It's a date

Tomorrow came too quickly for Chris as he struggled to get himself ready for school, but with bleary eyes he headed out the door and down the stairs. As good as his word Callum was waiting patiently at the end of the car park, looking a little too cheerful for Chris’ liking.

“Sorry for the wait, I still haven’t got used to these early mornings yet!” Chris said.

“No problem mate, I’m up at six every morning for my paper round!”

“You have a paper round?”

“Yeah, just a little bit of extra money. My mum works but she doesn’t earn a lot so I like to help out where I can and whatever’s left over is mine” replied Callum.

Chris liked Callum more and more, he seemed to have such a good soul.

“That’s really cool; I don’t suppose they have any jobs going?”

“I don’t know but I can ask. Doesn’t your old man give you any money?” asked Callum.

“You’re joking right? He wouldn’t give a door a bang!”

“Well I guess you will need some cash if you plan to start dating soon” replied Callum with a wry smile.

“True” replied Chris, he hadn’t actually thought about dating let alone the financial side of it. He had only seen the object of his affection the day before and was happily revelling in the idea of her. It hadn’t crossed his mind that he might actually be in with a chance of dating her.

Once at school, they took their seats and after being summoned by his teacher, Chris returned a few minutes later looking dejected.

“What’s up with you?” Callum asked.

“They’ve changed my timetable, so I’m not in the same French class as Amanda anymore!”

“Tough luck mate” Callum replied sympathetically.

“Tell me about it. Well I guess that’s that then!” he said, slumped disheartened over his desk as French was his only lesson with her.

Chris still had the vast majority of his classes with Callum which he was extremely grateful for as the fuss surrounding his arrival showed no signs of letting up on his second day.

Callum was being extremely sympathetic and did his best to keep Chris’ spirits up. He was in classes with Callum for the rest of the day and he continued to fill Chris in about the rest of the school. The morning flew by quite quickly and uneventfully.

But all was about to change as the afternoon approached.

After lunch the boy’s stood outside the science block waiting for classes to start, deep in their usual discussion of football. They occasionally stopped their in depth conversation to say hello to Tony, Chloe, Louise and Penny who had all turned up for classes. But they hung back from the rest of the crowd to maintain their privacy.

All of a sudden Chris noticed that Callum seemed a little distracted, until he abruptly cut their conversation short.

“You might want to turn around mate!” Callum said with a devious smile.

“What?” said Chris looking completely bemused.

He slowly turned to be confronted by two young women standing directly behind him. There she stood in her illuminating beauty, the object of his desire, flanked by her friend, who Chris recognised from that one eventful French class, a tall girl with mousey coloured hair. Callum kindly made the formal introductions between Chris, Amanda and her friend Carla.

They stood face to face for a few moments of nervous silence while their friends tried not to overhear their conversation.  This was their first meeting and Chris could not help but realise just how beautiful she truly was.

Eventually a very nervous Amanda spoke....

“Hi.... um.... your Chris right?”

“Yeah and your Amanda right?” came his anxious reply.

Looking down at her feet, which she was subconsciously twisting into the gravel, she turned a shade redder before she spoke again....

“Yeah.... well…. there is this party my friend’s having on Saturday night and.... I was wondering if.... um.... maybe you wanted to come?”

“What, as your guest?” Chris replied as his eyes roamed over her beautiful face.

“Well.... yeah.... Er.... no”.

“Like a date?” asked Chris kindly.

“Well.... um.... yeah”.

“Yeah.... I’d love to” he replied trying to hide his excitement and nervousness.

“Ok.... well.... um.... do you have a phone?” she said before recognising her mistake, “oh god.... Er.... that’s not what I meant.... um.... what I meant to say was can I have your number so I can call you about Saturday?”

“Yeah.... well.... um.... I’d love to give it to you but the problem is.... oh god…. this is going to sound really stupid but.... I don’t actually know it.... you see I haven’t had to give it to anyone yet so I haven’t memorised it.... but.... if you give me yours then I can call you tonight and give it to you then, if that’s ok?"

“Yeah that’s fine” she replied happily, rummaging through her school bag. She finally found a pen and after failing to find a piece of paper, she reached for his hand.

She turned his hand over so they were palm to palm. Her touch was as light and soft as silk and Chris felt a shot of electricity shot up his arm. With excitement running through him, he tried his best to keep his hand steady as she gently rolled the pen across the back of his hand. Chris held her hand a moment longer, savouring her touch before letting go. His piercing blue eyes met her chocolate brown eyes and after a moment of nervous smiles, their gaze broke and they stepped back from each other.

“So I’ll call you tonight then?”

“I’ll be waiting!” she replied happily.

After another flash of that winning smile, she turned on her heels and gracefully walked away.

Chris stood stoic, his eyes fixed on her. She looked back twice, with a smile, and then disappeared.

He was brought rudely back to earth by the sound of the pips signalling the beginning of classes and was dragged off by the arm by Callum.

Taking his seat he took out his books and pen and paper, popped them on his desk and sat staring at the black board in a daze.

“Hello, earth to Chris, you still in there?” Callum asked with a huge grin on his face.

“Yeah, sorry just in a bit of shock!”

“I’m not surprised but I wouldn’t mind a bit of your luck mate!”

“Luck?” said Chris looking puzzled.

“Yeah well look at it from my point of view, you started a new school yesterday, after half an hour you’ve seen someone you fancy and then fast forward twenty four hours and there she is asking you out!”

