Sugar Secrets…& Dramas Page 4

  Damn! thought Cat. Oh, well, just because she’s here doesn’t mean I have to speak to her.

  Cat kicked off her shoes and thumped noisily towards the kitchen.

  “Oh, there was a message for you on the answering machine, but I accidentally wiped it off,” her mother called out.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, that’s all I need,” Cat muttered. “On top of everything else that’s bad in my life, I’ve got a senile, deranged mother who doesn’t know how to use the answering machine.”

  “Who was it from?” she shouted back, her head stuck in the fridge looking for juice. The fridge was virtually bare, apart from a carton of organic yoghurt and a wrinkled cucumber.

  “Add to that the fact that she’s sooo busy she can’t even be bothered to shop for food,” Cat hissed, slamming the fridge shut and heading towards her room.

  “Some guy called Jeff,” Sylvia Osgood called. “Said something about you ringing him at home tonight.”

  Cat flew into the living room.

  “What?” she demanded. “What else did he say?”

  “Sorry, Catrina,” her mother said, not looking up from her computer. “Like I said, I wiped the message. He sounded quite old though. He’s not a boyfriend, is he?”

  “Don’t be so stupid, Mum. Of course he isn’t! Did he leave his number?”

  “Uh, yes, but I didn’t make a note of it. Was it important?”

  Cat was livid. “Oh, no, Mum. It was only possibly the most important phone call I’m ever likely to get in my life - and you wiped the number. I can’t believe you could be so stupid!”

  For the first time since the conversation had started, Sylvia turned from her work and looked sternly at her daughter.

  “Now look here, madam,” she said, her voice icy cold, “that’s enough of your cheek. I said I was sorry. If you weren’t out gallivanting around town quite so much you might be in a position to pick up your own messages. As it is, you’ll have to rely on your stupid mother who also lines your pockets with a rather hefty allowance every month. Now, you don’t want me to put a stop to that part of your life, do you?”

  Cat bit her tongue. Any mention of having her allowance stopped always sent her back-peddling; the thought of having to get a part-time job to supplement her lifestyle was appalling to someone who dedicated herself to having a good time as much as she did.

  Instead, she picked up the phone, dialled 1471 and waited to hear the recorded message. The last call had been received nearly an hour ago. The number wasn’t local and while Cat knew Jeff lived out of town, she had no idea where.

  She figured she had nothing to lose by dialling. She could always pretend it was a wrong number if the person on the other end didn’t know what she was going on about.

  Cat punched in the digits and listened intently as it rang. Finally, a woman answered the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello? Could I speak to Jeff please?”

  “Who’s calling?”

  Phew, must be the right place. “Uh, it’s Catrina Osgood.”

  “Just a minute, I’ll get him for you.”

  Cat sat on the edge of her chair and drummed her nails nervously on the table. She could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for what seemed like several aeons before he came to the phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Jeff, hi, it’s Catrina Osgood,” she said as lightly as possible. “I’m returning your call from earlier…”

  “Ah, yes, Catrina,” he said vaguely as though he was scratching his head trying to think why he’d rung her in the first place.

  She visualised his messy mop of greying hair and absently decided she’d offer him a free haircut if he gave her the part. Fat chance…

  “I hoped to catch you at college today, but we must have missed each other. I was ringing to let you know that I’ve thought long and hard about your, erm, performance…”

  He paused to cough loudly.

  Come on, get on with it! Cat felt like shouting down the line.

  “…Excuse me,” he continued, “bit of a cough. Uh, like I was saying, I thought your read-through was robust…”

  Robust, Cat fretted. Is that good or bad?

  “…and although I believe we’ll have our work cut out to get ready in time for the performance, I’d like to offer you the part. Of Cinderella, that is.”

  “Yesss!” yelped Cat, immediately picturing what new style she’d cut Jeff’s hair into.

  “It means lots of work, Catrina,” he tried to reaffirm.

  “I don’t care!”

  “We’re going to have to have plenty of extra coaching sessions and mini-rehearsals.”

  “No problemo!”

  “What?” asked Jeff dubiously.

