“Well its healed lovely Drew” Sylv informed me, “you sure you want it left out?”

“Yes!” I stated a little harshly

“Okay, okay”

“Sorry Sylv, I’m just a bit touchy today.”

We rejoined the others in the living room.

“Come on Drew, your turn” Ally stated passing me the handset. We were playing on the PS2.

I’m afraid our usual jocular evening was a bit soured by my mood. I can’t really explain why I feel like I have triple maths next but I do. Okay!

“Tea up!” Sylv called us

“Drew? You coming?” Bernie asked

“Er oh erm yeah ok” I really was a bit out of it

Sylv never claimed to be a cook so tea at Rhod’s was usually something straightforward and tonight was no exception, quiche and salad with baked potatoes.

“What’s up Drew?” Maddy asked

“Oh, just feeling a bit off I guess”

After eating the discussion moved to Sylv’s small back garden

“What are you guy’s wearing to the End of Term?” Mad asked generally

“I’m not really sure” Ally commented

“Mum said I could get something new” Bernie threw in

“Kewl!” Mad stated

“What about you guys?” Ally addressed Rhod and me

“I’ve got a new shirt,” Rhod mentioned, “it’s a sort of retro paisley”

“Sounds gross” Bernie put in

“Well I like it” Rhod retorted

“What about you Drew?” Mad queried

“Dunno, guess I’ll find something”

“Come on Drew, show some enthusiasm” Bernie cajoled

“Sorry guys. I think I’ll go home, get some sleep”

So I left Rhod’s place well early and wandered slowly home in the evening sunshine. On reflection it was probably a combination of things that had left me so morose. Euphoria from Sunday, tension over the Sports Day arrangements, annoyance over ‘my’ earrings, well you get the idea.

Tuesday found me in much better fettle. School was ok I guess but I was more than happy enough to head home at the end of the day. Only Mad was coming to the ten tonight, the others had homework to finish.

“You ready Drew?”

“Just getting my shoes on” I told my impatient friend

“I worked out Drew that you raced quicker on Sunday for 25 miles than you do for ten miles”

“Yeah?” I answered

“Yeah,” Mad went on, “two and a half of your tens come to about one hour two minutes and a bit”

“So what should my ten time be then?” I queried pulling the garage door shut

“Well I reckon you would do a straight twenty four”

“I’ve done a twenty four” I stated

We set off for Cuckney

“Not just a twenty four but twenty four nothing” Mad continued

“No way, that’s miles faster” I retorted

“Well you work it out then” she suggested

So I did the maths as we rode along and she was right!

“Okay I agree the numbers check out, so how come I’m so much slower for ten miles then?”

“Well I asked Dad and he reckons it’s because you can keep going at a steady pace further without having to slow down and stuff”

“I get it I think. I guess if I did ten miles straight out I’d go quicker than having to slow down at the turn” I suggested

“I guess so”

Just then we arrived at Johns car

“Hi girls” he greeted us

“Hi” I answered for us

“There’s a slight change of plan tonight, there are traffic lights at the turn for some road works so we are doing a straight five instead” John informed me

“Ok, I’m game, what about you Mad”

“Me!”

“Yeah it’s only five miles”

“Well I, er, I’m not dressed for it” Maddy was searching for an excuse. In actual fact she was wearing cycling style shorts and a t-shirt, quite suitable for this.

“It’s only a bit of fun, come on” I encouraged

“That would be okay wouldn’t it John?” I asked the timekeeper

“Why not, we’re not taking money tonight” he affirmed

“Go on Mad. Pretty please” I fluttered my eyelashes at her.

“Okay then”

“I’ll put you at numbers four and five, girls”

So started Maddy’s cycle racing career.

I’m sure Maddy will tell you all about it sometime but here’s the abridged version. We started up near the ten turn and although Maddy was not on anything resembling a racing bike she certainly made a good effort. It took me nearly a mile to catch up to her after starting a minute behind, I shouted some encouragement as I passed her to which she just gasped. I was passed myself not long after but the short distance allowed me to avoid further traffic, I pushed harder than usual and stopped my clock at the finish after 12 minutes15 Seconds. I waited by John for Maddy to arrive and I cheered her in.

