True Love, the Sphinx, and Other Unsolvable Riddles by Tyne O'Connell

Author:Tyne O'Connell
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2007-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Octavia

It’s a dreadful thing that boys force girls to be so calculating.

Oh bugger, I’d just told Sam I was impoverished. Impoverished? Who talks like that? What an absolute tosser I am. And even though I got the bright idea to kiss him straight after I’d said it, to make him forget, I wasn’t convinced my distraction had worked.

And what on earth had possessed me to open up to him of all people? I’d managed a lifetime of concealing the truth and then I go and blurt it to the best mate of the guy I’m trying to pull. Stupid, stupid, enormous-mouthed Octavia! I could just picture Sam blabbing to Salah and then Salah feeling all sorry for me and then … well, of course no boy wants to pull an object of pity. And then it occurred to me that it could even go further than ruining my Nile romance. What if Sam told Salah and then Salah told Yo and Astin and they told Perdie and Artimis? It wouldn’t take long before the whole school knew. I may as well have taken an ad out in The Tatler.

I wished I could have talked to Rosie about it but that would mean admitting I’d been lying all my life to her, too. Instead I decided to fish. “So, darling, do you think I had Salah seething with jealousy today, seeing me gallivanting around with Sam?” I asked her while I was showering off the sweat and desert sand.

“Oh yes, all that gallivanting is bound to make any boy seethe,” Rosie agreed.

“I hope you weren’t jealous darling? You know I’m not after Sam, right? He’s just so much fun. I wish Salah was a bit more like Sam, actually.”

Rosie didn’t say anything, so I continued. “So, you really think a dark cloud of jealous despair descended upon Salah? Was he crying at any point do you think, Rosie?”

“Bawling his crybaby eyes out,” Rosie assured me. “It was heartbreaking to watch. Really, rather pathetic. No one knew quite what to do.”

I was enjoying bantering with Rosie. It was totally taking my mind off the Secret Impoverishment Thing. “So, do you think he’ll get on his hands and knees and beg me to pull him?”

“I wouldn’t really know about that, Octavia. I’ve never had a boy on his hands and knees begging for anything.”

I turned the shower off. “Well, in that case, that is definitely something we shall remedy tout de suite. I noticed Sam gazing into your eyes at breakfast. I’m sure you could make him beg if you tried.”

I toweled off and swept my clothes off the floor to make way for Rosie. “Shower’s yours now,” I told her, flopping on the bed beside hers. I looked up wistfully at the fabby Arabesque lantern hanging from the ceiling. It was a boat designed for love.

While Rosie showered, I threw myself into the task of dressing to slay. I’d only just finished emptying the contents of my suitcase on the bed

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