Strawberry Crush Read online

  “I’ll tell you one thing,” I said as we finally got on the bus, “you’re not dragging me along to that music thing again.”

  She turned, all innocent, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Didn’t you enjoy it?”

  I immediately retorted, “Don’t pretend that you did! You just enjoyed staring at Jake.”

  Pinkly, she protested, “It wasn’t anything to do with Jake! I didn’t even know he was going to be there.”

  Oh, no? What did she think, I was stupid or something?

  “Honestly,” said Maya, “it was the lovely music. I found it so interesting.”

  “Go on, then,” I said. “Sing me some!”

  Needless to say, she couldn’t. She said that she was still learning and that was why she wanted to become a member, so that she could go along every week and hear something new.

  “You know you’re wasting your time,” I said.

  She crinkled her nose. “How d’you mean?”

  “Going all soppy over him when he’s sitting there with Hope Kennedy.”

  “But they’re in the same class.”

  I said, “I know they’re in the same class! And they like the same music, and she’s absolutely gorgeous!”

  I knew I was being a bit mean, rubbing it in like that, but I was still feeling sore about the way she’d tricked me. Plus it was entirely for her own good. My mum is always saying that things are “for your own good” and it is extremely annoying; but just because it’s annoying doesn’t make it any less true. When Maya gets one of her crushes they take over her entire life.

  She sat there beside me, fiddling with the strap of her school bag. Her face had gone all puckered, so that I immediately felt – as I so often do with Maya – that I had been too harsh. Whatever a person might think of someone else’s daydreams it is not very kind to trample on them.

  “I’m just saying,” I muttered.

  “Whatever.”

  Maya turned, deliberately scrunching herself up against the window with her back towards me. Omigod, she was looking for Fiats again! I might just as well not have bothered.

  Next day at school, during first break, I walked round the playing field as usual with a bunch of my friends. Lucy and Nasreen were ahead, earnestly discussing the possibility of Miss Cowell forgetting we were supposed to have a maths test that afternoon, since neither of them had understood a word of what she’d been talking about in our last class. Cate and I, who aren’t too bad at maths, ambled along behind in the sunshine.

  “So what happened yesterday?” said Cate. “With the music thing?”

  I pulled a face.

  “Could have told you,” said Cate. “Dunno why you ever went in the first place.”

  “It was Maya,” I said. “She told me she wanted to learn about classical music.”

  “Maya?”

  “She conned me. All she wanted to do was sit and gawp at Jake Harper.”

  “Oh, God, she’s not getting one of her things?” said Cate.

  Cate knows all about Maya and her obsessions. She and I have been friends ever since primary school. I told her about Maya falling off her bike and Jake picking her up and carrying her, and she nodded, wisely.

  “That’d be more than enough to set her off.”

  “She gets so worked up,” I said. “She loses all control! It’s not like when you fall for a pop star, or something. When you know it’s just make-believe. You know it can’t ever actually come true. Maya really believes that it can. Like when she got that huge crush on Anil? She honestly thought she was in with a chance. And now she thinks the same with Jake! I just know she’s convinced herself he fancies her.”

  “Hm.” Cate thought about it. “I suppose it’s always possible.”

  “You’re joking!” I said. “He’s eighteen.”

  “So?”

  “So she’s only twelve!” And would easily have passed for just ten.

  “Some guys like girls that are younger,” said Cate.

  I looked at her, doubtfully.

  “Well, they do! How often d’you hear of old men going out with young girls?”

  “Jake’s not an old man,” I muttered. “And why would he fancy Maya when he could have his pick?”

  “Cos she’s pretty?” said Cate.

  “So’s Hope Kennedy.”

  “Yeah, but she’s already got someone.”

  I said, “Really?” And then, “How d’you know?”

  “My sister’s one of her best friends.”

  “What, and she told you?”

  “No, I heard her on the phone. I wasn’t eavesdropping! It’s like she just has this really shrieky voice. You can hear her all over the house.”

