Sugar Secrets…& Conflict Read online

  Ollie was too stunned to respond. Nick regularly popped through to the second-hand record shop to give Bryan a break, but when proper cover was needed, it was always Ollie who was drafted in. He knew it wasn’t practical now, not with the café to run, but the fact that Nick had never even bothered to mention he was going to approach Matt…?

  “Oh, no!” gasped Matt suddenly.

  “What? What’s up?” asked Ollie, noticing that his mate’s gaze was fixed on the newspaper and the Battle of the Bands ad.

  “That can’t be right?!” exclaimed Matt. “But this is… oh, no – it’s the wrong date!”

  “What are you on about?” asked Ollie, cranking his neck round to see what the problem was.

  “This is the week before last’s copy of the paper – and the closing date for the tapes for the competition is today!”

  “You’re joking!” gasped Ollie, this latest bad news quickly shaking him out of his reverie.

  Anna walked over, noting the boys’ shocked expressions.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, modulating her voice to sound normal.

  She’d felt quite shaken by her little outburst just now; it wasn’t really in Anna’s nature to get wound up and she was more than willing to start again. And OK, so Ollie still wasn’t helping out much yet, but by the look on his face, something was really wrong.

  “Anna! Total disaster!” said Ollie, his eyes wide and his floppy hair tousled where he’d frantically run his hand through it.

  “It’s that Battle of the Bands thing The Loud are entering,” explained Matt. “The closing date for entries is today!”

  “Anna – I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go up to the city and hand this thing over personally!” Ollie gabbled, untying the apron he’d only just put on. “If I go now I can catch the next train and be back here in under two hours!”

  “Ollie! There’s no way you’re going to take off like that and leave me and Irene to it! This is work – you can’t just swan in and out when you feel like it!”

  Ollie’s face went as red as Anna’s was white.

  “That’s an order, is it?” said OIlie, his eyes fixed on Anna’s.

  “Well… Nick did leave me in charge,” said Anna, a hint of a wobble barely detectable in her voice.

  “No problem! No problem!” intervened Matt quickly, leaping off his stool. “I’m not doing anything today – give us the tape, Ol and I’ll take a drive up to the city right now. It’s kind of my fault anyway, not noticing it was an old newspaper and everything…”

  “Thanks, mate,” said OIlie flatly as Matt tucked the cassette into his pocket.

  “Thanks…” Anna muttered quietly as her boyfriend gave her a hasty peck on the cheek.

  For all the chatter and clamour of children going on around them, the silence between Anna and OIlie lay as heavy as storm-laden thunder clouds.

  CHAPTER 7

  EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE

  “Wow – did it go that badly?”

  Turning his head to respond to the familiar voice seemed like an enormous effort. Joe’s head and back ached, and it wasn’t just from the strain of the exam he’d sat through. It felt, Joe knew, more like a case of flu coming on, just as he’d dreaded at the weekend.

  “The exam? Oh, just pretty lousy,” he shrugged, responding to Sonja’s question. “How was yours?”

  Sonja smiled brightly and nodded, her straight blonde hair being lifted by the gentle breeze that was playing around their heads.

  “It went fine – no questions that caught me out, thank goodness!” she replied.

  Joe shivered, pulling his jacket closer around him. All he wanted to do was get home and switch off. Not that that was an option.

  “Joe, don’t take this the wrong way, but you look terrible. You’re white as a sheet and you’ve got the darkest circles under your eyes,” said Sonja, squinting at him with concern. “Have you been staying up too late swotting or what?”

  “No – I think I’m coming down with something.”

  Sonja took two steps back.

  “Don’t give it to me then!” she joked. “I’ve got to do well in my exams to get the grades I need. I don’t need your germs clogging up my brains with snot right now!”

  “Tell me about it…” Joe muttered, his shoulders hunched against the cold shivers he felt shooting through his body.

  “Poor babe, you better go home and get some Night Nurse down you!” Sonja sympathised, from a safe distance. “Or, better still, get Meg to come round and play nurse!”

