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‘Ah. Yes.’ Jamie squinted at the chart and then passed it over to the girl. ‘Do me a favour, Jen...’
The girl nodded, and took over, writing everyone’s names in the positions that Jamie assigned to them. Jamie clearly didn’t mind asking for help here, and Anna guessed that it was all part of the culture amongst the group. Everyone helped everyone else.
‘You said I could play...’ She tugged at Jamie’s sleeve, and he turned, smiling.
‘I didn’t forget. We’re going to have a throw-around first, though. You might like to sit that out, to get an idea of the rules.’
Something told her that the rules probably weren’t in any book. Anna nodded, walking over to one of the benches by the side of the court as the teams took up their positions. A middling-sized boy in glasses blew the whistle that hung around his neck, and play started.
It didn’t make a lot of sense to Anna. The team captains were engaged in their own private tussle for the ball, but when it was passed to a younger child, they stood back. There was a group of mothers standing on the other side of the court, and Anna wondered whether she might go and introduce herself and ask for an explanation.
‘Hi. I’m Jen.’ The girl with the orange hair had made a beeline for where she was sitting, and sat down next to her. On the other side they were joined by a girl with heavy black make-up around her eyes, dyed black hair and a black sweatshirt.
‘Hi, I’m Anna.’
‘Yes, we know. That’s Spark.’ Jen gestured towards her companion. The two girls were sitting close on either side of her, and Anna had the feeling that she’d been ambushed. Maybe they were the two head girls in the group, and had decided to let her know about it.
‘You came with Jamie?’ Spark fixed her with a not-too-welcoming look.
‘Yes, I work with him.’
‘In London?’ This time Jen asked the question.
‘Yes, that’s right.’
The two girls exchanged looks. Clearly this was an ambush of some kind.
‘You’re going out with him?’ Jen asked.
Spark gave a knowing nod. ‘Out here on a Sunday morning? They’re going out.’
‘No, we’re just friends.’
Jen flashed her a disbelieving look. ‘Okay, if that’s the way you want it. Just friends.’
How did you explain the difference between pretending you were just friends and being just friends? Jen and Spark had clearly decided the question between themselves, and Anna had to admit that Spark had a point. Being here this early on a Sunday morning did raise a few questions about the nature of her relationship with Jamie.
She wondered what Jamie would have wanted her to say, and the answer came straight away. Be honest. Anna took a breath.
‘You know, the kind of just friends where you’re really going out together but you don’t want anyone to know.’
Jen’s lips curved in an expression of triumph. ‘Yeah, we know.’
‘Well, Jamie and I aren’t that kind of just friends. We’re really just friends.’
‘Oh.’ Jen gave her a searching look and Anna returned her gaze. Clearly that convinced her and she nodded. ‘Well, we just thought...’
‘And you decided to look me over?’ Anna smiled. That was okay. It was actually quite nice that the girls cared enough to do it, however challenging they seemed.
‘We didn’t much like the other one, did we?’ Spark wrinkled her nose.
Jen shook her head. ‘Nah. She turned out to be a nasty piece of work.’
‘He never gave her a sweatshirt.’
‘Just as well. She didn’t play... And after what she did, I’d have ripped it off her back.’ Jen’s lip curled.
‘You and whose army?’ Spark gave her friend a dismissive look. ‘You were going to get on a plane and find her, were you?’