  “Hm.” I frowned. Could it really be that Jake fancied Maya? She is quite pretty, well, very pretty, actually, in a totally different way from Hope Kennedy. Hope looks like she could run the London Marathon, or go whizzing up the side of Mount Everest. Maya looks more like a puff of wind could blow her over. But Jake and Hope were an obvious couple! Jake and Maya – no …?

  “Could be a budding romance,” said Cate.

  “What could?” Lucy had suddenly spun round, ears flapping. “Are you talking about Jake Harper?”

  I couldn’t very well tell her to mind her own business. She is, after all, one of my oldest friends.

  “Mmmm … Jake Harper!” Nasreen clasped her hands to her bosom. What there is of it. “I could go for Jake Harper!”

  “We could all go for Jake Harper,” said Cate.

  “But we don’t,” I said, “cos it would be foolish.”

  “Foolish is fun,” said Lucy.

  Fortunately at that moment the bell rang and we had to head off to class, to Miss Cowell’s maths test. By the time it was over Lucy and Nasreen were so busy wailing about not having managed to answer more than half the questions that the subject of Jake Harper was forgotten. I was glad about that. I thought the fewer people who knew about Maya’s latest crush the better, cos once word got out they would be bound to tease her about it and that would only make things worse. She would love it! Having her name coupled with Jake’s would just fan the flames. All I could hope was that the obsession might die down as quickly as it had started up. Like if she heard from her dad, or better still if he suddenly came back home, maybe that might cure her. Maybe.

  Next day was Saturday, when it was Maya’s job to take Poppy for her walk. Poppy is a miniature poodle, really cute, with pretty apricot fur – well, wool I think it is. Maya and Auntie Megs are allergic to ordinary dog hair but are OK with poodles cos they don’t shed. They had got Poppy when Maya and me were two years old, so she was ten by now, which is not terribly young, so we usually just took her down the hill to Layhams Park, where she could meet up with other dogs and have a bit of a play. I only went cos a) Mum said the exercise would be good for me and b) I do quite like dogs. I wouldn’t actually mind having one myself if only Mum and Dad weren’t both out all day at work, which Mum says wouldn’t be fair on an animal.

  That Saturday, instead of automatically turning left towards the park, Maya determinedly set off in the opposite direction.

  I said, “Hey! Where are we going?”

  “Up the hill,” said Maya.

  “Why? Why aren’t we going to the park?”

  “Cos Poppy needs some road walking. Her nails are too long! She needs to wear them down.”

  “Oh?” I couldn’t see anything wrong with her nails. They weren’t clicking and clacking on the pavement.

  “Mum said,” said Maya. “She said she needs roadwork.”

  I said, “Oh! OK.”

  I couldn’t very well argue with Auntie Megs. All unsuspecting, I fell into step beside Maya.

  “So where shall we go?”

  “We’ll just walk,” said Maya.

  We reached the top of the hill and crossed over into Baynes Road. By that time we were deep in conversation so I didn’t really pay much attention to where we were headed. It wasn’t until about twenty minut
es later that I suddenly came to.

  “Hey! This is Fitzjames Avenue,” I said.

  “Is it?” Maya stared round in apparent amazement, like, how on earth did we get here? Like she hadn’t led us there deliberately! Fitzjames Avenue was where Jake lived. It was full of big posh houses with in-and-out drives and two-car garages. Jake’s house was number fifteen, right down at the far end, which Maya was perfectly well aware of cos of having been there with her mum. This was no accident.

  “I was just following Poppy,” said Maya. “I don’t know why she came this way!”

  Neither did I, considering Poppy had never been there before. Auntie Megs didn’t take her when she did her cleaning.

  “It’s time we went back, anyway,” I said.

  “We can’t yet,” objected Maya. “She has to be out at least an hour. This is her exercise!”

  “But if we walk all the way down Fitzjames,” I said, “there’s nowhere to go at the end of it. Just the main road.”

  “So we’ll walk to the end and then we’ll walk back.”

  I looked at her through narrowed eyes. “We’re not going to go and hang around outside Jake’s house.”

