Free Expecting to Fly by Cathy Hopkins Page A

in a grown-up relationship is not jumping ship the moment the rose-tinted glasses come off.’
    ‘I guess,’ I said.‘Doesn’t feel very romantic though, does it?’
    Aunt Sarah laughed. ‘No. Toilet seats left up, toothpaste without the cap on is about as far from romance as you can get, but it’s what makes up day-to-day living.’
    ‘So when do you know it’s over?’
    ‘When you are more miserable than happy. When the days he annoys you far outweigh the days you love or like him. Percentages, I guess.’
    It felt good to be having a girlie chat with Aunt Sarah and bonding over the ups and downs of being in a new relationship. I felt she understood more than Mum, who had been besotted with Dad for
ever and vice versa. By the time I left, I felt a lot better about Joe. Days like this were all part of the rollercoaster of being in a proper grown-up relationship.
    When I got home, I went to my computer to check if there were any messages. On the list, I noticed that there was one from Bruno. He was a boy who I had known all my life but
hadn’t seen for years until my gran’s birthday last year in Ravello. We had a holiday romance but broke it off soon after, partly because of Joe and partly because it didn’t seem
to make sense to have a long distance-relationship so early on in my dating life. I clicked on his name and read the screen.
    Ciao bella,
    Am in London for a few days in April. Would love to see you. Are you free on the Saturday before the Easter weekend?
    Bruno.
    XX
    I really wanted to see him. We’d had the most mega romantic time in Italy and a fab date in London before deciding not to take it any further. It had been a funny time
because, after months of no boys, three babes had come along all at the same time: Bruno, Tyler and Joe – and I’d had to decide. I had picked Joe, but that didn’t mean that I
didn’t feel something for all of them. They were all so different. Bruno made me feel like a princess and being with him felt so sophisticated. I felt admiration for Tyler, like I could learn
a lot by hanging out with him but, with Joe, I felt most myself, like we were on the same wavelength.
    I remembered how Joe had been when he’d seen me with Tyler. How would he be if I met up with Bruno? I wondered. Or shouldn’t I tell him? What he didn’t know,
wouldn’t worry him. As I wondered how to reply to Bruno, I felt frustrated that I wasn’t free to do what I wanted. A day with Bruno. I needn’t snog him. There would be nothing in
it – just two old friends catching up and he had been a friend of the family since I was tiny. I decided to take the risk. See Bruno. Not tell Joe. I didn’t have to tell him my every
move, it wasn’t as if we were married and, anyway, he usually played football on Saturday mornings so wouldn’t want to see me anyway. I quickly typed my reply.
    Great timing. Love to see you. Let me know what time and where.
    Ciao yourself.
    India Jane.
    I pressed the send button before I could change my mind and off the message went.

‘I don’t know if I’ve ever really said this before, but I think that you are the best-looking boy in our school and I love spending time with you,’ I
said to Joe as we stood waiting to do the London tourist open-topped bus ride at Green Park on Saturday afternoon.
    ‘Are you on drugs?’ he asked.
    I shook my head. I had remembered what Aunt Sarah had said about boys needing appreciation and I was determined to give it a go. ‘And you’re a great kisser, too,’ I said.
    Joe laughed.‘You are definitely on drugs,’ he said, but he took my hand and I could see that he was chuffed. Result , I thought and made a mental note to let Aunt Sarah
know.
    I had worked out a great itinerary for us again, up to and even including Easter. The first Saturday of April I had saved for Bruno and had to find an excuse to give to Joe as to why I
wouldn’t be around. I had been in touch a few times with Bruno since his first email. He