Finn and Amelia sat with a single chair between them, so close they could have reached out and touched. But they were both pretending to be completely alone! Amelia stared pointedly at the ceiling. Finn sat staring at the ground, absentmindedly rolling the wheels of his skateboard again and again . . .
‘Would you mind not doing that?’ Amelia asked eventually. ‘The noise is going straight through me.’ She rubbed her temples as though she had a headache.
‘Sorry.’ Finn sighed. ‘I was just checking them. I screwed the wheels back in earlier, but I need to make sure they’re in good shape. I don’t want to have an accident.’
Amelia gave a small smile. ‘I thought you skater-boys liked to live dangerously.’
Look up! Olivia wanted to scream at Finn. She’s smiling at you, can’t you see?
Finn shrugged, still looking at the ground. ‘We do. But there’s a difference between “dangerous” and “stupid”.’
‘And the difference is . . . ?’
‘Um . . .’ Finn’s lips curved into a rueful smile. For the first time, he darted a glance at Amelia. ‘I don’t know. Hope that doesn’t mean I’m stupid!’
Amelia’s face quivered. Her lips – Yes! Olivia cheered silently. Amelia’s lips were definitely twitching! She was trying not to let her smile become a huge grin.
Do it! Olivia silently urged the other girl. Give in!
‘I’m sure you’re not stupid,’ Amelia said softly. Olivia had never heard her sounding so sweet! Her cheeks were blushing now. Finn was staring at her, his mouth hanging half-open. Olivia could see what he was thinking – it was written all over his face. Amelia is being nice to me!
Fabulous! Olivia thought. My plan is actually working. Now, all I need is for Amelia to look at him again and give him one of her beautiful smiles.
But instead, Amelia’s face straightened. She looked back up at the ceiling, and the moment passed. Two chairs away, Finn shrugged and went back to rolling the wheels of the board. Creak! Creak!
Amelia’s right, Olivia thought glumly. That really is quite irritating.
But what was even more irritating was the fact that the two of them were wasting their perfect opportunity. Were they really going to let this moment slip through their fingertips without saying another word to each other?
Had she made a terrible mistake setting this up? She’d been so sure they liked each other. But . . .
Wait! What’s that?
Finn wasn’t looking at the ground any more. His gaze had turned . . . to Amelia. And he wasn’t looking away.
Olivia held her breath as she turned to look for the Goth-Queen’s reaction.
Amelia had definitely noticed, too. Her eyes might still be fixed on the ceiling, but her normally-pale skin was flushing pink. And as Olivia watched, Amelia ever-so-casually lifted her left hand out of her lap and laid it on the empty chair between them.
Yes, yes, yes! Olivia willed Finn. Take her hand. Just do it!
Finn’s own cheeks had flushed now, too. His gaze rested on Amelia’s hand. Slowly, slo-o-o-owly, his own right hand lifted to hover in the air just above hers. His gaze flicked to Amelia’s. She didn’t look at him, but she didn’t move her hand, either. Gradually, his hand began to lower over hers . . .
Loud footsteps sounded in the hallway behind Olivia. She spun around. Oh, no. It was Principal Carson!
She lunged down the hallway to intercept him. He can’t go into the office. Not now!
She thudded to a halt in front of him just before he could turn the corner. ‘Mr Carson!’ she gasped.
‘Olivia Abbott?’ Frowning down at her, the principal came to a halt. ‘What is it?’
Olivia gulped. I forgot how tall he is!
As he loomed over her, broad and intimidating in his sharply creased grey suit, he blocked out the light. ‘Um . . .’ Olivia’s head whirled, then went completely blank. ‘Uh . . .’ Why didn’t I come up with a plan for this part?
He shook his head impatiently. ‘Miss Abbott, if there’s something you’d like to say to me, please do so.’ He looked over her head. ‘Otherwise –’
‘There is! There is something I wanted to say.’