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12M

p8

Feelings for Kylie

By

David Thompson

Synopsis.

It’s New Year. Will (15) and his family, are on their annual skiing holiday in Norway. Will loves the outdoors, the mountains, the sea, the changing seasons. He likes girls, but doesn’t quite understand them yet.

The family returns to Cornwall, where they live on the edge of a small town on the coast. Will had a Kylie Minogue calendar for Christmas and pins it on his wall.

Back to school for the spring term and the usual boring lessons and same old faces. January turns into February. Will is persuaded to play rugby for the school team. He does well but is ‘taken out’ by his opposite number and ends up being tended on the touchline by the most gorgeous creature he has ever seen. It turns out that she is a new girl in his year at school - and her name is Kylie.

Over the next few months, he falls deeply in love with her but she shows little interest in him. He cannot summon up the courage to approach her and a series of non-productive and, sometimes disastrous, encounters leave him feeling desolate. His amorous intentions are further thwarted by his friend Sophie, who is competing for his affections. Hot summer days and nights intensify his passion until a chance encounter on the evening of the carnival brings them both together.

Will cannot believe his luck, as he and Kylie start going out and spend more and more time in each other’s company. Then Will’s world falls apart as Kylie breaks the news that her family is moving to Kyrgyzstan in central Asia. They are both heartbroken but powerless to do anything about it. Will also finds out some things about Kylie he didn’t know before, that the body he discovered on the beach a year earlier was that of Kylie’s mother. Kylie came to Will’s school because she was excluded from her private school due to behavioural problems resulting from domestic upheaval.

She leaves the country and Will is devastated. He becomes withdrawn and moody. Kylie meanwhile meets a boy called Yury who has designs on her. Will is very jealous. He ends up in a fight at school and is excluded. Will uses Sophie as a shoulder to lean on and she uses the opportunity to creep back into his affections.

Yury’s father is successful and influential and Yury becomes a target for kidnappers. Kylie is taken too but released after a short time. Yury is released after several days, with the payment of a ransom, and his family rejoices. Kylie’s father decides that Kyrgyzstan is too dangerous for his daughters and returns them to the UK, where Kylie is reunited with Will. The sisters stay with their aunt but Kylie joins Will’s family for their New Year pilgrimage to Norway, where the story ends.

The postscript finds Will and Kylie as spectators at the 2012 Olympics, where Yury is representing his country. It transpires that Yury’s father, fearing for his safety, sent him to England where he met up with Kylie again and love blossomed. The pair later returned to Kyrgyzstan and are engaged to be married. Will and Sophie are an item now but his feelings for Kylie run deep.

 

The Wrong Text

“Will?” Sophie hesitated. “Will, I know who she is.” Will tried to appear disinterested.

“Who?”

“You remember? There was someone you fancied and you wanted to know how to let them know.”

Will could feel his heartbeat quicken. His voice quavered slightly. “I told you, it was nothing"

“It’s Kylie James, isn’t it?" Sophie found it difficult to conceal the smug feeling of triumph as Will’s face began to colour up. Will looked away but his guilty secret was out. How on earth did she find out? No-one knew he liked Kylie. Well, that wasn’t quite true.

Sophie put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him round to face her. “You’re wondering how I know, aren’t you? We girls have ways We also hold the keys to your hearts” She was beginning to sound sinister.

Sophie noted the look of alarm on Will’s face and her tone softened.  “Don’t worry  sweetheart, I won't tell anyone, but I do have Kylie’s mobile number if you’re interested.” She had a piece of paper in her hand with some numbers on it. She dangled it in front of him like a carrot and smiled serenely.

Will realised that it was hopeless to pretend that he didn’t fancy Kylie James. His face was like an open book so he had no option but to be totally honest. However, he didn’t want to discuss things in detail and gratefully took the paper from her.

“Why not send her a text message tonight. Ask her out or something”.

