Happy Now? Read online

  Happy now?

  By

  S M Mala

  Published by S M Mala

  Copyright © S M Mala 2014

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication is to be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any forms or by any means, including photocopying, recording or any other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher/author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  All characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Visit my website: www.smmala.com to see other titles.

  All helpful advice and genuine comments are welcome.

  And if you liked what you read then please review on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk or Goodreads.com. All positive comments are deeply appreciated.

  Books to look out for by S M Mala:

  My Mother in Law’s Lover

  What he did to her

  The problem of getting Rich Quik … part one

  The problem of getting Rich Quik … part two

  Relative Strangers

  The Secret History of Hatty Ha Ha … begins

  The Secret History of Hatty Ha Ha … ends

  Pushing over 40

  Good Vibration

  Bad Advice

  Hot Flush

  Tap Dance Kidnap

  Happy Now?

  Dedicated to all of us who had a crush/love/obsession with someone you could never just quite get your mucky paws on… but who occasionally pops into your mind.

  Twenty eight years earlier before mobile phones and the internet.

  The first time they spoke...

  ‘Happy now?’

  … Flora asked, whacking her portfolio against the boy’s back. ‘Leave him alone you hooligans!’

  She’d spotted a fight when the boys came off the bus and was trying to intervene.

  ‘What’s it got to do with you?’ one of the older boys shouted, continuing to kick the other boy on the ground. ‘This one shagged my mate’s girlfriend. Kit’s really upset!’

  ‘Keith Watts, I know your mother and I’ll tell her you’re a nasty little bully! And if you’re talking about Kristin, everyone knows she’s a slapper! I feel sorry for Kit I really do!’ she shouted, hitting him harder with her folder. ‘And you, Andrew Skinner, what are you doing? He’s a year younger than us! You don’t go beating up fifteen year olds!’

  ‘Stop being a goody fucking two shoes and piss off!’ he replied.

  That did it.

  Flora threw her art box, portfolio and school bag to the ground, pounced on Andrew, punching him hard. She’d wanted to do that to him for weeks as he’d been annoying her at break time, trying to grope her arse.

  Flora was self-conscious that her bottom stuck out and he knew it.

  Her dad had taught her to fight and she wasn’t going to let Andrew get away with it.

  It was a secret revenge deploy.

  In return, the boy was about to thump her back when the lump heaped on the ground suddenly stood up and smacked Andrew first, throwing him backwards.

  Flora then turned to see Keith Watts step back.

  ‘You don’t screw someone else’s girlfriend!’ shouted out Keith, shaking his head.

  ‘She didn’t tell me she was with Kit. Kristin approached me, not the other way round.’

  ‘That I can believe,’ mumbled Flora.

  Trying not to look too prim and shocked about the topic of conversation, she shook her head in dismay, picking up her items before realising her wooden paint box was damaged.

  ‘Next time Ed Carter, I’m going to smash your face in!’ shouted Andrew, rubbing his jaw. ‘You wait and see!’

  They ran off leaving Flora and Ed standing, watching them fade into the distance.

  She let out a mighty sigh then turned to look at Ed Carter, aged fifteen and one of the hottest looking boys in school, so everyone said. Flora thought because he was a year younger it wasn’t appropriate to fancy him.

  Though she secretly had done since she was fourteen.

  ‘Thanks,’ he mumbled, dusting down his school uniform and grabbing his bag.

  ‘Pleasure,’ she groaned, examining her art box. ‘Oh well, it was getting old anyway.’

  Then she looked at Ed with the perfect cheeky smile and the sparkling blue eyes. He was well built for a boy of his age and quite muscular stocky. Always his medium brown hair was messy but it looked good and never was he ever seen without a girl by his side.

  She figured that’s why he got duffed up.

  Girl trouble.

  ‘You shouldn’t have got involved,’ he said, checking his face. ‘They’re only going to pick on you now.’

