Natalie loves Michael

Natalie brushed her hair. Her mother was calling for her to hurry
up, but she needed to brush her hair well. She looked at the girl in
the mirror. "Today is going to be the day," she told her. The girl
smiled. Then she looked serious and suddenly smiled again, more
radiantly this time. "Michael, hi!" she said. "What a surprise to see
you here!" The smile faded. Rubbish! They both went to the same school
so it was hardly a surprise when they met. Especially not with Natalie
trying so hard.

The girl in the mirror smiled again, showing her dimples. "Michael,
hi! Did you have a nice weekend? Yes, I did, thank you. Wasn't the
weather just to die for?" Much better. She put the hairbrush down, gave
herself one last critical look and ran down the stairs.

Her best friend Stephanie was already waiting at the school gates. Arm
in arm they marched through the gate, chatting and laughing, oblivious
to anything going on around them. Well, not quite. Natalie always had
an eye out for Michael - just in case he would walk up to her and ask
her out, she liked to be prepared.

Suddenly she saw him. Being on the lookout for him unfortunately did
not negate the effect he had on her every time she saw him. Her heart
beat faster, her cheeks turned into a dark shade of pink and she felt
choked, breathless. She had cursed herself for that many times, but
there was nothing she could do about it. Just like she could not stop
loving Michael. He stood by the coffee machine with a few of his
friends, leaning casually against the wall and sipping his coffee, one
hand in his trouser pocket, his blazer lifted to allow the hand access,
scanning the school yard with his blazing blue eyes. Natalie took all
of it in. She simply adored him. He laughed with his friends and
Natalie wished she could be part of that group.

The seniors ignored the two girls, naturally. They were doing A-levels
this year; of course they could not be seen talking to 15-year-olds.
Natalie understood. She would talk to Michael later, in private. Today
was definitely going to be the day.

She got her chance at breaktime. Natalie went for a little stroll when
Stephanie needed to go to the bathroom. Michael was by himself.
Natalie's heart was racing and she fixed her eyes on the ground, trying
to sneak past her idol without him seeing her. Then she reconsidered.
If today was going to be the day, then she would have to talk to him.
She looked up, took a deep breath and walked up to him.

"Michael, hi!" she said, and her voice sounded pressed, not at all
like her own. Her smile was shaky and she felt herself blush deeply. He
looked at her and frowned. "Oh, hi there ... umm ... Natalie, is it?"
He remembers me, she thought happily. Her smile grew a little steadier.
"What can I do for you?" Michael asked. "Did you have a nice weekend?"
she said. "Yeah, alright, not too bad," he answered, searching his
rucksack for something that seemed to be hidden all the way at the
bottom. "Yes, I did, thanks," Natalie blurted out not realising that
Michael had not actually returned the question. He stopped rummaging in
his rucksack and frowned at her again. "Did what?" he asked. "Huh?"
Natalie said, and her face turned purple. He waived impatiently. "Never
mind," he said and started to walk off. "See you later," he said.
"Yeah, later," Natalie said to his back.

She stood like an idiot and cursed herself for being so stupid.
Michael did not turn around. Suddenly an arm wrapped itself around hers
and Stephanie was beside her. "I saw you talking to him," she almost
screamed, bouncing up and down with excitement. "What did he say, what
did he say, what did he say?" Natalie sighed. "I made a complete dog's
dinner of it," she said unhappily. She told Stephanie what had
happened. Stephanie hugged her. "Never mind," she said. "He's the one
for you, baby, I know it, and have I ever been wrong?" Natalie could
have named at least a dozen occasions where her friend had been wrong
in, say, the last week, but she decided to shake her head. "There you
are, then," Stephanie said and pulled Natalie towards the classroom,
"you just try again later."

Natalie tried again later. She was walking though the school gates
when she spotted Michael, standing by his car, yet again turning his
rucksack inside out hunting for something, obviously his car keys. She
swallowed hard. Now or never, she thought. "Michael," she said from
behind him. "Huh?" he turned around and a slightly irritated look was
on his face when he saw who it was. "Hello again," he said and
continued the search for the missing keys. "I was just going to ask you
... I mean, I wanted to ... there is this new film in the cinema's,
Jurassic Park 3, and ... if you want to ... I was going to see it and
maybe you would ... I mean ... do you?"

