Dating Dilemma (Book 1, Dilemma series) Read online

  "Yeah, I'll come with you," he answers. "Are you inviting the other lads too?"

  This catches Kate off guard, "Well, I'd rather not?they'll probably spoil it acting childish and throwing popcorn around," she answers. "Unless you wanna invite them, so you're not just stuck with me?"

  "No, that's fine," he answers quickly. "I think I can put up with you for a few hours."

  Kate grins knowing he's joking. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow at football practice then," she says.

  "Yeah, see ya," he says and starts walking away.

  "I can't believe I just did that," Kate says to us as soon as Jamie is a safe distance away.

  "I told you he'd say yes," says Gina, looking happy.

  "And that shows he's interested in you, like I said," adds Chloe, looking chuffed that her prediction was right. "He wouldn't go to the cinemas with you alone if he didn't."

  "What's this horror film you want to watch anyway?" I tease Kate, knowing she'd made it up.

  "Oh no!" cringes Kate. "I hope there is a horror film on or else I'll look like a right idiot."

  "I'm sure there will be," Gina reassures her. "There's always a horror movie on."

  "If there is, you can pretend to be scared and cuddle up to him," suggests Chloe grinning.

  Kate blushes, "No way I'm doing that. He'll think I'm a right wuss."

  The girls and I don't have anything planned this evening, so I take the laptop to my bedroom and check my emails.

  Matthew has sent me a new email so I open it excitedly read his reply:

  I like heaps of action films and I love all the Saw films with all the gory parts.

  Would you still like to go on a date with me on Valentine's Day? We could watch a movie at the cinema? I promise not to make you watch any scary films. We could watch a comedy if you like?

  My heart leaps with happiness. I can't believe a boy has finally asked me out on a date! I'm so incredibly happy that I'm dying to grab my mobile and tell the girls, but then I remember they still know nothing about Matthew or me taking part in the Valentine's Lucky Dip at school; so I have to stop myself. I'll have to confess all and explain everything to them tomorrow so I can finally tell them the good news.

  I happily reply to his e-mail:

  Yeah okay. Where should we meet? And what comedy film do you have in mind?

  Unfortunately he isn't online and I don't get a reply back, so I eventually log off the laptop.

  I begin to feel nervous, although I'm still very excited. I need to think how I'm going to break my news to the girls and how I'll cope with being on my first ever date with a boy. I decide to tell the others after school, so we have more privacy to talk, and then I can get their help on the dating part.

  Chapter 13

  The next morning, I still feel mega excited and nervous. I wake up early so I can log onto my email account before I go to school. Matthew has sent me another e-mail:

  Great! We can meet at the front of the Cinema in town at 8pm? And I guess we can choose a movie together when we get there?

  I reply back: Okay, that's fine.

  After sending it, I log off and leave for school. I'm trying to think of a way to tell the girls my news later on, while I'm stuck in form room that morning; but Kate is busy chatting to me about Jamie so I don't get much chance to think.

  "What if he tells the lads?" asks Kate nervously. "I'll die of embarrassment if any of them find out."

  "He might not say anything," I answer.

  "He probably will," says Chloe. "Guys like to brag about going on dates."

  "If he has, I'm going to get a serious teasing from the lads," says Kate cringing at the thought of it, "and I have football practice with them all later on."

  Luckily, we see Jamie on our way to French class and Kate quickly runs over to him.

  "Hi Jamie," she calls.

  "Hey Kate," he smiles at her. "Y' still up for the cinemas tomorrow night?"

  "Yeah," answers Kate. "What time do you wanna meet?"

  "Is seven alright?" he asks. "We can meet outside?"

  "Yeah, that's fine. Just don't tell the lads about it?y' know what they'll be like if they find out."

  "Sure, it can be our secret," he winks at her and leaves.

  "Did you see him wink at me? I feel like fainting," says Kate, looking surprised.

  "I bet he knows it's a date really," says Gina grinning.

  We're still busy talking about it in French class. Chloe has Fashion Design instead, so there's just me, Kate and Gina. We try and talk quietly to each other, hoping not to be heard by the teacher, who is busy explaining something to the class.