  Maya said, “No, but he could be in the front garden, washing his car, and we could just say hello and he might offer us a lift home!”

  “Why would he do that?” I said.

  “Cos his mum told Mum that if ever we needed a lift anywhere and Jake was free he’d be happy to take us. Cos of Dad being away,” said Maya.

  “But we don’t need a lift.”

  “We will by the time we’ve got to the end of Fitzjames,” said Maya. “Poor Poppy! She’ll be tired by then.”

  “Excuse me,” I said. “You just told me she needed the exercise.”

  “An hour,” said Maya. “She’s not a baby any more.”

  “So let’s turn back right now,” I said.

  But she wouldn’t. For such a delicate little flower (which is what Mum once yuckily called her) Maya can be infuriatingly stubborn. And totally nonsensical! But once she is in the grip of one of her obsessions there is simply no getting through to her.

  “You can go back if you want,” she said. “Me and Poppy’ll carry on for a bit.”

  I was tempted. I had these visions of me and Maya standing at the gate of Jake’s house, with Maya looking all pathetic and forlorn, and me bright red with embarrassment at her side. It would be just too shaming! But then, as I turned to go, I had other visions. Visions of Maya still waiting there an hour later and Auntie Megs calling Mum in a panic to know if I was back yet and if Maya was with me, and Mum saying, “Mattie, how could you? Just going off and leaving her!” Like I always had to be the responsible one.

  “It’s all right, you can go,” said Maya.

  She actually wanted me to! It immediately made me suspicious.

  “I’ll come,” I said, “but as soon as we reach the main road we’re turning round and coming straight back.”

  “Well, but of course,” said Maya.

  “We’re not going to hang around waiting for Jake to appear.”

  “Of course we’re not.”

  Of course we weren’t! Like the idea had never entered her head.

  “Even if he does happen to be there,” I said, “you know what your mum told you? You can’t expect him to keep giving you lifts.”

  “I don’t,” said Maya. “I wouldn’t! But if he’s actually there—”

  “No!” My voice came out in a strangulated squawk. “I don’t care! You actually ask him and I’ll – I’ll –” I spluttered – “I’ll never do anything for you ever again!”

  “Well, I won’t if you don’t want me to,” said Maya. “But honestly, he wouldn’t mind.”

  I said, “How do you know?”

  “I just do,” said Maya.

  “How?”

  She didn’t say anything to that; just gave this little secretive smile. I frowned.

  “I’m not sure this is such a good idea,” I said.

  “We’re only walking past his house,” said Maya. “There isn’t any law against walking past a person’s house. And anyway,” she added, trying to make like she didn’t care one way or another, “he probably won’t be there.”

  As it happened, thank goodness, he wasn’t. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Please, now,” I said, “can we just go back?”

  For a minute I honestly thought she was going to suggest knocking at the door. But in the end, with a sigh, she let me turn her round and set off for home. I couldn’t help wondering, if I’d gone off and left her there, whether she would have been bold enough to actually do it? She would never have been bold enough with Anil, but Anil had never given her any encouragement. He had never picked her up and carried her indoors. Really I was beginning to think that Jake should have had a bit more sense. All very well Auntie Megs saying what a lovely young man he was, but anyone could have seen it was asking for trouble – well, anyone that knew Maya. Which Jake did.

  “At least,” I said as we walked back down the hill, “Poppy won’t need any more roadwork. I should think by now her nails must be worn practically flat.”

  Sunday morning, as usual, I called round for Maya. We always take Poppy for another walk on a Sunday. It was Auntie Megs who came to the door. She seemed surprised to see me.

  “Mattie!” she said. “Maya’s already left.”

  I said, “Oh?”

  “About half an hour ago. She told me …” Auntie Megs faltered. “She told me you couldn’t come. She said you were busy.”

  “Dunno how she got that idea,” I said.

  “Maybe if you walk down to the park you’ll bump into her.”

  “If that’s where she’s gone,” I said.

