I shook my head, embarrassed. ‘I’m not dressed up.’
Travis smirked. ‘Eden, in the few months I’ve known you, you’ve lived in jeans and hoodies. Now you’re in a very short skirt and – if I’m not mistaken – you’re wearing make-up. So who’s it for? Ryan or Connor?’
‘It’s none of your business.’
I glanced at the platform. The others were already there, laughing and chatting. Ryan was wearing his usual t-shirt, jeans and boots combo, but no jacket. He had a green canvas bag, the sort you see in army surplus stores, slung over his body. He was standing next to Connor, peering at something in a magazine.
‘Thanks for the lift,’ I said, slamming the door without looking back.
By the time I had bought my ticket, the train was gliding into the station. We scrambled aboard and jostled through the carriages until we found two tables for four.
Connor looked at my short skirt and winked at me. ‘Jeans in the wash?’
‘Happy birthday, Connor,’ I said passing his card and present across the table. I had bought him a couple of books he’d mentioned the week before. ‘You’ll have to carry them around Plymouth, but I wanted you to have them today.’
‘Not a problem,’ he said, pointing to his large red backpack.
Megan gave him a T-shirt with a logo that I didn’t recognise.
‘How did you know I love that film?’ asked Connor.
Megan threw back her head and laughed. ‘I found it on a website called T-shirts for nerds. I immediately thought of you.’
The others promised to find something in Plymouth.
‘What did you get from your mum?’ I asked.
Connor flashed me a thick wad of twenty pound notes. ‘Cash to spend as I wish.’
‘What you gonna buy?’ asked Matt. ‘An Xbox?’
‘A telescope,’ he said.
Ryan and I looked at each other.
‘But you don’t have any kind of games console,’ said Matt.
Connor smiled. ‘That’s why I spend so much time at yours.’
As the train made its way up the line, we all settled into various distractions. Amy and Matt both plugged into an iPod, an earpiece each. Megan had a celebrity magazine. Connor took out a printout about telescopes and binoculars and started talking to Ryan about the one he planned to buy.
‘It’s going to be heavy,’ Ryan said. ‘Why don’t you just order it online and have it delivered?’
‘I don’t want to wait. I’ve got the money today and I want the telescope today. If I order it online, it might be next weekend before I get it, and there’ll be the shipping cost. And Mr Chinn recommended this shop called Stellar Optics. The guy who owns the shop is a friend of his. He’ll give me a ten per cent discount if I show him my school astronomy club card.’
This was it. I thought back to the photo of the telescope in
The gentle rocking of the train combined with the sun shining through the window made me feel sleepy. It wasn’t until we’d just pulled out of St Austell that I had an idea.
‘So, Connor,’ I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. ‘What’s the name of this telescope?’
He pushed the printout across the table and pointed at a photograph. ‘That’s the one,’ he said. ‘It’s big enough to see the planets in some detail but not so big that it’ll be too heavy to carry around and set up. And it’s just within my budget.’
‘What will you be able to see?’ I asked.
‘Saturn’s rings should be clear,’ he said. ‘And the red spot on Jupiter.’
‘Will we be able to see the rings around Uranus?’ said Matt, sniggering.
Connor ignored him and carried on talking about binary stars and nebulae and other objects that meant little to me, and I nodded and smiled and committed the make and model of the telescope to memory.
‘It sounds amazing,’ I said, pushing the printout back across the table to Connor.
Ryan caught my eye and frowned.
‘Right,’ I said. ‘Drinks are on me. What’s everybody having?’
‘Coffee,’ said Amy and Matt at the same time.
‘I’ll have a cappuccino with cinnamon and chocolate,’ said Megan.
I rolled my eyes. ‘Not on this train, you won’t. You’ll have coffee, tea or a soft drink.’
Megan groaned. ‘I’ll have a Coke then. And a Kit Kat.’
‘Me too,’ said Connor.
‘Megan, do you have a pen and paper so I can make a list?’
Megan laughed. ‘It’s a pretty simple order, Eden. Two coffees, two Cokes and two Kit Kats.’
‘I know. I think my short-term memory is full. Too much studying.’
She passed me a piece of paper and a pen and I scribbled down the make and model of Connor’s telescope.
‘Ryan, can you help me carry the drinks?’
We both got out of our seats and swayed our way along the carriage to the doors. I stopped in the space between the carriages.
‘You look nice today,’ Ryan said. He smirked. ‘And I love it when you blush.’
‘How much money do you have?’ I asked.
‘Enough to buy the drinks.’
‘Do you have a credit card or anything?’
Ryan pressed a button and the door to the toilet slid open. ‘Inside,’ he said.
We both walked inside and Ryan hit the lock button. He pulled a black wallet out of his back pocket and flicked it open. ‘I have dozens of cards,’ he said. ‘We were given one for every bank in the UK. My credit limit is huge by your standards.’
‘What do you mean, by my standards?’
He shook his head. ‘Not yours personally. Huge for this time. But that’s irrelevant. How much money do you want?’
‘Enough to buy out the entire stock of telescopes in Connor’s price range.’
Slowly, as my plan dawned on him, a grin appeared on Ryan’s face. ‘I think I can handle that,’ he said.
‘Does your phone have a web browser?’ I asked. My phone was a basic, cheap model that did nothing more than call, text and take photos.
He nodded.
‘Find the phone number for Stellar Optics in Plymouth. Then we’ll call and you can buy up all the telescopes Connor wanted. I have the make and model here on this piece of paper.’
By the time we emerged from the train toilet, ten minutes later, Ryan had called the shop and bought all five of the telescopes in stock that Connor wanted. Then, just to make sure, he had bought all the telescopes in the next price bracket, as well as the model just below, and arranged for them to be shipped to his house in Penpol Cove.
‘That was brilliant,’ Ryan said, laughing as the door slid open.
Outside, a woman with a toddler glared at us. ‘Kids these days,’ she muttered.
Ryan looked bemused. ‘She didn’t think we were making out in a toilet, did she? Ugh!’
‘That or doing drugs,’ I said. ‘Come on, let’s get the drinks.’
Shopping had never been a favourite pastime of mine, but that Saturday in Plymouth was the worst. By the time I arrived at the Monsoon Palace late that afternoon, I was exhausted. Everyone else was there before me. They were sitting at a table by the window.
Tealights in tiny red vases flickered on the table, which was already covered with plates of poppadoms, dishes of chutney and bottles of beer. Connor swigged from a bottle just as one of the waiters showed me to the table.
