John: And I said, ‘When are those showers and toilets arriving, again?’
Maggie: Yeah, touché. We’d both made mistakes. I was trying to fix mine. I was too mad to answer him.
Danny: Let’s leave them all there and see what Sebastian is doing, shall we?
Sebastian: It was late morning, and I was the only one in the house. Everyone else was in the park trying to smooth things over or whatever. I was drawing. And then there was a knock on the door. I thought it must be someone needing to use the shower, and I was already annoyed with the impact this visit was having on everything, so I took my time going down the stairs and opening the door. I wasn’t expecting to see AJ Silver standing there. He asked if he could come in, and I shrugged and said he could if he wanted to. He was in the hallway and I turned to go back upstairs, and he asked if I had ten minutes. We ended up drinking tea at the kitchen table. I found some Jammy Dodgers in the cupboard. I remember him saying they didn’t have those in the States. The whole thing was kind of weird. I didn’t know what he wanted. We didn’t talk much, and not about anything important. Then he got up and left. I was a bit baffled, but I just went back to my room and put a film on.
Zak: It was almost lunchtime when I saw AJ. He was on his own, his expression furious. We were still in Adventure City, about to go on the 360. AJ was walking towards us, and when he got close, he broke into a jog. Asked me where I’d been. I said I’d just been around, with Pea and Alex. He looked at the two of them like he’d never seen them before. Said he’d been looking everywhere.
Pea: I said that maybe we should give them walkie talkies. The staff all used them, and since a lot of them weren’t there, there would be a drawer full of them in the office. That way, they could keep track of each other.
Zak: Pea was just trying to be helpful, but AJ snapped at her. Said the staff would all be back in the morning. I wondered who had told him that. I asked if he wanted to hang with us now he’d found us, and I could see him trying to decide. He wanted tostorm off, to make a big thing out of it, but he also wanted our company. That part won out, in the end.
Pea: I guess my first impressions of AJ were quite poor. But that Saturday, once he’d got over the fact of not being able to find his brother, I saw a different side to him. I remember being surprised by how funny he was. Not telling jokes, nothing obvious like that, but his responses to things we said were all so sharp and quick. I caught Zak looking annoyed a couple of times when I was laughing, and I tried to rein it in after that.
Alex: AJ and I got on really well. Something clicked with us. Neither of us took life very seriously, and we both liked to have fun. A few times that day, my brain reminded me that this guy I’d met and was getting on well with was one of the most famous people in the world, but after that I sort of forgot about it. He was just AJ.
Pea: We didn’t go back to the house until late afternoon. We’d grabbed chicken and chips in the food hall for lunch, and then we’d gone over to Fun City and gone on all the kids’ rides that I hadn’t ridden for years. Zak and I had shared candy floss.
Zak: It was so great being around Pea, but all I wanted to do was touch her and it was hard with other people around. At one point, when AJ and Alex were swapping stories about music concerts they’d been to, I took her hand and led her around the back of the carousel. I put my hands on her waist and she tilted her head. Kissing her felt like diving into sun-warmed water. I was addicted to it. But after a couple of minutes, she pulled away. I asked her when we were going to get to spend some time alone, and she said she didn’t know and left it at that.
Pea: I was scared. Not of Zak, obviously, but of his age and experience. I was scared that as soon as we were truly alone – if we ever were – he would be expecting me to sleep with him, and I didn’t know whether I felt ready. I was embarrassed to tell him it was my first time.
Alex: Oh, those two kept sneaking off but I didn’t really care. AJ had asked me if I wanted to go to the Manchester show next week, and I had tried to play it cool and failed spectacularly.
Zak: AJ was always inviting people to his shows. It was a thing he did, to make people like him, I guess. He knew those tickets were worth a lot – not necessarily a huge amount of money, but there were more people who wanted to go to his shows than there were tickets available – and he liked the power of offering them up casually, like it was nothing. I remember thinking,I’m not sure how happy Maggie will be about that, and before I’d even finished the thought, AJ had asked Pea if she wanted to come too. Now, I don’t know why but the idea of Pea going to one of AJ’s shows freaked me out. When she saw all the hysteria, and the spectacle of it, what if she decided that she liked him more than she liked me? Yes, I was insecure. I had a pop star for a brother. Who wouldn’t be?
Pea: I was more into indie music, but when AJ asked if we’d like tickets for the Manchester show, I didn’t hesitate. How many sixteen-year-olds got invited to a pop concert by the star themselves? How many got to travel with the band? A little voice told me that Mum might have a thing or two to say about it, particularly with the concert falling on a Monday night and almost certainly resulting in a late night, but I tried to ignore it. One thing at a time. I said yes. Zak dropped the hand he’d been holding. I turned to look at him, and he smiled, but his eyes weresad, or possibly angry. I hadn’t worked out all his expressions yet.
Alex: I wanted to grab Pea and do a little dance, like I had when we’d heard Mrs Vine wasn’t coming back to school after her cancer treatment or when I’d won second prize in a dressing up competition at school, but I held it all in. I didn’t want AJ to think I was too much. Or that I was a loser.
Pea: AJ and Zak both smoked, and they’d offered the pack to Alex and me a few times, but stopped after we always said no. But for some reason I decided I wanted one. I asked Zak and he lit one for himself and another for me. That’s when Sebastian turned up.
Sebastian: Pea was smoking and it was so fucking stupid. It was like she was changing who she was to try to be cool for this boy she liked. Anyway, I told her Mum and Dad wanted to talk to her. She asked what it was about, and I just shrugged. But I think we could both guess that it was about a certain American guy who was blowing smoke rings into the air at that exact moment.
Pea: I spent every weekend at the park, and I always returned at about six for dinner. It was four at this point. I wanted to know why I was being called in, like a child. But I knew things would be worse if I didn’t go. I asked Alex if he was coming, and he said no, he’d stay with AJ and Zak if that was okay with them. They looked like they didn’t much care either way. So Sebastian and I headed back to the house, with me frantically munching on a Polo mint to get rid of the smell of cigarettes.
Cathy: Pea came back reeking of smoke, so that wasn’t a great start.
John: Sitting down with her for a talk was Cathy’s idea, and I felt a bit uncomfortable with it. Every generation learns what they need to about relationships and sex, don’t they? My parents certainly never sat me down for a chat like this.
Cathy: I made us all tea, but when I brought it into the lounge, Pea was tapping her foot as if she didn’t have time for any of this.
Pea: I asked them what it was about and Mum looked a bit taken aback.
Cathy: I said we wanted to talk to her about Zak, and about what we thought was and wasn’t acceptable while he was visiting.
Pea: I asked whether this was all about him kissing me in the kitchen this morning.
Cathy: I said that we understood she was sixteen now, and she was likely to start having boyfriends and going on dates, but that it was important to us that she respected us and herself and didn’t move too fast with anyone. Particularly someone who usually lived thousands of miles away.
Pea: I get it, now. It’s hard to imagine your children becoming adults. Often they’re ready for this kind of thing before you are. Back then, I just thought they were being difficult for the sake of it. I said I thought I loved him. I actually said that.
Cathy: I scoffed when she said she loved him. She’d known him for such a short time, and for most of that time they’d been on opposite sides of the Atlantic. This wasn’t love. It was hormones and lust and a bit of idolisation. And I said as much.
Pea: Idolisation? I mean, if it had been anything to do with the fact that AJ was famous, surely it would have been AJ I was interested in.
John: We were getting nowhere. I put my hands out and they both went quiet. I said that we were the parents and she was the child, and even though she might not like that, it meant that we made the rules.
