(Dropping in is a surfing term and it just seems to me to be exactly the sort of thing he would do.)

I let myself in the the unlocked front door, hoping to slip upstairs to my room, undetected, but Lester, who despite being built like a bison had the acuity of a feral cat and heard me arrive home, calling out my name as a cheerful greeting. I sighed. One of Karen's rules was to let her know when I came and went from the house and so I was obligated now to acknowledge them both. Casually, I wandered into the kitchen, and gave them the brightest smile i could muster but, instantly, I could see they weren't fooled, and I saw Karen squint at me with suspicion.

I left the room as quickly as I could but I soon heard her footsteps on the stairs and, in my emotional state, it wasn't long before I had confessed the humiliation of my afternoon, and begged her not to tell Lester, in case I got Danny into trouble. She responded with a sad smile and squeezed my hand reassuringly, before suggesting that I should go and clean my teeth thoroughly and then get into bed, despite it only being about five o'clock in the afternoon. A few minutes later, she appeared with a cup of sweet tea and a plate of marmite sandwiches which, she assured me that I needed to consume and that the effect would be miraculous. I did as I was told, despite my stomach objecting to the first few mouthfuls and, not long afterwards, I fell asleep. Later on, when I got up to use the loo, she brought me a plate of chips and a large glass of red fizz which she told me was called Berocca and would make me feel better in the morning.

After she'd gone, I lay awake and, now that the nausea had retreated, I couldn't help but replay everything over and over again in my mind. On television and in the movies, kissing always seemed so much more romantic than my demeaning experience of being clumsily felt up on a smelly blanket, while the world spun alarmingly around me. Girls sighed, they swooned; they even fell madly in love, didn't they? Yet all I had were vague memories of a rough snog, and being dry humped like one of those scruffy little dogs that hang around the bins at the back of the pub. It didn't make sense to me. Caroline couldn't keep her hands off Tommy and talked about shagging like it was the most marvellous thing in the world. So, what was wrong with me? Lying there in the dark, I just felt utterly despondent, and, if I hadn't had such a thumping headache, I think I would have cried, such was the disappointment and confusion I felt. Danny was probably joking about me with his friends already, and the humiliation burned. Not only was I a stupid naive kid but I was now also a laughing stock. I hugged my pillow and fell into an exhausted, miserable sleep.

By the morning, I was physically fine but the sense of embarrassment was still really strong and I moped about a bit until mid morning when I decided that I would catch up on some study, and I spent quite a fruitful day working on some old exam papers and rereading some course work. Karen came home late and brought fish and chips with her, so we spent what was left of the evening in front of the telly and, by the time I was ready for bed, I was feeling a much better. I had also decided to grow my hair out, and I was determined to go to the pharmacy tomorrow to buy some tweezers and a razor. I realised that it was time I started growing up properly.

I almost didn't hear the phone ring because I was doing the hoovering but, when I finally did answer it, I was horrified to hear Isobel gasping and sobbing at the other end; made even worse because she was ringing from work and was clearly very upset. I managed to glean that she and Robert had had some sort of terrible argument and that he'd dumped her. I will admit to being a bit perplexed about the degree of her distress but I didn't have a chance to query her because she rather rapidly rang off. I waited by the phone for a few minutes but then I went back to my housework as she hadn't called back. I was bent over, scrubbing the bath, when I heard a knock at the door, so I ran downstairs to see who it was.

For some reason, in my head I had imagined it to be Isobel, which was stupid really and only led to my even greater surprise when I flung open the door and there before me stood Danny. He looked slightly cautious and was holding a colourful bunch of flowers out in front of himself, in a weird, almost bride-like way.

"Lou. How are you doing?" He enquired smarmily, and thrust the flowers toward me.

"Danny." I replied a bit coolly as I took them from him. "What are these?"

"Carnations I think." He replied with a smirk but then he saw my expression and his face went a bit sheepish.

We stared at each other for a moment and then his grin returned.

"Is there a law against buying your girl flowers?"

I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I realised that I was standing there with my mouth open but, before I had time to protest, he'd pushed past me and was inside the house. I turned to follow him and he was standing in the kitchen, hands in pockets, looking around him, full of bravado. I dropped the flowers into the sink and went over to him, and my arms involuntarily folded in front of me.

"What do you want, Danny?"

"We had a bit of a misunderstanding, didn't we? And I wanted to clear the air. I'm going back to school on Sunday night."

"So, go back to school then." I replied defiantly. "Makes no difference to me."

"Come on Lou, I like you and I know you really like me, so where's the problem." He said chirpily. "We've got a couple more days...we could have some fun. What's the point in moping around at home ?"

"What makes you think I really like you?" I asked him with an incredulous laugh.

Suddenly, he pointed at my sternum

"What's that?" He asked in horror.

"What?" I replied, equally as horrified. As I attempted to look down and see what it was, he ran his finger roughly up my neck and flicked me firmly under the chin with his index finger.

His face split into a grin. "Gotcha Lou!" He said and started to laugh.

I stared at him in disbelief.

"I'm not a kid, Danny! You can't tease me into forgiving you."

"Forgiving me?" He said, and suddenly he was serious. His face was uncomprehending as he stared back at me. "Why would I need you to forgive me?"

My confidence evaporated instantly and I looked at my feet. What could I say when I knew the issue was my total lack of experience. Immediately he sensed that he had the upper hand, and he took a step towards me, puffing his chest out; his voice becoming condescending and cold.