  ‘Like I care! They haven’t got a brain cell between them. Anyway, Andrew asked me out a few weeks ago and I said ‘no’ so he can stick it,’ she replied. Then she double blinked and peered up to examine him closer. ‘You’re bleeding.’

  ‘Where?’ he asked, anxiously touching his face.

  ‘Just above your eye.’

  Flora was in two minds whether to leave him and walk home but knew that wouldn’t be the charitable thing.

  ‘Follow me,’ she said, marching off as he followed slowly. ‘I need to clean you up before Mrs Carter sees you. Your mum will go mental.’ There was a laugh from behind her. ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘You!’

  ‘I know, I’m the butt of all the jokes.’ She instinctively checked her jacket was covering her bum. ‘‘Flora easy spread’, ‘Is your middle name margarine?’ Heard them all. I make sure we never have that brand in the house. It just winds me up. My mum wanted to call me Doris, so I got let off lightly, sort of.’

  He let out another laugh and she stopped at the local café, opening the door and walking in.

  ‘Sit,’ she instructed and he did with a bemused look. ‘I’ll get us two teas and something to clean your face.’

  Ed dutifully sat down as she went to the counter ordering the drinks then asked for a cup of ice, which they made her pay extra for. When she walked back to the table, Flora put her things on the chairs opposite then sat next to him.

  There was a tea towel she had used for her O’ Level Art exam that day. Knowing she wouldn’t need it, Flora put the ice in a cloth and held it gently to his head.

  That’s when he looked at her straight in the eye and something weird happened in her gut. She wasn’t quite sure what it was. He was grinning.

  ‘Flora Almeida, nice to meet you. I’m Edward Cater,’ Ed whispered.

  ‘I know who you are.’

  ‘I feel honoured that you, a girl, tried to stick up for me.’ She recognised the sarcasm. ‘I’d have never got you down for someone who could throw a punch.’

  ‘In this day and age a female has to be able to protect herself.’

  ‘That’s true,’ he said, smiling.

  Again she wasn’t used to the unfamiliar squeeze in her gut.

  Then, out of nowhere, she started to feel nervous.

  ‘You know what people say about you?’ said Ed, trying to catch her eye as she stared at the cube laden tea towel.

  ‘I dread to think,’ she replied, looking around the dingy café whose only other two diners where a pair of elderly women scoffing tea cakes.

  ‘You’re quite cold,’ he whispered, leaning closer. ‘They say ‘Go with the Flo’ but if you did, your bollocks would get frostbite.’

  She narrowed her eyes and pulled back a little.

  ‘Why’d they say that?’ she asked. ‘I have heard that ‘Go with the Flo’ shit. It wasn’t the frostbite version. It was crashing your nuts against the iceberg one. Being that I’m the iceberg.’
/>   ‘Oh that’s a good one too!’

  ‘Just because I don’t want to go out with boys and get touched up like some girls do. I want to concentrate on my exams, getting a place at art school and we’ll see what happens then.’

  ‘Saving yourself for anyone in particular?’

  ‘You’re obviously not!’ Then she whispered. ‘Aren’t you too young to be having sex? You need to be safe with aids and everything. It’s shocking!’

  ‘It’s a gay man’s disease and I take precautions.’

  ‘So backward,’ she said, shaking her head from side to side in dismay. ‘So young.’ Flora let out a massive sigh. ‘Obviously you don’t take enough precautions if you’re getting caught shagging someone else’s girlfriend, do you?’ Ed started to laugh. ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘You’re nothing like your sister, are you?’

  Immediately she clammed up and moved away from him, releasing the bundle of ice and letting him hold it.

  She hated being reminded about Faith. It was something she couldn’t get her head around and neither could her own mother.

  If Flora was going to be perfectly honest, her sister was a bit of a slapper. She appreciated that people spoke around the subject but when her own flesh and blood was caught shagging the middle aged P.E. teacher at school, one was sacked, the other expelled.

