It was the day of the school disco and everyone apart from Alec was looking forward to it. It wasn't that he didn't want to dance with Rose, he did but he preferred doing so at home and on their own. John had been dropping hints he had no-one to go with in the staff room and Rose was laughing with Sandra in the girls room that Alec seemed a little nervous.
"It's your first date Rose, sure he's going to be nervous," Sandra laughed at break time. "Just make sure no-one butts in while you're dancing."
"Yeah, let them try," Rose joked. "Mind you, I'm kinda worried that everyone will be watching."
"Rose, you sit together all the time, no-one will take any more notice," Sandra tried to assure her. "Just relax and be yourselves." She saw the look on Rose's face. "Come on Rose, out with it. What do you two get up to after school?"
"I'm not telling," Rose half smiled.
"Well I guess everyone will find out," Sandra teased her.
That was what Rose was worried about.
"You'll be fine, you'll soon forget about it," Sandra tried to assure her.
Alec was waiting outside for Rose to join him, sat on the back of their usual bench. John came over to talk to him.
"Looking forward to tonight Alec?" John asked him casually, trying not to let on he'd already asked his younger cousin that.
"Rose is, now I'm not sure it's such a good idea," Alec admitted.
"Everyone will be too busy to notice you," John tried to tell him. Then he leaned over so no-one could overhear. "Wait on the corner, I'll give you a lift back. Did you buy Rose her ticket?"
Alec had been surprised they were expected to pay for them this year but it seemed it had become the 'in' thing amongst schools in general lately, raising extra funds and they'd been told the proceeds would go towards the Christmas party.
"Yes, I paid for her though she's still taking bus fare from her mother, so Bob doesn't find out she gets a lift," Alec admitted. "Maybe she'll get up the courage to say something?"
"She's best leaving things as they are for now Alec. Has she said anything else about home?"
"No more than usual. She was a bit surprised he's letting her go but she says lately, her mum's been sticking up for her more."
"I heard Mr Peters got his son to do the music," John replied casually as Rose approached them, since he didn't want her asking if they were talking about her.
Alec noticed and got up.
"Wondered where you had got to," Alec grinned, his cousin smiling.
John knew they had it bad for each other and they were only thirteen.
He'd noticed nearly every Sunday when Rose came around that Alec would be quiet until it was time for him to call for her, then it had got that they didn't go straight back and he knew they must go to the park first, before it got dark. All his family liked Rose, his mother made a fuss over her and during the holidays, Rose would be spending time with them again. He wondered how his younger brother would react, if he were to come home for the Christmas holidays to find his younger cousin had got himself a pretty girlfriend.
He'd not had the heart to tell Alec that when Rose got older, she would attract a lot of attention from the boys and Alec would have his work cut out trying to keep her. He didn't think though that would be much of a problem, seeing the two of them sitting on the back of the bench as he moved away. He didn't think Rose would have her head turned, not by any of the boys currently in the school. Out of all of them, she'd chosen to be friends with Alec, when she could have all of them chasing after her.
Rose decided to go home early that evening, to get ready so she left after having something to eat. She was going to put her mother's and Bob's tea on early and be ready to go meet Alec. She just hoped tea wouldn't be ruined, her mother would blame her no doubt. Her mother came home as Rose was preparing to leave.
"Don't be late back Rose," her mother reminded her.
"It's fine Mum, we know what time to be back. How come Bob gave in so easily, when he was against me going to Alec's aunt's on Sundays? Do ya think he'll let me out on Christmas Eve then?"
"We've talked about that Rose, ya know he wants ya in when everyone comes around, lord knows why. I'll see what I can do. Is Alec's aunt having a party?" Jackie asked her.
"Yeah, some of his other family will be there, Alec wants me to meet them."
"Well Bob said ya can go out on Boxing Day, think yerself lucky."
"Yeah and tonight was a bit too easy," Rose admitted. "See ya later Mum."
She wanted to be out so Bob wouldn't confront her on his way in. Alec was waiting on the corner, praying Bob didn't go home that way, since there was another main road at the other end of Rose's street. He'd figured out which was Bob's car and hoped he'd recognize it if it passed him. He'd decided not to let Rose kiss his cheek, in case they were seen, then Rose would get grounded permanently.
Rose wondered why Alec backed off when she caught up to him.
"Rose, if Bob drives past, we are done for," he reminded her as she sulked she couldn't kiss his cheek. "Does he come this way?"
