Matt had been amazingly cool the previous evening - his first night playing at the club - and had only admitted how stomach-churningly nervous he’d been when they’d all trudged back to the hotel from the club in the wee, small hours. But handing out the flyers - even without Kerry’s help - must have done the trick. The club had done great business, earning Matt big Brownie points from the promoter.

  And it was even more crammed with punters tonight, which was brilliant for Matt. But Kerry knew there was only so long she could stick it out - it was airless, uncomfortably crowded, packed with one group too many lairy and loud, lager-swilling lads and, of course, tonight was precious. This time tomorrow, their plane would be coming in to land back in Britain.

  It’s only eleven now, thought Kerry, suddenly squinting at her watch in the half-light. Matt won’t be back at the hotel till the early hours. Maybe I should go and find Ollie, see if he wants to leave soon, so we can at least have a little while on our own together on our last night…

  “Listen, I’m going to the bar - Ollie will need a hand with the drinks,” said Kerry, smiling now that she’d come up with her plan to steal away. “Will you be OK on your own for a bit?”

  “No problem!” Trudie screeched. “Anyway -the view’s great from where I’m standing!”

  For a second, Kerry thought Trudie was referring to Bonza - not that anyone could admire that view in a hurry - but she quickly realised that Matt was the bit of scenery Trudie was still admiring.

  “You know something,” said Trudie, before Kerry had a chance to move off, “I can’t believe that you went for Ollie when you could have gone after him!”

  Kerry stared gobsmacked at Trudie - she’d never, ever thought of Matt in that way before. But obviously, Trudie thought of every bloke like that.

  Trudie’s smile slipped when she caught a glimpse of Kerry’s stunned expression.

  “No offence!” Trudie backtracked. “Ollie’s very cute and everything, but far too skinny for me. Matt, now… there’s a hunk!”

  Kerry didn’t say anything. She couldn’t get her head round the idea of someone being in a relationship but still lusting after other people.

  “I better go and help Ollie with those drinks,” Kerry said simply, desperate to go and find her skinny boy and tell him how much she loved him and only him.

  • • •

  It had been a good day, Kerry decided, as she weaved through the dancing, chatting crowds towards the bar in search of Ollie.

  After their big night out at Espace the previous evening, Ollie, Kerry and Matt hadn’t got up till late, not getting down to the beach until well after noon. Inevitably, Trudie and Bonza were there already - Bonza once again snoring in the blazing sun, topping up his sunburn.

  But Kerry was in a great mood. For once, she hadn’t just sat and let Trudie talk and talk and talk till Kerry was ready to scream. Today, she’d politely listened to Trudie’s chatter for a few minutes then, as soon as the other girl paused for breath, Kerry had reached into her bag and pulled out her Walkman, blocking out any further conversation with the soothing sounds of All Saints.

  And Kerry had loved the expression on Ollie’s face when she’d not only happily volunteered to go on the rations run in the afternoon, but come back with ice cream and fizzy drinks and two tickets - for herself and Ollie and nobody else -that she’d just bought for one of the glass-bottomed boat tours along the coast.

  “Look at all those starfish! Aren’t they beautiful?” Kerry had gasped as they’d peered at the undulating sea bed and the multicoloured shoals of fish flitting passed.

  Out on the glass-bottomed boat, the sun was warm on their backs; the shoreline - and Trudie, Bonza and Matt - miles away.

  “Yes, they’re beautiful. But not as pretty as what I can see,” Ollie had chipped in.

  “What? What is it?” Kerry had squinted at the underwater vista.

  “Your reflection in the glass…” Ollie had teased her, pulling her close and nibbling at her neck as she gigglingly tried to push him away.

  Kerry had surprised herself by only being a tiny bit embarrassed at his show of affection in front of the other holidaymakers on the boat. Normally, her face would have been pinker than the brick-red starfish wafting below them.

  “Wow - that took forever!” Ollie moaned, after queuing for ages at the bar, interrupting Kerry’s reverie about their romantic mini-cruise that afternoon. “I can’t believe how long it took to get served there!”