  We had once tried speaking in French to each other during lesson, so it would seem as if we were working instead, but we either got stuck with the words or said something wrong and ended up giggling; so we decided to stick to quiet English today. Besides, if the teacher heard us talking in French he might listen and obviously understand what we're really talking about.

  "Didn't I say he likes you?" Gina says quietly to Kate. "It's so obvious the way he's really happy to see you."

  "I know, it's weird that he didn't ask you out on a date," I say.

  "He's probably just scared of the lads teasing him, he seems relieved that I didn't want to say anything about it earlier, didn't he?" says Kate.

  "Okay everyone," announces our French teacher loudly. "I want you all to get into pairs for this next exercise."

  Kate and I quickly pair up.

  "What about me?" asks Gina, pulling a sad face.

  "We've disowned you 'cause you're bad at French," replies Kate jokily and Gina sticks her tongue out at her.

  "We can be in a three though, can't we?" I ask, since we've got away with it a few times in the past, but not today.

  "Georgina, you have to go into a pair," the teacher reminds her, spotting us together. "There are enough people in the class today for everyone to have a partner."

  Gina pulls a face.

  "I'll be your partner," offers Chad, a ginger haired guy who sits at the desk in front of us.

  Gina looks up in surprise. It's not every day a guy jumps at the chance to partner with a girl, unless they are in a relationship. Whenever I have to pair up with a guy, they usually moan about it and try to sit as far away from me as possible.

  "Okay," Gina replies, still looking startled as she moves to sit next to him on his desk.

  "Looks like Gina's got a new boyfriend," Kate teases her loudly.

  Chad blushes as he hears and Gina gives Kate an evil look in reply.

  "Don't, you'll embarrass him," I whisper to Kate, feeling sorry for poor Chad.

  "I'll leave them alone," promises Kate. "I don't want to spoil things."

  We both grin at each other; sure that Gina has a new admirer.

  We all meet up at McDonalds after school as usual, since its Tuesday.

  "So, do you like him then, Gina?" Chloe asks her.

  Kate and I have already filled her in about Chad at break time and we haven't stopped teasing Gina about it yet.

  "Of course not, we just worked together that's all," answers Gina, looking embarrassed.

  "He likes you though," Kate teases her. "You can tell by the way he started blushing."

  "Shut up," says Gina, giving her a playful shove across the table and starts to blush herself.

  "How did Jamie act at football practice?" Chloe asks Kate, looking eager to find out any news.

  "He acted like normal," answers Kate. "I told you he feels embarrassed about it in front of the lads."

  "I bet you're excited for tomorrow," I say.

  "Yeah, but nervous too. It's gonna be weird meeting up on our own together."

  "Hey, maybe if it goes well you two can have another date on Valentine's Day!" Gina exclaims.

  Kate blushes. "Maybe."

  I smile, remembering how excited and nervous I am about meeting Matthew. I have to confess it to them now that we're all together on our own.
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br />   "Actually, I have a confession to make," I say, feeling very nervous.

  They all look at me as if I'm about to admit that I've committed a murder or something.

  "I have a date for Valentine's Day."

  They all look surprised for a few seconds and then start firing questions at me.

  "Who it is?"

  "How did you meet him?"

  "Why haven't you told us?"

  "Chill out, I'll explain," I say and they finally give me chance to speak.

  "I joined the Valentine's Lucky Dip thing at school," I tell them, feeling embarrassed and looking shyly down at my food.

  They all look shocked at my news and I hope they wouldn't think I'm a total loser for taking part in it.

  "Why did you do that?" asks Kate, looking surprised.

  "It's just?well?I haven't had any luck with guys," I tell them, finding it hard to say, "so I thought I'd try that."

  "But Ven, there might be some awful guys taking part in it," says Chloe, looking a little worried for me, "and what if he's a psycho stalker or something?"

  "I know, don't worry. I've been really careful," I say, not wanting them to think I was stupid. I know it's dangerous emailing a stranger, even though they are at my school, because I still don't know whether I can trust him or not. "I've not given him any details about me or anything, just my e-mail address and my first name."

