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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Teens
- Theme: Love stories / Romance
- Subject: Love / Romance / Dating
- Published: 03/07/2022
Liam adjusted his grip on the racquet and smashed his serve deep into the service box past his static opponent. “40-15,” came the reply from across the court. Jimmy knocked the ball back and waited for the next serve. Liam bounced the ball three times, slowly and deliberately, before throwing it up and spinning his serve into the left edge of the service box diagonally opposite him.
The lack of speed and the wicked bounce the ball took on landing completely deceived Jimmy, who could only reach out at the last moment and mutter under his breath as his return spun into the air and fell short of the net. “So, 5-2,” announced Jimmy. Liam smiled. “Yup, you need to hold your serve or that’s it,” he replied.
Jimmy gathered the ball and bounced it into the tarmac court with a determined pattern of thumps. He threw the ball high into the air and hammered it across the net. Liam managed to return the serve, but only into the area Jimmy was waiting. Jimmy cut the ball across the court, forcing Liam to scurry towards the side of the court that faced the entrance to the set of tennis courts currently hosting the boys’ match.
Liam managed to skid to the ball across the tiny scattering of small stones that littered the edge of each court and play a high defensive lob over Jimmy’s head to the back of his side of the net. As he turned to regain his place in the middle of his court, Liam’s eye caught the movement of two figures coming through the wire gate into the tennis courts. His glance was held for only a fraction of a second, but it was long enough to ensure Jimmy returned the lob into the opposite back corner from where it had bounced, and win the point. “15 love,” he stated in a focused tone. Liam nodded and walked to retrieve the ball. As he did so, he had time to see who had caught his attention.
After the ball had been thrown back to him, Jimmy readied himself for the next serve. Liam walked back to his baseline, but his pace was markedly slower than previous visits to retrieve the ball. The reason was quite simple - a very pretty brunette in glasses, with her hair held back off her face in a pony tail, wearing a shortish white tennis dress and white tennis shoes that showed off her tanned legs to perfection. “You ready?” inquired Jimmy as he again bounced the ball into the tarmac with determination. Liam’s reply was positive, but delivered with a clear hint of distraction. “Yeah, okay,” he said.
The brunette and a blonde friend emerged from the small building where tickets could be bought and walked to the court behind Liam. Jimmy bounced the ball and served. The serve wasn’t his best, but it sailed past Liam and onto the court behind. “30 love,” Jimmy chirped.
After sliding past Liam, the ball had rolled onto the court where the two girls had started batting a ball back and forward over the net. Liam walked over to the side of the court, deliberately choosing to speak to the brunette. “Hi, sorry. Can I get our ball?” he asked, smiling at the pretty brunette as he spoke. The brunette smiled back at Liam, “Sure,” she said. Liam’s heart was pounding as he picked up the ball from the girls’ court. He was desperate to say something else, but his mind was a complete blank. He waved the ball at the brunette and returned to his match. The blonde girl opposite smiled broadly at her friend and made a ‘gasp’ gesture with her hands at each side of her face before they also continued, broad smiles now on both their faces.
The rest of the boys’ game and the next two passed with Liam barely scoring a point. The dominance he had shown in the first two sets had completely disappeared. Jimmy was ecstatic. 5-2 down, he had now levelled the third set at 5-5. During play, the ball had consistently rolled onto the girls’ court, but on the occasions when Liam had gone to retrieve it, he had either been given it back by the blonde girl or the brunette had already knocked the ball back to the boys. He was desperate to find a reason to talk to her, but it hadn’t materialised.
Liam was now back at the end of the court nearest to the girls. He was about to serve when he heard their voices moving behind him. He turned to see the girls walking off the court. Liam’s heart sank. “Are you leaving already?” he asked. The blonde girl shook her head, “No. We’re going to get a drink at the pavilion,” she replied with a hint of puzzlement in her voice. Liam saw his chance. “That’s actually a great idea,” he said and turned to inform Jimmy of the postponement of the match for refreshments. “What?” came the terse reply, “Now?”
As he walked across to the pavilion, Liam readied his approach to the pretty brunette. “So, do you come here often?” sprang into his head and was immediately dismissed as utterly feeble. “Sorry if our balls are causing you a problem,” was even worse. So bad that it caused Liam to snigger as he thought of it. “Are you feeling okay?” quizzed Jimmy. Liam looked across and nodded, “Yeah, no worries,” he replied. Jimmy shook his head in confusion.
The two boys were now behind the girls, who were ordering orange drinks. “You’ve totally gone off the boil mate,” announced Jimmy, referring to Liam’s sudden collapse in the match. Liam was too distracted to reply with anything sensible and only managed to nod as he desperately searched for something relevant and unidiotic to say to the brunette.
Fate however, was to come to Liam’s rescue. The man serving behind the counter stated the price to the two girls. “That’s £1.20 please.” The blonde searched in the pocket in her tennis skirt and produced 50p and 20p coins. “Oh,” she mumbled, “I must have lost some of my money. Have you got 50p Charlotte?” The brunette shook her head. “Sorry,” said the blonde, “We’ll just have one orange drink.” The man grumbled and went to remove the second drink from the counter. “Hey, it’s no problem, I’ve got money. Here,” said Liam putting 50p on the counter before the second drink was removed. Both the blonde and Charlotte turned and smiled at Liam. “Are you sure?” asked Charlotte. “Yeah, no problem,” repeated Liam, immediately feeling foolish for sounding like some kind of human parrot. “Thank you so much,” smiled Charlotte, “That’s really kind.” The blonde girl also said her thanks and the two girls went to sit on the benches that were placed on the wooden veranda part of the tennis pavilion.
“Right,” said Jimmy knowingly, “Drinks break. Sure!” Liam smiled with more than a hint of embarrassment that his ruse was so obvious. “No problem,” mocked Jimmy as the boys ordered the same drinks as the girls. Orange drinks in hand, the boys went out to the veranda. To Liam’s delight, the girls moved along the bench they were sitting on to allow Liam and Jimmy to sit down. To Liam’s even greater delight, he was sitting next to Charlotte. “That was very kind of you paying for the orange,” Charlotte said, “If I see you here again, I’ll have to give you the money.” Liam shook his head, “It’s no problem,” he said. It was Jimmy’s turn to snigger. “I’m Charlotte and this is Pamela,” Charlotte said as introductions were made. “Hi,” said Liam, “I’m Liam and this is Jimmy.” The four shook hands.
The drinks break and chatting about playing tennis at the courts and how often continued for a few more minutes until all four bottles of orange were empty. “Listen,” suggested Liam, “Why don’t we play mixed doubles?” The suggestion was not taken up at first as the girls didn’t want to interfere with Liam and Jimmy’s game and due to the fact they felt they really weren’t much good at tennis, but eventually they were persuaded to play. “I’ll be you partner Charlotte,” Liam decided immediately the situation had been agreed. Jimmy had a broad grin on his face. “Looks like I’m stuck with the gorgeous blonde then,” he whispered to Liam. Liam frowned in disapproval in case the whisper was heard, but Jimmy was accurate in his appraisal. He was stuck with Pamela and she was very attractive.
The match started with Pamela serving. It was a short first game, since Pamela couldn’t really serve very well and Liam was determined he and Charlotte would win. Liam’s domination of the games had returned with a vengeance. The following games followed a similar pattern. Liam and Jimmy battled for most of the points and Charlotte chipped in with a few winners against Pamela. Soon, Charlotte was serving for 4-0. Before her first serve, she whispered in Liam’s ear. “Let Pamela win a few points, okay, she looks embarrassed that she’s let your friend down.” Liam nodded as if they had been discussing some tactical move. Charlotte served, deliberately playing the ball to Pamela’s slightly stronger forehand. Pamela returned the ball almost directly to Liam, but incredibly, Liam’s simple backhand return went out. Pamela squeaked with delight. “Oh God, 15 love! I mean love 15!” Charlotte looked at Liam and flashed a smile, “Thank you,” she mouthed and went to serve to Jimmy. Liam felt like his heart was going to melt.
The turnaround in the match was incredible, with Pamela now inexplicably forcing error after error from Liam and returning shots to Pamela that seemed to cause her to misjudge the ball regularly. Soon the match was at 3-3, a most unlikely scenario thirty minutes earlier. For some reason, Jimmy didn’t seem to have cottoned on to what had been happening over the last three games and readied himself to receive Liam’s serve in the seventh game as if it were a Wimbledon final.