  “Er, that’ll be fine,” Cat calmed herself enough to say. She was, after all, Cinderella.

  And Cinderella most certainly never came out with “no problemo”.

  Sonja was desperate to see Anna. She had hardly slept the night before, she was so pumped up by the prospect of Owen coming to stay.

  She had loads of pre-Christmas plans for them and she wanted to include Anna as much as possible. After all, if it wasn’t for her, they’d never have met.

  As soon as sixth form was over for the day, she and Kerry sped off to the End.

  “I hope Anna doesn’t want him the whole time he’s down here, though,” Sonja mused as they hurried along the road. “I mean, it would be nice if I could have him to myself for a tiny little while.”

  “How long is he coming down for?” Kerry asked.

  “I don’t know. We never got that far into the conversation. Lottie was getting on my nerves interrupting every two seconds, so I said I’d catch him later.”

  “Yeah, right,” Kerry giggled, raising her eyes knowingly. “Well, I’m sure you’ll be able to get him to yourself at some point over Christmas, even if it’s just a quick smacker under the mistletoe.”

  They were at the café now; Sonja went bounding inside and straight up to the counter where Anna was pouring out hot chocolate drinks for customers.

  “Hi, Anna,” Sonja beamed. “Isn’t it great news about Owen?”

  “What’s that then?” Anna asked, a quizzical look on her face.

  “You know, about him coming to Winstead for Christmas. He told me last night…”

  Anna looked blankly at Sonja for a moment, then her eyes lit up as she took in what had just been said.

  “You’re kidding!” she said incredulously. “You mean he’s coming down after all?”

  “Yes!” laughed Sonja, stamping her feet in excitement.

  “Wow,” nodded Anna, one empty cup still held, forgotten, in mid-air. “When I last spoke to him he said he was definitely going to Mum’s for Christmas!”

  “Yeah, that’s right, he did mention something about that,” Sonja said vaguely, waving her hand around, “but he said he was coming here instead.”

  “Sonja, that’s brilliant!”

  “Isn’t it?” giggled Sonja.

  Anna felt a rush of comfort flood over her. Christmas wasn’t going to be a lonely, hollow day after all: she was going to have her wonderful brother with her. Even if she would have to share him.

  “You know, I thought if anyone would be able to swing it, you could,” said Anna, oblivious to the customers who were now looking over restlessly for their drinks. “When we talked a couple of days ago, he was adamant that he was going home to Mum. I thought he sounded keener on coming here once I reminded, him he’d be able to see you as well, but he still seemed determined to go home. I can’t believe he’s changed his mind! What else did he say?”

  “Not a lot. We got interrupted by my sister. I don’t even know what day he’s arriving.”

  “I’ll call him later on and let you know. It’ll be brilliant, we’ll all have a great time.”

  “You don’t mind me butting in occasionally then?” Sonja grinned.

  “Not at all, Son. I’m relying on you to get all the pa
rties lined up.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  “Let me get these things out of the way then I’ll come over and take your order. On the house.”

  “Cheers, Anna.” Sonja went over to the table in the window where Kerry was now sitting with Matt, Gabrielle and Joe.

  “So, Son,” Matt grinned. “We hear lover boy’s coming to stay. No wonder you’re bouncing about like you’ve got ants in your pants.”

  “That’s great news,” added Gabrielle. “I bet you can’t wait.”

  “You’re not wrong, Gaby.” Sonja slid into the banquette next to Kerry. “I kind of hoped he would come down, but now I know it’s really happening, I’m dead excited.”

  “Aw, it’s really sweet,” Gabrielle continued.

  “Yeah, just make sure you invite us all to the wedding,” smirked Matt.

  “Oh, ha bloomin’ ha,” Sonja shot back. “I think you and Gabrielle will be heading up the aisle before I do.”

  Matt looked away almost bashfully and gave Gabrielle’s hand a little squeeze.

  “You never know,” he teased, “we might just surprise you, mightn’t we, Gab?”

