‘How long has she been in there?’ asked Lucy when I let her in the front door along with TJ and Izzie. They had come straight over after school when I’d called them and were sodden from the rainy skies outside. Lucy looked lovely with her wet hair plastered back from her face. She was definitely getting to me more and more – that or she was getting more attractive.

‘Since she got back from the dentist’s about an hour ago,’ I replied.

‘She’ll come out when she gets hungry,’ said Izzie as she took off her jacket. ‘I always do when I’ve locked myself in my room.’

Lucy and TJ also took off their jackets then the four of us crept down the corridor and positioned ourselves outside Nesta’s room. She’s a funny girl, my sister. A mass of insecurities that no one knows about. People think that she’s mega confident, and some days she is, but other days, she’s a lost little girl with no sense of how truly gorgeous she is. Days like today. She came back from the dentist and went to hide in her bedroom, all because she’d had to have a brace put in. I called her mates over to the rescue, plus it was an excuse to see Lucy.

‘Come on, let us in,’ called Izzie through Nesta’s door.

‘Yeah, you can’t look that bad,’ said Lucy.

Nesta wasn’t having it so I beckoned them away to rethink the plan. Once in the kitchen, I produced a tin of drinking chocolate, took off the lid then rubbed some on my teeth. They cracked up. It’s a trick that Rob showed me. You mush it up, plaster it on your teeth and it makes you look as if you are toothless. We advanced back down the corridor, tin in hand, and at the door, TJ, Izzie and Lucy all applied the drinking chocolate to their teeth. They looked so funny and for a few minutes, none of us could stop laughing. I love making Lucy laugh, she goes all pink and her eyes crinkle up. Nesta unlocked the door. I knew that her curiosity would get the better of her when she heard the commotion. All of us grinned widely at her exposing our darkened teeth.

‘All for one and one for all,’ said Lucy.

Nesta rolled her eyes, put her hand over her mouth and said, ‘Yeah but I’ve had a brace, it’s not that my teeth are rotten!’

‘Not yet,’ said Izzie, and Nesta had to laugh though she kept her hand up to her mouth. The girls did their best after that to get her to show her brace and eventually after a lot of cajoling, she lowered her hand and let us see.

‘Whoa,’ said Izzie in such a undiplomatic way that I almost burst out laughing, but I held it in because Nesta would have killed me. I glanced at Lucy and mouthed, ‘Say something.’

She put her hand on Nesta’s arm. ‘Did it hurt a lot?’

Nesta nodded and then she was off, happy to be the centre of attention and happy to be with her mates. They are a good bunch and really supportive of each other. I’m still glad that Nesta had got in with them. When TJ, Izzie and Nesta were blabbing, I pulled Lucy away and we went into the kitchen under the pretence of making drinks for everyone. As we always did these days when we were alone, we snuggled together for a sneaky snog. For someone who hadn’t kissed a lot of boys, she was very good at it, plus I’d never had as much fun as I was having in my ‘non relationship’ relationship. After a while, we pulled apart.

‘So what are you going to do for your birthday?’ asked Lucy.

‘Ah. I wanted to talk to you about that,’ I said. I was going to be eighteen on September the twenty-second and everyone had been on at me about what I was going to do. ‘I asked if I could finally have driving lessons – just about everyone I know has already had them but as soon as I mentioned it, Dad went off on one. No way, he said. I don’t understand it.’

‘Maybe he’ll come around,’ said Lucy.

‘Doubt it. Mum and Dad gave Nesta and I a talk the other night. Bit broke at the mo – Dad’s got a monster tax bill or something – so not only no driving lessons, no big party. Can’t say I mind. I’ll save the party for when I’m twenty-one. Mum suggested a family dinner, but you know what I’d really like to do?’

Lucy shook her head then laughed. ‘No . . . yes, well maybe and I can tell you now that I am not going to let you.’

I laughed. ‘Not that. No. I told you weeks ago that I would behave and I will. No. I’d like to go for dinner. You and me. Just us. Somewhere romantic.’

‘Really?’ Lucy blushed and I could see that she was pleased then she made her expression go cool and indifferent. ‘I’ll see if I can fit you in to my very busy schedule.’

I raised an eyebrow and grinned. ‘Yeah right. How about the twenty-third? Day after my birthday?’

Lucy smiled. ‘The twenty-third. Hmm. I do believe I might be free. So, OK, yeah. I’ll be there.’