Liam bounced the ball ready to serve, as he did so, he realised that although Charlotte was his partner, playing tennis didn’t actually allow him to talk to her very much. Then he came up with a brilliant plan. “Listen,” he said, “Why don’t we stop and go for ice cream and we can finish the match after that.” “Pamela and I don’t have any money.” Charlotte reminded him. “No problem,” smiled Liam, pulling a £5 note from the zip pocket of his shorts. Agreement was made and the four set off to go to a nearby, Italian owned, ice cream shop.
As they walked the short distance to the ice cream shop, Liam took the opportunity to tell Charlotte how well she had played in the match and how good certain shots were. “Yeah, she saved you from another hammering,” Jimmy chipped in. Liam laughed. “We’ll see who gets a hammering when we get back,” he replied. “Maybe you’d like to bet what the final score’s going to be?” Jimmy responded. “What, is it going to be ‘no problem’?” Liam was about to remind Jimmy of the previous times he had beaten him when he felt Charlotte’s hand squeeze his. “I think it was good fun playing whatever the score was,” she said, looking intently into Liam’s eyes. Liam immediately agreed. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said softly, his heart pounding once again as Charlotte kept hold of his hand for a few more seconds.
The foursome had only taken a few more steps when Pamela suddenly reached across and grabbed at something that seemed to fall from Charlotte’s dress. It was a necklace. “Oh God! Oh, thank you Pam, thank you!” Charlotte said earnestly. Charlotte seemed particularly relieved about the necklace. She explained it had been her great, great grandmother’s necklace and was an irreplaceable family heirloom. “The catch is a bit worn and I actually forgot I had it on today otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it to tennis,” she explained. Liam reminded Charlotte he had a pocket with a zip and could keep it safe in there. Charlotte gave Liam the necklace. “Please be careful with it,” she said quietly. Liam nodded gravely, “I’ll make sure nothing happens to it.” He transferred the £5 note for the ice creams and the few coins he had, to his other pocket, beside the tennis ball they had used and closed the zip on the pocket with the necklace. Charlotte rubbed Liam’s arm and smiled, “I’m sure you will.” Liam looked into Charlotte’s dark brown eyes and felt as if he was in heaven.
The group arrived at the ice cream shop and ordered their favourites. Liam asked about the necklace and Charlotte’s great, great grandmother. Charlotte explained her family had been in India in the 19th century and the necklace had been a gift from a wealthy prince. Charlotte’s great, great grandmother had worked as a tutor to the prince’s children. Liam was very impressed. The conversation then went on to family histories and what Pamela, Jimmy’s and Liam’s families were doing in the 19th century. The stories of Charlotte and Pamela’s families were very different to those of Jimmy and Liam’s.
The conversation had just turned to Indian food when Pamela suddenly blurted out a very unexpected remark. “Oh sh.., it’s nearly half past two and I need to be home for three!” Jimmy grinned at the bad language almost used by this pretty, posh girl. “Sorry,” said Pamela, “It was great meeting you guys, but I’m afraid I’ll have to go. Sorry I’ve mucked up your tennis.” The other three assured Pamela it was “no problem”, accompanied by some giggling, and Pamela gave Charlotte a hug. “Sorry I was so rubbish,” Pamela apologised to Jimmy and gave him a hug too. Jimmy seemed very satisfied at the outcome. “I’ll call you later,” Charlotte said as Pamela set off. Seconds later she turned back. “Ohhh, I don’t have any money for the bus,” she wailed. Liam laughed, “Guess what? It’s no problem,” he said handing Pamela enough for the bus fare. Liam, Charlotte and Jimmy watched Pamela walk along the street adjacent to the ice cream shop for a moment, before Jimmy then announced he was going to leave too since the tennis was over. He shouted to Pamela that he would accompany her to the bus stop and jogged after her.
Liam waited for Charlotte to take her leave, but instead she smiled. “Just us then,” she said, “I’m going back past the tennis courts to go home, what about you?” Liam smiled, trying not to jump in the air and scream with joy. “Yeah, me too,” he said. The two walked slowly back down the street towards the courts. “Is Jimmy your best friend?” asked Charlotte. Liam nodded, “Yeah, pretty much. We’ve been friends since primary school and he used to live next door to me, but his family moved to a new house a couple of years ago. What about Pamela?” Charlotte nodded, “She’s one of my close friends, but my best friend is a girl called Samantha.” Liam thought how posh all the girls’ names were.
“I think Jimmy liked Pamela, what do you think?” continued Charlotte. Liam was a bit taken aback by the move from talk of Indian food and social circles to relationships. “Well, she’s very pretty,” he replied. He wanted to say “And so are you,” but was too scared to. “So, do you think Jimmy will ask Pamela for a date whilst they’re walking to the bus stop?” continued Charlotte, giggling as she finished the question. Liam hadn’t really given the matter much thought. He hadn’t considered the fact Jimmy might have been very happy to be ‘stuck with the gorgeous blonde’. Liam had been fully consumed in his own focus on Charlotte.
The giggle at the end of Charlotte’s question also confused him. Was it because Charlotte thought the idea ridiculous or because she was intrigued? Liam decided she was too gentle and thoughtful to say something that could be considered condescending. “Maybe,” he replied, “Would Pamela go out with him if he did?” Charlotte considered the question. “I think so. He seemed very nice and Pamela did give him a hug.” Liam desperately wanted to use the opportunity to ask Charlotte if she would go on a date with him, but it seemed too feeble to do it that way. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” continued Charlotte, smiling at Liam. He nodded.
The next part of the walk was quieter as Liam tried to figure out why Charlotte had asked about Jimmy dating Pamela. Was Charlotte trying to give him an opportunity to ask her out or was she just asking about the other two because her friend fancied Jimmy?
The two had come to the edge of the park where the tennis courts were situated. “I go down this way,” said Charlotte, pointing to an area of large Victorian houses arranged opposite the park along a tree-lined street. Liam nodded and pointed to the end of the street where it joined a larger road. “I’m going down that way too,” he said. He now had his plan. He would walk Charlotte across towards the street at the edge of the park and when he was going off in a different direction, casually ask her if she wanted to meet up again. He wouldn’t use the word date in case it was too strong a word.
His thoughts were interrupted by Charlotte. “So which school do you go to?” she asked, knowing Liam wasn’t at her school. “Balmartine,” Liam said. Charlotte looked concerned. “Oh. Wow. But isn’t that school quite violent?” she continued, “My mum’s always warning me about it.” Liam’s heart sank. “It can be sometimes, but it’s not as bad as people think,” he said calmly. Charlotte didn’t look convinced. “But why do you go there when you could choose Kirkfield or like my school, The High?” Charlotte continued. Liam tried to make light of the question. “It’s just laziness. I live a 15-minute walk or a 5-minute bus ride away from the front gate.” Charlotte’s expression changed again – from concern to one of almost fear. “Oh, sorry Liam, I just remembered I have to be home soon, sorry, ‘bye,” she spluttered and ran off across the park towards the large houses.
Liam stood like a statue, rooted to the spot as he watched Charlotte run across the remainder of the park, across the road at the edge of the park and down a side street that came off the tree-lined road. Charlotte’s sudden change of behaviour had stunned him completely. What had just happened? What the hell has just happened!? Liam’s mind was a tangled mix of hurt and disappointment and anger as he tried to replay the events of the last 2 minutes. What had he said or done to spark such a volcanic reaction from Charlotte? Liam’s mind was a complete mess. His almost perfect day had now instantly turned into an absolute nightmare, one of the worst days he could remember having for a very long time. He was convinced he hadn’t done anything wrong. Had he? Why had Charlotte suddenly treated him as if he was a mass murderer?
The only answer Liam could come up with as he thought, was him alluding to the fact he lived in Balmartine. It had to be that, nothing else made any logical sense. Clearly Charlotte had been brought up to see people from Balmartine as some kind of danger to her. The thought occurred to Liam he had never really had any chance of asking Charlotte to go on a date or anything else. Liam felt crushed. And perhaps even worse, he felt helpless. He couldn’t do anything about coming from Balmartine. It wasn’t fair. Balmartine had a bad reputation, but not everyone who lived there deserved to be tarred with the same brush. He wondered if Jimmy had tried to ask Pamela out and suffered the same fate. Liam began to trudge back towards the tennis courts, still bamboozled as to how such a kind and gentle girl as Charlotte could treat him so badly. Just because of his address. He decided to go home by a different route past the tennis courts rather than down past the area Charlotte lived in.
