Rebecca is Always Right (26 page)

‘Oh good, you’re still here!’ he said breathlessly, coming to a halt outside the café. ‘I thought I’d missed you all. The bus broke down and was stuck at the side of the road for ages. And my stupid phone died so I couldn’t text any of you.’

‘Well, I’m the only one left,’ I said. ‘The others have gone. Were you looking for Lucy?’

‘No, actually it was you I wanted to see,’ said Sam. He leaned over and took a deep breath. ‘God, I need to get fitter. I just ran from the bus stop, but I feel like I’m dying.’

‘What …’ I said. The butterflies started fluttering in my tummy again. ‘What did you want to see me for?’

‘Ah,’ said Sam. He looked a bit flustered, but I thought he could just still be out of breath. ‘I just wanted to talk to you and … I wanted to give you this.’

He took a piece of paper out of his portfolio bag and handed it to me. It was a picture of me, drawn in the style of
his comics. There was nothing cutesy about it. It was funny and cool and it really did look like me but with slightly better hair. I was leaning on a pile of books with my drum sticks in one hand and a pen in the other, and I was wearing what looked like my brown ’60s dress. It was the best picture I’ve ever seen in my life.

‘Sam!’ I said. ‘That’s amazing! But …’

‘And there’s something else,’ said Sam. ‘Something I want to say and I’ve got to say it now or I’ll never say it at all.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I have no idea whether you feel the same way, but I know I just need to tell you how much I like you. And NOT just as a friend. And if you don’t feel the same way, that’s cool, I wasn’t just hanging out with you because I thought I’d get anything out of it, but I just needed to tell you that I really liked you because if there was a chance you liked me back, I needed to …’

But before he finished the sentence, I leaned over and kissed him. I didn’t even think about it. I just did it.

And straight away he was kissing me back, and there was something about it, something different to kissing Paperboy or John Kowalski. It was better. With Paperboy I was madly in love with him, but I never really knew him – I mean, when he first kissed me, we’d only talked for about
ten minutes altogether. And with John, I really, really fancied him, but I don’t think I actually liked him very much.

But with Sam … I really fancy him, but I also like him. I know him. We’re actual friends. And I’ve wanted this to happen for ages and ages, and then finally it did, and a part of me felt it was almost too good to be true, but mostly it just felt … right. It was the best of everything, all coming together at once. It was brilliant.

We stood there kissing for ages, and finally we drew apart and stared at each other.

‘Wow,’ said Sam, and smiled. ‘So … you don’t feel the same way, then?’

And I laughed, and he laughed, and then I kissed him again, and he kissed me back, and I felt very, very happy. And when we eventually stopped, he took my hand and we walked down the street in a sort of happy daze.

‘I’ve liked you for ages too,’ I said. ‘I think I liked you in the summer.’

‘Well, I noticed you when I first saw you at the musical,’ said Sam. ‘But then you were with John, so I sort of stopped thinking of you in that way. And then, in the summer, after we’d got friendly at the camp, I suppose I started, well, thinking of you like that again.’

‘I’m glad you did,’ I said.

He squeezed my hand tightly.

‘Me too,’ he said.

And we walked down to my bus stop together, and he’s going to message me later, and we’re hopefully going to meet after school during the week (just for a few minutes. I’m not going to push it with my parents), and of course we’ll see each other properly next Saturday.

And I feel so happy about all of it. I don’t think I’ve ever known a boy who seems to get me like Sam gets me. I really like him and I fancy him and we just … get on with each other. He’s funny and nice and smart and he loves making stuff and reading stuff and he gets on with my friends and … it already works. We work. I really think we’ll be very good together. I mean, I suppose I could be wrong about this.

But I’m pretty sure I’m right.

The End

Anna Carey is a freelance journalist from Drumcondra in Dublin who has written for the
Irish Times, Irish Independent
and many other publications. Anna joined her first band when she was fifteen and went on to sing and play with several bands over the next fifteen years. Her last band, El Diablo, released two albums and toured all over the country. Anna’s first book,
The Real Rebecca
, was published in 2011, and, to her great surprise, it went on to win the Senior Children’s Book prize at the Irish Book Awards. To the delight of many readers, Rebecca returned in the critically acclaimed
Rebecca’s Rules
and
Rebecca Rocks
.

My name is Rebecca Rafferty, and my mother has ruined my life. Again. I didn’t mind her writing boring books for grown-ups. But now she’s written one about an awful girl my age and everyone thinks it’s me! Including the boy who delivers our newspapers, aka Paperboy, aka the most gorgeous boy in the whole world. Oh, the shame!

And if that wasn’t awful enough, the biggest pain in my class wants to use my ‘fame’ to get herself on the reality show
My Big Birthday Bash
.

I’ve just got to show everyone the REAL Rebecca. But how?

1. My boyfriend has moved to Canada. Canada!

2. I have annoyed my best friends Cass and Alice by going on about him all the time.

3. I am going to a crazy girl’s mad birthday party and I am not sure why.

Things have got to change. So I’ve made some new rules.

My name is Rebecca Rafferty, and I know that this is going to be the BEST summer ever.

Well, maybe.

Holidays mean no school for three months! And my band Hey Dollface are going to a cool summer camp to (hopefully) become total rock stars.

But there’s another band – the Crack Parrots, a gang of ‘mean boys’ – and they’re going to be trouble.

And as for romance, my friend Cass’s love life is complicated and my own love life doesn’t really exist at all …