Read Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 05] for Free Online

Izzie. ‘Am fab at fashion. Have my own sense of style. Am honest. Have
a great sense of humour. Am generous. Sensitive. Spontaneous. Am a great friend
to my mates. Am punctual. Sweet.’
    ‘Sweet? Eeeww.
Boring.’
    ‘No, it’s not. And you
are
sweet,’ said
Izzie
. ‘When you want to be.’
    ‘How about: Have
Wonderbra, will travel?’ I added.
    Izzie laughed. ‘Have
inflatable bra, will travel.’
    Nesta and Izzie bought
me an inflatable bra ages ago when I was fed up about being so flat-chested.
It’s on the notice board in my bedroom, pinned under a photo of me taken when I
was twelve.
    ‘Maybe I should put on
his side that he likes girls who have boobs like peanuts,’ I said.
    ‘Put: Likes petite,’
said Izzie. ‘Sounds better.’
    I added that to his
side of the paper, then as Izzie instructed, I wrapped the paper in tissue and
put it in my Chinese box in the drawer in the bedside cabinet.
    ‘Excellent,’ said
Izzie. ‘Now let’s see when he turns up. It may even be on Friday. It’s Ben’s
birthday and his parents are letting him have a party at his house. He said to
invite you and Nesta and TJ. You will come, won’t you?’
    ‘Are Simon and Steve
going?’ I asked.
    ‘And Lai,’ Izzie said.
‘But there’ll be loads of other boys there. It’d be amazing if perfect boy
turned up.’
    I laughed. She really
believed in her hocus-pocus.
    ‘Course, I’ll come,’ I
said. ‘It might be fun.’ I had to admit that a part of me was secretly hoping
that Izzie’s wish list would work. I had nothing to lose by going to find out.
    All the girls looked
stunning at the party. Izzie was wearing a white peasant top, a denim ruffle
skirt and cowboy boots, Nesta was in a blue strappy slip dress and TJ was in
jeans, but she was wearing a fab turquoise halter-top.
    I wore an outfit I’d
made a few weeks before. It was a tight red corset basque that laced down the
back and a black tafFeta skirt. And I wore a bright red lipstick to go with the
corset. I felt really good. Really in the mood for flirting.
    ‘You look amazing,’
said Izzie to me. ‘Sexy.’
    ‘Thought I’d better
make an effort in case dreamboy’s here,’ I laughed.
    ‘You look like a
character out
of Moulin Rouge
,’ said TJ. ‘Really suits you.’
    ‘Thanks,’ I said,
doing a quick scan of the room. On first glance, dreamboy was nowhere to be
seen. There were loads of boys there, but not one who came close to fitting the
bill. There was a thin, dark-haired boy in the corner and I could see he was
eyeing me up, but I turned away. Definitely not my type, though it was nice to
be noticed.
    As the party got
going, it soon became clear who was in a couple and who was single. In the
front room, someone changed the music to a CD of love ballads and some of the
couples got up to drape themselves round each other and smooch-dance. I decided
to go and investigate the rest of the house and practise my flirting, but every
room I went into seemed to be full of couples snogging. The front room, the
hall, the little conservatory at the back of the house, everywhere. The
singletons present mooched about from room to room trying to look as though
they were having a great time but I could tell that some of them felt like I
did. Like we had neon signs over our head saying ‘SINGLE’. The only person
there who seemed to be enjoying being single was Lai. So far, I’d seen him snog
two different girls, one in the hall and one on the landing.
    ‘It’s quality not
quantity,’ I told him when he came up for air between girls. ‘Do those two know
about each other?’
    He grinned.‘Course
not.’
    ‘And don’t you ever
think about their feelings?’
    ‘Oh, get off my case,
Miss Prissy Knickers,’ he said. ‘Chill out. You take it all way too seriously.
You should be more like me. Enjoy. We’re young, we’re free, we’re single.’
    ‘I don’t want to be
like you. I do actually want to feel something for the people I snog,’ I said.
    ‘Why?