Page 67 of Take Two

‘Chemistry. Banter. Cute energy.’

‘Right,’ Callie said. ‘Sorted.’

‘Atta girl. See you in an hour.’ He hung up.

Callie lowered the phone slowly. Her family was staring at her again.

‘Work call?’ Brian asked.

‘Yup,’ Callie replied.

‘Problems?’

‘Not as such,’ Callie said carefully.

Her mum handed her a bacon sandwich. ‘So, it’s all good?’

No, it wasn’t. Because Mae had kissed her. And Mae hated her. Simultaneously.

Callie forced down the sandwich as quickly as she could without dying. ‘I should finish getting ready.’

She turned to leave.

‘Callie?’ Hannah called after her. ‘You should brush your hair. You look like a mop.’

‘Thanks,’ she muttered. Funny how that reminded her of George.

As she walked upstairs to shower, her heart thudded. What the hell was happening? And how was Callie meant to stand in Mae’s bakery, pretending to date Sam, who was very muchnotthe person Callie had kissed last night?

She brushed her mop-like hair, trying to prepare for the day. This was going to be a car crash. A slow, sugar-dusted disaster.

Back Then

Callie still had Mae’s lip balm on her mouth when she got home.

She could taste it faintly every time she licked her lips. Some berry thing Mae kept in her pocket, nothing special. But it tasted like red-hot desire to Callie now.

‘Callie?’ her brother called. ‘That you?’

‘No, it’s the bailiffs,’ she shouted back, hanging her jacket on the one remaining hook that wasn’t bent. ‘Hide your Pokémon cards.’

George appeared in the doorway, hoodie sleeves pulled down over his hands. He was fifteen now, taller than her shoulder-to-shoulder, but still moved like he wasn’t quite sure where his body ended.

‘Mum’s not in,’ he said.

‘Shock me,’ Callie murmured, dropping her bag on the chair.

‘You cooking?’

‘Yes, Your Majesty,’ she said with a playful bow.

George’s mouth twitched. ‘Can I have nuggets?’

‘Of course, Your Majesty.’

He laughed.

She went into the kitchen, flicked the light on and surveyed the battlefield. The sink was stacked. She’d have to wash up before she could make food, a thing she always hated. Where was her mother even? She didn’t have a shift today.