Charlotte got into the house, out of breath from running full tilt across the park and down her street. Her older sister Beatrice was coming out of the kitchen and crossing the hall as Charlotte came in. “My goodness, you’re in a rush,” she smiled. Charlotte’s face told her things were not all hunky dory. “What’s happened?” she inquired more seriously. Charlotte caught her breath and explained about playing tennis, the orange drinks, the ice cream and being escorted alone across the park by a boy from Balmartine. Beatrice’s reactions were not as extreme as Charlotte’s had been, but she realised that her mother finding out would create a drama for the rest of the evening. “You’d better not tell mum,” she warned. Charlotte nodded. “I’m going for a shower,” she said.
Liam arrived at the door of the tennis courts. He felt terrible and he felt it was unfair that he should feel this way. He hadn’t done anything! He went inside the courts. They were empty. Liam looked at the closed pavilion and remembered how ecstatic he had felt when Charlotte agreed to play doubles and come for ice cream. Two hours ago he had felt on top of the world, but now he was struggling to hold back the tears that were trying to force their way out. Liam walked on to the court where he had been playing Jimmy and took the tennis ball from his pocket. He threw the ball up and smashed it with all the venom and anger he could muster at the net. The ball nestled in the bottom of the net unconcerned with the myriad of events that had gone before.
Charlotte had recovered some of her composure by the time she got to her bedroom. She unzipped her tennis dress and took it off. She took off her tennis shoes and the socks she was wearing and put the clothes into the laundry basket. She thought about what had happened and a feeling of guilt crept into her mind. She had run off from Liam like he had tried to assault her. Of course, he hadn’t. In fact, he’d been nothing other than kind and thoughtful for the whole time they had spent together. He’d paid for their orange drinks at the pavilion, let Pamela score some points in the tennis, bought Pamela and her ice cream and even paid for Pamela’s bus. Liam had even taken care of her great, great grandmother’s necklace when it had fallen off.
The necklace!!!
Liam had served more than two dozen times into the net, each one smashed with anger and frustration in an effort to rid himself of the gut wrenching feeling that persisted, but punishing a tennis ball wasn’t making him feel any better. He picked up the ball from the foot of the net for the final time and started towards the gate to leave. He wondered if he would be able to play tennis there again or if the memories of today would always make it a place of sadness for him. One thing was for certain, he wouldn’t be back again anytime soon! Liam tried to stuff the ball back in his pocket, but the tangle of coins and notes that made up the change from the ice cream made it difficult. He opened the zip of his other pocket and put the ball there. As he did so, he felt Charlotte’s necklace, safely imprisoned in the pocket.
The necklace !!!
Charlotte grabbed some jeans and a t-shirt and put them on then slid her bare feet back into her tennis shoes. She rushed downstairs. “Beatrice,” she called out as he reached the bottom of the staircase. “I’m in the lounge with mum,” her sister replied. Charlotte slowed down and entered the lounge in as casual a manner as she could. Her mum smiled, “How was tennis?” she asked. “Tiring,” replied Charlotte. Before her mum could elaborate further on her questions, Charlotte spoke again. “Come and do me a favour Bea,” she said, making a face that her sister recognised as ‘secretly’. Beatrice got up and the girls left the room. Once in the hall, Beatrice whispered “What is it?” Charlotte now looked quite distraught. “I gave a boy my necklace to look after at tennis and I forgot to get it back!” Beatrice’s face dropped. “OH, CHARLOTTE !!!” she hissed quietly. Charlotte looked as if she were about to burst into tears.
Liam set off from the tennis courts back across the park to where he had seen Charlotte disappear. He had a clear plan. He would knock on the doors of the different houses in the street until he either found Charlotte’s house or found someone who knew her and where she lived. In the back of his mind, he also hoped he would be able to get an explanation from Charlotte as to why she had run off in the way she did. He felt he was actually owed an explanation. On reaching the park, Liam ran across it and down the side street he’d seen Charlotte entering. The job wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought when he saw two further side streets branching off the one he was now walking along. Liam went to the first door on the left-hand side of the street and rang the bell. After a minute or so, nobody had answered. This definitely wasn’t going to be easy.
Charlotte got into Beatrice’s small car and they set off towards Balmartine. The plan was simple, but both girls accepted was unlikely to succeed. They would drive down the road Liam had pointed to and try to catch up with him before he got home. Charlotte realised not only did she not know his address, she didn’t even know his last name. And of course, he didn’t know her address or her last name either. “Mum and dad are going to go absolutely crazy,” she said quietly. Beatrice tried to cheer her up. “Listen, when he realizes he’s got your necklace, he’ll maybe just hand it in to the police,” she said, trying to sound matter of fact. The girls were now driving through the main street of the large Balmartine housing estate and there was no sign of Liam.
Liam had managed to try half a dozen houses with no luck. Either the people weren’t at home or they didn’t know any Charlotte. He continued along the street knocking on doors or ringing doorbells.
After 10 minutes of driving, it was clear the girls’ plan was a complete failure. There was no sign of Liam and anyone they stopped had either no knowledge of Liam or didn’t recognise the description Charlotte gave. Charlotte had already accepted the fact she’d have to tell her parents. “Let’s go back,” she said to Beatrice, “I’ll just have to face mum and tell her what I did.”
Despite having no success, Liam was feeling more optimistic. He had already covered all the houses on the left-hand side of the street he’d seen Charlotte running down and some of the houses on the right-hand side. He expected every failure to increase the chances of success with the next house.
Charlotte got out of the car and steeled herself for the ordeal ahead. Her father was in London in business for another three days, so at least she’d only face the attentions of her mother. Although, had her father been there, he might have helped calm the inevitable storm that was coming. Charlotte’s mother was still sitting in the lounge reading when the girls walked in. “Mum, I’ve got a bit of bad news I’m afraid,” said Charlotte and she started to retell the tale of the tennis and the orange drinks and the ice cream and Pamela’s bus fare and the necklace. She decided to leave out the part about running away from Liam.
Charlotte’s mum was absolutely distraught. “Oh Charlotte, how could you? How could you?” she wailed, “Your father’s grandmother’s necklace! Charlotte! You gave a £3000 necklace to a boy you’d known for ten minutes! Oh my God.” Charlotte knew there was no point in trying to explain or suggest or even apologize during the storm. It had to be allowed to subside on its own. “I’m calling Jack.” Charlotte’s mum eventually decided. Jack was a family friend in the police.
Liam had continued his trail along the streets and had actually had a small success. In one house, an elderly lady remembered a girl called Charlotte. Unfortunately, her memory was of a small girl called Charlotte a number of years earlier and she couldn’t remember where she had lived. Liam took this as a positive however, and continued his search.
Ten minutes after her mum’s phone call, two uniformed officers arrived at Charlotte’s house. PC Bennett and PC Kent asked Charlotte about what had happened and the boy who had her necklace. They seemed to be more suspicious of Liam’s motives once she had told them she thought he lived in Balmartine. The policemen spoke to Charlotte’s mum and took a detailed description of the necklace. Charlotte heard PC Bennett mention checking known dealers in stolen property. Charlotte immediately interrupted. “He didn’t steal it, I gave it to him and forgot to get it back,” she said. Charlotte had not mentioned the running away part to the police either. “And he forgot to give it back to you,” replied PC Kent. “Coincidence or convenience? We need to find out.”
Liam had now covered all the houses on the first street and all the houses on one side of one of the side streets. As he decided which house to go to next, a postman appeared in a van. Result! Liam ran across and spoke to the man. “Do you know someone called Charlotte who lives round here?” Liam asked, “I’ve got something that belongs to her and she forgot to get it back.” The postman pointed to a big house out on the tree-lined road. “No, I think she lives down here.” Liam replied. “Is she a teenager with brown hair and glasses?” asked the postman. Liam nodded. The postman pointed to the big house again. Liam shrugged. “Okay, thanks,” he said. Liam set off back up the road, noting the number of the next house to check in the side street in case the postman was wrong. He wasn’t aware Charlotte had run down the side street and gone in to her house through the entrance to the back garden, to avoid showing Liam where she actually lived.
