‘Jade James!’ Mrs Adams barked.
‘Sorry,’ Sylvie whispered across to the teacher. ‘That was my fault. She was answering a question I asked.’
‘Miss, did you just fib?’
‘Oh, um, well, yes. Now shush,’ Sylvie hissed, and then as an afterthought, ‘Doesn’t mean you ever should!’
As Rosy started to outline the main points of the fireworks code, getting the older children to join in and pulling up volunteers to act out what to do, Sylvie felt herself zoning out as she put the finishing touches to her plan. She would just get to Alex and make it really, really clear that she wasn’t interested in him before Marion could get there with her tuppence-worth. Alex would be relieved; after all, she was fairly sure he valued the friendship as much as she did and all should be OK as long as she didn’t get distracted by his arms, shoulders, hands, eyes, smile, legs, upper thighs…
Oh, for goodness’ sake, she’d have to speak to him with her eyes closed at this rate. She would need to remain focused, hope he didn’t give her that look that he had started giving her when he saw her, the one that melted her tummy and made her feel she was going to disintegrate into a puddle of lust. Yes, as long as he didn’t do any of that, she’d be fine.
Chapter Twenty-seven
Alex strolled up to school to meet Ellie. He had spoken to her yesterday about how Penmenna were going to help raise funds for her old orphanage and be part of a campaign which coordinated donations of books, stationery, e-readers and laptops from schools all across the country to schools and orphanages in South Sudan. The remit for his foundation was expanding and was now made up of these two prongs – raising funds for orphanages and helping them coordinate the reuniting of children separated from their families, alongside the resourcing and mentoring of schools attached to said orphanage in an attempt to give these displaced children as good a start as they could.
He had asked Ellie if she would mind Penmenna School being involved in such a project and was so proud of the way her eyes had lit up, excited at the thought of being able to help the friends she had left behind. As she pointed out, Penmenna had an awful lot of books, it only made sense to share. His heart filled.
And now he was hoping to catch Sylvie. As committed as he was to the foundation he found his mind wandering a lot recently. Starting with the boys teasing a few weeks before and culminating in the time they had spent together at Halloween, it was increasingly apparent that not only did he seem to make Sylvie the topic of conversation whenever he could, but she was constantly on his mind. He was making great strides in trying to control this, but it really was quite hard.
She was his best friend in the village. Well, not best friend, that had to be Chase – after all they had gone to school together – but certainly the one who he spent the most time with, wanted to see even more and the one he felt truly connected to. And as respectful as he was, he would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that the curves of her body, the graceful manner of every movement made, and the way her smile lit up her face didn’t cross his mind as his head hit the pillow at night. And stayed there until morning.
Maybe he needed to stop arsing about with this, fretting that they would jeopardize their friendship and that of the children’s. Both were adults, highly reasonable ones with enough life experience under their belts to accept that sometimes you had to put your head over the parapet. You had to take the leap, or you stayed stuck, never moving on and missing out on all the might-have-beens.
He promised himself that if he tried to take things out of the friendzone then he wouldn’t allow it to mess things up with the kids. He didn’t think it would, to be honest. If anything, he had convinced himself that he and Sylvie in a successful relationship would help create an even more stable environment for Ellie. A traditional family unit.
If she said yes, that was. And he really hoped she would. He saw the way she looked at him whenever she thought he wasn’t looking, and the way she practically melted into him when he put an arm around her or squidged her up on the sofa. Surely he had a chance? And if she said no, and he had read this all wrong, well, he was man enough to cope with rejection. That would be that. At least he would have tried, and with any luck the daydreaming would end.
He had come pretty close on Halloween, but stopped himself because he didn’t want to add to the pressure she was already under, but there came a time when one had to be honest, andthat time was fast approaching. In fact, he had spent all of the last week thrashing it out in his mind. If nothing else he needed clarity, absolute clarity, with regards to where his future was going with Sylvie, so he could get his head back into the game. Closure on the massive crush he now recognized he had, would mean he could get on with the other aspects of his life.
Things were going from strength to strength within the foundation. Penmenna was his first school on board with the educational side of things and Rosy was spreading the word amongst other heads. There were already contractors out in South Sudan beginning to improve the existing site and planning the building of another orphanage with reunion facilities attached. Not an easy job whilst the area was still so unstable.
Now as he approached the outside of Class One he saw Sylvie race across the quad, red curls flying, her urgency out of character. Had something happened to Sam? Surely not? She reached where the parents stood, nodding at some but not engaging in conversation – no emergency or she would have flown through the door.
He saw her face light up, as it always did when she caught sight of him, and then she scurried towards him, looking as if she was trying to compose her features into a slightly sterner look. OK, this should be amusing. He was particularly fond of stern Sylvie, she always utterly failed and he wondered how Sam fell for it every single time.
‘Hey, how’s you? That’s a very stern face for Fireworks Night. Do you want me to come pick you up later? Then you can have a drink. I think they’re serving mulled cider or something.’
‘Yes they are, but no, that’s fine, I’ll drive in. But I do need to talk to you.’
‘Or you could come for supper. And then you can tell me what it is. Is it about classes tomorrow? You know you’re going to smash it, right?’
Sylvie started scrunching her mouth up and looking at him funnily, then she cocked her head to one side and started to speak. Then stopped herself, paused and let out a sigh and started to speak again.
‘OK, none of that then. Come on, what’s wrong? Just say it.’ He had seen her do this before; it had been an awfully big build-up to being told he had spinach in his teeth.
‘Um… oh…’ More head cocking and sighing.
‘Coo-ee… you two!’ The high-pitched call came from across the playground. It was amazing how that woman’s voice travelled.
‘Oh my God, um…’ Marion’s frantic waving seemed to speed Sylvie up, her eyes darting from Marion to Alex and back again, ‘…look, Alex, I really like you and everything, I love spending time with you, but as a friend, OK?Onlyas a friend. I’m sure… um… that you’ll find someone soon, but I promise that someone is not me. OK? Do you understand what I’m trying to say? Quickly, do you understand? You and me, great friends but I’m not interested in anything else. Really not interested. It doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say. I’m telling you, I’m happy with how things are and that’s it.’
‘Whoa, OK. Um, I hadn’t suggested…’
‘I know you hadn’t, and that’s why I’m trying to say I’m agreeing. Oh, hi, Sam. Hi, Ellie. Good day?’ She didn’t pause to listen to their answer but just carried on babbling at speed. ‘Marion looks like she wants to talk to you, Alex. Sam and I are going to race off, but we’ll see you tonight at school, OK? I really have to go. We are all good, aren’t we?’
Alex felt his head nod up and down but the truth was he wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Had she suddenlydeveloped some kind of super-psychic mind-reading power and decided to head him off before he embarrassed himself later this evening? In which case he supposed he should be grateful, if he could just shut off that sharp pang of rejection currently coursing through his body.
‘Brilliant, laters. Ooh, sorry, Marion, can’t stop. See you all tonight.’ And with that Sylvie practically sprinted out of the playground, cheeks red as cherries, having grasped an indignant Sam’s hand and dragging him behind her.
