weekends, Bob thinks we should be doing stuff together, like you coming shopping with us."

"I need to go to the library in town this week Mum, I have to find out the answer to a science question."

"Since when were you interested in science?"

Rose thought of saying since the teacher was Alec's cousin but she couldn't say that.

"Do I have to stay with ya? Can't I just meet ya after going to the library?"

"Well I suppose so? Rose, it's not a good idea to keep going on about you having made friends with a boy though, Bob won't think it's a good idea, he's only concerned about ya."

Rose thought yeah, too much by the sound of it. Alec was having no luck trying to talk to Jamie but at least he'd come when his mother told him to.

"Can't we be friends Jamie?" Alec had asked him. "What about weekends?"

"Won't you be meeting Rose?" Jamie asked him, not wanting this conversation.

"She'll be with her mum. Come on Jamie, think about it?"

"I'll let you know but I may just hang around with my brothers or go find Billy," Jamie replied.

"Well if you are at the park or somewhere with Billy and the others, we can meet up?" Alec suggested.

The next day was pretty much the same, Alec getting no response from his former friend and by home time, he wasn't holding his breath that Jamie would agree to meet over the weekend.

"So are you going shopping with your mum then?" Alec asked Rose on the last break.

"She wants me to tag along but I still plan on going to the library. What are you gonna be doing?"

"Trying to get Jamie to talk to me?" he replied.

"Alec, mum said Bob wanted us all to spend the weekend together but by Sunday afternoon, I'll be climbing the wall. Wanna sneak out and meet in the park?" she grinned.

"Rose, you are asking for trouble, do you know that?" Alec replied.

"Was that a yes then?" she asked as the bell went.

Alec supposed it was. After Rose got home though, Bob told her he expected her to join them on their outing into the town centre but when Jackie told him Rose had to get some information for a test, he relented and told her she had to meet them later. Rose did not enjoy the time she spent with her mother and Bob after she met them in the agreed place, she would have preferred he'd not insisted or just left her and her mum to shop on their own and wondered why he just happened to pick this week to start.

Alec had gone to the library but there was no sign of Jamie so he went by the park but ended up at his aunt's house.

"So how are you getting on with your new friend Alec?" his aunt asked him in the afternoon while he waited for John coming back from whatever he was doing.

"Fine but did John tell you about Jamie?" Alec replied.

"I'm sorry about him falling out with you Alec but it would have happened sooner or later, even if it hadn't been her."

"John tried to tell me that. What do I do about it though?"

"Alec, it's up to Jamie to see he made a mistake, you've done all you can. So, not seeing her over the weekend?"

"She was going to sneak out tomorrow but she never said what time," Alec told her.

"Well you and your dad will be here though, she's going to be disappointed if you're not in," his aunt pointed out.

He'd not thought of that, had he? What was he going to do, hang around on the corner of the street and wait to see if she could get out? Now he wished he had a phone number for her but he didn't think he would need it. She wouldn't wait around the park on her own for more than a few minutes, if only she'd given him a clue as to what time?

Then he thought maybe they had lunch the same time as his aunt made it so by the time they'd finished it was around three so he planned on saying he was going to see if she was there, there was no point in saying he was going to see Jamie, was there?

Rose survived the shopping trip and the Sunday morning, her mother making a show of looking busy in the kitchen as usual.

"Mum, I'm going out for a while after lunch, I get bored watching TV all afternoon."

"What do you wanna go out for?" she was asked.

"I was gonna meet a friend," Rose replied, since Bob came in.

"That's good Rose, maybe you can bring her around then?" he asked, Rose not liking the way he said it.

Rose looked at her mother, hoping she wouldn't give the game away.

"So does this friend have a name?" Bob continued, pretending to be interested.

"Yeah, it's Sandra," Rose lied, hoping her mother wouldn't remember she'd told her Sandra didn't live around here but her mother hardly remembered Alec's name so she was pretty safe for now.

She went out and hoped Alec would be home but he had mentioned to her they went to his aunts on Sundays but she didn't know where it was, just the street. Maybe she should look for John's car? She was about to try when Alec came out of the driveway.

"Hi, I wasn't sure where you would be," she told him.

"You could have looked for John's car," Alec reminded her.

"Yeah, I thought of that. Wanna go to the park or down by the river?"

John had followed his cousin out when he'd seemed all jumpy while his dad was talking and had to smile to himself when he saw the two of them walking off. He shook his head and went back inside, there was something else to those two being friends and it seemed neither of them knew it well not yet anyway.