The two police officers were standing in the hallway talking to Charlotte’s mother and were about to leave when the silhouette of a teenage boy appeared through the frosted glass door of the house vestibule. PC Kent motioned his head at the figure in the glass, “Well, well,” he said. PC Bennett opened the door.
Liam was slightly taken aback by being met by a uniformed police officer. “Does a girl called Charlotte live here?” asked Liam. “Why?” asked the officer. “I’ve got something that belongs to her,” responded Liam. Charlotte’s mother immediately gasped in hope, “Are you Liam? Do you have Charlotte’s necklace?” she asked. Liam nodded and produced the necklace from his pocket. Charlotte’s mum took the necklace. “Thank God for that,” she said, examining the necklace carefully, whilst carrying it off to the lounge. She didn’t even bother to thank Liam, such was her level of stress. “Come in son, tell us about the necklace,” said PC Bennett. “It’s okay, I have to go,” replied Liam, starting to turn to leave. He felt PC Bennett’s hand on his shoulder. “Come in, there might even be a reward in this for you,” he said. Liam didn’t want to go in. There was no sign of Charlotte and the situation seemed far too serious. “I don’t need a reward,” said Liam.
Charlotte and her sister appeared at the lounge door. “Please come in, please Liam,” Charlotte asked. Liam thought about the chance of Charlotte explaining why she had run away. Reluctantly, Liam went into the huge lounge. The lounge and hall of the house alone were bigger than most of his house. Liam sat nervously on the edge of a beige seat, aware he had been sweating playing tennis and running across the park. “Thanks for looking after my necklace and thanks for bringing it back,” said Charlotte. “Beatrice and I came to look for you, but we couldn’t find you,” continued Charlotte.
“Where were you when you decided to bring the necklace back?” asked PC Bennett. “In the tennis courts,” replied Liam. “So you left Charlotte at home and went back to the courts?” asked PC Kent. “Were you meeting someone there?” Liam was confused by both the question and the idea he had ‘left Charlotte at home’. He looked across at Charlotte, who looked sheepish. “No, I went to practice my serves,” said Liam, “I was on my own.” “Right,” said PC Kent, “So when did you discover you still had the necklace?” he continued. “When I finished practicing,” replied Liam. “And then you came here directly to give Charlotte the necklace?” Liam was again puzzled by the questions. “Yes,” said Liam. “Why?” said PC Bennett. “Because I knew it was valuable to Charlotte,” said Liam. “And you didn’t meet anyone or show them the necklace during that time, right?” continued PC Bennett. “No!” said Liam stridently, “Why are you asking me all these questions?”
PC Bennett stood up, leaned over towards Liam and spoke in a rather menacing tone, “When a £3000 necklace goes missing, questions have to be asked son. And we’re asking you, to check your story adds up. Is that okay?” Liam’s face betrayed his shock. “£3000?” he echoed. He looked across at Charlotte in disbelief. She was wearing a £3000 necklace to play tennis? “Aye son, £3000,” repeated PC Kent, “A nice wee haul for someone to break in and steal, isn’t it?” Liam’s confusion raised up a level. “Liam wouldn’t steal anything,” Charlotte chipped in. “How long have you known Liam miss?” asked PC Kent, “Do you even know his last name?” Charlotte shook her head and felt silly at her lack of knowledge of Liam.
Liam was now concerned about where all this was leading. “I’m not a thief and I brought the necklace back,” he said in a firm tone. “And I didn’t meet anyone in the tennis courts or anywhere else.” PC Kent spoke up, “I heard from Charlotte though, that you were the one that suggested you’d look after her necklace and you’ve already admitted you know it is valuable. Now why wouldn’t you give back such a valuable necklace, when you got to her house? Surely, if you were looking after it, that would have been very important to you, right?” Liam felt his heart racing. “I didn’t exactly take Charlotte back to the house,” he said, “She left when I was in the middle of the park.” “Then why didn’t you shout or run after her to give her the necklace Liam?” quizzed PC Bennett, “Your wee story is beginning to develop a few holes. Tell us the truth son, it’s always best.”
It was Charlotte who spoke next, “I ran away from Liam, so he couldn’t have given me the necklace,” Charlotte said in a muffled tone. Charlotte’s mum gasped, “Why did you run away, what did he do?” she asked concernedly. “He didn’t do anything, I was being stupid,” Charlotte replied. PC Kent spoke to Charlotte, “There’s no need to be afraid miss, you can tell us exactly what happened.” Charlotte looked at Liam then at PC Kent, “Nothing happened,” she said. Charlotte’s mum seemed very concerned and urged her daughter to tell the whole story. “Charlotte, if this boy has done something…” she started. Charlotte replied tersely to her mum, “He didn’t do anything mum!”
PC Bennett returned to his questioning of Liam, “Now the story has a few more holes, doesn’t it Liam? A girl turns up at the tennis court wearing a £3000 necklace and you stop your game with your pal at the last minute to go and get drinks, so you can get a better look at the necklace. Then you suggest she gives you the necklace to look after and you find a bit of time by scaring her, so you can show it to someone who will come and steal it at another time. That’s a more accurate version of the story, isn’t it son?” asked PC Bennett.
Liam felt under incredible pressure. This nightmare day was getting worse and worse. Tears started rolling down his cheeks, “That’s not true,” he said, desperately trying not to cry. “I did go across to talk to Charlotte, but not because of her necklace, I didn’t even know she had a necklace.” Liam sniffed back some tears, “I went across …” he hesitated, as the tears began streaming down his face, “… I went across because I thought Charlotte was beautiful and I wanted to chat her up. I didn’t know the necklace was worth £3000 and I don’t care. I went to the courts to hit the ball because I was hurt when she ran away from me. I didn’t meet anybody. And I don’t know why she ran away. I didn’t do anything and I’m not a thief just because I live in Balmartine.” Liam was now sobbing, his head in his hands. Beatrice gave her mum a frosty look and went across and put her arms round Liam. Charlotte was also crying, embarrassed and ashamed at the trouble she had caused Liam by her actions.
Charlotte’s mum spoke next, “Officers, I think that’s satisfied me as to what happened, I’ll let Chief Inspector Wilson know how helpful and professional you have been.” PC Kent and PC Bennett looked at each other and then stood up. “If you’re sure,” said PC Kent. Charlotte’s mum nodded, “I’m very sure,” she said, “And as I say, I’ll let Jack Wilson know how helpful you’ve been.” She showed the two officers to the front door. When she closed the door, Beatrice was standing behind her. “I think Charlotte needs a bit of time to apologise”, she said and motioned them both towards the kitchen. Charlotte’s mum nodded.
In the lounge, Charlotte came over and sat beside Liam. She was still crying. Liam was sobbing into his hands. He felt dreadful. Charlotte took both of his hands and gently pulled them away from his face. “Liam, I am so sorry,” she said managing to stifle her tears enough to look into Liam’s tear-filled eyes. “I don’t know why I ran away. I was just such an idiot. I know you’ll probably hate me now, but I want you to know, when you came to speak to me at the tennis courts I fancied you too. And I was really happy you came over to chat me up.” Liam managed to stop his sobs. He took a deep breath, “I don’t hate you Charlotte, I think you’re fantastic,” he said softly. Charlotte hugged him tightly.
Liam’s day had eventually started to turn into the one he had wanted. The hug lasted for a long time and then Charlotte pulled back. “Kiss me,” she said. Liam’s heart was racing once again, but this time in a good way. This wasn’t how he would have wanted his first kiss with Charlotte to happen, but he didn’t care. He cupped Charlotte’s face in his hands and kissed her slowly and gently. The kiss was interrupted by Charlotte’s mum coming into the room. “Oh, my,” she blustered, “I just remembered I didn’t say thank you to you for looking after Charlotte’s necklace, Liam,” she continued, “But it seems Charlotte might have done that already.” Liam smiled, “It’s no problem,” he said.
The Necklace(Jo Tams)
Liam adjusted his grip on the racquet and smashed his serve deep into the service box past his static opponent. “40-15,” came the reply from across the court. Jimmy knocked the ball back and waited for the next serve. Liam bounced the ball three times, slowly and deliberately, before throwing it up and spinning his serve into the left edge of the service box diagonally opposite him.