  “Here, give me two of those,” Kerry smiled at him, reaching over and taking a couple of bottles out of her boyfriend’s hands.

  “Hey, Kez - when I was stuck at the bar, I was just thinking, since tomorrow’s our last day, why don’t we take off on our own again, just the two of us?” said Ollie, falling into step beside her as they retraced their steps to the dance floor. “We could get a bus to Ibiza Town. It’s meant to be really beautiful.”

  Kerry knew how beautiful it was meant to be. She’d read about the old walled city, with its ancient winding alleys and picturesque buildings in her guide book, after Dawn, the rep, had mentioned it at the Welcome Party. And on the crowded bus back from the Hippy Market the day before, she’d got talking to a couple of girls who’d been raving about how quaint and pretty it was.

  “I’d really, really like that,” she smiled at Ollie, leaning forward to give him a quick kiss on the lips.

  Ollie grinned happily.

  “Oh, wait - I’d better take Matt his water,” he suddenly realised, just as they were about to pass the small corridor that lead to the DJ console.

  “I’ve got it!” said Kerry, holding up a plastic bottle of mineral water. “Wait here - I’ll only be a second…”

  Kerry practically skipped along the corridor, chuffed that Ollie had made such a lovely suggestion - she’d half suspected that he might have wanted them to spend time helping Matt get settled into the new apartment that would be ready for him the next afternoon.

  Curious as she was to see the place, Kerry didn’t really want to waste her last precious hours on the island helping Matt make up his bed or go grocery shopping or whatever. And knowing how hopeless Matt was at that kind of stuff, Kerry knew all too well that she might get roped in to help…

  As the steps to the console came into view, Kerry’s smile faded and she found herself frozen in shock. Somehow, she managed to force her legs to walk backwards, stiffly transporting her away from what she’d just witnessed.

  What about Anna? How could he?!

  The words flashed through her mind as she struggled to accept the fact that she had just seen Matt and Trudie snogging each other’s faces off.

  CHAPTER 21

  MATT FACES THE MUSIC

  Matt pushed what was left of his beans on toast away from him. He didn’t feel hungry any more, mainly because Kerry - of all people - was giving him a really hard time.

  Even though he’d been a bit of a lad in the past - chatting up girls like he was trying to get in the Guinness Book of Records - Matt had always been a little afraid of his girl mates, all except for Kerry.

  Maya was a tough cookie, who never put up with any nonsense from him; Sonja was a close friend, but she could cut him down to size by laughing at anything she considered boasting on his part. Cat regularly scared the living daylights out of him (‘specially in the aftermath of their very short relationship), and even Anna - before they’d started dating - used to intimidate Matt with her quiet maturity.

  But Kerry - funny, sweet Kerry - had never for a second intimidated Matt.

  Not until today.

  “I just don’t know how you could have!” she scolded him sternly.

  Matt, Kerry and Ollie were sitting in one of the cafés that lined the main road in San Antonio Bay. Since they’d already had their breakfast at the hotel, Kerry and Ollie sat with only Cokes in front of them, while Matt got stuck in to his first meal of the day. Maybe he was cheeky enough to stay in a hotel room where he shouldn’t be, but even Matt didn’t have the brass neck to swan into the Blanca-Sol’s dining room and expect to scavenge free bacon and eggs.

  “Honest, Kez! Like I told you - Trudie just lunged at me!”

  Matt couldn’t tell from her eyes whether Kerry believed him or not; it was really disconcerting the way she was staring at him through her impenetrably dark sunglasses.

  “Tsk!” Kerry tutted. “So, you’re trying to tell me Trudie overpowered you?”

  “Urn, well, you know what Trudie’s like, Kez,” Ollie tried to interject. ‘You said yourself she never stops flirting when Bonza’s not looking…”

  “Doesn’t mean Matt has to go for her though does it?” Kerry pointed out.

  “Honest, Kerry - cross my heart and hope to die,” Matt pleaded, “Trudie was on the dance floor, shouting up that she wanted a special request. I couldn’t hear her, so I waved at her to come round the back!”

  Kerry stared impassively.