“Yes, thanks. I might do that”, he replied in a dull non-committal tone. Will was still somewhat phased by this turn of events and didn’t know quite what to say. He felt a mixture of guilt over Sophie and anticipation regarding Kylie. He managed to compose himself enough to say, “You really are a good friend, Sophie. Thanks a lot”.

Sophie was glad that Will had been too embarrassed to pursue the question of how she knew about his feelings for Kylie.

Will wandered round in a bit of a daze for the rest of the day. He could feel the piece of paper in his pocket each time he put his hand in, which he did frequently. Sometimes, he took it out and read the numbers, then folded it and returned it to its warm dark haven next to his thigh. He really wasn’t sure if he was ready to make direct contact with her and, the more he thought about it, the more nervous he felt.

That afternoon, he walked home from school and went straight upstairs to get changed. He paced around his room, as he often did these days, thinking and agonising. Finally, he took the number out of his pocket and picked up his mobile ‘phone. This was it, the gateway to eternal happiness or hopeless rejection. He couldn’t think what to say. He held the ‘phone in his hand for ages, then he punched out a few words, then he deleted them again and put the ‘phone down on his desk. He paced around the room a few more times.

He decided to write down some ideas of what to say. After all, this was a very important first step. What he said to her now might make or break their relationship. The old familiar feelings of self-doubt started to creep from the recesses of his subconscious mind. This was a really bad plan. Perhaps this was how you felt when you were about to make a bungy jump for the first time or go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The analogy was a bit extreme but the gravity was the same.

‘hi”, he started. “u dont now me but I lyl can I take u out Pls txt bak”. What absolute rubbish, how feeble, he thought, and scribbled it out. The message must be stronger, more dominant. “Kylie, I love you. Marry me”, he wrote, just to see what it looked like. He felt a slight thrill just writing the words ‘Kylie’ and ‘love’ in the same sentence, but it was getting him nowhere.

Robyn knocked on his door. He quickly put the ‘phone down, screwed up the paper and said, “Come in.” His voice was cracked and strained. “Oh, it’s you”, he said. He picked up the ‘phone again and carefully prodded the keys as though he was examining an ancient artifact.

“What are you doing?” Robyn asked.

“Beaming up to the Starship Enterprise. What do you think I’m doing? I’m actually texting a friend.”

She laughed, although she’d never heard of the Starship Enterprise. “Anyone I know?”

“I hope not, if you don’t mind Robyn..” He covered the ‘phone with his hand and stared at her until she left.

He was beginning to feel angry, which was always a good sign because he was more likely to act positively if he felt angry. He began pressing keys without bothering to write the message out on paper first: “we hav met but u dont know me just wanted to say lyl can i take u out sometime”, and he signed it with his full name. That was it. It said what he felt but it was cool, not over the top. He took a deep breath and sent the message. He felt a strange sense of release, as though the problem now belonged to someone else.

The reply was not long in coming: “lyl too y did it take u so long to ask me out” and she signed it Kylie. Will was beside himself He stood in the middle of the room, breathing hard and staring at the message. Suddenly he leaped in the air, hitting his head on the central lamp-shade and shouted, “Yes!!”  He clenched his fists and shook them with delight.

Robyn burst in through the door. “Are you alright?” She looked genuinely concerned, apart from a slight glint in her eye, which Will didn’t pick up. “Never felt better, my lovely little sister.” He bent down and put his arms around her, then swiftly pushed her backwards through the open door and closed it, all in the same movement. As an afterthought, he turned the key in the lock so that he would not be disturbed. Will quickly composed a reply and sent it. She came back to him with a short message almost immediately. Several more messages and a meeting had been arranged later that evening at the recreation ground.

Will was unusually chatty over tea and obviously in high spirits. His change of mood did not go unnoticed, but he shrugged off the enquiries from his family and ate quickly. He even loaded the dishwasher without having to be asked, although the various items were almost thrown in at random.

What to wear? He pulled items of clothing from his chest of drawers. Hangers from the wardrobe were strewn across the bed. Would she go for tight trousers that showed off his bum? How about the black vest that accentuated his shoulder muscles. Shoes - those new trainers would do. Should the waistband of his boxers show above the waistband of the trousers?

