Dating Dilemma (Book 1, Dilemma series) Read online

  "I just prefer looking natural, plus I can't be bothered doing make-up all the time."

  "I bet Jamie will like it," says Chloe.

  "Let me straighten your hair too," Gina instructs as she finishes doing my hair.

  "Do I have to?" complains Kate. "It's fine as it is."

  "Kate, there's no way you're going to a party with a boring pony tail," says Chloe. "You'll look much better with your hair down."

  An hour later, we all turn up at Keith's house for the party. I'm feeling pretty excited because for once I feel great. I'm wearing a purple top that Chloe advised me to wear off shoulder, so it looks sexier, and a short, denim skirt that I borrowed off Gina. I have cute, gold sandals, which I'd recently bought on one of our Saturday shopping trips, and Chloe has done a great job on my make-up.

  Gina looks gorgeous too, wearing a sexy, red top and some dark denim shorts with a shiny belt. She's wearing dark high heeled shoes and also has a makeover done by Chloe.

  Kate looks very pretty for once, instead of her usual scruffy self. She has borrowed a blue vest top from Chloe and is wearing her best skinny jeans, which Chloe has put a silver belt around to make them look fancier. She agreed to wear Gina's blue sandals and also has make-up on and her hair down and straightened.

  Chloe of course looks the best out of all of us. She's wearing another tight pink top and a white, denim mini skirt with pink high heels to match. She has beautiful silver bangles on her wrists and a pink beaded necklace to accessorize her outfit. Her hair is straightened as usual but she's curled little strands of her hair to make it look stylish. She's also done a full makeover on herself, using more makeup than any of us.

  Kate looks nervous as we enter Keith's house for the party. A few of the lads from her football team are already there messing around in the living room, so she looks scared to go near them in case they make fun of her.

  "Come on, Ven," she says, hiding behind me in case they spot her. "Let's head to the kitchen."

  "I'm going over to Danny," Chloe informs us and goes off to meet him.

  I see that Gina has already disappeared to find Lee, so I start walking to the kitchen with Kate.

  We soon realize this is a mistake when Jamie comes out of the kitchen doorway as we approach.

  "Help!" squeaks Kate as she sees him.

  She isn't quick enough to hide behind me and he spots her and does a double take.

  "Kate?" he asks and looks puzzled.

  Kate stands there and looks embarrassed, "Yeah, it's me," she says, looking down at her feet shyly.

  "What happened to you?" he asks and starts to laugh.

  I feel so sorry for her. If a boy I fancied laughed at the way I looked, I'd probably run away crying. Yet, Kate's a lot braver than me and grins back at him as if it's all a big joke.

  "Yeah, it's awful, isn't it?" she says, beginning to be her normal, confident self again. "Chloe got me in my sleep."

  Jamie laughs, "Poor you," he says, looking sympathetic for her. "I hardly recognized you for a second."

  "Well, that's my secret plan," jokes Kate, "to avoid all you football jerks by going in disguise."

  This makes Jamie laugh again and Kate grins happily.

  "Looks like you failed that one," he jokes back, "so I guess you're stuck with me now."

  They both head off to the lounge together to join the other lads.

  I follow them, but I might as well be invisible. Kate is so busy with Jamie that she has forgotten all about me, but I decide to forgive her. I guess there might be a time when I'll do the same thing and it isn't as if she's doing it on purpose.

  I hope I could sit down next to her, but Jamie seems happy to sit in the space next to her, so I sit at the other side of the sofa instead.

  "Whoa Kate, what's with the Barbie appearance?" one of the lads jokes as he sees her.

  The others lads snigger and gawp.

  "Shut it," says Kate and gives the lad a playful punch in the arm. "I'm doing a sponsored dress up."

  I don't know if the other boys believe her story, but they keep quiet after that, knowing they shouldn't mess with her. I'm sure they still remember the time Kate punched a boy and broke his nose for calling her names.

  After a while, I got bored with sitting around with Kate and the other boys, mostly because they just talk about football and mess about; so I go in search for Chloe. However, when I spot her, she's busy dancing with Danny in front of the music stereo, so I don't want to interfere.