  “Then she was standing in the corridor, waving at me to come down. I thought she wanted me to dedicate a song to Bonza - but the next thing I know she’s attached to me like a limpet, suctioning my face off!”

  “Well…” shrugged Kerry.

  Matt hung on to what she was about to say: did she believe what he was desperately trying to tell her?

  “…I just don’t know what I’m going to say to Anna when I see her tomorrow…”

  Matt let out a long, low groan and knew he still had a long way to go to convince Kerry of anything.

  CHAPTER 22

  JOE TELLS IT LIKE IT ISN’T

  “What are you daydreaming about?” asked Cat, walking in to her living room with two cups of coffee.

  Joe had been staring out of the flat’s third storey window, but he hadn’t taken in the view -his mind this Friday afternoon was too muddled for that.

  “Daydreaming about selling my car and my drum kit and jumping on the first plane out to Ibiza,” he mumbled.

  “What - spend the next two weeks hanging on Matt’s coat tails while he tries to pull every girl there? I don’t think Meg would like that!”

  Cat had been heading home after spending a fruitful afternoon bickering with Sonja over who was going to get the last remaining cut-price halter-neck in Miss Selfridge (Cat won - and had the carrier bag to prove it), when she’d come across Joe, aimlessly kicking a stone along the pavement and looking as miserable as if the world had ended.

  Which, for Joe, it practically had.

  Cat had scooped his arm in hers and, before he could protest, he found himself in the Osgood flat, about to have his heart probed.

  “Matt won’t be chasing girls. He’s too crazy about Anna,” Joe muttered, moving away from the window ledge and plopping himself down on the sofa. “And Meg… well, I don’t think Meg would care if I went to Mars, to be honest…”

  Cat bit her lip. She didn’t know if it was a good idea to tell Joe that she and Maya had witnessed long-distance the whole fight thing in the park the day before or not. Just as they hadn’t known then whether it was a good idea to rush over to Joe and comfort him after Meg hurried off, or leave him be. In the end, they’d left him alone - as Maya said, it might have been too humiliating for him to have his girl mates see him upset just then. Likewise, now, Cat decided to keep her mouth shut about what she’d seen and play dumb.

  “Why? Has something happened with you and Meg?” she asked, sipping at her coffee as she settled down beside him.

  “She - she’s finished with me…” said Joe, hanging his head low.

  “Why?” asked Cat.

  “Stuff…” Joe shrugged.

  “What stuff?” Cat persisted.

  “Just… stupid stuff.”

  “Oh, yeah? Come on - spill,” Cat ordered him in jokey tones. “I didn’t invite you up here just to watch you drink coffee!”

  Joe sighed. When his words finally tumbled out, he spoke in a flat monotone. “She thinks I’m too jealous. Then there was the thing about her new top; I didn’t mean anything but it all came out wrong. Everything keeps coming out wrong. ‘Specially that stuff about Billy…”

  “Whoa!” Cat interrupted him. “Rewind! Tell me everything, from the beginning!”

  And so Joe had let it all out: every confused conversation, every tormented feeling. When he’d finished, he looked up and tried to gauge what Cat thought of it all.

  “So you reckon you two are finished then?” was all she said.

  He nodded morosely.

  “Wrong!” trilled Cat loudly.

  “What?” Joe was totally confused. Had he made a mistake confiding in Cat? Was she just going to take the mickey out of him?

  “Joey, you haven’t been chucked,” Cat elaborated, reaching over and grabbing him by the chin, forcing Joe to look her in the eyes.

  “I haven’t?!”

  “Nope. All that’s happened is that you’ve had your first row!”

  Joe blinked. Could she be right? Was it that simple?

  “It’s what happens when you go out with people - you row, you huff, you make up. No problem. Join the club!”

  “Really?”

  “Really. Honest - I’ve been there!” his friend grinned at him, relaxing her grip on him. “Meg’s probably waiting for you to phone her right now and say sorry.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. So go home, phone her, grovel a bit. Tell her you were a geek for acting so overprotective and jealous - which you were, by the way.”