Will had always been a bit self-conscious but this was bordering on vanity. She wanted to meet him because she liked him and he liked her. It wouldn’t matter what he wore, or what she wore for that matter. What would she be wearing? She would probably want to look good for him so he ought to look good for her. She might be wearing that short skirt she wore to the baptism, and a crop top. He pictured her in his mind’s eye and his heart raced. He started to feel slightly sick with anxiety and apprehension. He put on some loud raunchy music, whilst he got changed, to dispel any negative emotions.

They had arranged to meet at eight o’clock. Will started walking down the hill towards the recreation ground at seven forty five. He would be slightly early but it was better if he got there first. His pace slowed as he approached the area where the apparatus stood. The various climbing frames were painted in striking shades of blue and red and yellow. Children were playing and running around, shouting. Parents were sitting at benches or pushing toddlers on swings.

It was a warm evening and the sun was still quite high in the sky. The trees and bushes around the park were in full leaf and a slight breeze riffled through the bright verdant foliage.

Will stood by the line of fir trees that bordered the play area and waited. The evocative smell of pine resin drifted into his nostrils as he watched a group of lads kicking a football around and arguing loudly. Eight o’clock came and went. Girls were always late, he thought, it was their prerogative. Eight fifteen. Still no sign. He started pacing up and down, scanning the faces of all the people he saw, expecting to recognise Kylie at any moment.

By Eight thirty, he had given up hope. He used his mobile ‘phone to text her. Perhaps there had been a misunderstanding or perhaps she was just delayed for some reason. He sent the message and looked up from the screen to see two girls darting behind a tree. They seemed to be hiding from him. He didn’t get a good look at their faces but he thought he recognised one of them, as she disappeared. He could hear them giggling. Will walked slowly round the back of the trees and stood looking at two girls, who were leaning against the trunk of a large Scots Pine, occasionally peeping around the corner and squealing. One of them was holding a mobile ‘phone. The two of them looked intently at the screen whilst she punched a short message. Just then, Will’s ‘phone went off. The two girls swung round to see Will standing a few feet away from them. Jennifer screamed. Emily managed to say, “Hello, Will” in a nervous high-pitched voice. Will looked at the message on his ‘phone then looked across at the two girls. It quickly dawned on him that he had been the subject of a cruel hoax. He felt embarrassed but angry. The girls were shame-faced. Nothing was said for a few seconds.

“Who put you up to this?” Will asked, in the most controlled and mature tone he could muster.

“It was me,” offered Jennifer.” I found out you liked my sister.”

“It was my idea, originally. I texted you before, do you remember?”

 “Are you Emily Jackson?” asked Will, knowing the answer.

“Yes”

“Who’s your sister?” Will directed his question at Jennifer but he had already guessed who she was.

“Kylie James. I’m Jennifer”.

“Does this have anything to do with Sophie Bassett?” Momentarily satisfied with their explanation, Will suddenly remembered that it was Sophie who had given him Kylies ‘phone number. There was a long silence, during which the girls looked from one to the other, nervously.

“Well?” said Will.

Emily spoke first. “Sophie asked for Jennifer’s mobile number. She said that if you ‘phoned or texted, she was to pretend to be Kylie.”

“How did she know you were Kylie’s sister?”

“She asked us a lot of questions, but she seemed to know quite a lot already”.

Will finished quizzing Emily and Jennifer then went for a long walk on his own. His careful preparations had been pointless.

He didn’t want to arrive home early and raise suspicions amongst his family so he shambled around the harbour, through the town and back, taking a good hour and a half to complete his circuit, buried in thought. ‘I must not be beaten,’ he kept persuading himself.

He tried to sound upbeat when he finally walked through the door but his mother guessed that all was not well and he sensed that Robyn knew more than she was letting on.

Back in his bedroom, he flung his jacket on his bed and sat heavily in the chair.