  Gabrielle gave a shy smile and pulled her hand away. “Urn, well, considering I’m still only fourteen, I don’t think anyone should start looking for posh new frocks yet!” she laughed, almost nervously.

  “So how was your film last night?” Joe asked Sonja and Kerry, changing the subject.

  “A stinker,” Sonja replied. “One to be avoided at all costs. Kerry and I had more fun discussing Cat’s latest antics than the film.”

  “What do you mean?” frowned Joe.

  “Well, we bumped into her on the way to one of her panto rehearsals and she was acting really weirdly, wasn’t she, Kez?”

  Kerry nodded. “She certainly didn’t seem to be her usual self.”

  “What, you mean she didn’t have her broomstick with her?” Matt sniggered.

  “Matt! That’s really mean,” Gabrielle exclaimed, bashing him on the arm. “She’s not so bad.”

  “Oh, come on,” he objected, grinning, “she can be a right old witch when she wants to. You just think she’s OK because you haven’t experienced a Catrina Osgood tongue-lashing yet. You wait till you get on the wrong side of her, then you’ll know what I mean.”

  “Well, that’s just it,” Sonja continued. “When we saw her, she went from being the same old Cat we love to hate to a complete wet blanket. And all in the space of five minutes. It was dead spooky, wasn’t it, Kez?”

  “Yeah and she was wearing hardly any makeup,” Kerry added, “which made her look even spookier.”

  “Maybe she’s going for a revamp,” suggested Matt. “She’s always changing her ‘look’. I’m waiting for the day her hair drops out.”

  “I dunno about that, but something strange is going on,” Sonja said, narrowing her eyes. “And I bet it’s got something to do with a guy.”

  “Maybe she’s planning on getting to know Prince Charming a lot better!” Kerry joked, without realising just how right she was.

  CHAPTER 8

  FIRST-NIGHT NERVES

  “So how’s Ollie feeling at this moment?” Matt asked Kerry. “Is he panicking yet?”

  Leaning back in his seat at the café. Matt chuckled to himself at the vision he had in his mind of his friend’s current state. It was Thursday evening and The Loud were about to play their first weekly gig at the Railway Tavern. The band were already there, setting up their equipment, while the rest of their supporters (which consisted at this moment of Kerry, Matt, Maya and Sonja) were meeting at the café before going on to the gig later.

  “Actually, the only thing he’s panicking about is where you are,” Kerry responded. “You’re supposed to be in charge of their sound mixing, aren’t you?”

  Kerry had just left Ollie at the Railway Tavern and walked to the café to join her friends, her face pale with worry at the thought of the upcoming gig. She had left Ollie surprisingly cool about it all, unlike Kerry who had already made several trips to the loo and felt quite nervous at the prospect of what lay ahead. Although she’d seen them play loads of times before, it didn’t stop Kerry from getting jittery - much more so than Ollie who took most of it in his stride.

  “Yes, it’s all set up,” Matt tried to explain himself. “I was just waiting here to meet Gabrielle so she wouldn’t have to walk into the pub on her own.”

  “Well, we’re all here waiting for her. You don’t have to oversee her every movement,” Sonja teased him. “Who are you - her dad?”

  “Very funny,” said Matt, who showed no sign of moving, preferring instead to make sure his girlfriend arrived safe and sound. He glanced at his watch. “Maybe I should have gone and picked her up…”

  “Oh, shut up, Matt,” Sonja groaned. “So what about Joe and Billy and Andy? How were they doing nerve-wise?”

  “Billy and Andy seem fine. Joe’s gone a bit quiet.”

  “Poor Joe…” sympathised Maya.

  Joe wasn’t the most confident of people. It was just as well he played drums and could hide away behind his kit and the rest of the band.

  “I think he’s a bit like me. He worries too much about what might go wrong,” Kerry sighed. “And the more often he plays, the more problems he thinks of.”

  “What about Nick?” Matt asked. “He was swanning about like a proud father when I was there earlier.”

  “Well, he’s been really good, y’know? Like a proper manager,” said Kerry. “Getting them organised and making sure no one’s going to bottle out at the last minute.”