The lack of speed and the wicked bounce the ball took on landing completely deceived Jimmy, who could only reach out at the last moment and mutter under his breath as his return spun into the air and fell short of the net. “So, 5-2,” announced Jimmy. Liam smiled. “Yup, you need to hold your serve or that’s it,” he replied.
Jimmy gathered the ball and bounced it into the tarmac court with a determined pattern of thumps. He threw the ball high into the air and hammered it across the net. Liam managed to return the serve, but only into the area Jimmy was waiting. Jimmy cut the ball across the court, forcing Liam to scurry towards the side of the court that faced the entrance to the set of tennis courts currently hosting the boys’ match.
Liam managed to skid to the ball across the tiny scattering of small stones that littered the edge of each court and play a high defensive lob over Jimmy’s head to the back of his side of the net. As he turned to regain his place in the middle of his court, Liam’s eye caught the movement of two figures coming through the wire gate into the tennis courts. His glance was held for only a fraction of a second, but it was long enough to ensure Jimmy returned the lob into the opposite back corner from where it had bounced, and win the point. “15 love,” he stated in a focused tone. Liam nodded and walked to retrieve the ball. As he did so, he had time to see who had caught his attention.
After the ball had been thrown back to him, Jimmy readied himself for the next serve. Liam walked back to his baseline, but his pace was markedly slower than previous visits to retrieve the ball. The reason was quite simple - a very pretty brunette in glasses, with her hair held back off her face in a pony tail, wearing a shortish white tennis dress and white tennis shoes that showed off her tanned legs to perfection. “You ready?” inquired Jimmy as he again bounced the ball into the tarmac with determination. Liam’s reply was positive, but delivered with a clear hint of distraction. “Yeah, okay,” he said.
The brunette and a blonde friend emerged from the small building where tickets could be bought and walked to the court behind Liam. Jimmy bounced the ball and served. The serve wasn’t his best, but it sailed past Liam and onto the court behind. “30 love,” Jimmy chirped.
After sliding past Liam, the ball had rolled onto the court where the two girls had started batting a ball back and forward over the net. Liam walked over to the side of the court, deliberately choosing to speak to the brunette. “Hi, sorry. Can I get our ball?” he asked, smiling at the pretty brunette as he spoke. The brunette smiled back at Liam, “Sure,” she said. Liam’s heart was pounding as he picked up the ball from the girls’ court. He was desperate to say something else, but his mind was a complete blank. He waved the ball at the brunette and returned to his match. The blonde girl opposite smiled broadly at her friend and made a ‘gasp’ gesture with her hands at each side of her face before they also continued, broad smiles now on both their faces.
The rest of the boys’ game and the next two passed with Liam barely scoring a point. The dominance he had shown in the first two sets had completely disappeared. Jimmy was ecstatic. 5-2 down, he had now levelled the third set at 5-5. During play, the ball had consistently rolled onto the girls’ court, but on the occasions when Liam had gone to retrieve it, he had either been given it back by the blonde girl or the brunette had already knocked the ball back to the boys. He was desperate to find a reason to talk to her, but it hadn’t materialised.
Liam was now back at the end of the court nearest to the girls. He was about to serve when he heard their voices moving behind him. He turned to see the girls walking off the court. Liam’s heart sank. “Are you leaving already?” he asked. The blonde girl shook her head, “No. We’re going to get a drink at the pavilion,” she replied with a hint of puzzlement in her voice. Liam saw his chance. “That’s actually a great idea,” he said and turned to inform Jimmy of the postponement of the match for refreshments. “What?” came the terse reply, “Now?”
As he walked across to the pavilion, Liam readied his approach to the pretty brunette. “So, do you come here often?” sprang into his head and was immediately dismissed as utterly feeble. “Sorry if our balls are causing you a problem,” was even worse. So bad that it caused Liam to snigger as he thought of it. “Are you feeling okay?” quizzed Jimmy. Liam looked across and nodded, “Yeah, no worries,” he replied. Jimmy shook his head in confusion.
The two boys were now behind the girls, who were ordering orange drinks. “You’ve totally gone off the boil mate,” announced Jimmy, referring to Liam’s sudden collapse in the match. Liam was too distracted to reply with anything sensible and only managed to nod as he desperately searched for something relevant and unidiotic to say to the brunette.
Fate however, was to come to Liam’s rescue. The man serving behind the counter stated the price to the two girls. “That’s £1.20 please.” The blonde searched in the pocket in her tennis skirt and produced 50p and 20p coins. “Oh,” she mumbled, “I must have lost some of my money. Have you got 50p Charlotte?” The brunette shook her head. “Sorry,” said the blonde, “We’ll just have one orange drink.” The man grumbled and went to remove the second drink from the counter. “Hey, it’s no problem, I’ve got money. Here,” said Liam putting 50p on the counter before the second drink was removed. Both the blonde and Charlotte turned and smiled at Liam. “Are you sure?” asked Charlotte. “Yeah, no problem,” repeated Liam, immediately feeling foolish for sounding like some kind of human parrot. “Thank you so much,” smiled Charlotte, “That’s really kind.” The blonde girl also said her thanks and the two girls went to sit on the benches that were placed on the wooden veranda part of the tennis pavilion.
“Right,” said Jimmy knowingly, “Drinks break. Sure!” Liam smiled with more than a hint of embarrassment that his ruse was so obvious. “No problem,” mocked Jimmy as the boys ordered the same drinks as the girls. Orange drinks in hand, the boys went out to the veranda. To Liam’s delight, the girls moved along the bench they were sitting on to allow Liam and Jimmy to sit down. To Liam’s even greater delight, he was sitting next to Charlotte. “That was very kind of you paying for the orange,” Charlotte said, “If I see you here again, I’ll have to give you the money.” Liam shook his head, “It’s no problem,” he said. It was Jimmy’s turn to snigger. “I’m Charlotte and this is Pamela,” Charlotte said as introductions were made. “Hi,” said Liam, “I’m Liam and this is Jimmy.” The four shook hands.
The drinks break and chatting about playing tennis at the courts and how often continued for a few more minutes until all four bottles of orange were empty. “Listen,” suggested Liam, “Why don’t we play mixed doubles?” The suggestion was not taken up at first as the girls didn’t want to interfere with Liam and Jimmy’s game and due to the fact they felt they really weren’t much good at tennis, but eventually they were persuaded to play. “I’ll be you partner Charlotte,” Liam decided immediately the situation had been agreed. Jimmy had a broad grin on his face. “Looks like I’m stuck with the gorgeous blonde then,” he whispered to Liam. Liam frowned in disapproval in case the whisper was heard, but Jimmy was accurate in his appraisal. He was stuck with Pamela and she was very attractive.
The match started with Pamela serving. It was a short first game, since Pamela couldn’t really serve very well and Liam was determined he and Charlotte would win. Liam’s domination of the games had returned with a vengeance. The following games followed a similar pattern. Liam and Jimmy battled for most of the points and Charlotte chipped in with a few winners against Pamela. Soon, Charlotte was serving for 4-0. Before her first serve, she whispered in Liam’s ear. “Let Pamela win a few points, okay, she looks embarrassed that she’s let your friend down.” Liam nodded as if they had been discussing some tactical move. Charlotte served, deliberately playing the ball to Pamela’s slightly stronger forehand. Pamela returned the ball almost directly to Liam, but incredibly, Liam’s simple backhand return went out. Pamela squeaked with delight. “Oh God, 15 love! I mean love 15!” Charlotte looked at Liam and flashed a smile, “Thank you,” she mouthed and went to serve to Jimmy. Liam felt like his heart was going to melt.
The turnaround in the match was incredible, with Pamela now inexplicably forcing error after error from Liam and returning shots to Pamela that seemed to cause her to misjudge the ball regularly. Soon the match was at 3-3, a most unlikely scenario thirty minutes earlier. For some reason, Jimmy didn’t seem to have cottoned on to what had been happening over the last three games and readied himself to receive Liam’s serve in the seventh game as if it were a Wimbledon final.
Liam bounced the ball ready to serve, as he did so, he realised that although Charlotte was his partner, playing tennis didn’t actually allow him to talk to her very much. Then he came up with a brilliant plan. “Listen,” he said, “Why don’t we stop and go for ice cream and we can finish the match after that.” “Pamela and I don’t have any money.” Charlotte reminded him. “No problem,” smiled Liam, pulling a £5 note from the zip pocket of his shorts. Agreement was made and the four set off to go to a nearby, Italian owned, ice cream shop.
