Sugar Secrets…& Resolutions Read online

  Sugar

  SECRETS…

  …& Resolutions

  Mel Sparke

  contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  CHAPTER 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  CHAPTER 2 JUST DON’T ASK…

  CHAPTER 3 RING, RING

  CHAPTER 4 A SNEAK IN THE DARK

  CHAPTER 5 POST-PARTY BLUES

  CHAPTER 6 PARTY PROMISES

  CHAPTER 7 TEA AND SYMPATHY

  CHAPTER 8 ANNA, MATT AND ONE STUPID MISTAKE

  CHAPTER 9 IT’S ALL IN THE MIND

  CHAPTER 10 TABLE FOR TWO

  CHAPTER 11 IN THE LINE OF FIRE

  CHAPTER 12 KERRY GETS A GRILLING

  CHAPTER 13 MISTAKEN IDENTITY

  CHAPTER 14 STORMY WEATHER

  CHAPTER 15 MATT TRIES AGAIN

  CHAPTER 16 ON THE SPOT

  CHAPTER 17 ESPECIALLY FOR YOU…

  CHAPTER 18 OLLIE BAILS OUT

  CHAPTER 19 ONE WRONG MOVE

  CHAPTER 20 RALLYING ROUND

  CAN YOU HANDLE SCANDAL

  SO, HOW DO YOU HANDLE SCANDAL

  Coming in February 2000

  Order Form

  Secrets… & Resolutions

  SOME SECRETS ARE JUST TOO GOOD TO KEEP TO YOURSELF!

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  CHAPTER 1

  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  He was so lost in her smile that it took a moment to realise she was moving towards him. Stunned, he found himself automatically tilting his head in readiness for what was about to happen. He could hardly believe that it was going to happen – after all this time. But the way her eyes were softly closing, the way her mouth was forming into a perfect, tender pout… there was no doubting what was she was about to do.

  And when the kiss finally came – her lips gently touching, pressing against his – it was as if his whole body had dissolved in happiness. Instead of muscle, there was rubber. Instead of bone, there was warm candle wax. He felt as light and buoyant and weightless as if he were floating star-shaped on his back in a tropical lagoon.

  With no bidding from him, his arms were just about to wrap themselves around her and draw her closer, closer to him. His lips were just about to part, letting him sink further into her kiss…

  And then she broke away.

  “Happy New Year!” she beamed at him.

  “Happy New Y—” he tried to respond, but he’d already lost Kerry’s attention to Sonja Harvey, who was whooping and jumping about in excitement.

  All around Joe Gladwin, hundreds of other revellers were just as caught up in the joyful madness that had erupted after the midnight chimes. But for Joe, the mayhem and the music of the party might as well have been something that was happening on the telly, he felt so distanced from it. Standing still and inwardly silent, he let the memory of his first real kiss with Kerry Bellamy linger on.

  All half a second of it.

  “C’mere, gorgeous!” said a voice in his ear and his head was caught in a vice-like armlock. “Mmmmmmm-wah!”

  Joe’s second New Year kiss wasn’t quite as delicate as the first, but was nearly as memorable because of its sheer force.

  Releasing her grip on Joe, Catrina Osgood ruffled his hair carelessly and disappeared into the crowds of party-goers in search of another face to suction.

  Joe blushed furiously, glad of the muted lighting in the cavernous town hall. Cat might not have thought anything of her overenthusiastic slobber (just one of many she’d be dishing out), but it had suddenly reminded Joe of his recent bout of madness – when he’d thought for all of five minutes that he actually fancied Catrina.

  To be fair, shy boy Joe hadn’t totally acted out of character when he felt a faint stirring of attraction towards his louder-than-loud mate; she’d apparently gone through a personality transplant, turning from the Wicked Witch of Winstead into something altogether more sweet and gentle.

  Of course, it wasn’t what it had seemed. By sheer fluke, Cat had landed the part of Cinderella in her college Christmas pantomime. It had taken a while for Joe to twig that the sweetness ‘n’ light change in Cat’s personality was simply her getting into character for her starring role.

