Cathy Hopkins - [Mates, Dates 05] Read Online Free PDF Page A

t e r   4
    Mission
Matchmake
     
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    Nesta called first
thing the next day.
    ‘Mission
Numero
Uno
. Place: Hollywood Bowl,’ she said, going into sergeant-major mode. ‘Outside
Cafe Original. Time: three o’clock.’
    ‘Do we need to
synchronise our watches?’ I asked.
    ‘Yes, good idea,’ she
replied, not realising that I was joking. ‘See, the plan is to catch the boys
either going in to the movies or coming out, so we need to find out the times
of the films. Coming out is probably better as they’ll hang out for a while
afterwards and give us time to assess the situation and the talent.’
    ‘Yes sir,’ I said.
    Just for a joke, I
wore my combat trousers and khaki
    T-shirt, but Nesta didn’t
pick up on it when I arrived at the cinema.
    TJ did, though, and
laughed. ‘Ready to do battle, Lucy?’ she asked.
    ‘Private Lucy
reporting for duty,’ I said, saluting. ‘Has anyone brought binoculars?’
    ‘Or camouflage gear,’
laughed Izzie, getting into it. ‘We could smear our faces with mud then hide in
the bushes with a bit of tree stuck on our heads.’
    Nesta tossed her hair.
‘You may laugh, but coming here is a good strategy. See, look — there are loads
of boys around.’
    Nesta was right. It
was a good place to start, as Hollywood Bowl is a popular haunt for most North
London teenagers. Apart from the cinema, there’s a bowling alley, a pool, and a
variety of assorted cafes all built in a square around the car park. Today, as
always, there were groups of teens hanging out in the sunshine in front of the
cinema.
    ‘Looks like we’re not
the only ones on the pull,’ said Izzie, watching the groups of teens all eyeing
each other up.
    ‘I am
not
on
the pull,’ I said. ‘It sounds desperate when you put it like that. I don’t want
a boy just for the sake of it.’
    ‘Course you don’t,’
said Izzie. ‘We’re only looking.’
    ‘How about we say that
we’re doing research?’ said TJ.
    ‘I saw some girls
doing it on one of those “How to get a date” programmes on telly. The presenter
said that a good way to meet boys was to pretend that you’re doing a survey and
ask them a list of questions. It’s one way of getting talking to them.’
    ‘That would be a
laugh,’ I said. ‘Anyone got any paper?’
    The girls all shook
their heads.
    ‘I think we’d need a
bit more than paper if anyone was to take us seriously,’ said Nesta, looking at
what we all had on. Izzie was wearing a T-shirt and denim mini, TJ and Nesta
had shorts and T-shirts on and I was in my combats. ‘Not exactly dressed like
professionals, are we?’
    ‘We’ll do that another
day,’ I said to TJ. ‘And we’ll dress the part.’
    ‘Now, let’s see who’s
here. Don’t look as though you’re looking,’ said Nesta, casually glancing round
the car park. ‘We don’t want to be too obvious.’
    ‘So how am I supposed to
check the talent?’ I asked.
    Nesta turned her back
away from the groups of boys then got her mirror out of her bag. ‘Like this,’
she said. ‘See, it looks like I’m checking my hair or something but actually
I’m looking behind me.’
    Izzie and I got our
mirrors out and lined up with Nesta to try out her technique. TJ shared mine
with me and I couldn’t stop laughing as we watched the people behind us.
    Nesta sighed. ‘I give
up,’ she said. ‘You lot are just a wind-up.’
    ‘Sorry, Nesta,’ I
said, putting away my mirror. ‘I do appreciate this, honest I do. And I get
what you’re saying — look kind of casually.’
    I glanced at the boys,
then over to the left, like I was looking for someone in the distance, then
back at the boys, then over at the cinema.
    ‘Perfect,’ said Nesta.
‘That’s the way to do it. Now, check out left, by the pillar, jeans, black
T-shirt. Guy with blond spiky hair.’
    ‘Not my type,’ I said.
‘Too… um, too hair-gelly.’
    ‘OK, left, dark,
French crop. Wearing all black.’
    ‘Yee-uck,’ I said,
looking