Chapter 43

Saturday 12th June 1999

I’d love to say I spent the last few days before my exams cramming in a load more study and revision, but Bao, Kendal, Zahid and Harriet sprung a surprise joint birthday party for Dakota and me over the entire weekend. And, well… exams don’t factor into birthday parties. Trust me, I spent a whole two minutes trying to figure out if they do, and they definitely don’t.

Since I knew Dakota’s birthday was coming, I was able to get her a few presents before the weekend came, including this nice denim jacket she’d had her eye on for a while. I received a few Beast Wars figures (including a brand new one!), plus some other fun stuff. Kendal also had the idea of getting two cakes, one for me that we had on the Saturday and one for Dakota’s birthday on the Sunday. Add to that the cake my parents got…

So much cake. So much cake…

We mainly split the time between Dakota’s place and the park, making the most of the nice weather until it started raining on Sunday afternoon. Kitty stuck along with us the whole time, of course; since it was the half-term holiday, we were able to spend the days introducing her to the town and our lives. The poor girl had no video gaming experience, and so the Friday had almost entirely been devoted to showing her the gamut of games (and consoles) that were on offer…

Sorry, I’m getting off-topic… it’s just so good to be back! Even though the guilt and shame kept bubbling up at the back of my mind, everything being normal again never felt so good. (I mean, even if our “normal” was dyed in Lokon-powered monster-busting.) And snuggling up with Dakota to sleep at night was to die for.

Anyway, it was a fun weekend that managed to soften the blow of the exams that blew in like a hurricane as the new half-term began. Having to face Melody for the first time after the incident only really struck me as I headed for the form room on Monday morning, and my head was too busy swimming with information to really dwell on it.

And she was nose-deep in a revision guide when I walked into the room, so I went unnoticed until I took my usual seat next to her.

“Welcome back,” she muttered nonchalantly, not even taking a glance at me.

“Thanks…” I replied, sincerely if restrained by caution as I anticipated some kind of barbed remark.

Nothing more was said. She simply continued reading.

Suddenly, I couldn’t focus on anything else, completely thrown by Melody’s behaviour. My world dissolved into nothing more than her and myself as I tried to figure out what was happening. Was she seriously that focused in her last-minute revision? Not that someone as smart as her needed to revise right up to the wire, surely. Was this an act, then? Waiting for me to let my guard down, so she could strike with expert precision at my most vulnerable spots? A single snide comment would be enough; perhaps she was formulating it now?

Needless to say, I left form fifteen minutes later in a virtual daze, my mind scattered to the breeze. All that psychological exertion on my part, and she’d all but ignored me the whole time. At the very least, I managed to pull my head together again in time to competently make it through my first exam later that day…

I won’t put you through the whole week’s experience. I’m sure you know what exams are like, and I don’t really want to dwell on it now it’s over. Besides, it’d be incredibly boring. I’ll say this much: I didn’t do too bad. Other than one or two things, I didn’t struggle with anything. It was more the daunting nature of it all and the effort you have to put in than finding much of it to be challenging. A lot of focus and writing…

And in all that time, no antagonising from Melody. She either made decent light conversation or ignored me. And every time, I felt perturbed by it, because it was so unlike her to be like this with me… at least since my scuppered confession. I wasn’t being treated like a mouse in the cat’s paws now, and I still couldn’t quite relax.

Before I knew it, the school week was over and every exam was done. Considering they were only the end of the first half of our two-year courses, we weren’t rewarded with a lengthy summer break like last year… we still had six more weeks of school to get through. The weekend was all the time we’d have to unwind.

As per usual, I stayed over at Dakota’s on the Friday night, so my Saturday began there. Heading downstairs to rustle up some breakfast, I found Kitty sat on the living room floor, playing Super Mario World.

“Morning!” I addressed her with as much cheer as I could muster. Perhaps I shouldn’t have, since she evidently hadn’t noticed me and the abrupt greeting made her jump. The controller flew four feet into the air, and landed back down in her lap as she stared at me wide-eyed.

“Hi,” she managed to squeak, just before the death music played on the game.

“Sorry and sorry…” I smiled awkwardly while she returned her focus to the game. “Isn’t it a bit early to be gaming…?”

“I want to get good at it…” she told me quietly, eyes trained on the screen.

“Uh-oh, you’ve been bitten by the video game bug…” I chuckled. “Might wanna try some games that have multiplayer, though. We’ll train you up to topple Bao.”

With that, I headed into the kitchen, leaving the door open so the conversation could continue.

“… this one isn’t multiplayer…?”

“Uhm…”

I returned to the living room, and stared at the screen like that alone would clarify things for me.

