Tommy smiled at her, his eyes beaming, as Maija climbed the motorbike and sat behind him, her arms around his waist. Sandra sat behind fat, pig-eyed Olli. It was rather chilly outside, and seemed as though it was going to rain again - the skies were covered with thick clouds, and the stars could not be seen. It was completely dark already, and the street was dimly lit by small streetlamps, some of which were out of order.
"So, off we go," - Tommy said cheerfully, - "the party is about to get started."
The four motorbikes gave an uproar almost at the same time, and they were on their way. It all went quite fine, except driving through the empty terrain, which almost made Maija feel sick - when they finally stopped in front of the garage, her face had a pale, greenish shade. She felt much better soon, though, after a few inhales of fresh, cool air.
Tommy opened the garage with a big, rusty key. The place didn"t look like it usually did when Tommy and the Rippers came for their rehearsals. The musical instruments were moved somewhere - probably to the little room behind the garage. Instead, a big tape and a bunch of records stood on the stage, surrounded by tables which were covered in many colorful bottles. Even some chairs stood by the walls of the garage. The party was ready to begin every moment.
"A little bit early," - said Tommy, - "but why don"t we begin? In case anyone loses his way here, he will be able to find us by the sound of music," - saying this, Tommy turned on the tape. It sounded a like a combination of singing monkeys and steel pots being smashed by a truck.
"Dudes, take some bottles and stand by the door," - Tommy commanded, - "make sure that no-one enters without a drink! I think we could do with some, too." - saying that, he opened a bottle and poured two large glasses of beer for Maija and Sanni.
"Umh," - said Maija, - "I don"t drink."
"Oh, come on," - Tommy pleaded, - "drink with me - just one sip, nothing more."
Maija tasted her drink carefully. It was quite weak, but also rather bitter. She took a couple of small sips and put the glass aside. Tommy, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying it a lot - he drank his own glass in one gulp.
"Ah, that"s good stuff," - he said, smiling.
"Here, finish mine too then." - said Maija, handing her glass over to Tommy.
Soon, the garage began to fill - a group of eleven-graders, probably Tommy"s classmates, came through the door. The boys were tall and broad and looked extremely cool. The girls, whose number was fewer, were all very pretty and cheerful. There were also some whom Maija didn"t know - probably from a different school.
"Hey, did you notice?" - Sandra whispered in Maija"s ear, - "It seems we"re the only nine-graders here - everyone else are from the eleventh."
"Martin is supposed to come," - Maija answered quietly.
"You know," - Sandra said, - "I think it will be better if he won"t. It will save you lots of trouble."
"Hey, Maija!" - called Tommy, stepping over to her, - "Why are you standing here, I"ve almost lost you. Come on, I"ll introduce you to everyone, they don"t know you yet."
The next second, Maija found herself trying to memorize a whole lot of new names which have fallen on her suddenly. Tommy"s friends, all of whom seemed to be at least twice taller than her, smiled at her and were extremely friendly. Soon, she was engaged in a cheerful, loud conversation.
"Oh, hi, so nice to meet you!"
"You"re new here, aren"t you? I"ve noticed you at school."
"Always wanted to get to know you, but you"re so shy and small that it"s a trouble to find you. . ."
Maija was nodding politely, and turning her head to the door every instant. She hoped that Martin wouldn"t come after all - she wouldn"t feel like hiding under one of the tables. She felt she"d do anything to avoid that situation.
"Please, anyone - anyone but Martin," - she pleaded in her mind.
She should have been more careful with her wishes - at the instant she muttered these words under her nose, an extremely pretty girl with sleek blonde hair slid through the half-open door, unnoticed by the Rippers, all of whom were already quite drunk.
Maija stepped over to Sandra, who was trying to elbow her way through the thick wall of eleven-graders for the past ten minutes.
"Oh, I wonder why you don"t look too pleased," - Sandra said sarcastically. - "I mean, who wouldn"t want Helena here? What"s a party without a blonde witch who came especially to spy on everyone? Look at the expression on her face - it says "I"m hunting for fresh gossip"!"
"Please, stop," - Maija groaned, - "it"s not like I don"t know myself that I"m going to be eaten alive at school."
"Well, she looks rather pitiful, coming to a party where she wasn"t invited, and having nobody around to talk to," - said Sandra, - "you can comfort yourself with that. She knows very well she"s unwanted here. And you know, I bet Tommy throws her out if you just ask him to!"
"No, no," - Maija shook her head. - "the last thing I need right now is scandals. And besides, she hasn"t even looked in my direction yet."
"Mai," - Sandra"s voice changed in an instant. - "I know you"re not going to like this - but look who just came."
