Free With All My Love by Patricia Scanlan

think I do a bit. He’s gorgeous-looking and dead sexy in that black leather jacket, and he’s good fun too,’ Valerie admitted. ‘And it’s only a few months to my Leaving so once that’s over I could start dating him properly.’
    ‘Eight months, dear, not a few,’ Lizzie said drily. ‘A college boy is not going to wait eight months. I’m just saying that as your best friend who’s always honest with you.’
    ‘We can all have our fantasies,’ Valerie sighed.
    ‘Have you said anything to your folks?’ Lizzie broke off a square of chocolate.
    ‘What do you think?’ Valerie said gloomily. ‘I won’t be allowed to go and that’s it! I’ll just have to come up with something.’
    ‘Right . . . I figured that.’ Lizzie thought for a moment. ‘Here’s what we’re going to do. Tell them you’re going on a field trip . . . geography. Remember the one we went on for the Inter?’
    ‘Yeah, but that’s not going to go on all night. The concert doesn’t start until eight.’
    ‘I know, you can say you’re babysitting with me, and we’re revising for the Christmas exams. We won’t be home until after midnight tonight so that’s nothing unusual.’
    ‘It’s on a Thursday night, though, which is a bit of a pain in the ass. If it was on a Friday it would be much easier to spoof!’
    ‘Well, just say Martina’s going to a wedding and it’s a great opportunity to get some serious revision done,’ Lizzie improvised rapidly.
    ‘Do you think?’ Valerie asked doubtfully.
    ‘Yeah, go for it.’ Lizzie sounded confident. She jumped up and held a pretend mic, belting out ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’. ‘Do you know how lucky you are? I’m pea green with envy. Just as well you’re my best friend.’
    ‘I’m glad you are. I wish you were coming. It would be a blast.’ Valerie hugged her.
    ‘Bet there’s no tickets left. I’ll ask Phil if he could get any but I won’t hold my breath. Now start rehearsing what you’re going to say to your da.’
    ‘It’s a comparative study to the one we did for the Inter.’ Valerie tried to sound nonchalant the following Saturday as she broached the subject before her father began to look at the afternoon sport. She thought ‘comparative study’ sounded serious and intellectual.
    ‘Would you not be better off sitting at your desks studying like we had to?’ Terence grumbled.
    ‘Well, social geography is different,’ she explained. ‘We’re studying dormitory towns outside of Dublin.’
    ‘And how many of you are going? Is it just an excuse for a doss?’ He settled himself in his armchair ready to study the RTE guide to see what was on TV.
    ‘No, no,’ she assured him hastily, banishing an image of a bottle of vodka being passed surreptitiously around the back of a tour bus, on a previous field trip, and Ashlynn Callaghan puking her guts up out the window on the way home after drinking half a bottle of Malibu, while her friend told the geography teacher earnestly that she was a very poor traveller.
    ‘Only the honours students,’ Valerie lied.
    ‘And how much is this going to cost me?’ Her father arched a bushy eyebrow at her.
    ‘Um . . . one pound fifty,’ she ventured, unable to believe her luck.
    ‘Daylight robbery,’ he groused, extracting two silver pound coins from his wallet. Valerie took the money calmly. Now she wouldn’t have to fund her trip out of her own money either. This was a real bonus.
    ‘Thanks, Dad.’ There was a hint of warmth in her tone. This was an uncharacteristically kind gesture from her father.
    ‘Give me back the change and you can pay me back when you start working again,’ he growled, returning to form. He had made her give up her Saturday job at the local hairdresser’s until her exams were over and she really missed the money.
    ‘Oh, and I’ll be going straight to Lizzie’s after we get home. She’s babysitting and we’re going to do maths revision. We’ve a big test the next day,’ she