  But this New Year’s Eve, it seemed that it wasn’t only Joe who was feeling awkward as the party poppers erupted all around him, sending streamers flying into the air.

  Wonder what’s going on there? he asked himself, his eyes settling on a strange encounter between Matt and Anna.

  Matt Ryan, with one arm still circled round his girlfriend Gabrielle Adjani’s waist, had turned around with a grin on his face, obviously ready to bellow a Happy New Year at whoever was close by. At that same second, Anna Michaels – fresh from giving her brother Owen a hug – turned to do the same.

  They were so close to each other, they could have kissed without taking a step nearer, but instead of reaching out instinctively and doing just that, Joe noticed that they both faltered, smiles slipping, before Anna moved forward stiffly and gave Matt a brief, self-conscious peck on the cheek.

  Almost immediately, they swung their attention away from one another, casting desperate glances around for someone else to fix on. Or so it appeared to Joe, locked in his own little world of self-consciousness just a few feet away.

  “Joe!” smiled Maya Joshi, bringing him back to earth. “I was just saying to the others that we should dip out and get some fresh air – it’s too hot and mad in here!”

  “Uh, OK,” agreed Joe dubiously.

  He certainly wasn’t feeling at his most relaxed; his two kisses had left him pretty disconcerted (for different reasons) but he hadn’t expected to be leaving the party quite so soon.

  Maya spotted the confusion in his face and tried to spell things out a little more clearly.

  “I don’t mean we should go home. Joe. It’s just that Matt says the door to the fire escape behind the DJ booth is open,” she explained, motioning towards the black curtain behind the speakers and console where the music was blasting out. “We can sneak away for a bit – sit on the fire escape and, y’know, just hang out, all of us.”

  Maya hid her sentimental side pretty well most of the time, but it was most definitely there, Joe knew, lurking not too far under the surface. And gathering all her friends together at such an auspicious moment – the very start of a whole new year – was a typical Maya gesture. No dramatic pronouncements of affection or over-the-top clinginess, just enjoying the sense of belonging.

  “Great idea,” he grinned at her.

  “Well, come on – help me round up the troops…” she grinned back, linking her arm into his.

  “Anna says that if you look up at the sky just after midnight at New Year, it’ll tell you what kind of year you’re going to have,” said Maya, tossing her shiny dark hair back and staring up into the deep, star-spangled indigo night above them.

  “Pity she’s not here to interpret it then, isn’t it?” murmured Joe, squinting upwards.

  “She’ll be here – she was trying to track down Owen and Sonja, remember?”

  Joe nodded wordlessly. The others had all promised faithfully that they’d follow Maya and Joe out on to the fire escape – as soon as they’d finished talking to people/gone to the loo/got another round of drinks in or (in Cat’s case) had snogged any male between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three. (And there were a few hundred of those in the building for her to work her way around.)

  “So what do you think the sky’s trying to tell us?” Joe asked his friend, aware of her shivering slightly as she sat next to him on the open metal staircase.

  “Well,” answered Maya slowly, “I guess that with so many stars out, it means it’s going to be a bright,
exciting year. There are a couple of clouds over there though, see?”

  “Uh-huh,” Joe responded, following her finger.

  “So I think that means there are a few hassles on the horizon, but since the wind’s blowing them quickly across the sky, those troubles won’t stick around for long.”

  “So clouds are bad, are they?”

  “Not necessarily.”

  “What if we’d come out here and the whole sky was just a mass of clouds?”

  “I’d say that it was going to be an interesting year, with lots of unexpected surprises hidden away.”

  “Maya, you’re just making this up, aren’t you?” Joe laughed.

  “Totally,” agreed Maya. “I haven’t got a clue, really. Where is Anna when you need her?”

  “Probably waiting for Owen and Sonja to come up for air long enough for her to drag them out here.”