  It was too much shame for her to take.

  That was two years ago and the stink hadn’t quite gone away.

  Flora could always smell the aroma of the outrage every time she walked into the sports block.

  ‘I’m not like her,’ she whispered quietly as the mugs of tea appeared, feeling her face go red. ‘I hate talking about it.’

  ‘It was major!’ he laughed and Flora flicked him a glance, turning her body to face the table. ‘I mean it was all over the school like wildfire.’

  ‘Suppose.’

  Sipping the hot tasteless liquid, she focussed on the glass inside of the café, thinking it would be a good place to do some sketches. She rarely ventured into cafes always sticking to burger places and other up and coming fast food outlets.

  And not forgetting her one true love.

  The local Italian Mario’s that sold the best pizza ever.

  ‘Thank you,’ she heard him say, placing the bloodied tea towel on the table.

  He reached out for the sugar dispenser and she watched as he emptied nearly half the contents into a mug.

  ‘Sugar’s good for shock,’ she said, looking at his side profile wondering if he was the type to get fat.

  ‘You know how my head feels right now? Like it’s got that exploding space dust going off,’ he said, starting to smile. ‘I love that stuff, the way it cracks in your ears. The best invention ever.’

  Flora just stared.

  For a fifteen year old boy he was very handsome and he knew it.

  She had to agree.

  It occurred to her if someone like him would ever want someone like her.

  She wanted him to want her but knew it was impossible as he probably thought the same thing as the other boys in school.

  Flora wasn’t their type.

  It was obvious no one was at this rate.

  Personally Flora stuck to prettier boys, less masculine. She was also aware that her choice was solely down to the fact she was dreading ever having sex.

  Faith had given her a low down a few years back and the idea of a boy’s dirty willy went inside you and they jiggled. It was enough to make her want to be a virgin for the rest of her life.

  Not to mention her sister’s description. You bleed like a slaughtered pig afterwards and couldn’t walk for days. Flora suffered enough with bad period pains.

  The very idea scared the living shit out of her.

  Then she wondered if her sister put her off on purpose so she’d never get a boyfriend and then would stay with their divorced mother forever.

  It was working.

  Also, very rarely, was she asked out.

  Usually by the quirky boys or the clinically insane. Any of the handsome ones she fancied were never interested in her. The colour of her skin and her family’s non British heritage was always a hurdle. Flora knew she wasn’t the flavour of the month, let alone the year.

  She was invisible to anyone worth wanting.

  Flora hoped when she went to college that would change.

  Her life would turn a corner and she’d find Mr Right waiting for her.

  In the meantime, she had a long wait.

  But the boy she had secretly hoped would want her was staring.

  ‘You know when you think, you pull some very funny expressions,’ he smiled, leaning closer. ‘There were about fifteen changes just then.’

  ‘It hurts when I think,’ she replied and was met with a look she couldn’t fathom out. ‘Wasn’t that what you were going to say?’

  He sat in silence just watching her. Flora knew he was trying to psych her out.

  ‘Your box is broken,’ Ed eventually said, reaching over towards it. ‘I can fix it.’

  ‘It’s okay. I’ll get another one. I’ve got a Saturday job so I can save up and buy one from the art shop down the road or W H Smiths. I’ve got all summer.’

  ‘You’re very pretty,’ he said, making her turn to look straight at him. ‘My mum always says so when you walk past our house.’

  ‘Oh.’ Flora rarely got a compliment from a boy, if ever. ‘Mrs Carter’s a nice lady and your sister’s always happy and says ‘hello’.’

  They sat in silence, drinking their tea, staring out onto the world through the glass windows of the café.

  ‘Are you staying on to do your A’ levels,’ he asked. She sensed he was staring. Flora took a deep breath before turning to look back at him. ‘I’m going to sit my exams next year then I’m going to college.’ She tried not to raise her eyebrows too high in response. ‘I’m not thick like everyone says.’

