Alex in Wonderland by Simon James Green

Author:Simon James Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2019-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“How come you’re back early?!” Ben said. “I thought it was next week?”

“Ahh, Rachel’s grandad had a heart attack,” Bella said. “I couldn’t let her come back by herself. Plus I wanted to surprise you!”

Ben broke the hug and stepped back from her a bit. “Is he OK?”

“I think it’s touch and go.”

“Poor Rach,” Ben said. “Although it’s really good to see you.” He gave her a smile, one of his ones with extra dimples, then went back in for more hugging. “You should’ve let me know though!” Ben continued, rocking Bella from side to side in the hug.

I stood on the sidelines, kicking the suede high-tops I was wearing especially for our pizza date on the ground, hands in pockets, waiting for Ben and Bella to stop hugging, and trying to look at least semi-happy because I didn’t want to be rude.

The truth was, right at that precise moment, I hated Bella.

But of course it wasn’t her fault. It was all me. I’d misread everything, the signs, or whatever it is that supposedly tells people how other people feel about them.

Plus, she really was real! Ben had never been anything other than totally honest about having a girlfriend. I’d just allowed myself to be persuaded he might not have.

“I would have texted, but I wanted to see that smile when I just appeared out of nowhere,” Bella grinned.

Great. She liked his dimples too. They were my dimples. Now I was sharing them.

“I went to your house and your dad told me you were in town with your mate,” Bella added.

Mate. Bloody mate. Although I don’t know what I was expecting. Ben was hardly going to have told his dad he was going out with his “red-hot gay lover”. I certainly didn’t tell my dad that. In fact, I said I was “meeting a mate”, now I thought of it, even though the knowing look he gave was as if I had said “red-hot gay lover”. So why was I cross that’s also what Ben had probably said?

“Bella, this is Alex!” Ben said, breaking away from the hug and pulling Bella over to me.

“Hey,” I said, attempting a smile and extending my right hand. “Nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you.” Obviously that wasn’t true, she was a complete enigma, but hey, small talk.

Bella ignored my hand and went right in for a hug. “Likewise! Great to meet at last!”

“Yeah,” I said as she squeezed me tightly. She smelled lovely. Fresh and floral.

Bella stepped back from the hug a bit, but kept her hands on my upper arms, looking into my face. Then she broke into a smile, dropped her arms and said, “How was the pizza, boys?”

“Lovely,” we both said, in unison.

Bella laughed. She had a nice laugh. I was really annoyed that there was literally nothing annoying about her. Most people who came back from “travelling” were usually eminently slap-able. Every year, the kids who’ve gone off for a gap year come back and

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