Frankie and Joely (17 page)

Chapter 38

It means nothing, says Joely over and over in her head as she runs through the shadows, her blisters rubbing raw in her thongs. It was just a kiss. A random New Year's kiss. Frankie was in the right place at the right time. That's all.

Later
he said. Later, on the road. And then the kiss Frankie stole would be hers.

Suddenly, she can smell the rotting kangaroo. She can hear the flies. She's there.

She climbs down into the ditch, scraping her legs on the branch that she laid across the body only days before. She feels around in the dark, the flies buzzing crazily as they feast. Her fingers skim across matted fur. She leans against the kangaroo. It moves. She screams. Heart racing, mouth dry, Joely starts to scramble out, but then she realises it's just shifted under her weight.

Joely leans back again. Now that she's stopped she feels how tired she is. Everything hurts. Her head aches and spins, like it did when she first hit it on the bench. But she has to wait. He'll come. She knows he will.

Chapter 39

Frankie's searched everywhere and Joely's not here. She even checked the dam, just in case her friend was swimming … or something. Frankie is worried. It's not like Joely. She's called her ten times, but there's no answer. She's texted and left messages, but still nothing. And she's pretty sure it has something to do with that kiss Rory gave her, but she can't work out what. Even if Joely was jealous or upset, it's not like her to run off.

She sees Mack with a bunch of his friends. She hasn't been able to find Thommo, so Mack'll have to do.

‘Mack can—'

He whirls around and glares at her. ‘What do you want?'

‘Joely's not here. I can't find her anywhere,' says Frankie.

‘You saying she's in trouble?'

‘Yeah. I don't know,' says Frankie, not actually knowing what she's saying.

‘It's your fault.'

‘What?' says Frankie hating him more each second.

‘You and Macleod. It's your fault. She likes him. Don't you know anything?'

‘She doesn't even know him. That's bullshit,' shouts Frankie.

‘Is it? Why do you think I punched him? It wasn't because of you.'

Frankie backs away. She pulls out her phone and rings Joely, but it goes straight to voicemail again. She doesn't understand. What's this got to do with Rory?

‘Frankie?'

She looks up. It's Thommo. Concern is written all over his face.

‘Where have you been?' she says.

‘What's wrong?'

‘Joely's gone. I can't find her anywhere.'

‘How long?'

‘Two hours, maybe more.'

‘Maybe she went home?'

Frankie can't believe she didn't think of that. ‘I don't know. Maybe. Should we go back and check?'

Thommo nods. ‘Yeah. I'll tell Mack to stay here in case she turns up. I'll come with you.'

‘Okay.' Frankie's relieved that Thommo is taking over. She doesn't want to look for her friend on her own. She hears someone yelling and sees a couple of guys who've stripped off wading into the mud. She wonders where Rory is. Maybe he's with Joely?

‘Okay, let's go,' says Thommo.

‘Thanks, Thommo.'

He shrugs and Frankie sees just how annoying it is when someone does it to her.

It's nearly four by the time they get back to the farm. Frankie creeps into the bedroom, but Joely's not there. She can feel bile rise in her throat. It's just like when her mum goes missing.

‘She's not here,' she whispers into the dark kitchen where Thommo is eating leftover potato salad with his fingers. ‘We have to wake your mum and dad.'

‘No way. They'll kill us. Let's go back to the party. Mack might have an idea where she is,' says Thommo.

Frankie desperately wants to wake Jill and Ged. She keeps thinking about Miranda in
Picnic at Hanging Rock
and how nobody ever found her.

‘What if …' starts Frankie.

But Thommo's already putting the potato salad back in the fridge and getting ready to leave.

‘We'll take Mack's bike. Mine's still not really working since we hit the kangaroo.'

Thommo wheels the bike down to the road. He doesn't want to start it until they're far enough away from the farm so the noise doesn't wake his parents.

Frankie walks behind Thommo, not talking. She's running bad thoughts through her head, imagining the worst.

‘Come on,' he says, sitting on the bike.

Frankie climbs on the back. She slips her arms around him and leans in close as Thommo kickstarts the engine, shattering the still night air.

It's strange having Frankie sitting so close, having her arms wrapped around his waist and her knees nudging his legs whenever they hit a bump. He knows he should be worried about Joely, but he isn't. He would ride around with Frankie like this all the time, even if it meant Joely being lost forever.