“True” replied Chris understanding what Callum was getting at “ but it’s not all good!”

“Not all good, where’s the bad?”

“The bad is that the party isn’t until Saturday and it’s only Tuesday” Chris replied.#

“Well ok, but as bad goes, it’s hardly a disaster is it?”

“True enough”.

So the boys got through their double lesson of science and after the last class of the day, set off home making a quick stop at Callum’s where he was introduced to his family.

Callum quickly changed his clothes before they set off for Chris’ flat, where they grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading back out for a game of football.

After they had finished, Callum headed for home and Chris went to call Amanda. Reading the number off the back of his hand, he picked up the phone and began to dial. After several attempts without success, he went to the pub to see his father and let him know that something was wrong.

Everything became clear after a brief conversation, where Chris was informed that the phone would receive incoming calls only, this was further proof to him that his father was still as tight with money as ever. So Chris begged his father for some money to use the phone and the home phone number. Once he had received both, he hastily ran out of the door in search of a phone box.

After a frantic search around town, he found a pay phone and quickly dialled Amanda’s number. To his relief he had dialled correctly and it was answered straight away. He waited for the person on the other end to fetch Amanda.

It wasn’t long before her smooth floating voice came through on the other end, Chris explained about the situation regarding the phone and she kindly offered to call him back at home.

He ran full speed back to the flat and sat eagerly by the phone waiting for it to ring.

It wasn’t long before it rang and they spent a while chatting and making plans, they agreed to meet at eight that Saturday and said goodbye.

Once off the phone Chris raced round to Callum’s to fill him in on what had been said. Callum knew exactly where the party was being held and kindly offered to take Chris along.

“I’m not staying though!” said Callum.

“Why not? I’m sure they won’t mind if you stayed!” asked Chris.

“They may not, but do you seriously think I want to stand around all evening and watch you two lash at each other like eel’s, I don’t think so” said Callum with a chuckle.

Chris couldn’t help but laugh at his friend. In the days leading up to the party, the boy’s became inseparable. At school they met up at break or lunch times whenever they didn’t have classes together. Callum was helpful when pointing out Amanda during the school day, if Chris hadn’t managed to catch a glimpse of her.

He hadn’t spoken to her since the phone call and although he was desperate to know everything about her, he decided it best to leave any further conversations until the party so the evening wasn’t filled with uncomfortable silences.

Outside of school the boys spent all their time together playing football, Chris showing Callum all his favourite spots. They spent a lot of their time at the football stadium dreaming of being famous players and with the aid of Callum’s brother’s bike, he took Chris around town showing him places he hadn’t yet seen.

On their travels they often bumped into other members of their little group and spent hours hanging around in the local park, finding out more about each other and gossiping about school. Chris even tried his hand at one of Callum’s favourite past times of fishing, although it never really captured his imagination, he didn’t mind it as they could sit together for the day snacking on food and talking endlessly about girls and discovering new common interests, while waiting for the fish to take the bait.

Chris had managed to maintain the balance between housework and school very well. The flat was always tidy as his parents were constantly working and Chris was always out with Callum.

Chris was so used to fending for himself that he had become quite a good cook, so Callum often joined him at meal times.

With Callum constantly around, Chris had help with his homework when needed and his grades at school were steadily starting to improve.

Everything was going swimmingly, things were starting to look up for the future and Saturday was fast approaching.

Finally Saturday arrived and Chris woke with an air of panic and tension. He spent all of the morning rushing around trying to get the flat in perfect order, making sure all his washing and ironing were done and his bedroom spotless. Not long after twelve Callum arrived hoping for a bike ride but Chris still had far too much to do so Callum decide to stay and help out wherever he could.

After finishing off the housework and sitting down for a spot of lunch, the topic of conversation changed to the evening’s festivities. They made their way to Chris bedroom and proceeded to empty his entire wardrobe over Chris’ bed. His clothes were old and faded, his father had not bought him any new clothes since he had moved in with him, so the boys set about trying to find a decent outfit for the night ahead.

“You sure you know where we’re going?” asked Chris when his nerves kicked in again for the hundredth time.

“Yes, yes I’ve told you, trust me I know where it is!”

“Sorry, I just don’t want to show up late or get lost and miss it completely!”

“I know just relax will you, anyway how are we getting there?” asked Callum.

“I didn’t think about that, how far away do you reckon it is?”

“Well it’s a fair distance by foot, you could borrow my brother’s bike as it would make it a lot quicker!”

“True but I don’t want to turn up stinking of sweat now do I, hardly a good first impression!”

“Good point” replied Callum mussing over the transport options.

“You can go by bike if you want, I think I’d better walk it just to be on the safe side. Just don’t leave me behind ok?”

“Now would I do a thing like that?” Callum replied cheekily.

“I wouldn’t put it past you” replied Chris and both boys started to laugh.

After deciding on an outfit, Chris shot off to the bathroom to get ready and Callum lounged oh his bed watching TV. Chris returned sometime later after a long bath and a rigorous brushing of his teeth and put on the selected outfit of Black Jeans, Black shoes and a blue long sleeved shirt. After running gel through his hair, he turned to Callum.

“How do I look?”

“Well you’re not my type ducky, but you scrub up alright!”

Both lads fell about laughing.

After a quick glance around to ensure that everything was perfect, the two boys exited the flat and after locking the door behind them, headed down the stairs and into the evening.