  Sonja hadn’t expected to see her long-distance love for another few weeks, but Owen had sprung a surprise, lightning visit on her earlier that evening, landing up on her doorstep as she and the other girls were getting ready for the party. In between bouncing off the walls with excitement for the night and the boy, she’d been practically smothering Owen with kisses.

  Not that he seemed to be complaining.

  “Well, Joe, I guess we’d better start without the others…” said Maya, changing the subject. Though what to, Joe wasn’t sure.

  “Start?” he asked warily.

  “Resolutions. That’s the typical question to ask, isn’t it?” said Maya, looking at her friend with her dark brown almond eyes. “So what’s yours?”

  “Mine? I, uh…” Joe waffled, not sure what to say.

  “OK, I’ll go first. I would love for something amazing to happen with my photography this year.”

  “You did pretty well with it last year,” said Joe of the year that was all of fifteen minutes in the past already. “You came second in that big competition, didn’t you?”

  Maya nodded, remembering with pride the shocking moment when she was called on to the podium to collect second prize at the art centre the previous summer.

  “I know, but I’m not going to give up there!” she smiled. “Joining the photography club was one of the best things I’ve ever done – I just feel so positive about it. I know something really good’s going to come out of it.”

  Joe was suddenly struck with inspiration.

  “Driving!” he blurted out. “I want to learn to drive this year.”

  “That would be cool,” said Maya encouragingly. “Then we wouldn’t have to rely on Matt for lifts everywhere!”

  “Only one problem, of course,” grinned Joe wryly.

  “What?”

  “I can’t afford lessons and if I could, I wouldn’t be able to afford even an old banger at the end of it.”

  Maya understood the situation. Money was fairly tight at home for Joe, since his parents had split up several years before. And filling in on the odd shift at the End-of-the-Line café didn’t exactly bring in a whole lot of cash for him either.

  “Another thing…” he continued.

  Maya gazed at her friend, patiently waiting to hear what he had to say.

  “…that’s not even my real resolution.”

  “What is it then?” asked Maya, noting the nervous grin twitching at Joe’s mouth.

  “I, uh…” Joe turned to make sure they were still alone, before continuing quietly. “I kind of made this vow that I was going to give up holding out for Kerry…”

  Maya reached over for his hand and gave it a squeeze. She was the only one of the crowd who knew that Joe had been lost in love for his friend. And Maya also knew as well as Joe did how pointless that love was, since Kerry and Ollie were such a solid, happy item.

  “I’m pleased, Joe,” she reassured him. “It won’t be easy, but I think it’s probably better if you did move on and find someone else.”

  “That’s the trouble,” he shrugged. “I’ve been trying to think like this for quite a while now – New Year was just a good way of finally putting a lid on it. And then…”

  “What?”

  “And then she kissed me tonight…” he sighed heavily, every scrap of breath wistfully pouring from his soul.

  “Oh, Joe,” smiled Maya sadly, cuddling her friend in her arms.

  Getting over Kerry is going to be harder than I thought, Joe realised, glancing up at the rogue clouds in the sky.

  CHAPTER 2

  JUST DON’T ASK…

  Please don’t ask me, please don’t ask me! Kerry chanted a silent mantra to herself, frantically twirling the tiny stones on her chakra necklace.

  “Anna’s next!” chirped Sonja, extricating one arm from around Owen for long enough to point at his sister.

  All the friends (with the exception of Cat, last seen with her arms draped around the two Dutch boys who had been hanging around the café and the band for the last few weeks) had joined Maya and Joe out on the fire escape. The three couples – Ollie and Kerry, Sonja and Owen, Matt and Gabrielle – were using the chill night air as an excuse to cuddle closer as they perched on the fire escape.

  Anna, who’d walked up a few of the iron steps and settled herself behind Maya and Joe, thought for a moment before speaking.

  “OK, I guess my resolution would be to have a peaceful year,” she smiled.

  “You old hippy!” Ollie laughed, unaware of the traumas in Anna’s past that made her resolution so meaningful.

  “And what’s yours, Mr Sarkypants?” Sonja quizzed him. “To finally give up on that glorified rusty hairdryer of yours and sell it for scrap?”