“It might be, actually…” I conceded. “Still, maybe look for something more competitive? This is more… helping-each-other-out. Not that that’s a bad way of playing with friends! Just that Bao likes to go head-to-head, and-”

“Good morning, Kitty!”

My competitive demon of a girlfriend entered the room before I had the chance to warn Kitty about that side of her.

“What’cha playing?”

“Super Mario World,” her young housemate replied quietly.

Even then, Dakota had to look at the TV and its vibrant gameplay to register precisely what that was.

“Oooh! And it has Yoshi!” she cooed brightly. “How far have you gotten?”

“World 2…”

Said a little despondently. Clearly she was struggling to get further.

Dakota immediately went over, sat next to Kitty and rubbed her back comfortingly.

“You’ll get there. Every failure gets you a little closer to success. Besides, World 2’s good when you’ve only been playing it for a week!”

“Thanks…” Kitty muttered softly.

“What d’you want for breakfast, Kitty?” I asked while strolling back into the kitchen.

“Cornflakes please.”

The death music played out a moment later, and nothing else took its place. Instead, I heard the cartridge be ejected and pulled free of the console.

Dakota wandered over to me as I grabbed a bowl and the box of cereal.

“I’ll have the same, it’s easier that way,” she purred, leaning on the work surface and staring at me lovingly. That tousled hair (some would call it messy, considering she’d only just gotten up, but it just looked beautiful to me), and that perfect smile… I almost lost focus.

“Awh, and I was planning a huge breakfast buffet…” I smiled back at her, inciting a giggle in response.

“Aaaah!”

Dakota and I both looked in the direction of the living room at the same time. Kitty’s scream certainly didn’t sound like one of terror or pain, but it was alarming all the same. Concerned, we rushed into the other room once more; I half-expected some kind of monster to have materialised, and let my hand prepare to summon my sword.

Kitty was sat with Bao’s huge box of games in front of her, holding a SNES cartridge in her hands. Her eyes were glowing with something I’d never seen from her, looking almost smitten, her expression otherwise stunned. She hadn’t noticed us respond to her shout, or was otherwise too enamoured to care.

“Kitty…?” Dakota spoke to draw her attention. The girl looked up at us, a smile half-forming on her face.

“Sorry… I just…”

She turned the cartridge around to reveal its identity: Kirby’s Dream Land 3. The pink blob himself was striding along on the cartridge sticker, accompanied by Gooey and some critters.

“You like Kirby, huh?” my girlfriend asked, earning a remarkably emphatic nod from Kitty.

“I didn’t know… something so cute could exist…” she remarked, gazing at the cartridge sticker once again. This was a side of her I couldn’t have possibly imagined… yet it did make sense of a 13-year-old girl.

“Wanna play it after breakfast?” I proposed, earning another firm nod and a fully-fledged grin.

… I’ve never played Kirby before, either, so once we’d eaten and loaded the game up, Kitty and I were pretty much relying on what I’d gleaned from watching Bao and Harriet play it months back.

Still, it was fun, and Kitty was happier than I’d ever seen her. For a couple of hours, the three of us sat around and enjoyed the game (Dakota watching on next to me). Zahid turned up shortly before midday, and Bao and Harriet arrived not long after.

“Kirby!” Harriet beamed when she saw the 16-bit animations on the screen. She sat next to Kitty, and the younger girl leant away from her a little.

“Girls love Kirby, man,” Bao claimed while sitting on the other side of me to Dakota.

“I think Kitty’s smitten with him,” I told him with a grin.

“He’s a total stud,” my friend nodded. “I’m just glad I asked Harriet out before she fell into his blobby pink grasp. Where’s Kendal, anyway?”

I assume “pink” was the connection there, rather than “blobby”…

“It’s hardly the first time she’s not been the first one here,” Zahid shrugged from the armchair. “She probably encountered a speed bump and decided to use it as a skate ramp.”

“Or she’s tailgating cars on her board,” Bao offered up.

“Or she’s dismantled her car, attached the engine to her board, and she’ll come flying through the window in ten seconds,” Dakota teased.

Zahid looked at his watch. General tittering ensued.

And then, a knock on the front door, followed by “I’m here, guys!”

“Ten seconds,” Zahid smirked.

“You got the time right, at least,” I pointed out to Dakota playfully.

And then Kendal strode into the living room with a flip chart under her arm. She began surveying the room, trying to figure out where best to stand the object and paying the rest of us no mind. The only sign that she even registered the six of us was how she walked behind Kitty and Harriet rather than between them and the TV screen. She placed the flip chart down in front of the bookshelf, and turned to us with a big grin.

“I wanna show you guys something!” she proclaimed.

“Is it a flip chart?”

I mean, someone had to ask, and that role fell to me.