  Joe managed a smile at his friend’s cheek. There was nothing he’d like more than to hang out with Meg, with her dark smiling eyes and her cute little cupid-bow lips…

  “I wish,” mumbled Joe. “But it’s band rehearsal tonight.”

  “And it’s going to be band rehearsal without a drummer for once. You can’t go if you’re feeling that lousy, Joe!”

  He knew Sonja was right. But after their small ruction on Saturday afternoon, Joe was keen to get back to normal with Ollie – and rehearsals would provide the perfect opportunity.

  If he didn’t keel over first.

  “Joe, sweetie, it’s not often I put my foot down,” said Susie Gladwin, staring at her son with her round eyes, “but I really don’t want you going to your band practice tonight. You’re not well.”

  Joe was feeling as soggy as a bowlful of scrambled eggs, but some small reserve of energy still lingered – enough for him to argue back.

  “Mum – don’t fuss. Rehearsals are only across the road at The Swan. I’ll be fine!”

  “You might be fine – if you stay in and have an early night! Oh and this came for you,” said his mum, passing a letter over while she continued her fussing. “I mean, you’ve still got another two exams to do and if you go out tonight you’ll get all sweaty playing those drums and then come out in the night air… what is it, dear?”

  Joe’s glazed eyes were fixed on the contents of the letter.

  “It’s my driving test,” he said, not looking up.

  “But they’ve given you a date for it already, in August, haven’t they?”

  “Yes, but now they’ve offered me a cancellation. I can sit it a week on Friday, if I want.”

  Susie Gladwin blinked as she digested this piece of information.

  “A week on Friday? But that’s your last exam…”

  “Yes, but the exam’s not till 2.00 pm – the driving test’s at nine in the morning,” Joe pointed out.

  The thought of doing both things on one day made his already wobbly head swim, but it was better than the alternative: wait and worry about the test for the next three months. To get that and the dreaded A levels out of the way in one fell swoop seemed the best option he had.

  “But that’s too much! You can’t do both on the same day – that’s pushing yourself too hard, love!” his mum protested. “And you’re not well! What if you still feel ill next week?”

  “OK, OK!” snapped Joe, aware that he was taking his own frustration out on his well-intentioned mother. “I’ll pull out of rehearsal, if that’s what you want!”

  Feeling rotten for blowing up unfairly like that. and feeling rotten in general, Joe hurried out of the kitchen and headed for the phone.

  “Anna? It’s Joe – is Ollie there?”

  “Sure – just a second.”

  Anna didn’t sound herself, Joe noticed, before instantly doubting himself. After all, he felt so spaced he couldn’t trust his own judgement too far.

  “Hello? Joe? What’s up?”

  “Er, hi, Ol. Listen – I’m not feeling too hot… I’m going to have to give rehearsals a miss tonight.”

  There was an ominous silence before Ollie finally replied.

  “Fine. Well, catch you later then.”

  “Yeah… OK. See you, Ol.”

  ‘yep. Bye.”

  Joe stared at the receiver. He wasn’t sure he’d picked up the right signals about Anna, but he knew he wasn’t mistaken when it came to
Ollie.

  Gee, thanks for your concern – not, thought Joe as he hung up.

  Ollie took a deep breath and walked back over to the table he’d been clearing.

  Oblivious to how noisily he was thudding the dishes on to his tray, Ollie’s mind throbbed with this latest piece of bad news. He’d been dying to tell the other lads in The Loud all about the competition and was going to surprise them with it tonight.

  Fat chance of that, he thought darkly, now that Joe was the third member of the band – after Andy and Billy – to phone up and cancel in the last half hour. All because of some stupid exams. I mean, can’t they spare two measly hours?

  “Do you have to make that racket?” came Irene’s gently teasing voice beside him.

  But after a day of feeling that his friends and fate were all ganging up on him, Ollie was – for once – in no mood for jokes.

  “Sorry, Irene, but I do,” he replied, chucking a handful of cutlery on top of the plates and making the old lady wince at the ear-splitting clatter.

  CHAPTER 8

  ALL PLAY AND NO WORK

  “Who needs A levels anyway?”