"I've never seen him drive past, have I? Are ya gonna avoid me all night?"
"What?" he asked as they waited for John. "Rose, it's not a good idea to keep kissing my cheek all through the disco. We'll barely get away with dancing slowly when the music is slow. I'll let you make up for it when I bring you home. You look very nice Rose and I should have actually called for you."
"Aw, it s okay, Bob wasn't in but I know ya get nervous enough on a Sunday. Let's just enjoy tonight, our first date," she grinned at him as they saw John's car.
Alec wished she wouldn't keep saying that. If she told anyone there, it would be round the entire school in the morning and they wouldn't hear the end of it. Rose sat in the back as usual and when they arrived at the school, loads of pupils were either being dropped off or getting off various buses and Alec hoped no-one would notice him helping Rose out of John's car.
"You look very smart Alec," Rose smiled as he got the tickets out of his best jacket pocket.
"Thanks. Did I say you look very nice?" he asked nervously, trying to remember what John had told him, about paying her compliments.
Should he let her kiss his cheek just the once? Should he actually kiss hers for a change, seeing he'd not dared do so before. Had John told him to remember to do so? Maybe that came when he took her home though? He handed in the tickets, music already playing and they went to hang up their jackets, a teacher on duty to make sure everything was okay.
"Did ya come last year Alec?"
"No, Jamie didn't want to go but I don't know if we were even allowed, being in a lower class. They must keep changing it," he replied, seeing someone younger.
"So, just 'cos Jamie didn't come, you stayed away? Geez Alec, didn't ya do anything on ya own?"
"Rose, I do everything with you, well most of the time," Alec defended himself as they found a table around the edge of the room.
"That's different Alec," she tried to tell him.
"Is it? I'll go get us a drink, we get one included but I have some spare money, if you want another one later?"
"I've got some from today. I'll have to tell my mum I don't need it."
"You said you kept it, just in case, remember?" Alec asked, getting up. "Are you letting someone else sit here, if it gets busy?"
He was hoping the answer was no but it would look even more conspicuous if Rose was to tell anyone attempting to sit with them to get lost, which she would do, there were no airs and graces where Rose was concerned. Maybe that was why he liked her so much and why now, the school had seemed to accept her.
He'd just gone off when Sandra approached her.
"Hey Rose, on your own?" she asked, sitting at the other side.
"Alec's gone for drinks. Have you come with anyone?"
"Well, I was hoping to get Stuart from year four to ask me to dance, he's over there," Sandra grinned, giving the nervous older boy a wave and him giving one back.
"Well go on then, invite him to sit with ya," Rose encouraged her, forgetting Alec may be mad at her for doing so.
"I've got a better idea," Sandra grinned as the boy got nearer. "Do you mind if we take these two chairs?"
"Hello Sandra, would you like to dance with me later?" Stuart asked nervously.
"Yeah, okay. There's a table over there no-one's claimed, we can take these chairs," Sandra suggested.
Rose thought they were being rather obvious while herself and Alec were playing at being shy. Well, that was that then, if Sandra could get away with it, so could she so Alec saying kissing his cheek was out for the night, he had another thing coming. When she thought about it, it was all one-sided, it was about time he took a turn or two.
Alec came back, seeing the chairs were gone, thankfully she'd not invited any of her other friends to sit with them.
"Sandra took them," Rose nodded across to the corner. "Seems she got herself a date for the evening."
She could see Sandra waiting for her 'Date' to come back with their drinks and waved.
"Can ya believe, he came over and asked her to dance with him? I didn't even know she liked him that much, she's only mentioned him a few times. She was the one to suggest they sat over there."
Alec wondered why Rose was telling him all this. It seemed these days though, the girls were the ones to make any first moves. When he thought about it, Rose was the one to keep doing that so maybe it was time to up the stakes, so to speak? Right, when he took her home, he was going to kiss her cheek first, then she'd either slap his face or kiss his back.
He didn't think she'd be that surprised actually and maybe she'd been waiting? So tonight, they were going to enjoy themselves and if she forgot what he'd said, then did he really care? As they got up to dance, since the music was still fairly fast, Rose was laughing as she danced around him while he held her hand, just like they did in his living room at his house and no-one was paying any attention, well except John and Jamie, who had decided to go at the last minute but he had a motive for being there he wanted to know how Rose and Alec reacted around each other.
John went off to find the teacher he fancied, who was talking to another female teacher and made her jump when he asked if she would like to dance. Rose had to smile as they got on the dance floor and she nudged Alec.