  I don't bother going in search for Gina, since she'll be busy snogging Lee somewhere; so I go around looking if there's anyone else I know. Luckily, there are a few girls from my class and I chat with them for a while, but they soon drift off together in their group to do some secret gossiping, so I'm left alone again.

  I know it's sad, but at that moment I feel like being at home instead of at the party. At least then I can finally get to reply back to Matthew's emails and hopefully chat to him if he's online.

  Unfortunately I'm stuck here and there's no way I'm going to embarrass myself by leaving. I just wish the girls would be with me instead of going off and then I'd be having a good time instead of feeling fed up.

  I don't know how long I'm sat there drinking Pepsi and just listening to music, but finally Chloe appears beside me.

  "Hey Ven, what are you doing sat here on your own?"

  "Kate's with the lads, Gina's with Lee and you were busy with Danny; so I've been disowned," I reply.

  "I'm so sorry babe," says Chloe sympathetically and gives me a hug. "I had no idea you were on your own. You should have come to me or something."

  "I didn't want to disturb you. You looked like you were having too much fun dancing with Danny."

  "Believe me, it would have been great if you had interrupted us," she says and sits down next to me. "He's so annoying."

  "Why? What's he done?" I ask.

  "Well, I went over for a chat with him and he was trying to be all over me as if I'm his girlfriend. He's only acting like that 'cause his mates were around," she replies. "Anyway, I agreed to dance with him for a while, but he's getting way to clingy with me. I had to say I was going to the toilet just to get away from him."

  "That doesn't sound good," I agree.

  "Tell me about it. I'll have to spend the entire night trying to avoid him now."

  "Well at least I can help you," I offer. I'd already been used as a person to hide behind for Kate earlier, so it was the least I could do to help Chloe too.

  "Thanks Ven," she says. "You're a great mate."

  "You are too, when you're not obsessing about boys."

  "I can't help that!" Chloe grins at me. "Come on, let's have a dance." She pulls me out of my seat before I can make up an excuse. "There's no point us sitting around at a party, is there? Plus if I'm dancing with you, Danny might not bother me."

  "Okay," I agree and let her drag me over to where everyone is dancing. I don't really know how to dance, so I just copy Chloe.

  "Hey! You didn't invite me!" Gina accuses us jokily, suddenly appearing beside us.

  "We thought you'd probably prefer dancing with Lee," I answer.

  "Of course not, mates come before boyfriends," she replies and starts to dance with us.

  We see Kate still hanging around with the lads at the other side of the room.

  "Oi Kate! Get over here and dance with us!" Chloe shouts to her.

  Kate rolls her eyes at us and looks as if she won't; but she soon leaves them and comes to join us.

  "How much are you paying me to dance with you again?" jokes Kate.

  It feels so good dancing around with my best mates and having a great time. How could I have wished I was at home instead? I must have been crazy to think that.

  Chapter 7

  We're all still feeling tired at lunch time the next day. I'd only got home at ten o'clock, so my parents were pretty miffed about it all. I'll probably be in for a mega lecture from them when I get back from school.


  "That was a great party last night, wasn't it?" asks Gina excitedly, as we sit together at a table in the Cafeteria.

  "Well it was, apart from Chloe making me look awful," says Kate, giving Chloe a pretend evil look across the table.

  "I was only trying to help," Chloe defends herself. "Anyway, I thought you looked nice."

  "Well Jamie didn't, he laughed his head off at the sight of me," complains Kate. "I've never felt so embarrassed in my life." In that case, she'd hidden it very well at the party.

  "Poor you," says Gina, giving her a sympathetic pat.

  "So from now on, no more makeovers for me," says Kate, and Chloe looks disappointed.

  "I thought he would like you looking nice for once," says Chloe, looking confused by it all.

  "Maybe that just proves that he doesn't like me in that way after all," says Kate, looking a little sad.

  "I'm sure he does fancy you," insists Gina. "Maybe he's a little embarrassed to show it to you. I mean, y' know how Lee was with me at first. He wouldn't even ask me out himself and had to get one of his mates to do it for him."