As they walked the short distance to the ice cream shop, Liam took the opportunity to tell Charlotte how well she had played in the match and how good certain shots were. “Yeah, she saved you from another hammering,” Jimmy chipped in. Liam laughed. “We’ll see who gets a hammering when we get back,” he replied. “Maybe you’d like to bet what the final score’s going to be?” Jimmy responded. “What, is it going to be ‘no problem’?” Liam was about to remind Jimmy of the previous times he had beaten him when he felt Charlotte’s hand squeeze his. “I think it was good fun playing whatever the score was,” she said, looking intently into Liam’s eyes. Liam immediately agreed. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said softly, his heart pounding once again as Charlotte kept hold of his hand for a few more seconds.
The foursome had only taken a few more steps when Pamela suddenly reached across and grabbed at something that seemed to fall from Charlotte’s dress. It was a necklace. “Oh God! Oh, thank you Pam, thank you!” Charlotte said earnestly. Charlotte seemed particularly relieved about the necklace. She explained it had been her great, great grandmother’s necklace and was an irreplaceable family heirloom. “The catch is a bit worn and I actually forgot I had it on today otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it to tennis,” she explained. Liam reminded Charlotte he had a pocket with a zip and could keep it safe in there. Charlotte gave Liam the necklace. “Please be careful with it,” she said quietly. Liam nodded gravely, “I’ll make sure nothing happens to it.” He transferred the £5 note for the ice creams and the few coins he had, to his other pocket, beside the tennis ball they had used and closed the zip on the pocket with the necklace. Charlotte rubbed Liam’s arm and smiled, “I’m sure you will.” Liam looked into Charlotte’s dark brown eyes and felt as if he was in heaven.
The group arrived at the ice cream shop and ordered their favourites. Liam asked about the necklace and Charlotte’s great, great grandmother. Charlotte explained her family had been in India in the 19th century and the necklace had been a gift from a wealthy prince. Charlotte’s great, great grandmother had worked as a tutor to the prince’s children. Liam was very impressed. The conversation then went on to family histories and what Pamela, Jimmy’s and Liam’s families were doing in the 19th century. The stories of Charlotte and Pamela’s families were very different to those of Jimmy and Liam’s.
The conversation had just turned to Indian food when Pamela suddenly blurted out a very unexpected remark. “Oh sh.., it’s nearly half past two and I need to be home for three!” Jimmy grinned at the bad language almost used by this pretty, posh girl. “Sorry,” said Pamela, “It was great meeting you guys, but I’m afraid I’ll have to go. Sorry I’ve mucked up your tennis.” The other three assured Pamela it was “no problem”, accompanied by some giggling, and Pamela gave Charlotte a hug. “Sorry I was so rubbish,” Pamela apologised to Jimmy and gave him a hug too. Jimmy seemed very satisfied at the outcome. “I’ll call you later,” Charlotte said as Pamela set off. Seconds later she turned back. “Ohhh, I don’t have any money for the bus,” she wailed. Liam laughed, “Guess what? It’s no problem,” he said handing Pamela enough for the bus fare. Liam, Charlotte and Jimmy watched Pamela walk along the street adjacent to the ice cream shop for a moment, before Jimmy then announced he was going to leave too since the tennis was over. He shouted to Pamela that he would accompany her to the bus stop and jogged after her.
Liam waited for Charlotte to take her leave, but instead she smiled. “Just us then,” she said, “I’m going back past the tennis courts to go home, what about you?” Liam smiled, trying not to jump in the air and scream with joy. “Yeah, me too,” he said. The two walked slowly back down the street towards the courts. “Is Jimmy your best friend?” asked Charlotte. Liam nodded, “Yeah, pretty much. We’ve been friends since primary school and he used to live next door to me, but his family moved to a new house a couple of years ago. What about Pamela?” Charlotte nodded, “She’s one of my close friends, but my best friend is a girl called Samantha.” Liam thought how posh all the girls’ names were.
“I think Jimmy liked Pamela, what do you think?” continued Charlotte. Liam was a bit taken aback by the move from talk of Indian food and social circles to relationships. “Well, she’s very pretty,” he replied. He wanted to say “And so are you,” but was too scared to. “So, do you think Jimmy will ask Pamela for a date whilst they’re walking to the bus stop?” continued Charlotte, giggling as she finished the question. Liam hadn’t really given the matter much thought. He hadn’t considered the fact Jimmy might have been very happy to be ‘stuck with the gorgeous blonde’. Liam had been fully consumed in his own focus on Charlotte.
The giggle at the end of Charlotte’s question also confused him. Was it because Charlotte thought the idea ridiculous or because she was intrigued? Liam decided she was too gentle and thoughtful to say something that could be considered condescending. “Maybe,” he replied, “Would Pamela go out with him if he did?” Charlotte considered the question. “I think so. He seemed very nice and Pamela did give him a hug.” Liam desperately wanted to use the opportunity to ask Charlotte if she would go on a date with him, but it seemed too feeble to do it that way. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough,” continued Charlotte, smiling at Liam. He nodded.
The next part of the walk was quieter as Liam tried to figure out why Charlotte had asked about Jimmy dating Pamela. Was Charlotte trying to give him an opportunity to ask her out or was she just asking about the other two because her friend fancied Jimmy?
The two had come to the edge of the park where the tennis courts were situated. “I go down this way,” said Charlotte, pointing to an area of large Victorian houses arranged opposite the park along a tree-lined street. Liam nodded and pointed to the end of the street where it joined a larger road. “I’m going down that way too,” he said. He now had his plan. He would walk Charlotte across towards the street at the edge of the park and when he was going off in a different direction, casually ask her if she wanted to meet up again. He wouldn’t use the word date in case it was too strong a word.
His thoughts were interrupted by Charlotte. “So which school do you go to?” she asked, knowing Liam wasn’t at her school. “Balmartine,” Liam said. Charlotte looked concerned. “Oh. Wow. But isn’t that school quite violent?” she continued, “My mum’s always warning me about it.” Liam’s heart sank. “It can be sometimes, but it’s not as bad as people think,” he said calmly. Charlotte didn’t look convinced. “But why do you go there when you could choose Kirkfield or like my school, The High?” Charlotte continued. Liam tried to make light of the question. “It’s just laziness. I live a 15-minute walk or a 5-minute bus ride away from the front gate.” Charlotte’s expression changed again – from concern to one of almost fear. “Oh, sorry Liam, I just remembered I have to be home soon, sorry, ‘bye,” she spluttered and ran off across the park towards the large houses.
Liam stood like a statue, rooted to the spot as he watched Charlotte run across the remainder of the park, across the road at the edge of the park and down a side street that came off the tree-lined road. Charlotte’s sudden change of behaviour had stunned him completely. What had just happened? What the hell has just happened!? Liam’s mind was a tangled mix of hurt and disappointment and anger as he tried to replay the events of the last 2 minutes. What had he said or done to spark such a volcanic reaction from Charlotte? Liam’s mind was a complete mess. His almost perfect day had now instantly turned into an absolute nightmare, one of the worst days he could remember having for a very long time. He was convinced he hadn’t done anything wrong. Had he? Why had Charlotte suddenly treated him as if he was a mass murderer?
The only answer Liam could come up with as he thought, was him alluding to the fact he lived in Balmartine. It had to be that, nothing else made any logical sense. Clearly Charlotte had been brought up to see people from Balmartine as some kind of danger to her. The thought occurred to Liam he had never really had any chance of asking Charlotte to go on a date or anything else. Liam felt crushed. And perhaps even worse, he felt helpless. He couldn’t do anything about coming from Balmartine. It wasn’t fair. Balmartine had a bad reputation, but not everyone who lived there deserved to be tarred with the same brush. He wondered if Jimmy had tried to ask Pamela out and suffered the same fate. Liam began to trudge back towards the tennis courts, still bamboozled as to how such a kind and gentle girl as Charlotte could treat him so badly. Just because of his address. He decided to go home by a different route past the tennis courts rather than down past the area Charlotte lived in.