  “The college you want to get into?” suggested Maya, grinning at Kerry, who was slouched on the red vinyl banquette opposite.

  “I s’pose so,” smiled Kerry. “Still, after the mess I probably made of that exam, I think I deserve two chocolate brownies, instead of one.”

  “Well,” shrugged Maya, “getting wound up by exams takes it out of you. All the worry must burn up loads of calories!”

  “It must, mustn’t it? And you’re a doctor’s daughter, Maya, so I’ll take that as scientific proof! Two chocolate brownies, when you’ve got a minute, Anna!”

  “Uh-huh…” murmured their friend distractedly as she rushed past them, tray in hand.

  “She doesn’t look too happy. Wonder what’s up?” said Maya softly.

  “Oh, I think it’s this whole thing with Nick leaving her in charge over Ollie while he’s on holiday,” whispered Kerry. “It’s made the atmosphere really weird between the two of them.”

  Both girls surreptitiously glanced over at the long-haired waitress, who was just disappearing into the kitchen.

  “Hmm – well, they’d better sort it out,” Maya said with a frown fixed on her smooth forehead. “Nick’s only been gone three days – they’ve got a long while to go before he comes back!”

  “I know…” groaned Kerry, watching for Anna’s return. “Ollie’s worried that Anna’s being too bossy, like the power’s gone to her head, he says.”

  “But that doesn’t sound like Anna,” Maya pointed out. “Still, she isn’t a happy bunny – that’s for sure. I wonder if it’s something else?”

  “Like what?” Kerry blinked. “you mean, like some hassles going on between her and Matt maybe?”

  “Maybe… but maybe not. The two of them are pretty happy together. Or at least they seem that way…”

  Maya looked suddenly flustered and stared down at her hands.

  “What is it?” Kerry asked, reaching one hand across the Formica table towards her friend. “Do you know something about Matt and Anna?”

  Maya glanced up at Kerry, half shook her head and looked confused.

  “Oh, no. I – I think maybe I’ve got a bit of a downer on love and stuff at the moment.”

  “How come? Aren’t you and Alex getting on?” asked Kerry gently, realising that Maya had been talking more about her own relationship than Matt and Anna’s.

  “Yes. I mean, we would be fine if we could see each other. But Mum and Dad have put a ban on that – and me going out in the evenings with any of you guys – until these mock exams are over.”

  “So what’s the problem? Think he’ll get bored and find someone new?”

  Kerry had been joking. Alex was so sweet and sensible – and old enough to know better – and the idea of him running off with another girl just because Maya was out of the picture for a couple of weeks was ridiculous.

  But judging by the expression on Maya’s face right now, Kerry realised, that idea isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds…

  “Kez, he went to a birthday party on Monday night,” Maya began, her dark, almond-shaped eyes wider than usual.

  “And?” asked Kerry, her heart pitter-pattering with concern. “What happened?”

  “And… I don’t know – I haven’t spoken to him on the phone yet.”

  Kerry was confused. What was Maya getting at?

  “It’s just…” her friend winced, agitatedly tearing at a paper napkin. “It’s just that I know this will sound stupid, but an ex-girlfriend of his was going to be there…”

  “You know something? That does sound stupid!” Kerry laughed reassuringly. “Alex isn’t going to leap into a snog-fest with some ex just ‘cause you’re stuck at home!”

  Maya wrinkled her nose and gave a little shrug of her shoulders.

  “And you know something else?” Kerry continued.

  Maya shook her head.

  “You said a minute ago that Anna wasn’t the bossy type. Well, I’m telling you, you’re not the jealous type. I think you’ve just been getting a bit down about stuff because you’re tired at the moment, with all your studying. I know I am!”

  Maya – who normally doled out the good advice in their crowd – nodded gratefully, glad to have someone give her a little perspective on her love-life, and tell her what she already knew. She was overtired, overemotional and just being plain silly.

  “Poor Alex. If you go doubting him now, when you’re only stressed out by your mocks, what’s it going to be like for him when it’s your A levels?”

