The Boy from France by Hilary Freeman

friend Jane has just emailed.
She’s got a spare ticket for the theatre tonight and wonders if I’d like to go with her. She said she could pick me up at six and take me for a bite to eat first. Would you mind if I
wasn’t here tonight? Could you manage on your own? It’ll only be for a few hours.’
    I try not to look too happy. Do I mind having to spend the evening alone with Xavier? Hardly. Do I mind having the house to ourselves for a few hours? Hell no!
    ‘Sure, Mum, that’s fine with me. It’ll be so good for you to get out. Um, that’s if it’s OK with you, Xavier?’
    He looks puzzled. Perhaps Mum was talking too fast. Sometimes I forget that his English isn’t perfect and he can’t always keep up.
    ‘My mum is going out tonight, so we’ll have to stay alone here. Is that OK?’
    He grins. ‘
Mais oui
, of course. Perhaps I can cook something
Français
, as I promised?’
    ‘Cool,’ I say. ‘That would be perfect. There you go, Mum. All sorted. Go out and have a good time. We’ll be fine.’
    Mum is hesitant. ‘Perhaps I should clear it with the school. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to leave Xavier unsupervised.’
    ‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t bother with that. Like you said, it’s only for a few hours. And you know we’re both very responsible. Well, you know I am, anyway.’
    She nods. ‘OK, then.’ Although neither of us dares to say it, we’re both aware that, these days, I’m usually the one who looks after her, and not the other way
around.
    I smile. ‘I promise we won’t have any wild parties or set fire to the kitchen.’
    Today, with no Dad around to give us a lift, we’re meeting Rosie and Manon at the end of the street, so that we can all walk to school together. (Xavier now feels confident enough in
Camden to make the last part of the journey on his own.) It’s the first time Rosie has seen me with him since our little chat, a couple of days ago, and I feel very self-conscious. As we head
towards her, I know she’s watching how I act with him, reading my body language and trying to work out what’s going on between us. I’m giving nothing away; I don’t want
another lecture. I try to behave as coolly as I can, walking fast and looking straight ahead until I’m close enough to make eye contact with her. Then I smile my broadest smile, greet her and
Manon, and start chatting about the test we’ve got today. I even let Manon monopolise Xavier all the way to school, pretending that it doesn’t bother me.
    Xavier leaves us at the school gates.
    ‘See you laytair, Veecks,’ he says, as he kisses me goodbye (he kisses the others too). I maintain my composure, giving him a shy smile only when I’m sure the others
can’t see.
    He’s just begun to walk away when Rosie calls him back. ‘I forgot to say, do you want to come out for coffee with us after school? I’ve said I’d take Manon and a couple
of her friends to Tupelo Honey. You should both come too. And I’m going to text Sky to see if she fancies it.’
    I don’t know what to say. I try to catch Xavier’s eye to see his reaction but he just grins at me, enigmatically. Maybe he doesn’t understand. After what Rosie said the other
day, I certainly don’t want to make a big thing about having time alone with Xavier tonight, or to tell her that he’s cooking for me. Never mind, I suppose we can always have coffee
with the others and then go home and have dinner later.
    I’m just about to say, ‘OK, that would be nice,’ when Xavier answers instead.
    ‘We cannot come tonight, sorry,’ he says, with the type of assurance that nobody would dare to question. ‘I promise to make dinair for Veecks’s muzzair. Anuzzer night,
per’aps.’
    So he’s fibbed! And I didn’t even ask him to. Either he doesn’t want to go out with the others or he really does want to spend time alone with me. God, I hope it’s the
latter. I seriously cannot wait until tonight.

osie comes to find me at breaktime. I’m