Chapter 2
"The results for the food testing were very negative. I found that ALL the four different types of food were fatty and unhealthy – even a raw carrot stick had 0.2 grams of fat." Maria paused, convinced she had missed something out of her science homework. What was it again? She thought, yes, that's right - write one paragraph explaining the scientific experiment done in class today. She took up her pen and tried again. "The results of the science experiment completed in class today are very varied and need to either be done again or averaged. We were trying to discover which food has the most fat out of raw carrot sticks, celery, cress, and boiled baby potatoes. The baby potatoes had most fat at 1.2 grams per potato and the celery came in second with 0.8. The cress was hard to test but still seems to be third, and fourth (being most healthy) is the raw carrot sticks with a tiny 0.2." That'll do, she thought, I've got more important things to sort out anyway.
So she shoved her exercise book into her school bag and decided what was the next best thing to. One thing stuck in her mind the most. Two words flashed inside her mind like luminous signs you see in those films about Las Vegas. Only those signs said 'Lodge Here' or 'Big Money'. The sign inside her head said 'EMAIL BOYFRIEND'. She smiled cheekily. She should do her homework. She knew she should. And that paragraph for her science was crap. She also knew that if she put her mind to it, she could come up with a very detailed paragraph. Then Maria remembered something she had read in a book. It was simple but it held such a strong message that she had hung onto it with a tenacious grip. All it had said was, 'Stick to what you're good at but have some fun time. In other words, who gives a shit about all that crap school gives you. Live your life to the full – do what you want to do, be who you want to be. Break a few rules if you need to. Rules were made for breaking – they stop you having fun.' She lived by that ever since she started secondary school. And it had done her good. It was worth all those detentions just for that suspense before you did something you know you shouldn't.
Instead of doing her homework like a good little girl she got up from the kitchen table and made for the door.
"Finished already pet?" asked her Dad.
"Yes," she lied "It was very easy."
"Good, good. Wait a minute, I just want to tell you something, Maria."
"Yes Dad?" she said innocently
"You've got so much going for you. Don't waste it." Maria looked away uncomfortably. "Will you promise me to do your best at school?"
"Dad! You make me feel about five!" she joked
"Still," her Dad continued, "You do promise me don't you?"
"Yes Dad. Of course!" Maria sweetly smiled.
"Good, good." He repeated, "Run along now."
Maria pegged it out of the kitchen and dropped her bag on the hall floor. "Lying is so easy!" she muttered. She went to the lounge to go to the computer. Her little brother was sitting there, playing on his stupid 'Count the Cats' game.
"One . . . ermm . . .. two . . four . . . six . . . .nine! Nine cats! Is that right Maria?" Queried her little brother.
"Yes, I think so." She answered
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
"If you're wrong, one of the cats loses its bow tie. You only get three bow ties!"
"Yes I'm sure. No wait! It's err ...six! That's right! Click on six!"
Her brother did so and a ginger cat ran to the front of the screen. Some sad music played in the background and the cartoon cat said in a jolly voice "I'm sorry little 'un! Look! There are five cats. One, two, three, four, five! But it's all right! You can have another go! But I'm sorry to say, you've lost one bow tie!" Another cat ran forward and the ginger one took off its bow tie. Then the screen went back to the counting game.
"Hey! You lied!" shouted her brother
"I'm sorry," she smiled sweetly "I just must have counted wrong. We all make mistakes every now and then."
"No! You knew it was wrong!" he screamed
"Billy! Quit that shouting! Go to your room!" yelled her Mum from somewhere upstairs
He sulkily walked to the door. As he got there he turned around and glared at Maria. "Hate you." He whispered
"Well," she quietly called after him, " I hate you too." They glared at each other for a minute or so then he left the room, dragging his feet.
Maria felt bad for moment. She didn't really like doing that. But it got her the computer didn't it? Any traces of guilt washed away instantly. She closed the cat game and clicked on the best icon in the whole computer - the internet explorer. She went to email and went to her inbox. About ten messages had arrived. She looked at who they were from. "Let's see," she whispered "Kelly, Christine, Steph, Rose, please say he's emailed me, please say Alex has emailed me!" She arrived at the last message received. It flashed Alex and was in bold red. "Urgent. What's so urgent?" she muttered. She then knew why. Hey, he wrote, it's me. Sorry, I haven't emailed you for a while, I haven't gone off you, not one bit, you're so hot! Anyway, I just got to know, are you free this Saturday night? Please email back, love you forever, Alex. Maria's hands were shaking. She was used to him flirting it was just the 'are you free on Saturday night' bit that made her scared. She looked when he had sent the email. The words, 3/9/06 21:06 came up. That was only two or three minutes ago. She quickly clicked the reply button. Hi, she began, yes, I'm free this Saturday night. Why do you want to know? I'm right bored here. Then she clicked send. What she had really wanted to ask is are you asking me out on a date? Still, she didn't, she couldn't be that direct in this relationship. Seconds later came a pop up saying new message received. She clicked read. It was Alex. 'Good, it's just, I've heard about this new movie and I thought it would be nice to go with you.' Her hands grabbed for the mouse, frantically clicking reply. Seconds later she had typed up a message. 'Wow, I so wanna go. Tell me what movie it is, that sort of crap!' He replied almost as instantly as Maria. 'It's that new horror one out. You know, it's called 'I slept with a corpse, now it won't leave me'. It's an eighteen but I'm kinda tall and you must have some heels somewhere. It starts at 9pm. Can you come?' 'Yes!' she replied 'Of course I'll come. I love a good horror. It'll be tricky getting round my parents, but can't I just say I've got a sleepover with my mates and stay with you?'. The pop up came up again. 'Sure. My parents are away for the weekend to France and they'll come back on Sunday night. We'll have the whole house to ourselves.' Reply she clicked. 'Shall I get the bus over to your place or what?' 'No,' Alex answered 'That's wrong, I'll pick you up.' 'Ok. Are you sure?' she replied. 'I'm sure.' He said 'I've got a new car now. The old one broke down a few days ago and it'll be more expensive to fix it then to get a new one. I talked to my parents about it and they gave in. It'll come tomorrow. We'll be the hottest date there!' Maria clicked reply 'Other people are going? Won't they notice our age?' 'They might but isn't it dark in the cinema?' he replied. 'Yes, I guess so.' She answered 'I love you so much.' Alex replied. Maria blushed a deep crimson. 'I love you too.' She wrote, changing the text colour to pink. 'I've got to go now.' He replied 'Ok' Maria said. 'Love you.' He said. It was almost as if he was right next to her. 'Love you too. x x x' she wrote. 'I'll phone you tomorrow ok?' Alex replied. 'Sure.' She said 'Bye.' 'Bye.' And then he went. Maria swivelled around on the chair feeling giddy. "I'm going on a date with Alex!" she whispered.