“What’s she done John?” I queried

“Fifteen ten Dee”

“Thanks”

I went to join an exhausted Maddy sat on the grass verge.

“Well done Mad”

“What’ll I do?” she heaved

“Fifteen ten” I informed her, ”pretty good considering”

“Considering I’m a girl?” she accused

“No considering it’s your first go and what you were riding, I bet you’d be loads faster on a racing bike”

“Thanks I think”

“Let’s get back to our stuff and I’ll do your legs”

“They are cramping a bit. Ow!” she allowed

So I got to practice the leg rubbing bit on Mad’s tense muscles.

“Ooh that’s nice, no don’t stop, ahhh! That is just so good” Mad stated

“Chips are on me this week” I told her

“Can you just rub my legs a bit longer please?”

How could I refuse such a request? We eventually returned to Warsop via the Hygenic Fisheries about half an hour later. I left the Peter’s mansion and got home just in time for Mum’s call. Oh I forgot to tell you, Mum’s team is riding the Tour Feminin in France and today was stage four.

“Hi Mum”

“Hi Drew, how did you get on tonight?”

I told her about me and Mad’s evening

“So is Maddy going to start racing then?”

“I don’t think so. How’s your race going?”

“Ok I guess, Maria is eighth and I’m twelfth, it’s been all big bunch finishes so far”

“Wow! When do you get to the mountains?”

“Friday is the first day”

“Cool” I noted

“Hmmpf, not if you have to ride up them it’s not” Mum pointed out

“Guess not”

“I’ll ring again later in the week, say bye to Dad and Jules for me”

“Ok, bye Mum”

“Bye Drew”

Wednesday and Thursday managed to pass without any undue stress, Mr Pilling informed me that everything was set for sports day, I must admit to some second thoughts but I couldn’t back out now could I?

Mad caught up with me Friday morning

“Drew, what are you going to wear next week?”

“The dance? I don’t know”

“No not the dance, well yes, but no I meant sports day”

“Mr Pilling said it has to be girls whites” I answered

“Well I can lend you a skirt” she offered

“Thanks, I think Jules has a top I can borrow”

“You’ll need some bloomers”

“What? Like long frilly things?” I started to panic

“No silly, tennis bloomers”

“Oh?” I still wasn’t sure what she meant

“Tell you what, we’ll go get matching ones tomorrow”

“I’m racing tomorrow” I informed her

“Yeah but not till late on”

“Seven”

“Plenty of time to go shopping beforehand then”

“I guess”

“Hey Bern, Al! You want to go to Nottingham tomorrow?” she called to the others as they came to join us.

“Mum’s taking me to get a new dress, we can all go in the car” Bernie replied

“Great” Mad enthused

“Why are you guys going?” Ally had to ask

“To get some new tennis knickers for next week” Mad advised them

“Oh yeah, best get matching ones so you look like a team” Bernie smirked

“Give over” I whined

Mrs Rose picked us up from Maddy’s place just after nine and we were parked at the Victoria Centre before ten.

“Okay kids, I’ve got some shopping to do, we’ll meet in the square at twelve, get something to eat then get Bernadette’s new dress” she raised her eyebrows in query

“Fine Mrs R” Ally mentioned

“Okay Mum” Bernie added

“Right see you later, look after them Drew”

“Yes Mrs Rose” I replied

We hurried off through the mall and out into the city centre. Although Mad was directing us to the dance shop, I managed to divert us into Waterstone’s bookshop on the way. Twenty pounds lighter in the pocket but four new books richer I then allowed myself to be led to ‘that’ shop.

You remember the place? Where I ended up buying a leotard the other week? I just knew that this visit would be even worse. Once inside the girls pulled me upstairs past the dancewear to the small room that was host to tennis stuff.

“Hi girls, can I help?” a middle aged assistant asked

“We’re looking for tennis bloomers” Mad informed her

“We don’t sell many so we keep them in the back, what size do you need?” the woman asked

“Twenty four waist please”

“Won’t be a minute” the assistant disappeared

“We’re just going to look at the tennis dresses Mad” Bernie mentioned

I just stood there like a spare part clutching my books

“Here we are girls. There are some really cute lacy ones somewhere in here” she told us as she rifled around in the box. The phone rang and she left to answer it, returning in short order.

