Free Summer's Edge by Noël Cades Page B

for helping out at such short notice, Stewart." Miss Symons hurried off, forgetting about the orange bands.  
    Alice felt odd and slightly resentful to hear her call him Stewart. I’m more familiar with him than you are, she thought.
    "Are you supposed to be wearing these?" he asked them when Miss Symons had gone.
    "No, they’re just for the juniors," she lied.
    Taking charge, he divided the juniors into two groups and sent Maddy off with the first to one side of the grounds. She scowled but obeyed.
    Then instead of making Alice go with the second group he sent them off in the other direction without her.
    This left the two of them walking alone with just Alice’s collection bag as chaperone. Alice was both pleased and surprised. Her patience, she felt, was paying off.
    "What are you in trouble for?" he asked.
    "A disagreement in Biology. I think we’re all a bit stressed about exams."
    "Just a disagreement?" He raised his eyebrows. God, she loved being with him, even in these circumstances. He was so magnetic. When he looked at her she was mesmerised.
    "A bit of a fight. Some stuff was said and I should have ignored it but I didn’t."
    He was concerned. "About you?"
    "No, about Becky and Brett. Really it was nothing." She wanted to change the subject because it didn’t present her in a very good light even if she had been defending Becky. "Are you enjoying it over here? England, I mean."
    "It’s not too bad. It has its attractions." His eyes lingered on her for a moment. Was he flirting with her? He really seemed to blow hot and cold.
    "What will you do when term ends?"
    "There’s some coaching work at Gloucestershire, mainly for the youth squads."
    So he would be here over the summer. She rejoiced.
    "And you’re off to be a vet?" he asked her. Alice didn’t remember telling him that, someone else must have done so. She hoped this was the case since that meant he must have been asking questions about her.
    "Only if I get the grades. And not immediately, Jules and I are going travelling first for a year. In Asia and Australia." She looked at him on this last word, and he looked back at her.
    "What made you want to become a vet?"
    Here’s where you were expected to trot out the "always loved animals" line but Alice didn’t, because that wasn’t the entire reason why. "I thought it would be interesting, having so many different kinds of animals to study and work with," she said. "And also be something that you could travel and work overseas with. There are vet jobs all over the world and the qualification here is recognised pretty much everywhere."
    "You won’t miss your home town?"
    "Do you?" she asked him.
    "Sometimes. I like being on tour and working overseas but home is home."
    "What’s it like, Sydney?"  
    "Just like the photographs show. Great beaches, lots of national parks. Loads to do whether you’re a tourist or a local. Definitely worth a visit," he said, looking at her again.
    She got the message. He wanted her to come. He actually wanted to see her again in the future, even though it might be months away. Was that what he was waiting for, for her to finish school? If he could just say so it would help.
    "There’s no way we’d travel as far as Australia and not go there. Unless we run out of money or something." She smiled at him. She saw that it disarmed him.
    They continued to walk along the side of the cricket pitch. Alice picked up a few pieces of litter if she saw anything, there wasn’t much, and Mr Walker did too even though he wasn’t supposed to. Whether he was unaware of that or whether he just wanted to help her out she didn’t know.  
    But she was glad as it stopped it feeling like a punishment, they were just two people picking up litter. A team. She finally felt that he was acknowledging that they were on more familiar terms than everyone else.
    "What was it like playing cricket? Did you always want to do it?"
    "Was it my boyhood dream do you mean? Not initially. That was to be a