Kylie was into someone else, but that James truly didn’t seem to mind. There was no hint of concealed emotion in his face at all. Perhaps he hadn’t been full of wind about this situation being on his terms after all. I had to smile; this, it seemed, was proof that sometimes things really could work out without people getting hurt. It meant that perhaps, possibly, I could make my own decision between Natalie and Lena with the same all-around positive result.
Peter, on the other hand, looked rather unhappy by this. Taking a deep breath, he said, “So Serena likes someone else too?”
James considered the question before saying, “Yes, but she didn’t say who, so I suppose it could be you, Pete. Even if it’s not, it probably wouldn’t be impossible to change her mind if you let her know how you feel—”
“Does that ever work?” Peter asked incredulously.
“Sure it does,” said James, indicating himself as living proof. “It just means that you have to bite the bullet. After all, doing nothing is the best way of making sure that nothing happens.”
“You’ve grown up a lot in the last few days,” I observed.
“No, just gave myself some serious self-examination,” said James. “As you should probably do, John. Now that you know Natalie likes you, why don’t you be a bit more open about your feelings? What’s there to lose?”
“It’s really not that simple, James,” I said heavily, memories of what George had said coming back to me. “It got more complicated today.”
“It never was really easy,” said Peter, looking at me. “’Cause John doesn’t like hurting people, like he’ll have to hurt Lena and Stella if he gets with Natalie.”
My stomach lurched; I’d completely forgotten about Stella. Quite a few of the guys thought she, like Lena, had the hots for me too. I wasn’t sure if I believed it, although I had to admit many signs I’d seen in the last week suggested that they could have a point.
James shrugged. “You really should clean up your own backyard before you start worrying about what the neighbours are doing. Go get the one you want the most and let the chips fall where they may. As for the others, they’ll get over it. It’s not like the world revolves around you, John.”
“That's right,” said Peter. “It revolves around the sun, and the sun shines out of my arse.”
We all laughed and then I said, “I know you're right, James, but it doesn’t make me happier about it. Lena’s brother was talking to me about her today.”
“Uh-oh,” said Peter. “You mean George? I forgot about him. What’s he got to say for himself? How’d he enjoy his condom cleaning exercise, anyway?”
“What?” yelped James.
“That’s another thing,” I said, remembering the Light Crystal. “Wait—one thing at a time. He was saying how Lena’s been talking about me at home since we got back.”
“She sounds just like Erica,” said James. “Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll be on with her too—or does George want you away from her?”
“No, he wants me to ‘screw her senseless’,” I said, unable to stop myself from grinning. I could only guess, but Lena looked like she’d be as good as they came when it came to dancing the midnight cha cha.
Both Peter and James roared with laughter. “Yeah man,” Peter exclaimed. “You ride her like a stallion!”
“He was saying how she’s never had a boyfriend before,” I said, pressing on before the boys got carried away. “And how I could be the best thing that ever happened to her. And how she’d be devastated beyond repair if I pushed her away.”
“How can a chick that hot never have had a boyfriend before now?” Peter asked incredulously. “They’re swarming around her all the time. I probably would too if Serena didn’t have my eye. Just look at Sebastian.”
“Well he said she’s pretty smart,” I said, “so I suppose someone like Sebastian wouldn’t take her fancy. And none of the other girls liked him either; he must have a real reputation in year ten.”
“Maybe ask the year-tens if they know what she’s normally like,” said James. “Marc and Tommy will tell for sure.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “But what about Natalie? What do I do between the two of them?”
“You make up your mind real quick, that’s what,” said Peter. “Remember, Tommy’s after Nat too. Besides, there’s no reason why you can’t run your race with one then jump across to the other. Then by the time you’ve done ‘em both, you can skip over to Stella; sounds like a plan,” he added, and winked roguishly at me to let me know that he was joking, not that I needed it; we always knew when the other was just kidding around.
* * *
I’d completely forgotten, until I was lying in bed that night, that I hadn’t told anyone about the dream I’d had the previous night, nor had I done anything about what had happened with the Light Crystal, which was now back in my top drawer. I decided, as I lay in the dark, that I would keep those pieces of information close to my chest in the meantime. It may only complicate matters to bring them up when there was already so much else happening. Taking this approach, however, did make me feel a bit nervous. What if the dream and the Light Crystal turned out to be more important than everything else in the end?
Chapter 3: The Midnight Meeting
The next day passed without great incident. Our classes were a bit all-over-the-place, at least for the year-nines, because we had mostly electives during the day. We did, however, pass on news about Stella’s party to Serena, Erica (whom James had already told anyway), Kylie, Katie, Sophie, David, Daniel, Liam and Craig. At recess, Marc told us that Lucien had given the OK for us to attend as long as certain precautions were taken. He suggested that Marc give us all invisible shields, which would repel any magic used against us.
Then at lunch time, Amelia and Stella joined us briefly at the toilet block to fill us in on what was to be done. Now that I could see Stella’s reaction in person, I could tell that she really did want to be acknowledged for her birthday by someone, and that she was keen for as many of us to come as possible. It looked for some time like an argument would spring up between Stella, James and a few of the others, all with differing opinions, until finally Amelia suggested that we have a whole Young Army meeting to decide what ought to happen in regard to the party. As it was the middle of the week and so many of us had a lot of homework (and detentions) to do, no time or date for the meeting was set as yet.
At the end of the day, the four of us were to have another—hopefully less painful—detention with Hall.
“I’ll meet you there,” said Nicole, passing me as I entered the locker bay. “He’s given me half an hour too.”
“You?”
“Later.”
I looked around at Peter in surprise. This was the first time Nicole had ended up in the same detention as us year-nines. Behind him, Daniel and Serena were watching interestedly; they had followed us from Media, an elective which nearly all the year-nines in the Young Army did, and heard Nicole’s statement.
“Well I did warn her,” said Daniel. “I said in her reading she could have a disagreement with a teacher. I warned her, but,” he shook his head tragically, “poor old Daniel, what can he do?”
And so there were now nine in the detention that afternoon. Nicole was waiting outside the room when Peter, the twins and I got there, along with Justin and Tulip, Ellie Dragon and Emilie Elson.
“My God,” said Hall when he reached us. “Three Playmans at once? What on earth did I do to deserve this?”
“Well you’re the one who made us come,” said Nicole,