Maija turned around and her heart sank as she saw Martin standing close to the entrance. He was looking around with quite a lost expression on his face. He was alone - it wasn"t clear why Tommy invited him, they weren"t really best friends, and he should have guessed the boy would feel uncomfortable here, surrounded by eleven-graders.
"Hide me!" - Maija hissed, - "Oh, no, your hair is like a sign pointing at us, he"ll notice me right away, and then so will Tommy. To the little room, quick!"
Luckily, the little room was unlocked. Maija and Sandra managed to sneak in unnoticed. They left the door open a crack, and were now looking through it.
"I hope he goes," - whispered Maija, biting her lip. - "if he sees me here with Tommy I don"t know what I"m going to do."
"Well, there is a good chance for that to happen," - Sandra tried to cheer her up, - "after all he"s alone, he doesn"t have much to do - maybe he just gets bored of sitting here and listening to this horrible music and he"ll go home. Oh, look!" - she exclaimed suddenly.
"Ssh!" - hissed Maija. - "Be quiet."
"Look at that," - Sandra lowered her voice. - "over there. See? Tommy is talking to Helena."
"Maybe he"s asking her to leave," - suggested Maija.
"Nah, if he asked her to leave he wouldn"t be standing there and persuading her, he"d just tell the Rippers to kick her out. No, they"re actually conversing and that"s very, very fishy."
"Damn it!" - Maija exclaimed. - "I think I know what they were talking about - look, Tommy"s coming closer to this room - she told him where we went! I don"t get this - does she have eyes in her back or what?"
Indeed, in a couple of seconds Tommy opened the door of the little room and gave the girls quite a puzzled stare.
"Mai, I"ve been looking for you all over - what the hell - what are you girls doing here, in this dusty little corner?"
"We"ve been - umh, we"ve been just looking for a quiet place to fix our hair a little bit," - said Sandra, waving a little mirror that she had just pulled out of her purse.
"Well, I never knew having a messy hair was something so shameful," - said Tommy, still eyeing both of them with suspicion. - "at least I"m sure no fingers would be pointed at you, even if you brushed your hair in front of everyone."
"Yeah," - Sandra tried to smile, - "that was silly of me, wasn"t it? Dragging Maija into this tiny dirty room and all. And all because of a - a hair emergency."
Maija struggled down a giggle - it was impossible not to laugh, as uncomfortable as she was feeling.
"Ah, girls, girls," - Tommy grinned, - "one hair is out of order, and you panic. Well, I was looking for you to tell you that I"m going to put on something danceable - as much as I like rock music, dancing is better to something softer. So, since your hair looks just fine now, you can dance and mess it up all over again. Come on, Mai," - he said, taking Maija"s hand firmly. Then, he gave a yell:
"Hoy! Jean! Change the tape - yeah, put on that one,"
Soon, something much more melodic replaced the previous song, which sounded like screeching of steel crates and the growls of a bad alarm system. In a couple of seconds, the garage was all split into dancing couples, leaning on one another. There were fewer girls than boys, so the girls were snatched away very quickly. The boys who didn"t manage to get themselves a partner, or who simply couldn"t stand, talk and look properly anymore stuck to the tables with the drinks.
"Let"s go dance a bit," - said Tommy, pulling her towards himself. Not wanting to offend him, she smiled.
"Oh, alright," - she said, thinking that there were some people who deserved to be cooked alive in boiling oil, and Helena was definitely one of them.
Tommy"s arms were tight around her waist, and her hands were on his shoulders - she could barely reach. She wished she"d evaporate on the spot when she noticed where Tommy was leading her - he took her to the stage, which was empty, not counting some lonely boys. If for a brief second Maija hoped no one would notice that, the next moment she realized she was badly wrong - everyone cheered for them, and even clapping could be heard. Tommy looked very pleased - she just tried to force her lips into a smile and to prevent her legs from becoming stiff, or on the other hand, soft like jelly.
Maija gave a brief glance around. She saw Sandra in the middle of the crowd, dancing with a boy from Tommy"s class - her flammy hair was a bit hard to miss. Helena was dancing as well, with a boy Maija didn"t know. He had a rather dumb looks and started at her with his mouth open - he was quite handsome, but at the moment he looked like a hungry spaniel. He could be understood, though - Helena could be a mean, venomous gossip-lover, but she had long, sleek golden hair, and stunning emerald-green eyes with long eyelashes. And the miniskirt she was wearing was extremely short.
Maija spotted Martin from behind Tommy"s shoulder. He was still sitting there, by the wall - it seemed that he hadn"t moved an inch from the place where he sat right where he arrived. He wasn"t drinking or talking to anyone, and his bright clear eyes were gloomy. When the song ended and everyone cheered for Tommy and Maija once again, Martin gave her a piercing look - for the first time in a couple of days, she caught his sight. For an instance, their eyes met, and then he turned away. He got up and went out of the garage, unnoticed.