  "Maybe you should ask him out?" suggests Chloe.

  "No way, do you know how bad I'd get teased for it," says Kate. "The lads will be on my case for months and Jamie will go all weird on me."

  "If you don't then you'll have to wait until he does," replies Chloe.

  "You should just show him you're interested," suggests Gina, "to make him less embarrassed about liking you."

  "Then it'll be easier for him to ask you out," continues Chloe.

  "What am I supposed to do? Wear a t-shirt around him that says Jamie, I fancy you," she sighs.

  "Of course not," Chloe says and rolls her eyes. "Just flirt with him."

  "And what if the lads see me?"

  "You could pretend you're joking," I suggest, since that had worked for her last night.

  "But lads are slow, Jamie might get so confused that he'll think you were just joking, which will make things worse," says Gina. "Then there will be no chance if he thinks you're not interested."

  "I'll just wait until he asks me out," decides Kate, "but I might turn ninety before he ever does."

  "How was it with you and Danny last night?" Gina asks Chloe excitedly. "I saw you two dancing together."

  "It went awful," says Chloe, cringing. "He's already treating me like his girlfriend and showing me off in front of his mates. I don't think I can stand him."

  "So you're telling him you're not interested?" asks Kate.

  "I want to, but y' know what lads are like. He'll probably nag me to be his girlfriend for the next two years if I tell him; so I'm just going to ignore his texts from now on and hopefully he'll get the message."

  "That's pretty mean," I say, feeling sympathetic for him.

  I know I wouldn't like it if someone ignored my texts just because they couldn't be bothered to tell me they didn't like me.

  "What else can I do?" asks Chloe, looking pretty guilty. "Tell you what, I'll ignore him for a while and if he asks me about it I'll tell him straight, okay?"

  After dinner, plus a long lecture from my parents about partying too late last night; I finally escape to my bedroom and log myself onto my email account on the laptop.

  There is already a message waiting from Matthew:

  How long have you been doing horse riding? And what's your favourite animal? I guess it's a horse.

  I've been a Manchester United fan all my life. My dad and I have always gone to their matches together ever since I was old enough to walk. I'm not that good at playing football though, so I prefer just to watch it.

  I quickly start a reply back:

  Yes, my favourite animal is a horse but I have a few others too, like dolphins and rabbits. I've been doing horse riding for a few years now, so I'm pretty good at it. I'm going to my horse riding class tomorrow night.

  Did your team do well at the match this weekend?

  Matthew is online so I soon get his reply:

  Yeah, we won Liverpool 2-1, so I'm really chuffed about that.

  Are there any films you're into other than comedies? I watched the Jim Carey film you mentioned and you were right, it was very funny.

  I quickly email back, hoping he will stay online:

  I like animated films and sometimes romance ones. I'm not really into action or horror movies, but I bet you love those?

  I'm waiting for his reply when I hear my Mum call up the stairs to me, "Vanessa, Chloe is here to see you."

  "Coming!" I called down and quickly log off, feeling disappointed that I can't talk to him longer.

  Chapter 8

  "I wonder why Gina's so late?" I ask Chloe, as we sit nibbling fries.

  We're both in McDonalds, for our usual Tuesday hang out, waiting for her. We were so hungry that we got ourselves a drink of Pepsi and some fries to eat. Kate will probably be coming back from football practice around now, so she'll arrive soon. We still haven't heard anything from Gina to say why she's late, so I'm starting to worry.

  "She said something about her and Lee meeting up after school," answers Chloe, "but she said she would easy make it in time to meet us here at five."

  It's now half past five. It's not like Gina to be late, and if she is, she would have rang or text one of us by now.

  "She's probably having such a good time with Lee she's forgotten what time it is. Maybe she even forgot about meeting us," says Chloe, looking pretty annoyed.

  "Maybe we should call her?" I suggest. "At least then we can remind her."

  "Okay," says Chloe and grabs her mobile to start ringing Gina's number. "If she has forgotten, I'll kill her."

  I watch as Chloe rings her, but from Chloe's annoyed look I know it isn't good news.

  "She's not answering. I bet she is busy with Lee."

