Two
He’s so beautiful
I can’t stop starin’
The boy wonder
Is this heaven?
‘Boy Wonder’ fromThe Brink of Teenage Freedom
Kira and I are binge-watchingHollingworth. Or at least trying to – Kira keeps looking at her phone to check the time every twenty minutes.
‘You know it’s not suddenly going to be twelve?’ I say. ‘You’re like Cinderella waiting for the pumpkin to come.’
‘It is now basically twelve,’ she says.
‘Time moves at one speed.’
‘Well, why do they say “time flies while you’re having fun” then?’
We make eye contact and both start cackling, just as Ollie walks through the door.
People wandering in is a big no for most people, but Ollie isn’t most people. One, he’s been my closest friend and next-door-neighbour for the past seventeen years. I bet he’s come in through the backdoor, which is usually unlocked, via the gap in our garden fence.
‘How’s it going?’ he says.
The other thing to know about Ollie Pointer is . . . I have fallen irrevocably in love with him.
The problem is, Ollie has always been hot, as my friends have been telling me since puberty. His thick brown hair, his green eyes, a lanky body that had filled out over the summer. But because we were raised next door, almost like siblings, I never saw it.
Until six months ago, when I realised: how could I havenotseen it before? It was like a light switch had been flipped on inside of me. My hands get clammy and it’s pure electricity when we touch.
And I’m starting to hope he feels the same way too.
‘Ah, Pointer,’ says Kira, standing up with a bit of a swagger. ‘I’m about to go to a Young New Left meet up, you know.’
‘Getting it for that ol’ UCAS form, Kira?’ says Ollie, with a smirk.
‘It’s because I support the party,’ says Kira, even though she literally told me she was going because of her UCAS form about two hours ago. I don’t take sides here though; this is Kira and Ollie’s endless dance. They want to study similar things: Ollie, Law, Kira, Politics; and are both wildly competitive with each other, despite going to different schools. Ollie is at the boys’ private school, myself and Kira at the state all-girls’ grammar school.
‘Have you decided where you want to apply to?’ says Ollie. ‘Early deadline is October.’
‘I’m aware of the calendar,’ says Kira. ‘And I haven’t made my final choices yet.’ She points at me. ‘Don’t tell him what I’m thinking.’
‘I’m not going to apply to the same places to spite you . . . where I’d undoubtedly get in,’ says Ollie.
‘And I am not engaging with this conversation,’ says Kira,clicking her fingers. ‘I’m out of here. See you later, Selena.’
Ollie laughs and sits down next to me. I shake my head, then lean against his shoulder.
‘Why do you two fight so much?’ I say.
‘Because we’re competitive.’ He shrugs. ‘How was the listening party?’
‘Great,’ I say. ‘I wish you liked Rose Conrad, you could have come too.’
He shakes his head. ‘It’s not that I dislike her, she’s not my vibe, you know? Also I’d cramp your style. Who wants aboythere?’ he says, playfully shrugging and pushing me off his shoulder.