“I’ve just got to go downstairs for a few minutes, have a root round, I won’t be long”

“Thanks” Maddy offered

“What is it with this place, they all think I’m a girl” I huffed

“I guess they don’t get too many boys coming in to buy leotards or tennis knickers” Maddy chortled

“Let’s get this over and done with” I pouted

So I stood and watched as Maddy pulled various pairs out for inspection. After a few minutes the assistant returned

“Found anything girls?”

“We quite like these” Maddy included me in her answer as she indicated several pairs of the white full briefs, “but we’re not sure how they’ll look”

“No problem, I’ve a couple of skirts you can borrow so you can see, hang on and I’ll get them”

“Cool” Maddy stated

“Maddy!” I hissed behind my teeth

“Here we are girls” the woman passed a short tennis skirt to each of us, “ the changing room is at the end. Oh and best take these too” she passed the panties to me.

“Thanks” I mentioned in my best Gaby voice

How do I get into these situations? When she said changing room that’s exactly what she meant, it was one small curtained area with a bench and mirror.

“Do I have to do this?” I begged

“Yes, she’ll think it odd if we don’t both try them on”

“But Mad!” I whined

“Come on, get those jeans off” she ignored my plea’s

I sighed in resignation and removed my jeans revealing my boxers, Maddy tutted when she saw my underwear. She hunted in her bag for a moment.

“Here put these on, she will certainly smell a rat if you keep those horrible things on”

I inspected what she gave me, a pair of pink bikini briefs.

“Mad?”

“Get on with it Drew, I’ll not look” she stated

So I reluctantly replaced my Bart Simpson boxers with Mad’s spare panties, Mad spirited my underwear away.

“Tuck!” she told me

“Er, oh yeah” I agreed as I remembered that I had a bit of a give away bulge in front

“You girls okay in there?” the attendant queried

“Yes thanks”

Mad helped me into the short skirt then handed me a pair of bloomers to pull on over ‘my’ briefs. She was soon clad similarly and she ushered me out.

“Nice legs!” Ally informed the rest of the shop

“Lets have a look Gabs?” Bernie suggested

So I had to do the modelling bit, then Mad did likewise. We tried on another two pairs of bloomers each, each time having to model for the others and the shop assistant. I was so embarrassed. Maddy finally settled on some full cut briefs with fairly abundant ruffles across the bum, they were so sissy, I couldn’t believe she had gone for them.

“Ooh, they are just so cute” Ally kept repeating as we waited for Bernie’s Mum

“She did go on a bit didn’t she?” Maddy stated referring to the sales person’s comments when she saw Mad’s choice for us. I was just waiting to die from embarrassment.

Mrs Rose joined us and we walked down to Littlewoods restaurant to eat. After a light lunch of a cheese and ham Panini for me (I am racing later!) and proper dinners for everyone else we then started to look for Bernie’s new dress. Fortunately the choice was pretty much already made, Bernie had seen what she wanted in Top Shop a couple of weeks ago. I trailed around behind the others, as they had to inspect the other options before making the purchase! Girls!

“Excuse me miss, would you mind holding this so I can see what it looks like?” the voice asked

“Er?”

“I can’t get near the mirrors” she told me

“Okay”

So there I am, holding this dress up to me when the others decide to look round for me.

“Cheers, it’d look really cute on you” the girl left me a bit bemused

“You looking for a new dress too” Mad smirked

“I was helping a girl, she wanted to see what it looked like” I got defensive

“From where I was it looked real cute on you” Ally joined us as Bernie and her Mum were making the purchase.

I gritted my teeth and did my best to storm away to wait for them outside.

“Are we all done then kids?” Mrs R asked when they emerged

“Yes thanks” Ally replied

“Ok lets get back home then”

I managed to miss the extra bag that Mad was carrying, otherwise I might have been more concerned, somewhere Ally had bought something too but I was now running on extra embarrassment and a desperate need to run for home. At least I had managed to get the new Terry Brook’s Shannara book.

“Any of you guys want to come this evening?” I asked

“I will” Maddy volunteered

“Can’t tonight” Ally told us

“Me neither” Bernie added

So Mrs Rose dropped Maddy and me off at my place just before four, time for tea before Dad takes us to the race up at Ranby.

Maddy Bell 25.10.03