  I see Kate arrive through the entrance to McDonalds.

  "Hey guys!" she calls over to us both and falls into the seat next to me as always. "Where's Gina?"

  "Good question," says Chloe.

  "We haven't heard from her," I explain to Kate, "but I'm sure she'll get here soon."

  "In that case, give us a chip. I'm starving," says Kate and pinches some of my fries.

  "Go get your own if you're so hungry," I tell her, giving her a playful nudge with my elbow.

  "I will," she says, eating the few fries she already has. "You guys want anything else?"

  "I'll have a cheese burger," answers Chloe and gives her some money. "There's no point waiting if Gina's not going to show."

  "Yeah, get the same for me too," I say, so Kate collects my money then goes off to the counter.

  "It's a pity that fit lad isn't in today," says Chloe and looks sad. "I was looking forward to seeing him."

  "Have you heard anything from Danny yet?" I ask.

  "Yeah, he's sent me three texts already. Hopefully he'll stop soon."

  Kate arrives back with our orders.

  "You greedy pig," jokes Chloe as she sees that Kate has ordered large fries and a Big Mac burger.

  "I do use a lot of energy running about y' know," she answers back.

  There's still no sign of Gina when we finish our meals. I quickly check my mobile for messages or missed phone calls from her, but there's nothing.

  "Anyone else heard from her?" I ask them both.

  They quickly check their mobiles and shake their heads. Where could she be?

  I look up and see Gina through the window outside McDonalds, walking towards the door.

  "Hey, there she is?" says Kate, seeing her too, but she soon stops when we all notice that something's wrong.

  Gina's head is down as if she's crying and I can see the mascara running down her face. I quickly run over to her, feeling a tight knot of worry in my stomach.

  "Gina, what's happened?" I ask her.

  She seems as if she can't answer just yet, so I give her a hug. She rests her head on my shoulder, still sobbing.

  "Poor Gina," says Kate. She comes over and giv
es her a comforting pat on her back.

  "Let's get her out of here," says Chloe, taking charge.

  We link arms with Gina and quickly leave McDonalds. Chloe decides to take us to her house, since Gina might not want to confront her parents just yet, and it's the nearest place to go to.

  When we get up to Chloe's bedroom, Gina is still crying and hasn't spoken a word to us. Chloe lets her sit down on her bed and puts her arm around her.

  "Tell us what's wrong, Gina," she says.

  Gina cries loudly before answering, but manages to get the words out.

  "Lee?dumped?me," she says between sobs and then starts crying on Chloe's shoulder.

  Chloe quickly grabs a box of tissues and hands them to her, while Kate and I exchange shocked glances. We definitely weren't expecting this. Gina takes a tissue and starts wiping her eyes.

  "How did this happen?" Chloe asks her, looking concerned.

  Gina stops crying so hard for a moment and seems to be able to speak.

  "He saw me after school and we went to my bedroom to talk," says Gina, her voice shaky with sobbing so much. "He said he thought we'd been together long enough, he just wanted to move on and didn't want to be stuck with the same girlfriend."

  Chloe patted her shoulder sympathetically.

  I felt sorry for Gina too. Hearing that from a boyfriend you thought might be with you for a few more years must have hurt.

  "Well, if that's the way he feels then you shouldn't bother with him," Chloe tells her sternly. "You deserve a boyfriend who does want a long term relationship."

  "But I really care about him," weeps Gina. "I miss him already and I can't just stop my feelings for him, can I?"

  "You'll have to accept he's gone eventually," Chloe tells her.

  "And don't you dare think of begging him to give you another chance," says Kate, knowing that Gina is probably thinking about it. "You can find someone better than him."

  "But I don't want to find anyone else," says Gina.

  Chloe pats Gina's shoulder reassuringly because we all know that one day Gina will have to move on eventually and I can tell in her eyes that Gina is beginning to realize this too.

  "I'll go and get us all some hot chocolate," offers Chloe. "You definitely need one, Gina."

  Poor Gina is shivering, so Chloe quickly goes off to the kitchen to make some. I sit down on the bed next to her and Kate sits on the other side, ready with extra tissues if Gina needs any more.