  "Why didn't you tell us?" asks Gina. "You kept it a secret all this time."

  "I'm sorry," I say, feeling bad. "I felt embarrassed about telling you all so I kept it to myself until he officially asked me."

  "You should have told us, you idiot," says Kate, grinning at me. "We wouldn't have teased you about it."

  "I know," I say, knowing that I have great friends and they wouldn't let things like this put them off me, "and anyway, I was scared I wouldn't get a date after all, so I didn't want to tell you until I got one."

  "But you have found someone?" asks Chloe excitedly.

  "Yeah I have," I admit. "I've been e-mailing him all week, and yesterday he asked me out on a date."

  "So what's his name?"

  "How old is he?"

  "Where's he from?"

  So I start to tell them all I know about him to answer their questions.

  "I said I'd meet him at the cinemas on Friday night."

  "We'll go with you," offers Gina, "just in case he turns out to be some weirdo."

  "Yeah, we can spy on you from inside the cinema," suggests Kate, looking eager to do a bit of spying.

  "And I can help you with your clothes and make-up before you go," says Chloe excitedly.

  I feel so relieved to finally tell them and I don't have to keep it a big secret anymore. At least now I have their help, so there is one less thing to worry about.

  Chapter 14

  In French the next day, we have to revise for a test in pairs and Gina ends up with her new admirer Chad. However, instead of revising, we're all chatting to each other quietly while the teacher is too busy marking another class's work to notice.

  "So Gina, are you single?" Chad asks her.

  Kate and I both look up as we hear this. I know he's interested in her but that makes it too obvious.

  Gina blushes. "Yeah, unfortunately," she mutters uncomfortably and pretends to be reading something.

  "I thought you were going out with that guy Lee?" he asks.

  "We finished a week ago," she answers quietly.

  Poor Gina, I bet she feels upset talking about it. She probably looks upset because Chad gives her a sympathetic look and pats her shoulder.

  "He must be an idiot," he says. "If I was lucky enough to be your boyfriend, I'd never want to split with you."

  Kate and I exchange glances with the same surprised expression. Honestly, this lad was flirting for England.

  "Thanks," replies Gina, avoiding eye contact with him.

  Luckily for Gina, the teacher finishes his marking and starts to test us on what we revised, or in our case hadn't revised, so Chad doesn't get any more time for flirting.

  After the lesson, we see Chad follow Gina out of the classroom.

  "Gina, I was wondering," he starts, "since it's Valentine's day on Friday and you're single, would you be interested in going on a date with me?"

  He blushes so much his face is nearly as red as his hair, and Gina looks at the floor looking pretty uncomfortable.

  "I'm not ready to get involved with any other guy yet," she replies. "I'm sorry."

  He looks gutted at her reply and I feel sorry for him too and want to beg Gina to go with him. Gina turns and walks along the corridor, so Kate and I have to run to catch up with her.

  "Why did you say that?" Kate asks her.

  "Like I said, I'm not ready to start dating or having relationships with anyone else yet," replies Gina.

  "But you have to move on sometime," Kate reminds her, "and Chad's so sweet to you."

  "I know, but it's only been a week. I'm not going to move on so quickly as if it meant nothing," says Gina, with tears in her eyes. She's probably thinking that although she's being loyal to Lee by not moving on so quickly, he has regardless of her feelings.

  I put my arm around her sympathetically, knowing it must be hard for her.

  "And I'm still hurt over it, so I don't want anyone else yet," Gina finishes and then leaves us to go to her next lesson.

  I watch her go, feeling sad for her.

  "Do you think she'll be okay?" I ask Kate, feeling worried.

  "Yeah, she will," answers Kate. "Don't worry, we'll check up on her at break."

  Gina seems fine at break time, so Kate and I keep quiet about earlier, not wanting to set her off again. Instead, we fill Chloe in on the gossip about Chad. This is a mistake as Chloe continues to nag her to go on the date. This goes on right through break time, third lesson and to lunch time. By then Gina is sick of her talking about Chad. However, we both know Chloe is right, she should just go on the date and forget about Lee.

