He hoped that soon Claire would feel comfortable telling everyone they were together. He tried not to let it bother him that she wanted to keep it a secret. She’d mentioned something about her parents not being keen on her having a boyfriend. He didn’t really believe her. But for now, nothing else mattered except her, and together they would build an incredible life, one far away from Mohican, Gavin and his stupid mates, and even his dad. He’d show them all.

November 1989

24

Claire closed her diary with a snap, lifted up the mattress and placed it on top of the wooden slats, letting the mattress spring back into place. She usually hid her diary under a few books in her bedside table drawer; however, she was pretty sure her mother had read her diary once before and, as she’d written several pages about Paul, she didn’t want to take any chances on her mother finding it. Claire knew it was a bit of risk writing about him, but it felt like the only way she could unravel her confusion. Compared to Chris with his rugby-player physique and blonde classic good looks, Chris was definitely more attractive; so why did Paul, the school nerd, have such an effect on her, like an invisible power?

As her pen scrawled across the page, word by word her feelings became clearer. Simply put, Paul was unlike anyone she’d ever met before. She’d fancied boys in the past, her and Anne giggling about how gorgeous they were, but this was the first time Claire had been attracted to a boy not just physically but mentally as well. His intellect fascinated her, and their conversations ignited her imagination to such an extent that afterwards she would go and read up on subjects that she would never have even thought about before. The cure for AIDS. How seahorses procreate. Buddhist practices. The state of Burma. It didn’t matter what the subject; her desire to learn was almost as intense as her desire for him.

She recalled sitting on Paul’s bed, their limbs touching, their maths books open in front of them. His presence was so powerful, she couldn’t even think straight let alone solve complicated calculus. It was only the thought of Paul’s mother downstairs that had made her push his hand away when he wanted to go one step further.