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

reading,
which turned out to be the Bible. ‘Please, sit down. I’d like to tell you how
you can be saved.’
    Izzie was all for it,
as there’s nothing she likes more than a discussion about religion and why
we’re here and stuff. But luckily Nesta had a better idea.
    ‘I really fancy ice
cream instead of coffee,’ she said, making a beeline for the ice cream shop
next door,
    ‘Good idea,’ I said
following her. ‘When the going gets tough, the tough need chocolate chip
fudge.’
     
     
     
    C h a p t e r   5
    Wish
List
     
    Contents - Prev / Next
     
    I decided I needed to
rethink the plan. Mission Matchmake had left me feeling more aware than ever
that I was single. Nesta and Izzie, however, weren’t ready to give up. Nesta
wanted me to go out boy hunting again in Kensington on Tuesday with her and Simon,
but I said I was busy helping Dad out at the shop. I didn’t want to hang around
with her and Simon, like a spare part. And I didn’t want Simon thinking I was
desperate. Because I’m really
really
not. Of course, Izzie heard about
my refusal to go out and came over to see me on Wednesday.
    ‘I don’t want to pick
up any old boy. I want it to be special, like it was with Tony.’
    ‘Then what you need to
do,’ said Izzie, ‘is to send a message out into the universe about what you
want, then you’ll attract it to you. You should do a wish list for a boy, then
wrap it in tissue, put it in a secret box and hide it in your bedroom.’
    ‘If it’s going to go
out into the universe, wouldn’t a billboard up at Swiss Cottage work better
than hiding a piece of paper in my bedroom?’ I teased.
    She gave me ‘the
look’. The one our form teacher, Miss Watkins, gives when someone hasn’t done
their homework.
    ‘Trust me,’ she said.
She was always coming up with ways to make things happen or control your
destiny and stuff. She’s got one of those spell books at home, and when Tony
was coming down with a case of the wandering hands last year, she told me to
put a photo of him in the freezer to cool him down. I laughed at the time, but
maybe it worked after all. He’d certainly gone cold on me now.
    I stretched out on my
bed while she took her favourite place on the beanbag on the floor. ‘OK, mystic
Iz. So what’s a wish list?’ I asked.
    ‘You have to write
down all the things that you want in a boy on one side of the paper, then all
things that you have to offer on the other side.’ She got up and found a pen
and piece of paper from my desk and handed it to me. ‘Start with how you want
him to look, then go on to personality - like funny, generous, that sort of
thing. Then emotionally and spiritually how you’d like him to be. The more
detail, the better. Leave nothing out.‘
    Why not? I thought. I
had nothing else to do and it was better than being made to go out and trawl
North London like a saddo.
    ‘OK,’ I said, and
began to write.
    My perfect boy:
    Medium height, not too tall. Fit-looking. Nice
face.
    ‘Blond or dark?’ asked
Izzie, coming to sit on the bed next to me and looking at what I was writing.
    ‘Urn, don’t mind
really, as long as he’s quite nice-looking.’
    ‘Oh, go for it,’ said
Izzie. ‘Write drop dead gorgeous. Cute. Don’t settle for just anyone.’
    Gorgeous-looking, cute, long eyelashes. With
nice hands and nails. Clean.
    Well-dressed, with a sense of style. Interested
in fashion.
    ‘Now you’re getting
it,’ said Izzie. ‘Now his personality.’ I continued writing.
    Reliable,
i.e., will phone me when he says he will.
    ‘Excellent,’ said Iz.
‘But what else? Just reliable could be a bit boring.’
    Good fun to be with. Sense of humour. Really
likes me.
    Honest. Doesn’t play mind games. Not afraid to
show his feelings about me. Intelligent. Ambitious.
      Kind. Sensitive. Spontaneous. Likes animals.
    ‘Good,’ said Izzie.
‘Now do you.’
    I turned over the
paper. ‘Um, don’t know what to put,’ I said.
    ‘Blonde, small, slim,’
dictated