  "Like I said to you," Chloe starts off again as we eat lunch, "Lee's moved on so you should too. It'll help you get over it if you start going on dates with someone else."

  "I've already said I'm not," insists Gina.

  I look at her worriedly hoping that Chloe's pestering won't upset her.

  A blonde haired boy comes over to our table and Chloe immediately stops bothering Gina and gives him flirtatious looks. Kate rolls her eyes at me to say: 'Honestly, we can't take her anywhere!'

  "Chad asked me to give you this note," he tells Gina, giving her a folded up piece of paper and then leaves.

  "What does it say?" Chloe asks her excitedly.

  Gina unfolds the paper and we all read the scruffy writing:

  Please say you'll go on a date with me? From Chad x

  "Why can't he just take no for an answer?" says Gina, sounding annoyed.

  I guess this wasn't the best time to give her that note, especially since Chloe has done enough nagging already.

  "Maybe he's fallen for you and won't leave you alone until you say yes," suggests Chloe grinning.

  "I hope not," replies Gina. "I've got enough with you on my case."

  "Come on Gina, just date him," Kate says to her. "He might leave you alone if you do and then you could say you're not interested afterwards if you're still not ready."

  "And you deserve a date right now," insists Chloe. "Just go for it. You won't know whether you are ready or not until you try."

  Late that evening, I'm sending another e-mail to Matthew when Kate signs in on Facebook as promised and sends me a message. I quickly go onto Facebook to reply.

  Kate: Hey.

  Ven: Hi, how did the date go?

  Kate: Great! He asked me out on another date afterwards too, an OFFICIAL date!

  Ven: It must have gone well! Glad things worked out for you.

  Kate: He knew I was asking him out on a real date, even though I pretended it was a mate date (Cringe!) He said he thought it was pretty
funny that I did, but he would have said yes to a proper date anyway, so now we're officially dating! Can't believe it!

  Ven: When are you seeing him next?

  Kate: Tomorrow night.

  Ven: He must be keen! Good luck with it! How was the film?

  Kate: Scary. I had to look away a few times so I wouldn't jump so much. What are you and Matthew watching on Friday?

  Ven: You should have used Chloe's advice and cuddled up to him. We're going to watch a comedy film.

  Kate: Cool. Nervous?

  Ven: Very.

  Kate: Don't worry, if he turns out to be some weird psycho I'll rugby tackle him.

  Ven: LOL thanks. Hey! You and Jamie will probably be going on a date on Valentine's Day too.

  Kate: I hope so.

  After chatting to Kate for another half hour, Chloe and Gina come online too, so I chat with them. My mum eventually starts nagging me to get off the laptop, so I quickly type goodbye to all of them, shut down the laptop and go to bed.

  Chapter 15

  The next day at school, Chad is waiting for Gina outside the school gates.

  "Oh no," moans Gina, but it's too late to hide behind us because he sees her.

  "Hi Gina," he calls and walks towards us.

  "Hi," Gina greets him, sounding uncomfortable.

  "I got this for you," he says, giving her one of those pretend, red roses. "I know it's not Valentine's Day until tomorrow, but I wanted you to have it."

  "Aww," says Chloe quietly, thinking Chad is very sweet.

  "Thanks," says Gina, blushing, "but I did say I wasn't going on a date with you."

  "I know. I just really hope you'll change your mind. You're a really nice girl and I don't think you should stay away from lads just because someone didn't appreciate you enough." He looks at her hopefully. "Will you please come on a date with me and give me a chance?" he asks her again.

  Gina looks uncertainly at us. I think our 'move on' talk and Chad's sweet pleading is slowly winning her over. We all mouthed 'say yes' to her, hoping she will.

  "Alright," she says, turning back to him, "I'll go on the date, but if I don't feel ready for a relationship afterwards then we'll have to stay friends."

  Chad smiles happily at her answer. "That's fine. So I can see you tomorrow? About seven?"

  "Yeah, okay," she answers.