  Joe nodded. He knew he’d been stupid. He felt terrible that he’d had such bad thoughts about Billy, when all Billy had done was be friendly and kind, just like Meg said.

  “It’ll be fine - just don’t get so intense. OK?”

  Joe felt a flood of relief seep through his system at Cat’s words.

  “When did you become such a great agony aunt?” he slowly smiled at her, suddenly remembering a time long ago when she’d stepped in and pulled him out of another deep pit of gloom.

  “Me?” grinned Cat. “I’ve been out with so many boys I should have some idea of where to go wrong. And it’s gone wrong often enough!”

  The sound of the front door opening and a babble of voices cut short their conversation.

  “And this is the living room— Oh!”

  Sylvia Osgood stood transfixed in the doorway, a slick bloke in a suit - not her little friend Guy - standing behind her.

  As quickly as she’d opened the door, Cat’s mum pulled it closed.

  “Right!” snarled Cat, pushing herself up off the sofa. “Who the hell’s this now? I’ve had enough! I’m going to find out what my mother’s up to once and for all!”

  Joe - unsure what was going on, or how to react - stared after his friend as she stormed out of the room and wondered if he should leave.

  But he couldn’t cope with the idea of Cat yelling, “And where the hell do you think you’re going?” at him, so he sat in his seat and waited…

  • • •

  When Cat came back into the living room, Joe was startled by her expression.

  After hearing ten minutes of heated - but muffled - debate coming from the kitchen, Joe had somehow expected anger, outrage or even tears from his friend. But, still rooted to the same spot on the sofa, the one thing Joe most certainly hadn’t expected to see was a face brimming with a secret.

  “Joe! You’ll never guess!” Cat beamed, looking bemused.

  Joe reckoned it couldn’t be bad news, that was for sure - not the way her eyes were shining.

  “So… what? Who was that bloke?” asked Joe.

  “An estate agent. Same as the last one,” Cat shrugged casually as though that piece of information was old news.

  “What - is your mum selling the flat?” asked Joe, remembering the time a few months ago when Cat was sure her mother was doing just that.

  “No! At least, not yet!” giggled Cat. “It’s much more amazing than that!”

  Joe was totally confused. But then that was typical Cat…

  “Yeah…?” he questioned her lamely. “So what’s happening?”

  “Well!” said Cat, her eyes blazing with a mix of excitement and incredulity, “my mum and Matt’s dad - wait till you hear what they’re up to!”

  “They’re getting married!” Joe exclaimed.

  “Nope,” Cat shook her head, still trying to come to terms with the news.

  “She’s pregnant!” he tried next.

  “Oh, my God, no!” Cat shrieked in horror. “Euw - what a thought!”

  “I give up,” shrugged Joe. “What is going on?”

  “Well, Joe,” said Cat, slithering on to the sofa and linking her arm around his, “I think it’s safe to say that when Matt gets back from Ibiza…” Cat raised her eyebrows suggestively, “…he is in for the biggest surprise of his life!”

  Joe gulped. He still didn’t know what Cat was on about, but he had the funniest feeling Matt was not going to like this surprise one little bit…

  CHAPTER 23

  ALL CHANGE…

  “Kez!”

  Kerry paused before she turned; the view from the ancient turreted wall was too gobsmackingly gorgeous to drag her eyes from in a hurry. They were at the top of the hill, by the cathedral that towered protectively over the rambling white houses and lanes of Ibiza Old Town below.

  “Kez!” Ollie shouted again.

  Kerry whipped her head around towards him, her thick, red-brown hair bouncing and blown in the warm breeze.

  The camera clicked and Ollie beamed at her as he lowered it. “That’ll be a good one!” he said, scrambling up beside her.

  “You should have warned me,” Kerry smilingly protested. “I bet I looked really dopey!”

  “Nah! You looked beautiful!”

  Kerry felt a rush of intermingled shyness and pleasure at his compliment. “Look at the sea -isn’t it an amazing colour?” she pointed out, changing the subject.

  “Yes. How come the sea here is that bright, bright blue…” Ollie wondered, shielding his eyes from the sun, “…and back home it’s just sludge-coloured?”

 

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