Charlotte got into the house, out of breath from running full tilt across the park and down her street. Her older sister Beatrice was coming out of the kitchen and crossing the hall as Charlotte came in. “My goodness, you’re in a rush,” she smiled. Charlotte’s face told her things were not all hunky dory. “What’s happened?” she inquired more seriously. Charlotte caught her breath and explained about playing tennis, the orange drinks, the ice cream and being escorted alone across the park by a boy from Balmartine. Beatrice’s reactions were not as extreme as Charlotte’s had been, but she realised that her mother finding out would create a drama for the rest of the evening. “You’d better not tell mum,” she warned. Charlotte nodded. “I’m going for a shower,” she said.
Liam arrived at the door of the tennis courts. He felt terrible and he felt it was unfair that he should feel this way. He hadn’t done anything! He went inside the courts. They were empty. Liam looked at the closed pavilion and remembered how ecstatic he had felt when Charlotte agreed to play doubles and come for ice cream. Two hours ago he had felt on top of the world, but now he was struggling to hold back the tears that were trying to force their way out. Liam walked on to the court where he had been playing Jimmy and took the tennis ball from his pocket. He threw the ball up and smashed it with all the venom and anger he could muster at the net. The ball nestled in the bottom of the net unconcerned with the myriad of events that had gone before.
Charlotte had recovered some of her composure by the time she got to her bedroom. She unzipped her tennis dress and took it off. She took off her tennis shoes and the socks she was wearing and put the clothes into the laundry basket. She thought about what had happened and a feeling of guilt crept into her mind. She had run off from Liam like he had tried to assault her. Of course, he hadn’t. In fact, he’d been nothing other than kind and thoughtful for the whole time they had spent together. He’d paid for their orange drinks at the pavilion, let Pamela score some points in the tennis, bought Pamela and her ice cream and even paid for Pamela’s bus. Liam had even taken care of her great, great grandmother’s necklace when it had fallen off.
The necklace!!!
Liam had served more than two dozen times into the net, each one smashed with anger and frustration in an effort to rid himself of the gut wrenching feeling that persisted, but punishing a tennis ball wasn’t making him feel any better. He picked up the ball from the foot of the net for the final time and started towards the gate to leave. He wondered if he would be able to play tennis there again or if the memories of today would always make it a place of sadness for him. One thing was for certain, he wouldn’t be back again anytime soon! Liam tried to stuff the ball back in his pocket, but the tangle of coins and notes that made up the change from the ice cream made it difficult. He opened the zip of his other pocket and put the ball there. As he did so, he felt Charlotte’s necklace, safely imprisoned in the pocket.
The necklace !!!
Charlotte grabbed some jeans and a t-shirt and put them on then slid her bare feet back into her tennis shoes. She rushed downstairs. “Beatrice,” she called out as he reached the bottom of the staircase. “I’m in the lounge with mum,” her sister replied. Charlotte slowed down and entered the lounge in as casual a manner as she could. Her mum smiled, “How was tennis?” she asked. “Tiring,” replied Charlotte. Before her mum could elaborate further on her questions, Charlotte spoke again. “Come and do me a favour Bea,” she said, making a face that her sister recognised as ‘secretly’. Beatrice got up and the girls left the room. Once in the hall, Beatrice whispered “What is it?” Charlotte now looked quite distraught. “I gave a boy my necklace to look after at tennis and I forgot to get it back!” Beatrice’s face dropped. “OH, CHARLOTTE !!!” she hissed quietly. Charlotte looked as if she were about to burst into tears.
Liam set off from the tennis courts back across the park to where he had seen Charlotte disappear. He had a clear plan. He would knock on the doors of the different houses in the street until he either found Charlotte’s house or found someone who knew her and where she lived. In the back of his mind, he also hoped he would be able to get an explanation from Charlotte as to why she had run off in the way she did. He felt he was actually owed an explanation. On reaching the park, Liam ran across it and down the side street he’d seen Charlotte entering. The job wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought when he saw two further side streets branching off the one he was now walking along. Liam went to the first door on the left-hand side of the street and rang the bell. After a minute or so, nobody had answered. This definitely wasn’t going to be easy.
Charlotte got into Beatrice’s small car and they set off towards Balmartine. The plan was simple, but both girls accepted was unlikely to succeed. They would drive down the road Liam had pointed to and try to catch up with him before he got home. Charlotte realised not only did she not know his address, she didn’t even know his last name. And of course, he didn’t know her address or her last name either. “Mum and dad are going to go absolutely crazy,” she said quietly. Beatrice tried to cheer her up. “Listen, when he realizes he’s got your necklace, he’ll maybe just hand it in to the police,” she said, trying to sound matter of fact. The girls were now driving through the main street of the large Balmartine housing estate and there was no sign of Liam.
Liam had managed to try half a dozen houses with no luck. Either the people weren’t at home or they didn’t know any Charlotte. He continued along the street knocking on doors or ringing doorbells.
After 10 minutes of driving, it was clear the girls’ plan was a complete failure. There was no sign of Liam and anyone they stopped had either no knowledge of Liam or didn’t recognise the description Charlotte gave. Charlotte had already accepted the fact she’d have to tell her parents. “Let’s go back,” she said to Beatrice, “I’ll just have to face mum and tell her what I did.”
Despite having no success, Liam was feeling more optimistic. He had already covered all the houses on the left-hand side of the street he’d seen Charlotte running down and some of the houses on the right-hand side. He expected every failure to increase the chances of success with the next house.
Charlotte got out of the car and steeled herself for the ordeal ahead. Her father was in London in business for another three days, so at least she’d only face the attentions of her mother. Although, had her father been there, he might have helped calm the inevitable storm that was coming. Charlotte’s mother was still sitting in the lounge reading when the girls walked in. “Mum, I’ve got a bit of bad news I’m afraid,” said Charlotte and she started to retell the tale of the tennis and the orange drinks and the ice cream and Pamela’s bus fare and the necklace. She decided to leave out the part about running away from Liam.
Charlotte’s mum was absolutely distraught. “Oh Charlotte, how could you? How could you?” she wailed, “Your father’s grandmother’s necklace! Charlotte! You gave a £3000 necklace to a boy you’d known for ten minutes! Oh my God.” Charlotte knew there was no point in trying to explain or suggest or even apologize during the storm. It had to be allowed to subside on its own. “I’m calling Jack.” Charlotte’s mum eventually decided. Jack was a family friend in the police.
Liam had continued his trail along the streets and had actually had a small success. In one house, an elderly lady remembered a girl called Charlotte. Unfortunately, her memory was of a small girl called Charlotte a number of years earlier and she couldn’t remember where she had lived. Liam took this as a positive however, and continued his search.
Ten minutes after her mum’s phone call, two uniformed officers arrived at Charlotte’s house. PC Bennett and PC Kent asked Charlotte about what had happened and the boy who had her necklace. They seemed to be more suspicious of Liam’s motives once she had told them she thought he lived in Balmartine. The policemen spoke to Charlotte’s mum and took a detailed description of the necklace. Charlotte heard PC Bennett mention checking known dealers in stolen property. Charlotte immediately interrupted. “He didn’t steal it, I gave it to him and forgot to get it back,” she said. Charlotte had not mentioned the running away part to the police either. “And he forgot to give it back to you,” replied PC Kent. “Coincidence or convenience? We need to find out.”
Liam had now covered all the houses on the first street and all the houses on one side of one of the side streets. As he decided which house to go to next, a postman appeared in a van. Result! Liam ran across and spoke to the man. “Do you know someone called Charlotte who lives round here?” Liam asked, “I’ve got something that belongs to her and she forgot to get it back.” The postman pointed to a big house out on the tree-lined road. “No, I think she lives down here.” Liam replied. “Is she a teenager with brown hair and glasses?” asked the postman. Liam nodded. The postman pointed to the big house again. Liam shrugged. “Okay, thanks,” he said. Liam set off back up the road, noting the number of the next house to check in the side street in case the postman was wrong. He wasn’t aware Charlotte had run down the side street and gone in to her house through the entrance to the back garden, to avoid showing Liam where she actually lived.
The two police officers were standing in the hallway talking to Charlotte’s mother and were about to leave when the silhouette of a teenage boy appeared through the frosted glass door of the house vestibule. PC Kent motioned his head at the figure in the glass, “Well, well,” he said. PC Bennett opened the door.