  ‘You just piss about a lot and get away with blue murder.’

  ‘I like to have fun,’ came his sullen reply. ‘My dad says I have to get maths, technical drawing and woodwork before he lets me go to college. I want to specialise in carpentry and design the interior of homes. Not an interior designer but something where I can physically create things.’

  ‘You want to be a carpenter?’ she said, trying not to look too alarmed. ‘You?’

  Ed rolled his eyes and shook his head before glaring at her.

  ‘What is it with you art lot? You’re not the only creative people. I don’t have to carry a large portfolio to prove I can do it then use it as a lethal weapon, which I appreciate.’

  ‘Thank you,’

  ‘I’m excellent at technical drawing and woodwork. My maths is pretty good and so is my English. What more do you need?’

  Flora smiled, completely enchanted by the boy.

  ‘And your dad owns a timber yard so you can get free wood.’

  ‘Goes without saying,’ he replied with a cute grin.

  She was impressed he had an ambition under his scruffy good looking brawn.

  ‘And you?’ he continued. ‘What do you want to do?’

  ‘Paint.’

  ‘You want to be a painter and decorator? I could use you when my business gets better.’

  ‘I just want to paint. I can’t see anything further than that. My mum hates the idea of me being an out of work artist. My sister’s working in an accounts office in town, so she doesn’t care. And dad…’ Flora grimaced. ‘He got remarried and went to live in Florida. Got a one year old son. Sod his daughters, that’s what I say.’

  ‘I heard,’ he mumbled. ‘Your mum and my mum talk from time to time. It’s been rough for you, hasn’t it?’

  Flora nodded trying to hide how upset she still felt about her dad’s sudden departure.

  As well as the surprise news she had a half-brother plus not forgetting the wedding she hadn’t been invited to.

  ‘He always wanted a son,’ she mumbled, swallowing hard due to the pain.<
br />
  ‘Other than my dad and me, I’m surrounded by women. I’ve got mum, Siobhan, all these aunties and girls cousins not to mention female friends of the family. It’s like drowning in boobs,’ he said, in all seriousness. ‘I love it! I’m in heaven because I love breasts.’

  ‘That’s lovely,’ she half smiled and glanced at him, folding her arms across her chest. ‘You should drink your tea then I’ll walk you home.’

  ‘Want to come to my room?’ Ed asked, giving her a sexy smile. ‘I could teach you a thing or two.’

  ‘So young, so naïve.’

  ‘So young, so virginal.’

  ‘Who said I was a virgin?’ she gasped, looking around, wondering how he could tell.

  ‘It’s written all over your face,’ he laughed.

  ‘I’ve done things,’ Flora lied.

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Like never you mind, drink your tea and I can deposit you back to your mother!’ she said, standing up in alarm, also wanting to hide her embarrassment. ‘Come on Edward Carter, I haven’t got all day! Jesus! Boys are just horrible creatures, they really are!’

  ‘Coming,’

  … he replied, watching Flora gather her things in a mad rush. ‘Let me finish my tea.’

  ‘I have to revise for yet another exam,’ she said, getting in a fluster. ‘Biology. I hate biology.’

  ‘Come to my bedroom and I could help out,’ Ed teased, seeing she was getting embarrassed.

  Discreetly, he eyed her up and down.

  Everyone fancied Flora but they knew they had no chance in hell.

  She was a cold fish.

  Any boy that approached her was either deranged or mentally unstable thinking that she’d go out with them.

  Ed checked out her arse in her black jeans as she put on her oversized jacket.

  She was medium height, slim with long legs and very pert breasts. But the thing about Flora, she was exceptionally pretty and had amber brown eyes that dazzled you. Her mother was from Guyana and her father was Brazilian. Behind her back, they used to call her ‘Amazon’ due to her very square shouldered physique. Her skin was bronze coloured chocolate and her hair was neatly cut into a one length bob with kinks, stopping at her chin.