‘God, Tiger, you’re rubbish at this,’ laughed Angie. ‘Let me have a go.’
Angie picked the box up but didn’t make it look as easy as Leon had done. ‘Ta dah!’ she said through gritted teeth, the box wavering in the air.
Maggie knew that she was going to have to take her turn, but she had absolutely no idea whether this was something that she could do or not. She didn’t want to look like an idiot if she couldn’t, but she knew she’d look worse if she didn’t try at all.
Angie put the box down. ‘Your turn, Mags,’ she said.
Maggie had rarely felt quite so self-conscious as she folded her body in two and reached for the box, but then was delighted to discover that picking it up was easy. A wave of relief rushed through her.
‘Let me have another go,’ said Tiger and, by copying the one-legged approach that Angie had adopted, he managed to pick the box up without falling over.
‘Okay,’ said Leon, plucking the box from Tiger’s teeth. ‘Now we tear this off’ – he tore a strip of cardboard from the top of the box – ‘and have another go.’
‘I’m going to need another drink if I’m going to get all the way down there,’ laughed Tiger.
They kept going round and round. Tiger dropped out on round three and Angie toppled over on round five and declared herself out. That just left Maggie and Leon. As each bent lower over the remains of the cereal box, Angie and Tiger cheered and whooped as if it were an Olympic sport.
Maggie hadn’t thought herself to be particularly competitive, but with the punch racing round her bloodstream and Tiger watching her, she found that she really wanted to win. As the box got lower and lower the feeling grew. Leon was stiff competition, though, and they matched each other until there were only a couple of inches left of the box.
Leon went first. He was still making it look easy, his hips and torso allowing him to bend low enough. It looked as if he could have licked the carpet if he’d needed to.
It was less easy for Maggie. There was a real danger that she would topple over and land on her nose. She repositioned herself, planting her feet further apart, but then she lost her balance and fell. Rolling on to her back, she grinned up at the three faces looking down at her.
‘I give up!’ she said. ‘You win, Leon.’
Leon began a celebratory circuit of the room, arms raised and cheering, and Angie tucked in behind him. Tiger dropped and straddled Maggie, pinning her arms down with his knees.
‘Got you,’ he said. ‘There’s no escape.’
He leant over so that she could feel the warmth of his breath on her face. She gave a half-hearted struggle to try to get free, but he sat firm, grinning at her. This was the moment, she thought. He was going to kiss her, and she didn’t care that Angie and Leon were there to witness it. She just wanted it to happen. She looked into his face, trying to signal this with her eyes. He must know, surely. They couldn’t get this close to one another and it not lead to a kiss.
But then she heard Leon shout, ‘Maggie’s down. All pile on!’
And then he was on her legs behind Tiger and the moment was gone. She could feel Angie come in and sit behind the two boys, and soon they were all lying on top of her, her breath being forced out of her lungs as their collective weight bore down. She could tell that Tiger was doing his best to take the bulk of their weight with his body, and moments later he tipped to one side and they all fell in a heap on to the carpet, gasping for breath.
‘Are you trying to kill me?’ she laughed, and they all denied it.
One by one they got to their feet, Leon offering Maggie a hand and hauling her up.
‘Well done, Mags,’ he said. ‘A worthy opponent in the cereal box challenge, but, as it turned out, not quite up to the mark!’
‘How did you do that, Lee? You must have been secretly practising for years,’ said Angie. ‘It’s like the bloody saxophone all over again.’
Leon shrugged. ‘I am a man of many hidden talents,’ he said, grinning at her.
‘Hmmm,’ she replied. ‘What time is it anyhow?’
‘It’s nearly twelve thirty,’ said Leon. ‘I don’t think anyone’s coming to our party.’
‘Good job,’ said Tiger. ‘Someone drank all the punch! Well, there’s a bit left. Who wants a bit more?’
They all passed him their cups and he scooped out the remainder.
‘A toast!’ said Angie. ‘I don’t care that no one showed up. I’ve had the best time with all my favourite people. Who needs anyone else? Please raise your glasses.’ She held her cup aloft. ‘I mean, your plastics. To us! Mates forever!’