She’d successfully fended off Garrick for the remainder of the rehearsal and Camilla praised her when she tried out the gazelle plus robot movements.
But when Camilla had let them go, Jackson had darted off, thwarting her efforts to put Operation Cyborg Smooching into action.
‘There!’
He was wearing a crash helmet with a visor to avoid being recognised by any eager fans, but she knew his light-blue eco-warrior shirt. He was unlocking his bike from the rack.
She bolted down the steps, narrowly missing knocking over a sixth-grader carrying some science experiment involving lots of glass tubes and something that smelled like rotten eggs.
‘Hey!’ she called to Jackson.
‘Olivia!’ He pushed up the visor and grinned. ‘I thought you’d already left.’
Kiss me, kiss me! She wanted to shout, but she had to stay casual. ‘Nope, still here.’
‘Well, see you tomorrow,’ he said, giving her a hug.
‘How about not?’ she said. ‘I mean, how about seeing me now?’
Jackson looked confused. ‘Do you mean in some other way than me looking at you looking at me?’
Arg! Why is this so complicated? Olivia thought. ‘Yes, I mean, do you want to go to the mall? For a snack or something? Do you have time?’
‘Time for my beautiful girlfriend?’ he said. ‘Of course.’
They sat down in the food court at a corner table, with Jackson facing the wall to minimise how often he got recognised.
Olivia was chewing on her fingernails again.
She’d tried to kiss him on the walk over, but with him wheeling his bike, it was hard to get into range. When they’d walked past the fountain in the mall, she thought he was going to kiss her, but he was just looking at the tennis rackets in the window of Sports Selector.
Now that they were sitting down, it was going to be even harder. She had always thought of the tables in the food court as small, but this one felt like Mount Everest now that she was planning on kissing the boy on the other side of it.
I’ll practically have to flip over it to get to him! she thought.
‘Are you OK?’ Jackson asked.
‘Huh?’ Olivia replied. ‘I mean, yes, I’m fine.’
Now, should I go over the French fries or around the ketchup bottle? Olivia wondered.
‘Are you feeling faint?’ Jackson was watching her closely. ‘You seem to be swaying.’
‘Ha!’ Olivia tried to laugh nonchalantly and wave away his concern, but she knocked over the salt and pepper shakers and sent them flying. ‘Everything’s great!’
You can’t be happy that I’m going to kiss Garrick before you! Olivia thought. So why don’t you kiss me and make this all so much easier?
She placed her hands on the table, lifted herself slightly off her chair, leaned across and … head-butted the tray of cakes and sodas being carried by the waitress who was bringing over the rest of their order.
It didn’t hurt, but everything went flying with an embarrassing clatter and smash. Jackson was doused with soda and Olivia had cake splattered all over her white-and-yellow sweater.
‘Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,’ she said to Jackson and to the waitress.
The waitress grabbed them some napkins and Olivia wished she could disappear into the palm fronds behind her. ‘Hey – aren’t you Jackson Caulfield?’
Covered in sticky soda, poor Jackson gave a weak smile. ‘Yup, that’s me!’ Then he had to sign one of the napkins for the waitress.
‘I’d better head home and take a shower,’ Jackson said, after the waitress had skipped off to show her friends.
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ Olivia stuttered, her cheeks colouring. All she really wanted to say was, Kiss me, you fool!
He gave her an awkward hug goodbye and left.
‘That could not have gone any worse,’ Olivia said to no one, burying her head in her hands.
‘Horse-riding is much more glamorous than I realised,’ Ivy decided, looking at herself from all angles in the mirror. Rebecca had given her a pair of tight-fitting black ‘jodhpurs’, along with calf-high leather boots. ‘I could definitely rock this look, as long as the horse is not a required accessory.’
‘Don’t worry, Ivy,’ Olivia said. She was wearing a similar outfit in beige and white, and had been bouncing on the bed with excitement while Ivy was getting dressed. ‘It’s going to be great!’
It was Saturday and they were back at Rebecca’s ranch in Beldrake, bright and early in the morning, for Ivy’s first-ever riding lesson. She’d reluctantly left her mom’s diary up in the bedroom, getting Olivia to promise that they would have a look at it as soon as they got back.
Rebecca poked her head in the room. ‘You girls ready?’ she asked in her soft drawl. ‘We need to be done by eleven.’
She had told them when they arrived that the ranch had taken a last-minute booking for a group trail ride – one of the many ways she supported all the horses – and the guests would be here at noon. ‘There’ll be tons of beginners, so once we show Ivy the basics, you girls can come on the trail ride, too,’ Rebecca had said.
Ivy wasn’t convinced. But here she was, dressed exactly like she’d been horse-riding forever. She took a deep breath. ‘I’ll try anything once.’
The three of them clattered down the stairs and into the stable.
Ivy tried not to be scared, or scary, but the horses started shuffling away from her and snorting.
‘Maybe I should wait outside?’ she asked hopefully.
Rebecca gave her a sympathetic look. ‘OK. I’ll tack up for you. Let’s just find you a good helmet.’
Ivy tried on several in the tackroom until Rebecca was satisfied, then she went to wait outside the stable. When Rebecca and Olivia came out, they were leading Coco, Honey and a horse that Ivy hadn’t met before named Topic. She was light brown with a black mane, tail and legs, and she had a white patch on her forehead.
‘She’s gentle and very tolerant,’ Rebecca said.
You mean huge, Ivy thought.
Rebecca showed her how to hold the reins, to lead her.
‘Hold them right here, under her chin and keep your arm extended, so she has room to walk beside you.’
Ivy gulped and grasped the leather reins. She looked into Topic’s huge eyes and thought, Please don’t freak out!