Chapter Eighteen: A Perfect Opportunity(Tamarah, Daariah and Nausheenah)

The next day, the girls slept in with no clanging bell to wake them early for inspection and breakfast. The sky was still dark and grey so they spent the whole day in their pajamas and lazed around, watching TV and playing charades. They discovered that Calipso was very good at acting out different movies, books and songs. The didn’t see much of the boys as they went into town with Mr Thompson to buy some supplies for a big Technology project that they were busy with. Before they knew it, Saturday had come and gone and the girls hadn't even left the house. But they'd had so much fun playing games indoors and had been spoilt by Mrs Thompson and her freshly baked goods.
On Sunday morning, they all emerged from their bedrooms and the smell from the kitchen summoned them straight downstairs. Mrs Thompson poured them each a mug of coffee and treated them to some of her infamous blueberry pancakes. The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky. It seemed as though the stormy weather had passed. They showered, dressed and then joined the boys in the back yard. They were involved in a serious game of soccer with two players against one.
“Do you girls want to play?” asked Stuart, hoping to gain a few team members so that he could beat Adam and Kyle.
“I’ll play,” replied Roxanne, “but I doubt any of the others will join in.”
“Yeah, we’ll play,” said Jade, looking apologetically at her friends who followed reluctantly into their positions, none of them quite sure where to stand or what to do.
“The teams are even without me so I’ll sit out. It's not like I'll be of any help anyway,” Chelsea pointed out and hobbled away to find some shade.
The girls struggled to tackle the boys and couldn't really kick the ball further than a few feet in front of them. Added to that was Jade's squealing every time the ball went anywhere near her. Annie, Roxanne and Charlotte were in Stuart’s team. The girls persevered and after a great pass from Stuart to Annie, who then passed it to Roxanne, the ball flew past Adam and right between the goal posts.
“Goal!” they shouted and gave each other high fives while the ball continued to sail through the air and hit Chelsea on the head.
“Ouch!” she yelled.
“Oh no Chels, are you okay?” asked her worried sister.
“Yes, I’m fine, but that’s quite a kick you have!” she replied.
“You’re really in the wars these days, aren’t you,” said Kyle, kneeling down on his haunches in front of her. He saw the red mark on her forehead where the ball had hit her. “Come on, let’s go inside and put some ice on that,” he said as he helped her up. He put his arm around her and helped her to the kitchen and then found an ice-pack buried at the bottom of the freezer.
They sat down at the kitchen table and Kyle held the ice-pack gently against Chelsea’s forehead.
After a few moments of silence, Kyle asked Chelsea how things were going at school. He was
very happy to have a chance to be alone with Chelsea and to talk to her.
“It’s fine. It’s a real bonus to have this extra weekend out,” she answered.
“Mmm, those dreams have paid off then haven’t they?”
“What? How do you...?”
“Adam told me. Jade told him and asked him not to tell anyone, but he thought I might like to know since you’re...well...because,” he suddenly felt embarrassed and didn’t know what to say.
“Because what?” she pressed him.
“Because you’re in the dorm, and because....well...because I like you, and I worry about you,” he managed to explain, looking down at his feet.
Chelsea could feel her cheeks turning pink. “Oh,” she whispered, trying to control her excitement over the fact that he’d said that he liked her.
“So anyway, exams are coming up soon, have you been studying hard?” Kyle asked, trying to change the subject.
“Kind of, but the work has been quite easy this term so I’m not too worried about them. Not like Annie, she’s completely stressed out, especially about Maths.”
“Me too, we have the worst Maths teacher ever, Mr Jenkins. I don’t understand half of what he teaches us,” complained Kyle.
Chelsea sighed in sympathy. “That’s a pity, we have the best Maths teacher. He makes everything seem so easy and he’s really funny, although he does tend to give us a lot of homework.”
They chatted about school for a while and then Kyle asked Chelsea how her forehead was feeling.
“My head feels much better thanks, that ice-pack did the trick,” she answered cheerfully, secretly thinking that it was spending time with Kyle that had made her feel better. Kyle removed the ice and touched his fingertips to a small bump that had appeared above her left eye. They looked into each other’s eyes and time seemed to stand still.
“Shush, it’s my turn to look,” whispered Jade as she peeped through the keyhole. Suddenly the four girls fell through the door into a heap on the floor and looked guiltily up at Chelsea and Kyle, by now their faces only millimeters apart. Kyle leapt off the kitchen stool and stood looking at the girls on the floor. After a few awkward moments, he bent over to help the girls up and then made an excuse to leave the room.
“Not again,” mumbled Chelsea through gritted teeth. She glared at her friends and was about to give them a thousand words when Jade’s mom walked in and told them to pack up their things as it was time for them to go back to school.
Once the car was packed, the boys and girls all piled in the car, leaving the back seat empty for Kyle and Chelsea again. Stuart had brought his guitar with him, so he played all their favourite songs while the others sang along, all the way back to school. Jade’s parents drove to Fernwood to drop the girls off first. The six of them climbed out the car and thanked Mr and Mrs Thompson for the lovely weekend. Just before they turned to walk away, Kyle jumped out of the car and grabbed Chelsea’s arm.
“Do you have town leave next Saturday?” he asked.
Town leave was an opportunity for the girls to go into town with at least one friend, although they were only entitled to three town leaves per term.
“As a matter of fact I do,” she answered. “Why?”
“Can I fetch you and take you out for coffee, or a milkshake, or to the movies?”
“Sure,” she replied. “That would be lovely.”
“Great, so it’s a date!” He smiled as he repeated the same line he had used when he asked her to the dance.
“See you on Saturday,” said Chelsea.
“See you then, have a good week at school.”
And then they both turned and went their separate ways.
The girls walked back to Oak House, slowly and in silence. Sunday was the worst day at boarding school, especially after returning from a fun weekend away. It was quiet, but there was always plenty to do before the week started – laundry, unfinished homework and they always spoke to their parents on Sundays which left them all feeling a little homesick. It was almost like they felt empty inside and they had named this feeling the Sunday Blues. They went into their dorm and opened the blinds and the windows. A draft caught Calipso’s dream catcher and the feathers fluttered in the light breeze. The Super Six stood watching it and wondered to themselves what dreams were in store for them now that they were back in their dorm under the stairs.