More Flirting Games (The Flirting Series - Young Adult) by Stella Wilkinson Page A

that Gabriel’s girlfriend was great and they
were good together and so he had point blank refused to talk to Gabriel about
Flora or be involved in any of Ellie’s plans to separate Gabriel from Vanessa.
    The only
recourse left to Ellie and Flora was to try to get Gabriel to notice Flora on
his own. This had worked for Ellie when she had wanted Nate to notice her, but
it was not working now. Firstly, since Gabriel had become involved in the Year
Six School Play, he was rarely to be found in the Games Room or at any other
evening activity, and secondly, he generally ignored Ellie and Flora when
forced into their company. He was polite, but distant, and preferred talking to
his male friends than flirting with girls. It was all very frustrating.
    But tonight
was the Valentine’s disco and Flora was determined to look as good as she
possibly could in the hopes that he might finally notice her. She and Ellie had
been to the chemist in Oakworth, the local village, and bought some make-up.
Ellie had done her best to give Flora a makeover and Flora was quite pleased
with the results. Her long blond hair had been brushed and curled and bounced
around her shoulders, she was wearing a new mini skirt with her long boots, and
a bright pink top that matched her new lipstick. She was feeling more confident
than ever before and really looking forward to the disco.
    ***
    Gabriel
was in a seriously foul mood. Angry, hurt, depressed and another helping of
angry. He’d just rung Vanessa to see if she liked the gifts he’d sent her for
Valentine’s Day, only to discover that she had left the hotel she was supposed
to be staying at and moved into another one, three days ago. She’d forgotten or
just not bothered to tell him.
    Vanessa was
working in Los Angeles on a modeling shoot and they had agreed that the
distance was too far for them to try to get together for the night. He couldn’t
leave school for longer than just the weekend anyway. She was supposed to be
staying at the Hilton but she had just blithely told him she was now at the
Excelsior, where she had moved to be closer to her friend Frances. She and
Frances were going to a party together that night. He had heard her mention
Frances a few times before and always assumed she was a female friend. Tonight
he had discovered that Franc e s was in fact Franc i s. A male
friend, who often escorted her out and about. A huge row had ensued and in the
end he had told her that if she spent Valentine’s Day with Francis then their
relationship was over. She told him not to be such a child, and that as her boyfriend was always at school he couldn’t expect her not to lead the life of
a grownup in his absence. He had told her to go and live it without him then
and hung up.
    He was
tempted to walk out of school and go and get a flight to L.A. and punch
Francis’ lights out. But what good would it do? It wouldn’t make things better
with Vanessa and the school would not take it well. He could leave permanently
if he wanted to, he was old enough, but he had wanted to stay the extra year to
get involved in the Year Six play. There would be a lot of parents attending
who had jobs that might help him if he could come to their attention. Being an
actor was the most important thing in the world to him but he didn’t want to
rush off and sign up with an agency, he wanted to do it properly, he wanted a
place at a stage school. The best way to get one would be to get excellent
grades in his A-Levels at the end of Year Seven and then apply. He wasn’t sure
he could wait that long, especially with all the extra pressure from Vanessa,
but now that he had secured the lead role in the Year Six play he knew it had been
worth staying for.
    So he
ditched the idea of chasing after Vanessa and decided instead to be tough about
it. Everyone always said he was a cold hearted bastard, and it was true that he
let very few people get close to him. Nate, Vanessa and his younger brother
were probably the only