  “At least it’s not their first-ever gig,” Maya said. “They must be pretty confident about how it’s going to turn out. When they played at The Bell a few weeks back they were brilliant. Everyone said so. They ought to be encouraged by that.”

  Sonja nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and that guy Derek from the Railway Tavern must have liked them or he wouldn’t have booked them for this regular spot.”

  “I just hope it stays regular,” Kerry frowned. “There aren’t exactly people fighting to get in right now.”

  The four of them leant forward and peered out the window, down towards the Railway Tavern next door to the old Victorian station buildings. An old guy and his dog seemed to pause at the door; but as soon as the dog had cocked its leg, they moved on.

  And that appeared to be the only action happening along there at the moment.

  “Don’t look so tense, Kerry. It’ll be fine,” Sonja said soothingly, registering the concern on her friend’s face. “I’ll go and see if Anna’s coming too, so we increase the numbers a bit.”

  Sonja went up to the serving counter and peered into the kitchen beyond. She knew Anna must be around somewhere and she was keen to talk to her about Owen.

  “Hello?” Sonja called out. “Anna? Are you in there?”

  Anna’s head popped out from behind an enormous fridge.

  “Be with you in a tick, Sonja,” she called. “I’m just putting some of this stuff away for the night.”

  When she re-emerged she rubbed her hands together in an effort to warm them up and came back into the café.

  “Hi,” Sonja beamed. “Have you spoken to Owen yet?”

  “No, I’ve been trying ever since last evening. But there’s no reply and he hasn’t got his answering machine on either. I don’t like to call him at work, not with it being a new job and him being so busy. I can’t imagine where he is.”

  “He’s probably out celebrating Christmas early. He’ll be all partied out by the time he gets to Winstead.”

  “I doubt it, not Owen. Not with the workload he’s been moaning about,” Anna smiled. “Have you got some parties lined up for him when he arrives?”

  “Yeah, loads. His feet won’t touch the ground once he gets here,” laughed Sonja. “And I’ve had an absolutely brilliant idea too…”

  She broke off, not sure how Anna would react to her plan.

  “Go on,” Anna said.


  “Well, I know we don’t know what day he’s coming down yet, but I thought, wouldn’t it be great if you had a little ‘welcome home’ type party at your flat the night he gets here? Or at least a ‘welcome back to Winstead’ do. What do you think?”

  “Mmm, that’s sounds lovely,” nodded Anna, savouring the notion of making her tiny flat upstairs spring to life with lights and laughter and friends. “We could make it a surprise. Maybe I’ll tell him he can’t get here until a certain time in the evening and when he walks in we’ll all be there waiting for him. He’d love it!”

  “Brilliant!”

  Both girls grabbed each other’s hands and squealed excitedly.

  “Of course, it couldn’t be a big do,” Anna continued. “You can’t get that many people in my flat. But we could invite all of the gang, and Nick and anyone else who’s got to know him.”

  “I can’t wait!” said Sonja dreamily.

  “Yeah, but if you get through to him on the phone before I do, be careful you don’t let slip about this.”

  ‘“Course not! Oh, Anna - I’m so pleased he’s coming, it’s going to be the best Christmas ever for me.”

  “Same here, Son. I don’t mind admitting it now, but I was in for a pretty miserable time until yesterday. I didn’t have a thing planned. Now we’ve both got loads to look forward to. It’s going to be great! “

  Sonja gave Anna a look of sisterly concern.

  “You know, Anna, you need to get out more. It doesn’t do you any good being stuck here all day and most of the night. You’ll have to have a word with Nick in the New Year, get yourself some more time off… You’re coming to the gig at the Tavern tonight, aren’t you?”

  Anna smiled. She found Sonja’s concern sweet. She already felt that the gang had accepted her as one of their own, but this made her feel even more as if she finally belonged.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  “Great. Well, it looks like we’re all off. I’ll see you later.”

  Sonja rejoined the others who were getting their coats on ready to make the short walk to the pub, now that they’d spotted Gabrielle making her way towards the End.

  “How are you feeling?” Sonja asked Kerry. “Still nervous?”