A Thousand Salt Kisses (Book 1 of Salt Kiss series)

><> Chapter Twenty <><

I was aware that my English teacher was talking, but I could not process what she was saying. I was on another planet, and that planet may as well be called 'Planet Llyr.'

I must have played back every detail of last night a million times this morning.

I swallowed and was realised that my throat was slightly painful. I seemed to have caught a chill, despite jumping in a blazing hot shower when I got home last night.

Maurice had bounded into the kitchen to see me after I said goodbye to Llyr. I had had to hold his tail as it was banging against the kitchen cupboards as it wagged, and I did not want Mum and Dad to hear and see me coming home soaking wet. I then raced upstairs and spent about twenty minutes thawing under the piping water.

I ducked beneath the desk and hunted about in my bag for some cough sweets. I found an ancient one from a cold I had last winter, and popped it into my mouth leaning back in my chair and staring out of the window as I sucked.

I missed Llyr already and wished that he was coming back tonight and not tomorrow. I had never felt so giddy for someone before in my entire life. It was like I was on some kind of drug.

The bell rang, and I leaped up and tugged on my little sports jacket over my summer dress.

"Going somewhere Crystal?" shouted the English teacher.

Everybody looked at me and laughed.

"Oh sorry," I said awkwardly. "I thought it was the end of class."

"I haven't set you your homework yet."

I smiled politely and sat back down again. Homework? Over the summer holidays? I knew already that whatever it was, it wasn't getting done until September.

Five minutes later, I walked down the corridor and saw Rosie standing with a group of people. I waved and headed over.

"School is officially over!" shrieked Rosie, bouncing up and down on the spot. "We are now upper-sixers!"

"Yay," I said smiling, "and this time next year we will never have to do school again!"

"Oh my, God! Stop it!" she screamed, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. "You're so right."

"I have to tell you something," I said lowering my voice. 

"Oooh," said Rosie, "we'll talk, we'll talk. These guys all want to go for a drink though, celebrate the end of the year."

"Oh, sure." I said, smiling at the small crowd. I was exploding to tell Rosie about last night but we shouldn't be rude. "Let's go!"

Rosie linked one of the girls arms and they skipped off ahead, whilst I walked along next to  Lloyd and his friend Curtis.

We found ourselves joking about the Maths teacher, Mrs Vendercum and her strict ways.

"She was asking me about Pythagoras or something," laughed Lloyd, "and I didn't know what she was talking about, so she walked over to me - in front of the whole class - and shouted 'Lloyd, you're an absolute banana!'"

I giggled. I could just imagine her saying that.   Mrs Vendercum regularly seemed to throw strange insults at people, and in the process her eyelashes  -which were always caked in bright blue mascara - would flutter really quickly, almost like a spasm.

"She called me a 'numpty' once," I recalled. 

Lloyd laughed.

"She called me an egg!" protested Curtis.

We all cracked up.

"An egg!" I cried.

"Yes, an egg! I think it was over Pythagoras again, it really seems to get her going," said Curtis.

"Oh gosh, I'm dreading that class," I said,  wiping away a tear of laughter.

"Yeah, good old Mrs Vendercum," grinned Curtis. "I remeber Rory spent practically every lunchtime in detention because of her."

"Who's Rory?" I asked.  I had never seen or heard of anybody by that name.

"Oh, he was a couple of years above us," said Curtis. "He finished school last year."

"How is he, anyway?" asked Lloyd, his brow furrowing.

"Getting there, I think," said Curtis. "His family are moving to Devon though. I think it's to get away from it all."

"Get away from what?" I asked. Curtis and Lloyd were silent, and I wondered if I had over-pried. "Sorry," I said. "You don't have to tell me.

"No, it's okay," said Curtis. "Rory's dad died in a fire recently."

"Oh, not that fire in the office?" I asked the article I had read the other week flashing through my mind.

"The VELO fire, yeah," said Lloyd. "That was the name of the company."

"That's terrible," I said, remembering how I had read about the father with children. Poor, poor Rory.

"Just awful," agreed Curtis. "Nobody even knows how that fire started."

We walked in silence for a while, our spirits dampened by the conversation, but as soon as we stepped out of the corridor and into the sunshine they soared again.

I suddenly felt ecstatic. School was over, and the summer sparkled ahead. Oh, how I hoped that Llyr would be around to take me on more adventures!

We walked out of Coney Secondary School and down the tree lined streets towards the town centre, laughing and joking the whole way. The whole crew was on a high.

When we bundled into the pub 'The Dolphin,'' we grabbed a drink and settled on a table outside in the sun. Rosie nestled next to me and I was able to tell her about my date, pausing here and there when the others fell silent between conversations.

"I can't believe you're going out with one of them!" breathed Rosie. "I don't know anyone who's done that before."

I paused, the tale of George's parents flashing through my mind. I could never say anything about that to Rosie and I decided to change the subject. "How's Will?"

Rosie smiled, "He's good, he's coming down a little later."

"Ahh, summer love!" I sighed happily.