  “Oi!” protested Ollie Stanton. “That Vespa is worth a lot of money – or at least it will be if I ever manage to get it running for more than five minutes at a time…”

  Without turning to look at him as he stood behind her, Kerry could sense Ollie’s genuine hurt, despite his joking. Restoring the old (or ‘vintage’, as Ollie preferred) moped was a bit of a pet project of his, although it seemed to spend more time broken down in the shed behind his parents’ pub, waiting for yet another expensive spare part, than actually out on the road.

  “Tell us, then – what is your resolution, Ol?” Kerry prompted him quickly, to put a stop to Sonja’s misjudged teasing.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, giving her a squeeze around the waist.

  What does he mean? Kerry’s mind raced. That me and him should stay together this year?

  “The band!” Ollie blurted out. “I just want The Loud to go from strength to strength!”

  “What – like get a proper manager, you mean?” joked Joe.

  Ollie’s Uncle Nick, owner of the End-of-the-Line café, had volunteered himself as manager of his nephew’s band. And though he’d done really well for them so far, including getting them a regular weekly spot at the Railway Tavern, there was still something about him that the lads couldn’t take seriously.

  Maybe it was the fact that he wore his hair in a ponytail, despite a rapidly growing bald spot on top. Or maybe it was his tendency to exaggerate just what big mates he was with rock stars – all because he’d worked as a roadie for a few groups when he was younger.

  “Hey, don’t knock Nick!” Maya scolded the snickering boys, then started giggling herself when she realised how stupid her words had sounded.

  Kerry slipped what she hoped was a convincing smile on her face but couldn’t help feeling disappointed that Ollie’s resolution had nothing to do with her after all.

  What would he think of mine? she wondered to herself, feeling the heat of his breath on her neck and the vibration of his chest against her back as he laughed. Would he think I was being stupid? I know Sonja would. So would Maya. As for my parents… Oh God!

  She must have shuddered involuntarily and Ollie curled his arms even tighter around her.

  “All right, Kez?” he whispered quietly, his floppy brown hair tickling the side of her face.

  “Mmm,” she nodded, covering his arms w
ith her own.

  But the resolution-spilling was still going on and their intimate moment was gone in a flash.

  “Sonja! What’s yours?” asked Maya, pulling the sleeves of her top down over her fingers to keep them warm.

  “Yeah, what’s yours, Son?” Ollie bellowed in Kerry’s ear, obviously keen to get his revenge. “Maybe to make it in the modelling game?”

  Sonja could handle herself, but Kerry felt this was a pretty low blow and stuck her elbow back into Ollie’s stomach to let him know. After all, it had only been a couple of months since Sonja had made a bit of a fool of herself, boasting to the others about how easy it would be for her to get into modelling.

  With her athletic figure, Scandinavian colouring and bags of confidence, Sonja might feasibly have been model material. But she’d nearly found herself signed to a local agency who kept the models on their books busy all right – with jobs advertising cut-price plumbing contractors and tyre warehouses. Sonja’s glamorous expectations of modelling for some of the top names in the country had vanished at about the same time as her pride had taken a tumble.

  “I’m going to ignore that remark,” said Sonja with dignity. “And the answer is, my resolution would be to get into my first choice course this year.”

  “Ooh, very worthy,” laughed Matt, who had had more than enough of education after the years he’d spent at boarding school. All the recent talk among his friends about choosing college and university places just left him cold.

  He was thankful for the fact that Ollie, like him, had chosen the working route. Even if neither of them was exactly setting the career world alight…

  Another thing eighteen-year-old Matt was grateful for at times like these – even though it had caused him major doubts when he first found out – was that his girlfriend Gabrielle was still only fourteen. She had vague notions of what she wanted to do, but certainly felt the decision was so far off that it wasn’t uppermost in her topics of conversation. Unlike Sonja, Joe and Kerry, who’d all be leaving sixth form this summer. Although he had to admit that Kerry, bless her, hadn’t said much about it and bored the pants off him like her best friend had.