"You know, I was going to give you another chance...maybe even buy you an ice cream. I was probably even going to let you snog me again... but, you know what Lou? I think you're actually really just an immature kid. I see now that you've wasted my valuable time and I shouldn't have even bothered coming over here."

He gave me a look that was half hurt, half disgust and walked back toward the front door.

"See ya round." He spat at me coldly, and slammed the door behind him.

I was rooted to the spot and I stood there until I heard the sound of his mum's car as he roared away off up the lane. And, even though I didn't even think I liked him, I felt mortified. I ran to my bedroom, threw myself into my bed, and cried my eyes out. I stayed in my room for the rest of the day and I only emerged when Karen arrived home. She must have noticed my blotchy face and red eyes but she said nothing.

After that, it seemed that Danny avoided coming to Port Wenn when he was home for the holidays. It appeared that Isobel had recovered quickly from her break up with Robert, and she and Danny had spent the rest of the break together when her job and his amazingly important life allowed them the opportunity. I only discovered this when Caroline filled me in about why Isobel was avoiding me. All I felt was disappointed in my friend really but I came to learn that, sadly, it was par for the course where Isobel and the opposite sex were concerned.

Later, I heard from Caroline that Danny's parents had taken him to Australia for a holiday and he'd come back having adopted some sort of Australian Surf Culture, wearing t-shirts with mysterious branding, long, colourful shorts, and even beaded bracelets and shark tooth necklaces. Mrs Norton mentioned to me that he had even bought himself a surfboard, despite the fact that I'd never seen him even go into the sea the whole time I'd known him. He had made his dad install a rack on the roof of his little hatchback and the board seemed to be permanently affixed to it. Of course, Mrs Norton had given me a sly sideways look when she told me and we'd laughed. He really was a fickle thing, and Isobel and whoever else he was shagging, was welcome to him. He was proving to be the tosser I'd always suspected he was.

I still struggled for a few weeks after that but then things levelled out a bit. I think Karen could tell that I'd become a bit unsettled and she sat me down one evening and gently, but firmly, reiterated to me that I was approaching my final year at school and my A level exams were coming up fast. She reminded me that this was when I needed to make everything count and I only had one chance to get the results I needed to get me into my degree course. I knew that I she was absolutely right and I promised myself that I wouldn't let any distractions interfere with my goal.

Mrs Norton organised a job interview for me at the bakery just before the summer holidays, and I got it, which finally actually meant I had my own money coming in. I worked mornings six days a week and started early, and, even though the tourist influx meant that we were really busy, I actually loved it. There were some annoying customers, like Muriel Steele who always checked the change I had given her, in front of me, before leaving the shop, and Dawn Lamb who always wanted to put everything on tick and got stroppy when I told her I wasn't allowed.

And then there was Jimmy Millinger, who always hung around but never bought anything, and muttered things under his breath when he thought I couldn't hear him. At first I thought he had a bit of a thing for Jenny, who was a really quiet, timid girl who had been a year behind me at school. Jenny also worked weekends at the bakery but she was nervous of her own shadow so she tended to loiter around the bread slicer or sweep the floor; anything to avoid having to speak to the customers. I'd seen Jimmy following her a few times so I assumed that there was something going on between them but, one day, when my hair had thankfully finally become long enough to wear up, I'd tied it up jauntily, with a large red ribbon. As I passed him, slouching on the bench outside, on my way into the shop, I was sure I heard him mutter something about liking ponytails, before he leered at me disgustingly and I hurried away. After that, his ogling made me feel a bit uncomfortable, and I would walk out of my way to avoid him.

Also that summer, Lester took it upon himself to teach me to drive which was actually quite a lot of fun. He would take me out in Karen's little car and he would squeeze himself into the passenger seat and direct me in a very calm and solemn voice, seemingly oblivious to my graunching gears and bunny hopping hill starts, encouraging me and correcting me in an identical tone. The highlight was when I drove both he and Karen up to Haven House Farm and we had lunch with Mrs Norton in her little gazebo with the beautiful view. As nice as it was, from the moment I stepped onto the farm, I was very aware of ghosts and, when I was helping Mrs Norton carry everything back to the kitchen, and she and I were alone, I couldn't help myself and I asked how Martin was.

She looked at me with surprise, and then with what seemed like delight that someone else might be interested too. It seemed that he was, of course, doing brilliantly with his training and she was extremely proud of his success. The names of the hospital he was training at didn't mean anything to me but I was very glad to hear any news of him even if was really that he had thrown himself into his studies and had little or no time for anything else, including visiting his aunt. After a moment, I thought about asking what had happened to Edith, decided better of it and then found myself blurting it out anyway, much to Mrs. Norton's amusement.

"Oh yes!" She laughed. "Dreadful woman! Long gone apparently. Seems there was an offer of a position in Canada not long after she was here, and off she went. Hopefully he's seen the last of her, he seems confident that he has. Nasty piece of work."

I listened with relief, nodding in agreement with everything she said. I'd told him that he deserved better and I'd wholeheartedly meant it, although thinking about him again, with Edith, stirred up some strange feelings, which was odd after such a long time. I was torn between asking more questions and just letting things be. It was like standing on a cliff, wondering how close to the edge I could get but, in the end, i let it go. I started to pile the dishes into the sink and then we chatted about school and village gossip until Karen and Lester joined us a few moments later. I saw Mrs Norton watching them covertly as she dried the teacups and I saw, once again, that nothing got past her. Our eyes met and I gave her a sly smile which she returned with a knowing, cocked eyebrow glance. Nothing remained a secret very long in Port Wenn.