Free Growing Yams in London by Sophia Acheampong Page A

bag.
    ‘Er . . . I have to get her something from HMV,’ I told Nelson.
    I was hoping he’d just think that I meant a poster or something. There was no way I was going to tell him I was buying a Fairytale CD after the way I reacted at Mel’s party.
    ‘Oh right. If we go now, we can chill and eat before we go home,’ Nelson said.
    ‘OK,’ I said smiling.
    We headed back to the shopping centre and narrowly avoided being separated by a group of Italian students in brightly coloured winter jackets and huge rucksacks. Nelson’s grip on my hand
tightened until we were standing safely in HMV.
    As I looked across the shop, I began to regret teasing him at Mel’s party.
    ‘So what are you going to buy?’ Nelson asked.
    ‘Oh um . . . a CD for my mum. It’s a surprise,’ I lied.
    ‘Yeah, which one?’
    ‘Oh um . . .I’ve forgotten the name,’ I said, avoiding eye contact.
    ‘Hold on, you’ve got to buy a CD, but you’ve forgotten the name of the artist?’
    ‘Uh huh,’ I said.
    Just let it go Nelson.
    ‘What about the title?’
    ‘Um . . . nope.’
    ‘What about the colour of the sleeve?’
    Oh flaming hell! He would decide to be helpful, wouldn’t he? My fault for going out with a DJ.
    ‘You know what? I’ll just call my mum and ask.’
    ‘I thought you said it was a surprise?’
    For crying out loud!
    ‘Er . . . I meant I’ll call Delphy. Why don’t you look around, it won’t take me long,’ I said, hoping he’d take the bait.
    ‘OK, if you’re sure,’ he said with a shrug.
    I headed towards the rock section and pretended to call Delphina. Then, I made sure he wasn’t looking, which wasn’t hard given the way he towered over the racks of CDs, and I grabbed
the Fairytale CD. I held it low, against my thigh. When I looked up, Nelson was smiling at me.
    Crikey, he knows! I thought, but he went back to flicking through some CDs, so I rushed to the queue, nearly colliding with a security guard.
    ‘Watch it, love!’ he said.
    ‘Sorry,’ I replied.
    I paid for the CD and turned around to find Nelson waiting for me by the door.
    ‘Finished?’ Nelson questioned.
    ‘Yeah,’ I said, stuffing the CD into my bag.
    ‘You know what? That security guard was following you around the store.’
    ‘Really?’ I said in disbelief.
    Ohmigod, I’m not a thief.
    ‘Yeah, it was really weird. I guess he thought you were trying to steal something.’
    Great! Now I’m going to be followed every time I go in there, all because of a Fairytale CD! I could kill Delphina!
    ‘You know, you did look kind of shifty . . .’ he said, smiling.
    ‘Hey!’ I said, laughing nervously.
    ‘So what did you get?’
    ‘Oh um . . . The Fusion Funksters,’ I lied. That was an old group Dad liked.
    ‘Oh right.’
    ‘You know who they are?’
    ‘I’m a DJ, Makeeda?’
    ‘Oh yeah, of course,’ I said, feeling stupid.
    ‘I’m kidding. My dad has their album too and plays them when he’s dropping me off at my mum’s. Can we eat now?’
    ‘Yep! Let’s go to the café over there!’ I pointed, and this time I grabbed his hand and led the way. By seven o’clock we’d finished eating and I had managed
not to spill my food everywhere.
    We still hadn’t had our proper second kiss, but I wasn’t as stressed about it. After Jordan’s antics and managing to hide the Fairytale CD, I was feeling really chilled out. I
still had half an hour to get home; my curfew was eight p.m. but Tanisha told me to get home half an hour early, as apparently parents love it. I wasn’t convinced that mine would even notice
because of their radar for my lateness, but I decided to go with it.
    I turned to Nelson. We were sitting on my bus home, as he’d insisted on at least taking the bus back with me.
    ‘Thanks for coming with me,’ I said, smiling.
    ‘I wanted to,’ he said, smiling back. ‘Besides, after all that stuff with Jordan, I had to make sure you didn’t bump into him again.’
    ‘True,’ I said.
    We got off the bus