  A frown crinkled Auntie Megs’ forehead. “Where else would she go?”

  “Maybe up the hill?” I said.

  “Why would she do that?” Already Auntie Megs was starting to sound concerned. We always went to the park! I couldn’t very well explain that Maya was in the grip of one of her obsessions. Auntie Megs didn’t know about Maya and her obsessions. Even Maya had the sense to realise they were best kept secret from her mum.

  “Why would she want to walk up the hill? What’s wrong with the park? Has something happened?”

  As soothingly as I could I said, “No, it’s just Poppy’s nails.”

  “Poppy’s nails?” Auntie Megs sounded confused.

  “She said you told her to take her round the roads and wear them down a bit.”

  “I did?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  There was a pause. Auntie Megs bit her lip. “I don’t remember!”

  Too late, I realised … Auntie Megs hadn’t said anything about Poppy’s nails. There wasn’t anything wrong with Poppy’s nails! Maya had made the whole thing up. Now her mum was in a state thinking her memory was failing. Maya knows Auntie Megs gets upset. What did she think was going to happen when I called round and she wasn’t there?

  “Don’t worry,” I said. “It’s probably just Maya getting in a muddle. Like thinking I was busy.” I could see doubt creeping into Auntie Megs’ eyes. “See, I am busy,” I said, inventing as fast as I could. “But that’s this afternoon. That’s when I’m busy. Cos I’m – I’m doing things! And prob’ly she thought Poppy’s nails looked long and – and it was me getting in a muddle and thinking she said you. So that’s why we walked up the hill. Yesterday. Cos she’d noticed.”

  Auntie Megs twisted a strand of hair round her fingers. She has the same hair as Maya: golden brown, very straight and fine.

  “So where do you think she’ll have gone?”

  I knew where she’d gone. Fitzjames Avenue was where she’d gone! But I didn’t want to throw Auntie Megs into one of her panics.

  “It all depends,” I said. “Yesterday we just kind of wandered around. I’ll go and have a look! See if I can find her.”

  I didn’t bother checking out the park: I knew she wouldn’t be there.
Sure enough, I’d only walked a short way up the hill when I saw a little blue car approaching. I turned back and stood waiting for it as it pulled in on the corner of Maya’s road. Maya, beaming happily, scrambled out with Poppy. She leaned in, through the passenger window.

  “Thank you so much for the lift! Poor Poppy was so tired.”

  “No problem.” Jake raised a hand. “Hi, Mattie!”

  We both stood watching as he took off, down the hill.

  “He just happened to be there,” said Maya. Totally unapologetic. Absolutely no sense of shame. “He was coming this way anyhow.”

  I ignored that.

  “Why did you tell your mum I was busy?” I said.

  “I didn’t!”

  “She said you did.”

  “Oh. Well! She obviously didn’t understand properly.”

  “So why didn’t you wait for me?”

  She couldn’t think of anything to say to that. I could see her desperately trying to dredge up some kind of excuse.

  “You just wanted to sneak off by yourself and see if you could cadge a lift!”

  “I didn’t cadge. He offered!”

  I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

  “He did,” insisted Maya. “He saw me and he asked if I wanted a lift. And what’s it to you, anyway?”

  “I just don’t like to see you making an idiot of yourself.”

  “You’re the one that’s making an idiot of herself,” said Maya. “I suppose you’re jealous.”

  “Jealous? Me?” I was flobbergasted. Flobber, flabber. Whatever the word is. She had some nerve! “What’s there to be jealous of?”

  Maya gave one of her little secret smiles. Very irritating. I said, “Well?”

  Maya said, “Well …”

  “Well what?”

  She shrugged.

  “Well what?” I yelled it at her. Maya made a flinching movement, like I was about to hit her.

  “You are just so stupid at times,” I said. “And so mean to your mum!”

  That shook her a bit. Indignantly she said, “How am I mean to Mum?”

  “Getting her all worked up and worried in case she’s losing her mind.”

  Maya’s face puckered slightly. “What are you talking about?”