Expecting to Fly Read Free

mention of getting back together with Mia. Just art books.
    ‘So. Ruspoli,’ Joe said, after we had drunk some of our milkshakes. ‘Down to business. I’ve been thinking. I have a proposition for you.’
    ‘Oh. OK, shoot,’ I said. Last year we’d worked on the same team painting scenery for the school show. Maybe he wanted me to do something like that again.
    ‘Me. You. How about it?’ he asked and looked right into my eyes in an intense way that made my toes curl. I got the feeling it was my turn to say something, but my brain was trying
to take in what he had said and work out if there was a catch.
    ‘Me. You. How about what?’
    He pointed at himself then at me. ‘Couple. Us. Let’s go for it. I’ve been thinking. New year, new chapter – all that bollards,’ he said, then slid down on to one
knee. ‘Oh Ruspoli,’ he said in a silly high voice. ‘I cannot resist your seductive charms any longer. I give in. I am yours to do with what you like.’
    I glanced over my shoulder. Nicky and Ruby were staring, taking it all in. Part of me was delighted that they’d seen, they are such gossips. This would definitely get around school. I
turned back to Joe.
    ‘Serious?’ I asked.
    He got back up on to the couch. ‘Serious. No more messing.’
    Heckity hoola , I thought as I drained my glass. Heaven. Joe. Chocolate. It didn’t get any better.
    ‘So?’ he asked.
    Be cool, be cool , I told myself. ‘I may need time to consider —’
    He leaned forward and kissed me again. Mush. Chocolate mush. My brain was chocolate mush.
    ‘OK,’ I said or, rather, I tried to say. It came out as a squeak. But yay, New Year’s resolution number one. Sorted. Maybe Brook was right. Maybe I am witchee woman.

I could hear voices coming from the kitchen when I got home from seeing Joe. I crossed the hall and listened at the door.
    ‘Of course he must come,’ I heard Mum say. ‘Sarah, this is your home, not ours. We always knew that it was a temporary arrangement.’
    ‘But where will you go? No, Fleur, family comes first.’ Aunt Sarah’s voice.
    I didn’t mean to stay and eavesdrop; I’d intended to race upstairs to tell my news about Joe to Leela, Zahrah and Brook (I’d already told Erin as soon as I’d left Joe
outside the café) but Aunt Sarah’s words made me freeze. ‘Where will you go?’ she’d asked. Go? You? Where? I had to find out what she and Mum were talking about. Please God, don’t let whatever it is mean that we have to move again , I prayed. That would be just my luck. Joe wants to go out with me and Mum and Dad make plans to move to the other
side of the planet again.
    ‘You’ve been more than generous and patient,’ said Mum. ‘It can’t have been easy having the four of us invade your space, plus Ethan, Jess and the twins and Lewis
at weekends.’
    ‘I’ve loved having you,’ said Aunt Sarah. ‘This house is meant for a family. It was far too big for Kate and me and as you know, even though she’s only in the Sixth
Form, she’s rarely home these days.’
    ‘Exactly,’ said Mum. ‘Meant for a family and so it will be when Tom and his boys move in with you.’
    Ah , I thought, that’s what it’s about. Tom. Aunt Sarah’s new boyfriend . She’d been seeing him since the autumn and had kept quiet about it at first. Said
she didn’t want to jinx things by introducing him too soon, but he seems to have lasted the course. We met him briefly at Christmas and again for a longer time at New Year. He was OK, clearly
taken with Aunt Sarah. His wife died five years ago leaving him with two boys, aged ten and eight. We haven’t met them yet. They live in Wimbledon, I think. It had been nice to see Aunt Sarah
happy with someone. She hadn’t dated much since she split up with Kate’s dad, which had always seemed a waste to me because Aunt Sarah’s so stylish and attractive. But why
would Tom and the boys move in here? I wondered.
    I pushed the door open and Mum and Aunt Sarah