Cinnamon Twigs Read Online Free PDF Page A

most of my time dreaming about becoming a Hollywood hero. Those dreams had kept me going during Mrs Bach’s lessons about pesticides, and the times I’d gargled toilet water.
                  I also dreamt about my first crush, Olivia. To my adolescent eyes, her mouse-like features and tangled brown hair made her wonderful. Heaven smiled at me if she glanced my way, but that didn’t happen very often. I finally had my chance to tell her how I felt at the school prom, the most Americanized event I’d ever attended in Cardiff (bear in mind this was in the good old days, before bratty teenage girls were broadcast on television for their sweet sixteenths or school proms). School had ended, and the trials of teenage life would soon be over.
                  I gazed at the mirror, adjusting my turnback cuffs and bow tie. I looked like a man in that hired tuxedo, my blue eyes sparkling under the semi-flush lighting in the tailors. My thick black hair was slicked back. I’d developed broad shoulders and my voice had broken before any of my friends’ had. Not many kids would have felt inclined to shove my head down the bog during my last year at St Joseph’s.
                  Olivia floated across the hotel’s marble floor on prom night, her scarlet dress hugging her body. She sparkled under the crystal chandeliers. People arrived in limousines and pimpmobiles, some looking awkward in their attire, others enjoying the occasion. The teachers smiled, teary-eyed and pissed, sipping their champagne and denying us kids so much as a sip. At mealtime, salt found its way into drinks, and drinks onto food, while cheesy music bounced off the midnight blue walls.
                  Mrs Harper grinned widely at me later that evening, revealing her brilliant white teeth and wishing me luck for the future. She knew I’d go far, because I had good looks and intelligence. I thanked her for the compliment and for helping me so much. She would always be my favorite teacher.
                  The prom ended and I suddenly realized I’d miss high school life - the good times and the bad. But the party hadn’t ended yet. A large group of us stumbled towards Cardiff castle and into the nearby woods. There, under the overhanging branches of great oak trees, we sat on the grass, smoked and drank. Moonlight crept across the muddy ground and the scents of spirits and cigarette smoke filled the air. I lit my first cigarette, letting the smoke float above me like an elegant cloud, while I spluttered. Everyone drank too much. My mate Matt tread on blooming daffodils before resting against a tree, his eyes fixed on the vertiginous ground while he slurred, ‘Vroddka!’
                  The alcohol made me brave. I gazed at Olivia while pouring straight vodka down my neck, and then I told her how I felt. But she only saw me as a friend. I tried to convince her to give me a go, but even my muddy tux couldn’t stop me from floundering. I’d spent all that time thinking about her, wondering when we’d get married, how many kids we’d have and what she liked for breakfast. But as she stood up, silhouetted against the pale moonlight, I realized I’d wasted my time.
                  I bimbled home very late and very drunk, stinking of booze and fags. My mother had been worried sick.
                  ‘Where the hell have you been?’ she roared. ‘The prom ended hours ago!’
                  ‘You knows how’s it is,’ I slurred.
                  ‘Have you been drinking?’
                  ‘Yeah, I’ve has one or two.’
                  ‘What were you drinking?’
                  ‘Uh?’
                  ‘What were you drinking?’
                  ‘Yeah, one or two.’
                  ‘No.’ She actually clenched her fists. ‘I said what have you been