Withering Tights - By Louise Rennison Page 0,41

knee and them jogging you about. I was thinking he could be Mr Darcy. And I could say, “Oh Mr Darcy, I fear you are making fun of a poor London girl not used to country ways.”

Vaisey said, quickly, “Well nothing much happened to me, but you tell, Lullah.”

I felt a bit red. And my legs were aching. Pray God it wasn’t growing pains.

Flossie said, “Go on. Tell.”

I said, “Well…you know when you have your first snog, and it feels like a tiny bat is barging around in your mouth? Well it felt like that.”

They just looked at me.

Then Jo said, “Anyway, can I get on to serious stuff? Phil walked back to Dother Hall with me. It was a dark, soft night, the moon blushing in the sky.” She was leaning against the tree. Lost in Loveland.

“As we drew near to the gates of Dother Hall the old bell in the belfry rang out. I said, ‘I must go in, it’s nigh on ten of the clock.’ He half-turned away from me, his jacket collar hiding his expression. Was he angry? Disappointed?”

Jo looked intently and I said, “Hungry?”

Jo ignored me, but as she passed by acting out walking away from Phil, she allowed her hand to slap against my head.

“As I turned to enter the gates, feeling shaken and weak, I felt his hand on my arm.” She mimed feeling his hand on her arm.

Flossie said, “It wasn’t Bob, was it, out for a late-night-rubbish run?”

Jo slapped her on her head as she passed.

Then in a soft voice she said, “And it was then that he gently pulled me towards him. I felt powerless to resist and he kissed me on the mouth.”

Wooooooohoooooooooo.

Wooooo-hooo-hooooooo.

Honey said, “Wath it thoft or medium pwether?”

Just as things were about to get really good on the snogging information, there was a crunching twig sort of noise, and Phil and Charlie came slowly jogging into the copse.

I felt a bit shy seeing Charlie, I don’t know why. I wonder if he can tell that I have kissed someone. They both jogged on the spot for a minute, which I thought was very funny.

Charlie said, “Hey hey, Tree Sisters. Please let us lie down, we’re pooped.”

And they both flung themselves down under our tree.

Phil winked at Jo.

“Did you get back into Dither Hall alright?”

Jo looked sort of pleased and pink and shy all at the same time. She didn’t say anything. Just nodded. And did a high-pitched sort of snort.

Vaisey said, “Have you been made to go jogging again?”

Charlie said, “No, it’s far, far worse than that. We’re on a gruelling six-mile run.”

I felt a bit funny. Charlie was nice and seemed pleased to see us, but not particularly interested in me. He didn’t really pay much attention to me. When Phil was talking about the Vampire Bats thing and doing his impression of a vampire being attacked by bats (which looked like a mad teddy bear waving off some bees), Charlie said, “Yeah, Ben said you had a laugh.”

What did he know?

Were boys like girls? Did they tell each other everything?

Maybe Ben had said, “Yes, that Tallulah was rubbish at kissing, she just stood there and pulled hair out off her mouth.”

When Gudrun sounded her gong for the afternoon sesh, Phil said to Jo, “We’ve been confined to barracks at nights.”

Jo said, “Oh my God, what did you do?”

Charlie said, “A couple of the prefects, also known as the Posh Trevs, caught us accidentally juggling with West Riding otters.”

We looked at them both.

Honey said, “Juggling ith not a cwime.”

I said, “It should be.”

And Charlie and Phil laughed.

I felt quite proud that they thought I had said something funny.

Flossie said, “Did you really juggle with otters?”

Charlie said, “Nah. But we did change a country sign on our marathon and the Posh Trevs rode their mountain bikes into the river.”

Phil said, “Yeah, it’s really, really serious…we are forbidden to go out after hours for the next week.”

Jo looked a bit sad, even though she tried to hide it.

Then Phil said, “Or to put it another way, see you after college. Bye, small bouncy person.”

And Jo blushed and bounced off proudly.

We had art all afternoon with Dr Lightowler. I wasn’t feeling great, because she hadn’t really taken to me. But as we were waiting for her, Sidone swept into the studio, all in black – Capri trousers, bolero top and a matador hat. She stopped and looked at us.

“Girls, Dr Lightowler is covering for Madame Frances with the lower