While they were enjoying themselves, Jackie and Bob had been enjoying some time on their own.
"This is nice Bob. Why don't ya let Rose go out more often?"
"I thought we'd agreed on that Jackie?" he asked her.
"Well yeah, I know ya want us to do things together, as a family but Christmas is coming up, she'll be getting invited to parties, with her friends."
"I already told you, I want her here on Christmas Eve Jackie. All our friends are coming round, I want them to meet her. What has she said to you about it?"
"Nothing Bob, just her friend Alec was going to a party at his aunt's, she wanted to go."
"She already spends every Sunday afternoon there now," he reminded her. "I said she could have a few hours out on Boxing Day, she can count herself lucky."
"Well, what about if she meets your friends, then goes off for a while? It's not a good idea when we'll all be drinking and she's not. Our friends may get a bit rowdy after a few drinks. Are we going out, to any parties?" she tried to find out.
"Yes, we've had a few invites," Bob admitted, thinking he was sure she'd asked him before but Jackie was a bit of a scatterbrain sometimes. "You think Rose will want to go out, while we are gone?"
"Well she might want to stay out a bit longer Bob, she might not want to be on her own. Will ya think about it?"
"I'll see Jackie but she'd best not get used to it. She can come out with us on New Year's Eve, I've already been asked if she will be there, by a few of my mates."
"Well, maybe she can get Alec to go with us?" Jackie suggested.
"That's not a good idea Jackie, they may think he's her boyfriend."
Jackie wondered what he meant by that.
"Oh, I don't know if she thinks Alec's her boyfriend," Jackie told him, though seeing them together, it was obvious to her, even if it wasn't obvious to them.
"He had better not be," Bob replied.
"Why, do ya think she's too young?" Jackie asked.
"Leave it Jackie," Bob told her, grabbing the TV remote and flicking through the channels, Jackie getting annoyed as she'd been trying to watch something before discussing if her daughter thought Alec was her boyfriend or not.
Why was he getting annoyed about it, she wondered.
Back at the disco, things had slowed down a little. John seemed to have managed to keep the gym teacher with him, they'd even found a table and had sat together, which had made Rose smile. Alec had bought them another drink each and some crisps though Rose had got the idea to share one packet at a time but he thought it had kept her happy.
"Have ya noticed Jamie's been watching us?" Rose leaned over to tell him.
"Yes, I don't know why, he never even bothered last year. There's only one reason he's here Rose, he's jealous of me, dancing with you."
"Yeah, I sort of gathered that," Rose smiled. "He watches us at school sometimes."
"He does? I've not noticed, I thought he had given up?"
"So did I and you're too busy wondering if I'm gonna start kissing your cheek during break times," she teased him.
"Are you?" Alec smiled at the thought. "I mean would you dare?"
"Is that a dare Alec?"
"I don't know Rose, is it?"
Rose let out a laugh. "Right, you so asked for that," she told him, leaning over and kissing his cheek.
"Well maybe I should start doing it back?" he teased her, trying not to go red.
"Here?" she snorted with laughter, making others around them who were still seated look at them, Alec trying not to look embarrassed.
"No, maybe I will torment you and you won't guess when?" he replied.
"You wouldn't?" Rose tried to stop laughing, the others going back to what they were doing.
"Just watch out Rose Tyler, I may have to start getting my revenge on you? Why, will you slap my face if I try?" he asked, thinking he'd best find out before he actually did it.
"Guess you'll just have to find out?" was all Rose would tell him.
John was keeping an eye on the both of them, as well as pay attention to the woman he was with.
"Why are you watching them?" Sarah Evans asked him.
"Ah, well, have you not seen them together in school?" John managed to ask.
"No, not really since I don't take boys for gym class. What about them?"
"They always have their heads together, I thought they may behave differently out of school," John bluffed.
"Doesn't seem like it," she replied with a smile. "They should be more careful they don't get talked about."
"Yeah, I know. I expect though everyone's just got used to them but from what Alec told me, his friend Jamie fell out with him over her, he was jealous. Seems Alec beat him to asking Rose to be his friend."
Sarah smiled at him. "Seems like it's more than a passing interest you have on them John."
"Can I trust you with something?"
"I don't have a lot of friends here John, if you want to tell me something."
He leaned over and whispered, "Alec's my younger cousin, shush, don't tell anyone."
"Really?" Sandra replied. "Why keep it a secret?"