For a couple of seconds, there was silence, and then another song started - an even nicer song. Maija swallowed her tears as she was dancing - when the song ended, her eyes were dry and wide-open.
The party went on until it was very late. Slowly, the garage begin emptying - people were going home, one after another. Most of them were going in pairs, the same ones as on the dancefloor. Nobody left without saying goodbye to Tommy and shaking his hand. The girls bended over to kiss Maija on the cheek - even tall eleven-graders who never noticed her before because she was about the height of their waist.
"Good night, we had such a good time, didn"t you? Hope to see you soon," - they were saying with a smile.
Sandra was about to go, too - she was still hand in hand with the same boy she danced with. He had a spiky dark hair, a nose that looked like a button and a wide smile - Maija remembered him from school and he always seemed nice.
"Have a good night, Mai," - said Sanni, - "Will will walk me home - I suppose you won"t be walking alone, either?" - she winked.
"Certainly not," - said Tommy, smiling - "good night, everyone!"
Soon, the garage was empty. Everyone has gone, and Tommy sent the Rippers home. Most of their chairs and the tables were with their legs up, and empty bottles were rolling all over the place. At spots, the floor was covered with puddles of beer.
"What a mess!" - said Maija, looking around and trying to sound cheerful. - "Do you want me to help you with cleaning this up a bit? After all, you"ll need the garage tomorrow for the rehearsal."
"No need to, thanks," - said Tommy, - "the Rippers will clean it up tomorrow. It was them who made most of the mess anyway. Mai," - the tone of his voice changed, - "Tonight was so great, thank you for coming with me."
"Yeah," - Maija"s eyes were at the messy floor.
"And you, did you have fun tonight?" - he asked her, with a sudden tremble in his voice. - "I mean, it was all for you."
"For me?" - Maija looked at him, surprised. - "But - it"s not my birthday or anything, it"s in July."
"No, not for your birthday - it was for you. I - I tried my best."
"Oh," - she blushed, - "thank you, Tommy, it was a lovely night, and all of your friends were so nice to me - I had a great time - really."
"That"s great," - a wide smile spread over his face. - "if you had a good time it was worth the effort. And you do promise to come to the concert, don"t you?"
"Yes, of course," - she said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. - "I already promised, didn"t I?"
When Tommy brought her home it was already very late and quiet. The little neighbourhood was asleep. In Maija"s house, though, a weak light was still turned on in the living room.
"Oh, look, Papa is waiting for me awake." - said Maija. - "I better come in. Good night, Tommy."
"Good night, Maija," - Tommy said behind her back, as she rushed into the living room. As she expected, Vlad was sitting on the couch and flipping through a newspaper. When she entered, he got up.
"Oh, hello Mai," - he smiled, - "did you have a good time, dear? Did Tommy bring you back home? I was already starting to worry."
"Yes, everything"s fine, Papa," - she said. - "no need to worry, you can go to sleep in peace."
He kissed the girl goodnight and went upstairs. Maija looked across the street through the window. The curtains in Martin"s living room were closed and his living room was, apparently, dark. Nevertheless, Maija was sure that there was still light in his bedroom.
She went upstairs - first to the shower, then to her room. She undressed and put on her pyjamas. Outside her bedroom window, right beneath it, she could see a children"s playground - it was probably bright green during the summer but right now the trees were bare and the earth was covered with frost. Certainly, it was not an hour of play for children. A lonely dark figure was sitting on a bench under her window. Maija couldn"t recognize him in the dark, until the boy raised his head and she saw Tommy, and also noticed his motorbike standing nearby.
"Hi there!" - he waved, looking up at her.
"What are you doing here?" - she asked. - "It"s late, and besides it"s very cold."
"Well, you were in a hurry and seemed worried," - he explained, - "I thought the Professor might get angry because you came home late, so I decided to wait until you come up and make sure everything is alright."
"Everything is alright, really," - Maija assured him, - "Papa didn"t get mad at me at all."
"I hope he didn"t hear the horse of fire as we were coming closer," - Tommy grinned.
"No, apparently not, or he would have said something about it." - said Maija, - "Everything is fine, it"s just that it"s very late. Go home, Tommy, or you"ll catch cold - you can"t afford being sick right before the concert, can you?"
"Yeah, I guess I"ll go have some rest," - he said. - "goodnight, Mai - I"ll see you soon, won"t I?"
When he left, the roars of his motorbikes waking up half of the neighbourhood but luckily not Vlad. Maija lit a scented candle - she loved candles and always had many of them on her shelves - everyone in different shape, size and color. She sat there for a long time, watching the flame burning. The room filled with a sweet aroma, and soon the girl fell asleep.