"Huh?" Michael said again, and Natalie could not blame him. He must
think I am a complete moron, she though and cleared her throat. "Do you
want to come to the pictures with me?" she said. There. That was not
too difficult now, was it! "I saw it last night," he said,
indifferently. Natalie's hopes fell. "Well, then maybe a different
film," she said quickly. Michael had finally found his car keys and
opened the door. "Can't," he said. "I've got to study." He shut the
door and Natalie was close to tears. He could not even be bothered to
say goodbye! When he wound down the window her heart leaped. "See you
around," he said. She waved as he drove off and at the same time felt
very silly. She quickly put her hand down. On the way home she started
whistling.

"I knew he liked you," Stephanie said later when they sat in her room
drinking tea. Natalie smiled happily. "You really think so?" she asked.
Stephanie elbowed her. "'See you around' he said! He is looking forward
to seeing you, dopey! Why don't you invite him to your birthday party?"
Natalie choked on a biscuit. "Invite Michael?" she said like the
thought hadn't crossed her mind. "What if he says no?" "He won't, not
after today," Stephanie reassured her. Natalie thought about it, but
not for too long. "Okay, I'll do it," she said firmly. "I'll ask him
tomorrow

The next day Natalie did not get the opportunity to speak to Michael
alone. She followed him around or made sure that she was at his
classrooms before he got there - this was where all the meticulous work
she had done to peace together his timetable would pay off. But he was
always with a group of other seniors and did not even notice her. She
was close to tears when she got home. She needed to speak to Stephanie.
When she was sitting by the telephone she saw the phonebook. She knew
his surname and his address. She had followed him home a few times - he
was in his car and she was walking, so it had taken a few attempts to
follow him all the way. She opened the phonebook.

Three numbers for that surname. One in his road. Natalie was breathing
heavily. Why had she never thought of this before? She picked up the
phone and put it down again. What was she thinking? She couldn't just
phone him up without knowing exactly what to say. She got pen and paper
and spent the next hour working out how to invite Michael to her party.
Eventually she had got it right. She took a deep breath and dialled his
number.

"Hello?" a woman answered the telephone. Natalie was prepared for
that. She skipped to paragraph two of her manuscript (paragraph one
would have been for Michael's father answering). "Good evening, Mrs
Hutchinson. This is Natalie Hyde speaking. I go to school with Michael.
Would it be possible to speak to him, please?" she read. "Certainly, I
get him for you," his mother said. Natalie heard the phone being put on
a hard surface and quickly did a few breathing exercises to get herself
under control. "Hello?" she heard Michael's voice.

"Hello, Michael, it's Natalie," she said. Her heart was pounding and
her face was bright red. "Yes ?" Michael said. "It's my birthday in two
weeks time and I am having a party, on Saturday. I wanted to ask you if
you would come to my party," Natalie read off her notes. The line went
quiet. "Hello?" Natalie said and for one horrible moment thought that
Michael had put the phone down on her. "Hi," he said, and she could not
suppress a sigh of relief. "Natalie, it's really nice of you to ask me,
but I won't be able to make it. I won't be able to go to the cinema
with you or to dinner or anywhere else, okay? I am flattered that you
like me, but to be honest with you, I'm really busy with school at the
moment and I haven't got time to go out with anyone. I'm sorry, I don't
want to hurt you, but this has to stop, okay? I'm really sorry."

Natalie was shaken. She could not believe it. She mumbled a few words
and put the phone down. Distantly she heard Michael call her name,
asking if she was all right. What did he care! He had just ripped out
her heart with one smooth move and now he wanted to know if she was all
right? Natalie lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. How could he!
She loved him! How could she live without him? All the poems she had
written for him, did they mean nothing? She cried herself to
sleep.

"Bastard," Stephanie said when she told her. "He doesn't deserve you."
She hugged her best friend. Out of the corner of her eye Natalie saw
someone staring at them. He looked away, embarrassed that she had seen
him. "Thomas is looking at us," she whispered into Stephanie's ear.
"Thomas? Now he is seriously cute," Stephanie said, and Natalie
couldn't help laughing despite her grief. She looked again. Thomas
looked back. After a moment's consideration he decided to walk over.
Stephanie excused herself. It didn't take long for Natalie to invite
Thomas to her party. He said he would love to come. So did Natalie.