Seeing as it was going to be a proper date with Lucy as well as my special occasion, I wanted to get it right so I decided to research a few restaurants to find one with a romantic atmosphere. I reckoned I only needed to have a coffee there to suss it out. First was one at the bottom of Highgate Hill and I went to check it out and asked Nesta to come and give me a second opinion, although I didn’t tell her that I was planning to take Lucy there. I arrived late and found Nesta flirting with the waiter, who turned out to be some guy called Luke who she’d met on her acting course. She did her usual showing off and came out with a load of bull about what a great cook she was. I couldn’t resist throwing her in it and suggested that seeing as our parents were out the following night, that Nesta cook for him plus Lucy and me. The look on her face was classic. She didn’t speak to me all the way home, which for Nesta is really something.

Luke arrived the next night on the dot of seven. I let him in because Nesta was still getting ready in the bathroom. I got him a Coke then the doorbell rang again. I opened the door to find Lucy standing there, a cute grin on her face.

‘You look gorgeous,’ I said. I took her jacket and leaned in for a quick kiss. ‘Smell gorgeous too.’

She blushed a little and looked around. ‘Where’s Nesta?’ she asked.

I jerked my thumb at the bathroom. ‘Go on into the living room, Lucy, and meet Luke, he’s on his own. I’ll be there in a sec.’

I went along the hall and knocked on the bathroom door.

‘Do you think that madam might be coming out to greet her guests any time soon?’ I asked.

Nesta opened the door and leaned one hand up high on the frame, the other hand on her hip. Very Hollywood.

‘One likes to make an entrance,’ she said in a movie star voice.

‘Sure,’ I said, ‘just get a move on, your guests are here.’

‘And thanks to Mum, I am going to serve a fabbie meal. Luke is going to be so impressed,’ she said.

Famous last words, I thought a short time later. Dinner was a total and utter disaster. Hysterical. Mum had helped Nesta earlier in the day and made her famous Jamaican stew. All Nesta had to do was to warm it up, but she even managed to mess that up. She switched the grill on instead of the oven so when it came time to serve up, it was nowhere near hot. We bluffed our way out of it saying that there was a small problem with the electrics, blah de blah de blah. I think Lucy twigged that Nesta had messed up but Luke appeared to fall for it. When he saw that the top of the oven was still working, he came to the rescue and between us we rustled up some pasta.

The evening was back on track. Sort of. Lucy didn’t seem very relaxed. Strange because she had been over to our flat a million times for meals and sleepovers – maybe because it was a formal dinner and she wasn’t sure how to be with me in public. Like, we were two couples sort of on a date except Lucy wasn’t officially my girlfriend.

Things got even more ridicuous when my dingbat of a sister served up creamed cod from the freezer instead of ice cream. Lucy began to relax then and neither of us could stop laughing. The whole evening was fast turning into a farce and I think that Lucy realised that she didn’t need to act sophisticated or like a grown up.

Nesta tried her best to ride the storm but later her hair got singed by the candle in the middle of the table. It was one disaster too many, so she ran off to her room to hide. Lucy and I were well tuned in to each other by then and I gave her a quick glance as if to say, ‘Go after Nesta,’ and she got it immediately and followed her while I did my best to reassure Luke that Nesta wasn’t a total nutter, at least not all the time. He didn’t seem to mind. He seemed amused by the whole episode.

Lucy got Nesta to come back into the room, and they made some terrible jokes about her being a domestic coddess, and saying, ‘Oh my cod!’ After that we had a brilliant time with big bowls of real ice cream and all the extras you could pile on: nuts, maple syrup, chocolate sauce. Lucy and I kept catching each other’s eye when Luke and Nesta weren’t looking. Nice. I felt really close to her and I could see that she felt the same.

When Mum and Dad came home however, things got seriously weird. Dad did a double take when he saw Luke, like he’d seen a ghost. Mum was friendly, chatting away then Dad demanded, ‘What’s your surname, Luke?’

‘De Biasi,’ he replied.

Dad’s face clouded and he stomped out of the room. I’d never seen him act like that before. Usually he is charming and polite with guests; even Mum looked surprised. I glanced over at Lucy and shrugged. Nesta looked upset. Luke made an excuse and left in a hurry, and Lucy soon followed.

I chased after her and caught up at the gate.

‘Thought I’d better make myself scarce,’ she said.

‘Yeah. I wonder what all that was about. That’s not like Dad. Usually he’s Mr Charmpants when he meets someone new!’

Lucy looked back inside. ‘You’d better make sure Nesta is OK.’

‘Will do. Hey, sorry.’

‘Not your fault,’ she said. ‘I had a good time.’

‘Me too,’ I said and reached out for her hand before turning back to go inside.