She shoved the grey office chair into the computer desk, and floated into the hallway and up the stairs. She was happy enough to even go into Billy's room. Maria didn't knock. She bounced in. Billy opened his mouth to shout but she stopped him.
"Geroff!" he yelled, muffled.
"Nope!" she smiled and tickled him. Maria didn't stop smiling even when his clumpy school shoes started kicking. She grabbed them and Billy got up off the floor, Lego scattered around him. In a flash, Maria grabbed a toy dog and made him walk on the carpet.
"Hello!" she said in a squeaky voice, pretending to be the dog. "Your big sister has told me to tell you she's sorry for getting you into trouble. She's got you something too, but she won't say what it is!"
He giggled. "Why are you being so nice?"
Because of Alex, Maria thought. "Why not?" she replied though, changing back to her normal voice. "Here you go." She tossed him a chocolate bar from out her pocket. "Mum says you can't have many sweets a day. I say, so what?"
Billy looked at her, gawping.
"Look dude, just eat it and don't mention it to Mum and Dad. My treat, eh?"
He nodded, still amazed. "Why are you being so nice?" he repeated.
"Tomorrow I'll be extra nasty." She said baring her teeth. He giggled, unsure. She smiled. "Bye bro!" and bounced back out the room.
"Mum!" she called. "Can I have the bathroom?"
"Sure hun!" she replied, somewhere near.
Maria turned on the shower and took off her clothes and stepped in. The water was warm and bubbly, tumbling over her shoulders. She hummed a bit, her mind blank. Suddenly a certain somebody invaded it. Maria shut off the shower quickly. I've known him for a week and I'm already thinking about things, thought Maria.
She got out the shower and thought about an early night. But beds were just as bad. She banged her head with her fist. Stop fucking thinking about sex! she screamed at herself. She shoved her body into a nighty. She wanted to keep her mind busy. So she crept downstairs.
"Can I call Rose?" she asked her Dad.
"Of course."
Maria grabbed the phone and went back to her bedroom. But she didn't push Rose's number. She dialled Alex. The phone rang on the other end 3 times, 4, 5, she was about to hang up, when someone answered.
"Hello?" they asked
"Hi."
"Who's this?"
"Maria. Erm, is Alex there?"
"We don't have an Alex here."
"Oops. Sorry. Wrong number."
Maria hung up.
That was the right number! She tried again. This time the phone was picked up straight away.
"Hey." Said someone. That voice was a tonne more familiar.
"Hi it's Maria."
"Did you just call a minute ago?
"Yeah. Some weirdo said it was the wrong number."
"That would be my little sister." Alex's voice went quieter, his mouth away from the phone. "I am so going to kill you." He muttered. A girl giggled in an incredibly high-pitched voice.
"That sounds like what my little brother would do. I'll murder him one day."
"Try having a sister. Twice as bad."
"Is it still ok for me to come round?"
"Yes. The brat back here's going to a giggly sleepover. We'll definitely be on our own."
"Thank God. Imagine having your sister running around until 2am."
"I know." He sighed.
"Family life getting you down?"
"Sometimes. Than I think of you and it all goes away."
Maria turned ruby red. "That happens to me too." She said finally.
"How's school?"
"Crap. As always."
"Sometimes I can't take it all. I bunk downtown with my mates. When I get my school report, attendance will probably be about 22."
"I've seen people do that at my school. They're always that much stricter at grammar schools. I should have pulled a sicky on my 11+ day."
"You could have come to my school. Mind, all the girls are slag's here."
"It wouldn't have mattered. I've always preferred boys to girls. At Juniors I was just a tomboy. All the girls were all wiggly and giggly. I hated them."
"That sounds like what boys would say."
"Great. I'm an un-official He-She." Maria giggled.
"Not like tat." He laughed
"Your sis still there?"
"Yeah. She's just colouring in some colouring book."
"How come little squirts never have a life?
"Beats me. They never really think about I , I suppose."
"I guess."
"Maria," she heard him swallow at the other end. "You know I love you, don't you?"
"Course. I love you too."
"You don't sound very sure."
"Oh Alex. How am I meant to use 3 little words? They're just not enough."
"There is one way."
"I figured that out. I could always show you."