"No-one knows, I never told the head. I got this job at the last minute, I was just lucky but Rose had a rough time, with just moving up here before the start of term. Alec's helped her a lot."
"She's very good in gym class, she shows the other girls up. I was thinking of getting her to help some of the others."
"She'd probably like that. Sarah, may I see you again, take you out somewhere?" he asked hopefully.
"I'd like that John. How about Saturday night, we could go see a film?"
John agreed, wondering why it was so easy but there again, how had Alec got Rose to be his girlfriend so easily?
"Watch out John, I think Jamie is going to confront Rose and Alec," she warned him.
"I'd best go over then, will you excuse me? May I get you another drink while I'm already up?"
"Thanks but I'd leave them for a while, it may be nothing," Sarah suggested.
Rose was teasing Alec again when he'd asked about him trying to kiss her cheek when they got back.
"John will be with us," Rose had reminded him.
"So? I will get out of the car and see you to the door Rose, since this is a date," Alec replied.
"So, you've been getting some advice on dates then?" she laughed. "Bet ya didn't find a book in the library, did John tell ya?"
"He mentioned it. Seems he's getting on well with your gym teacher Rose. Maybe we'll have to catch the bus home, I've spent all my money on drinks though."
"Aw, don't worry, I've got enough to get home Alec, we won't be walking. Watch out, Jamie's coming over. Why after all this time?"
They were about to find out as he reached their table and John thought he'd better be ready for it.
"Do you two have to flirt in front of everyone?" Jamie asked them, Rose holding onto Alec's arm, Alec thinking she was doing it on purpose.
"Get lost Jamie, who invited you?" Rose huffed. "Let's go smooch again Alec?"
Alec wasn't quite sure what exactly 'smooching' was but it was probably dancing slowly and her getting even closer to him, since she'd put her arm around his neck as they'd danced to a slow tune earlier.
"How can you show yourselves up?" Jamie wanted to know as John was approaching.
"Mind your own business Jamie," Alec warned him. "You had plenty of chances to dance with someone, if you'd wanted. You want to dance with Rose, well she does not want to dance with you."
"You've changed Alec," Jamie told him.
"Yes, I grew up and moved on Jamie, you should do the same."
"Trouble?" John asked as others were beginning to see what was going on.
"No Sir, Jamie was just leaving and I was just going to ask Rose for another dance, until Jamie butted in."
"Well Jamie?" John asked him. "You've ignored them all this time, why now?"
Then it slowly dawned on him.
"Jamie, if you are trying to lure Rose away from Alec, it's not going to work. You want to start a fight with him, so he loses his temper and shows himself up, in front of Rose. How is that going to encourage her to go off with you eh?"
"Yeah Jamie, like I'd leave Alec 'cos you wanna pick a fight with him. Go away, I don't want anything to do with ya. Come on Alec, it'll be the last dance soon."
She got up and grabbed Alec's arm and whispered, "Now's the time Alec, to try to kiss my cheek."
Alec leaned over and kissed it, very briefly Rose thought but it was a start. Alec was pleasantly surprised he wasn't getting a slap. She dragged him onto the dance floor, still holding onto him.
"Hope ya gonna do that again later, properly?" she teased him. "Why haven't ya done it before?"
"Really?" he asked her. "Maybe because you never gave me an indication you wanted me to?"
"Well, I have now," she smiled as she tried to put his arm around her back. "I wonder what came over Jamie?"
"Rose," Alec whispered. "Did you mean what you said? That you wouldn't leave me for him?"
"You are a plum sometimes Alec. No, I wouldn't leave ya just 'cos Jamie wants to fight you for me. Unless?" she wondered.
"What do you mean Rose?" he asked as she leaned on his shoulder.
"Alec, what if Jamie wasn't jealous of you? What if he's jealous of me?"
"What?" Alec asked loudly, everyone turning.
"Shush Alec. Just think about it, he gets ya looking at me in the library, what if he was trying to hide something, pretending he's interested in girls?"
"Rose, are you being serious?" Alec asked, seeing what she was getting at. "I think I would have noticed."
"Would ya? You said you weren't interested in girls until you met me and all of a sudden, I take his place in school and afterwards. Alec, he's jealous of me, he has to be."
"We should talk to John about this, you may be wrong Rose."
"I don't think we are Alec. We asked him to stay friends and he didn't want to. He was only pretending when he was trying to get ya to talk to me in the library Alec. He was tryin' to see if ya took the bait."