  Me and Alex, this time next year?

  As the thought ran through Maya’s mind, she didn’t know what exactly the peculiar tug at her heart was trying to tell her.

  “Amazing…” said Andy, nodding his head as if he could hear some imaginary song playing in there.

  “Well, it will be amazing if we get shortlisted for the finals!” Ollie pointed out.

  “How could they not pick us?” beamed Billy, his broad, infectiously enthusiastic grin filling Ollie full of confidence again after last night’s no-show at rehearsals.

  The two boys, guilty at blowing out their regular Tuesday night get-together, had met up and swung around to the End-of-the-Line café this Wednesday teatime to say their sorrys again and catch up with Ollie. Neither Andy or Billy had expected to hear such exciting news as the Battle of the Bands competition.

  Andy seemed so surprised, he plonked himself down on a stack of bread crates by the back door. Billy, meanwhile, was practically bouncing on the spot in the yard that backed on to the End’s kitchen.

  “you’re right!” grinned Ollie, leaning an elbow back on the iron staircase that led to the upstairs flat. “Why shouldn’t The Loud get picked? We’re great, aren’t we?”

  “So when do we hear if we’re shortlisted or not?” asked Andy, gazing up at Ollie.

  “Don’t know. But don’t worry, lads,” Ollie reassured his guitarist and bass player, “I’m covered every which way. On the application form I gave my number here, at home, at The Swan and even Kerry’s – so there’s no way I’ll miss them if they call!”

  “What – you mean you didn’t give them the number of the phone box beside the park that you pass on your way to work?!” laughed Billy, forgetting his own exam worries in the excitement of the moment.

  Ollie felt jubilant at the other lads’ reaction. Now all he wanted to do was to call Joe to tell him the news.

  Maybe I was a bit tough on Joe last night, Ollie mused. He did sound pretty ill. But this news’ll cheer him up. I’ll give him a buzz after—

  “Ollie – I need a hand inside.”

  He swung round at Anna’s words and saw her framed in the doorway to the kitchen, her face as stern as any schoolteacher’s.

  “Yeah, in a second, Anna – I’m on my break, remember?” Ollie countered, feeling like a naughty child being reprimanded.

  “Olli
e, you took your break at five o’clock and it’s twenty past now. That’s a long ten-minute break by my reckoning, specially when there’s a room full of customers out there!”

  Infuriatingly, Anna spun away from him before he could answer, but in truth, Ollie couldn’t have come up with a very good reply anyway. So it wasn’t fair that Anna was angry with him – there had only been two customers in when Ollie had come out to sit and get a bit of fresh air on the back step – but Ollie couldn’t really argue about the time. He’d completely lost track of it once Andy and Billy had arrived and they’d got talking.

  “Whoooo-OOOOO-ooo! Hark at her! Who’s been a naughty boy then?!” Billy held up his hands to his chest like a granny clutching a handbag.

  “What’s up with Anna?” asked Andy more sensitively. “She really snapped at you there…”

  “yeah,” said Billy, dropping the jokey stuff and peering into the kitchen after her. “I thought our Anna was a bit of a hippy. Thought she was into peace and love and good karma and that.”

  “Yeah, but that was before our Anna got on her power trip,” said OIlie, feeling hurt and sounding bitter.

  “OIlie, I think you’d better give Anna a hand,” said Dorothy, peering out into the yard, still clutching the spoon she’d been using to stir the pasta sauce.

  “Yep, I’m there, Dorothy,” OIlie reassured the old lady, before adding under his breath: “When Sergeant Major Michaels calls…”

  Clicking his heels together and saluting at the boys, OIlie turned sharply and marched off into the kitchen.

  CHAPTER 9

  OLLIE DOES IT AGAIN

  “Penny for ‘em!”

  “Shut up, Matt.”

  “Come on, love – give’s a smile!”

  “Matt!”

  “Cheer up – it might never ‘appen!”

  “Matt – quit the bloke-off-a-building-site routine!” said Anna, glaring at her boyfriend as he stood grinning at the open front door of her flat.