Liam was slightly taken aback by being met by a uniformed police officer. “Does a girl called Charlotte live here?” asked Liam. “Why?” asked the officer. “I’ve got something that belongs to her,” responded Liam. Charlotte’s mother immediately gasped in hope, “Are you Liam? Do you have Charlotte’s necklace?” she asked. Liam nodded and produced the necklace from his pocket. Charlotte’s mum took the necklace. “Thank God for that,” she said, examining the necklace carefully, whilst carrying it off to the lounge. She didn’t even bother to thank Liam, such was her level of stress. “Come in son, tell us about the necklace,” said PC Bennett. “It’s okay, I have to go,” replied Liam, starting to turn to leave. He felt PC Bennett’s hand on his shoulder. “Come in, there might even be a reward in this for you,” he said. Liam didn’t want to go in. There was no sign of Charlotte and the situation seemed far too serious. “I don’t need a reward,” said Liam.
Charlotte and her sister appeared at the lounge door. “Please come in, please Liam,” Charlotte asked. Liam thought about the chance of Charlotte explaining why she had run away. Reluctantly, Liam went into the huge lounge. The lounge and hall of the house alone were bigger than most of his house. Liam sat nervously on the edge of a beige seat, aware he had been sweating playing tennis and running across the park. “Thanks for looking after my necklace and thanks for bringing it back,” said Charlotte. “Beatrice and I came to look for you, but we couldn’t find you,” continued Charlotte.
“Where were you when you decided to bring the necklace back?” asked PC Bennett. “In the tennis courts,” replied Liam. “So you left Charlotte at home and went back to the courts?” asked PC Kent. “Were you meeting someone there?” Liam was confused by both the question and the idea he had ‘left Charlotte at home’. He looked across at Charlotte, who looked sheepish. “No, I went to practice my serves,” said Liam, “I was on my own.” “Right,” said PC Kent, “So when did you discover you still had the necklace?” he continued. “When I finished practicing,” replied Liam. “And then you came here directly to give Charlotte the necklace?” Liam was again puzzled by the questions. “Yes,” said Liam. “Why?” said PC Bennett. “Because I knew it was valuable to Charlotte,” said Liam. “And you didn’t meet anyone or show them the necklace during that time, right?” continued PC Bennett. “No!” said Liam stridently, “Why are you asking me all these questions?”
PC Bennett stood up, leaned over towards Liam and spoke in a rather menacing tone, “When a £3000 necklace goes missing, questions have to be asked son. And we’re asking you, to check your story adds up. Is that okay?” Liam’s face betrayed his shock. “£3000?” he echoed. He looked across at Charlotte in disbelief. She was wearing a £3000 necklace to play tennis? “Aye son, £3000,” repeated PC Kent, “A nice wee haul for someone to break in and steal, isn’t it?” Liam’s confusion raised up a level. “Liam wouldn’t steal anything,” Charlotte chipped in. “How long have you known Liam miss?” asked PC Kent, “Do you even know his last name?” Charlotte shook her head and felt silly at her lack of knowledge of Liam.
Liam was now concerned about where all this was leading. “I’m not a thief and I brought the necklace back,” he said in a firm tone. “And I didn’t meet anyone in the tennis courts or anywhere else.” PC Kent spoke up, “I heard from Charlotte though, that you were the one that suggested you’d look after her necklace and you’ve already admitted you know it is valuable. Now why wouldn’t you give back such a valuable necklace, when you got to her house? Surely, if you were looking after it, that would have been very important to you, right?” Liam felt his heart racing. “I didn’t exactly take Charlotte back to the house,” he said, “She left when I was in the middle of the park.” “Then why didn’t you shout or run after her to give her the necklace Liam?” quizzed PC Bennett, “Your wee story is beginning to develop a few holes. Tell us the truth son, it’s always best.”
It was Charlotte who spoke next, “I ran away from Liam, so he couldn’t have given me the necklace,” Charlotte said in a muffled tone. Charlotte’s mum gasped, “Why did you run away, what did he do?” she asked concernedly. “He didn’t do anything, I was being stupid,” Charlotte replied. PC Kent spoke to Charlotte, “There’s no need to be afraid miss, you can tell us exactly what happened.” Charlotte looked at Liam then at PC Kent, “Nothing happened,” she said. Charlotte’s mum seemed very concerned and urged her daughter to tell the whole story. “Charlotte, if this boy has done something…” she started. Charlotte replied tersely to her mum, “He didn’t do anything mum!”
PC Bennett returned to his questioning of Liam, “Now the story has a few more holes, doesn’t it Liam? A girl turns up at the tennis court wearing a £3000 necklace and you stop your game with your pal at the last minute to go and get drinks, so you can get a better look at the necklace. Then you suggest she gives you the necklace to look after and you find a bit of time by scaring her, so you can show it to someone who will come and steal it at another time. That’s a more accurate version of the story, isn’t it son?” asked PC Bennett.
Liam felt under incredible pressure. This nightmare day was getting worse and worse. Tears started rolling down his cheeks, “That’s not true,” he said, desperately trying not to cry. “I did go across to talk to Charlotte, but not because of her necklace, I didn’t even know she had a necklace.” Liam sniffed back some tears, “I went across …” he hesitated, as the tears began streaming down his face, “… I went across because I thought Charlotte was beautiful and I wanted to chat her up. I didn’t know the necklace was worth £3000 and I don’t care. I went to the courts to hit the ball because I was hurt when she ran away from me. I didn’t meet anybody. And I don’t know why she ran away. I didn’t do anything and I’m not a thief just because I live in Balmartine.” Liam was now sobbing, his head in his hands. Beatrice gave her mum a frosty look and went across and put her arms round Liam. Charlotte was also crying, embarrassed and ashamed at the trouble she had caused Liam by her actions.
Charlotte’s mum spoke next, “Officers, I think that’s satisfied me as to what happened, I’ll let Chief Inspector Wilson know how helpful and professional you have been.” PC Kent and PC Bennett looked at each other and then stood up. “If you’re sure,” said PC Kent. Charlotte’s mum nodded, “I’m very sure,” she said, “And as I say, I’ll let Jack Wilson know how helpful you’ve been.” She showed the two officers to the front door. When she closed the door, Beatrice was standing behind her. “I think Charlotte needs a bit of time to apologise”, she said and motioned them both towards the kitchen. Charlotte’s mum nodded.
In the lounge, Charlotte came over and sat beside Liam. She was still crying. Liam was sobbing into his hands. He felt dreadful. Charlotte took both of his hands and gently pulled them away from his face. “Liam, I am so sorry,” she said managing to stifle her tears enough to look into Liam’s tear-filled eyes. “I don’t know why I ran away. I was just such an idiot. I know you’ll probably hate me now, but I want you to know, when you came to speak to me at the tennis courts I fancied you too. And I was really happy you came over to chat me up.” Liam managed to stop his sobs. He took a deep breath, “I don’t hate you Charlotte, I think you’re fantastic,” he said softly. Charlotte hugged him tightly.
Liam’s day had eventually started to turn into the one he had wanted. The hug lasted for a long time and then Charlotte pulled back. “Kiss me,” she said. Liam’s heart was racing once again, but this time in a good way. This wasn’t how he would have wanted his first kiss with Charlotte to happen, but he didn’t care. He cupped Charlotte’s face in his hands and kissed her slowly and gently. The kiss was interrupted by Charlotte’s mum coming into the room. “Oh, my,” she blustered, “I just remembered I didn’t say thank you to you for looking after Charlotte’s necklace, Liam,” she continued, “But it seems Charlotte might have done that already.” Liam smiled, “It’s no problem,” he said.
Lillian Kazmierczak
11/23/2022That was a terrific story. So many assumptions and all of them wrong! Poor Liam! Where you live does not define you!
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Lillian Kazmierczak
11/23/2022This was a great story! Congratulations on short story star of the day!
Help Us Understand What's Happening
Kenneth Bryant
07/29/2022So very sorry Jo. I tried to give it five stars and accidentally gave it one.
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Kenneth Bryant
07/29/2022This story went in a completely different direction than what I expected. More than simple - boy meets girl. Thoughtlessness, misunderstanding, and near disaster come together turning the usual trope on its head. Very well written it's a great story.
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BEN BROWN
03/09/2022Ben Brown.
I really loved your story. So wonderfully moving at the end. Well done.
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