“No… well, sort of… I guess, yeah!”

“I’m in,” Bao told her firmly.

“It’s what I- look!” Kendal continued, flipping over the cover and unveiling a big, colourful “Summer of Fun 1999”, complete with doodles of each of us.

“I’ve been working on this! We’ve all been kinda worked up since the whole thing with Harmony, and I figure we should try to have as much fun as we possibly can over the summer.”

“I like it!” Dakota smiled brightly. “And those drawings are cute!”

“You know you could’ve just proposed this without the flip chart, right?” Zahid noted.

“Less fun!” Kendal pouted. “You’ve got to think fun!”

She lifted up the current page, revealing a checklist in different colours beneath it. Taking a big marker pen from her pocket, Kendal began pointing out each one in turn.

“Big sleepover! We did it at Alex’s that time and we should do another one! Marshmallows and maybe alcohol if we can get any, loads of movies and games, and it can last a whole week or something! Theme park! Maybe Thorpe Park or Alton Towers, we should really go to one! Or Legoland! Cook-off! We spend a day all trying to cook the best meal! Holiday-!”

“You though of a cook-off before you thought of a holiday…?”

Zahid seemed honestly baffled by that, brow creased and mouth ajar.

“A cook-off sounds fun, though,” Harriet spoke up; she and Kitty were looking up at the chart, the game now paused.

“You’re saying that because you know you’d win,” Bao stated jestingly, playfully poking her shoulder with his foot.

“Holiday, guys!” Kendal cheered loudly in a winning effort to recover our attention. “Just the seven of us! No parents! No worries! Hot beaches and cold drinks! And crazy nights!”

“Where are you thinking?” Dakota asked, intrigued.

“No idea!” came the enthusiastic reply. “What d’you guys think?”

“Ooh, ooh, leave it to me!” Bao shouted out, bouncing where he sat, swept up in the excitement. “I can have my parents book it for us! We’ll get somewhere awesome!”

“At least make it sensible,” I asked him. “Like… not the middle of the Sahara or something, y’know?”

“I’ll consult some holiday brochures!” he assured me with an almighty grin.

“Rad!” Kendal enthused. “My last idea is we get a big inflatable pool and have fun in that! Or go to a water park, but I dunno if there are any around here…”

“Bao, book us a place where there’s a water park,” Dakota told him, and he saluted in affirmative response.

“Anyway, I thought we could brainstorm other ideas!”

Kendal popped the cap off of her marker.

“Any fun things!”

“Another house party at mine!” Bao immediately called out; then he looked at me and Dakota, and added “you’re good with that, right?”

“Provide booze and we’ll be fine,” Dakota teased while patting my back. The hazy memories of that night popped back into my mind, and I winced a little at my drunken behaviour.

“Adding it!” Kendal whooped while scribbling “party at Bao’s” on the list below “WATER STUFF”.

“Maybe we could take a daytrip out somewhere…?” Harriet suggested. “London, or maybe even somewhere quiet…?”

“Oh!” I blurted, and then immediately regretted it. I weighed up my idea and considered it might be a bit weird.

“You thinking of something?” Kendal asked me eagerly.

“Just… I mean, feel free to reject it if you think it sucks…” I prefaced the suggestion, “but I kinda thought it could be fun to… like, go for a walk at night? Pick an area, wander around, see what it’s like…”

“Spooky…” my sporty friend mused.

“So we just walk around in the dark?” Zahid asked me.

“Maybe have an end point to reach? We could even split up and make it a competition, I dunno. Night-time’s kinda interesting.”

I figured I was fighting a losing battle…

“I say that’s worth considering,” Bao shrugged. “Could be fun!”

“Yeah!” Kendal agreed. Within moments, both “day trip” and “night trip” were added to the list.

“Kitty, anything you wanna do?”

The girl took a few moments… maybe mulling over some options, maybe trying to gather her nerves now we were all focused on her.

“Y’know the cook-off? Maybe… a game tournament too, or something…”

“I like that!” Harriet immediately spoke up, putting a hand on Kitty’s shoulder. The younger girl again seemed unsettled by Harriet’s warmness, squirming a little until the blonde removed her hand.

“This is gonna be the best damn summer…!”

Kendal wrote Kitty’s suggestion onto the bottom of the list.

“You guys do know I’ll mop the floor with all of you, right?” Dakota spoke up with an air of unnerving confidence. “Gaming and cooking?”

The room froze over. None of us could speak for fear at the prospect of another competitive rampage from Dakota. Even Kitty said nothing, and she had no idea what the rest of us knew.

“Damn right,” Dakota concluded, satisfied with her claim going uncontested.

We kept the SNES controllers well away from her for the rest of the day, just to be extra safe…