Time really doesn't stand still. It has been eight days since 'that day' when Dicey and I first kissed. He turned up outside the baths that evening, and we went to Pizza Hut in Ilford, where we talked about everything under the sun. I told him about Mum.

So she doesn't like men; he said.

Looking him in the eye, I said, 'Did those words come out of my mouth?'

He laughed. 'I love it when you get uptight.'

His white teeth sparkled at me and I wanted to kiss him again. 'Well?' I continued. Shrugging he said, 'I just thought that with the experiences your mum has gone through, and the way she has filled your mind with all that pregnancy stuff, it sounds to me as though she hates men.

I shook my head as I nibbled on some garlic bread. 'Not at all. She has boyfriends, in fact she's seeing a guy call Carl at the moment. He's a very good friend of hers. It's just that, like every other parent, she wants a better life for me than she had. That's all.'

'Yeah, yeah, that's true:

He told me about his mum. I didn't say anything to him at the time, but she sounded so protective of him. To look at him I would never have guessed that he was a mother's boy! As he drove me home, he asked me what I was doing for my sixteenth birthday, which was 21st June. Next week in fact.

I was really surprised he knew and asked him how he had found out.

'I have ways and means,' he grinned.

'C'mon, how do you know?' I remembered that he had said the same thing at my surprise party.

'Let's just say that we know a lot of the same people.' He wouldn't tell me any more. He stopped his car at the top of my road and turned the engine off. It put me on edge. The 'what if' scenarios came back full force, the worst being 'what if my mum catches us.' My mouth was dry, and it was getting a bit difficult to breathe. Dicey asked me if I was all right.

'Yeah,' I lied, my palms sweating.

'So, Miss sweet sixteen, what are you going to do on your special day?'

'What did you do on yours?'

'My mum paid for me and my sister to go to Trinidad for Christmas,' he replied. 'My birthday's 20th December. I had a time and a half. The girls wouldn't leave me alone.'

'Okay, okay, I don't want to hear anymore.' I knew he was teasing me but the last thing I wanted to hear was him boasting about other girls. At eighteen, Dicey seemed so sure of himself and I wasn't sure I measured up!

'I told my mum that I didn't want a big celebration, I'd rather have that when I turn eighteen. So, she's arranged for family and close friends to have a meal at the Plantation Inn in Leytonstone.

Dicey nodded his head and said, 'Nice, nice.' I think he would have liked me to say, 'Do you want to come?' So I told him that Mum had planned it ages ago and it would be too awkward to change.

'I tell you what.You and I can have a little party of our own. Let me take you out for a meal, just the two of us:

'When?' I said, anxiously.

'What day is your birthday on?'

'Saturday, and that's when we're going to the Inn.

'Well, why don't I take you out the following Friday?' I nodded, my mind racing. What was I going to tell Mum?

Looking at my watch I was horrified to see that it was already past ten o'clock. Here was I, worried about what I was going to tell my mum next week, when I should have been worrying about now!

Dicey must have seen the look on my face because he said, 'I think you should tell your mum about us. Do you want me to come in with you?'

I shook my head wondering if he was mad.

'It's all right, I can handle it. I just have to find the right time to break it to her gently.' I quickly kissed him and got out of the car.

Mum was in the kitchen when I got in. As I kissed her on the cheek, Dicey's face flashed in front of me. I had to blank it out.

'Why are you so late?' asked Mum.

My back was towards her so the lie came out easily 'Oh, I went to Pizza Hut with Lem.We arranged to meet up after swimming.' I felt sharp pangs of guilt the minute the lie rolled off my tongue. This was new territory for me - I had never lied to Mum before, and it seemed stupid to do it now

I turned to Mum and she smiled at me. 'How did your training go today?' We were back on safe ground. 'It was great, Mum,' I said and broke into a broad grin.

But that night, as I lay in bed, I didn't feel too good. I had managed to phone Lem to tell her that I had used her as a cover, and she said it was all right the one time, but that I had better sort out the situation with Mum. She was right of course, and I knew that Mum would be heartbroken if she knew I had been lying to her, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell her about Dicey - not just yet anyway.