Chapter 40

Joely hears the motorbike on the gravel. For a second, the old city fears flare up and threaten to grab her. But then she remembers Rory and why she's here, waiting in the dark. And she knows it's him. He's come to find her.

She tries to climb out, but her head hurts and her legs are sore and they keep buckling and she falls back onto the kangaroo. The motorbike will pass soon and then he'll be gone. So she reaches up again, grabs the tree branch and pulls her body slowly out of the ditch. Two streams of light flick across her as the motorbike thunders down the road.

She stands up slowly, her body shaking, and waves one arm in the air to tell him she's here. And then her legs give way and she's down, and all she can see is black.

Thommo slides his bike as he stops in a hurry. He jumps off and runs. ‘Joely,' he yells. He grabs her arms and starts pulling her up. He hears Frankie screaming and calling out Joely's name.

Joely starts moving. She's being carried. It's Rory. He's come for her after all. She collapses onto the back of a motorbike, smiling.

Frankie grabs her friend's face and holds it up screaming, ‘Joely? Can you hear me? Joel!?'

Chapter 41

Frankie and Thommo sit silently on the back step. Since they came home with Joely they've barely spoken. Jill took Joely straight inside and Ged called the doctor. And Frankie and Thommo just sat where they stopped.

The sun's coming up now and Frankie thinks how different the farm looks from when she arrived on the bus with her best friend last Monday. She wishes it looked the same: full of promise and hope. But now all she can see is the dead grass and the hungry cows and the odd dying tree.

Mack kicks open the wire door and sits down next to his brother. Thommo shifts beside Frankie and sighs.

Frankie wants to say something to end the quiet waiting. ‘She'll be okay.'

‘Yeah,' says Thommo.

Mack leans forward and stares straight at her. He's so angry that Frankie looks away. Then she glares back at him, furious that he thinks he can treat her like this. ‘What's your problem, Mack?'

She wonders if he'll even bother answering. If he doesn't, she knows she won't be able to stop herself from crying. She hates people ignoring her. It's what her mother always does, and she would much rather someone just yell at her. Then she could yell back. And it would be finished.

‘I think Joely really likes him, you know,' says Mack.

‘Rory?' says Frankie.

Mack looks at her like she's stupid and she wants to spit at him. Then Thommo moves closer, holding out his hand and touching her arm. It's so gentle, so unexpected that she almost cries anyway.

‘It's okay, Frankie.'

‘No, it's not fucking okay, Thommo,' growls Mack. ‘Joely's broken.'

‘It's not Frankie's fault,' says Thommo. ‘It's Rory's. I bet Frankie didn't even know what he was doing.'

And suddenly she does. She realises what they are saying. That he was playing them, going from her to her friend. That Joely was with him and she was, too, and neither of them knew. She laughs. She doesn't mean to, doesn't want to, but that's what comes out of her; a choking laugh that makes Mack turn away and Thommo loosen his grip on her arm.

She stands up and walks down the stairs. She reaches the shed before she starts to cry. It all just comes out. Her mother and father are in the middle of it all. And Rory who is just another cheater in the pack. She doesn't care about him. He's left her head already.

All she sees is Joely, lying sunburnt and crumpled beside a ditch with a dead kangaroo. And her times with Joely flash up between the tears, like photographic prints dropping out of a photo booth.

Joely is laid out on her bed on the yellow cotton sheet like she's dead when Frankie walks up to the doorway. Jill is sitting beside Joely, rubbing her face with ice. Frankie hangs back, waiting for someone to let her in. Finally, Jill looks up and smiles. And it makes Frankie want to burst into tears all over again. At least Jill isn't blaming her.

‘Come in, love.'

Frankie walks slowly to the bed and sits down on the floor near Jill. Her friend doesn't look over. Instead, she seems to be watching the fan turn.

‘Is she okay?' whispers Frankie.

‘Yeah. The doctor thinks the sunstroke was worse than we realised. And maybe the bump on the head. She just needs rest.'

Jill hands her the bowl of ice and nods. Then she leaves the room and, at first, Frankie isn't sure what to do. Joely's eyes close and then open. Frankie picks up the largest cube she can find and runs it across her friend's head. Joely sighs. Frankie keeps looking at her eyes, hoping to see something familiar there.

‘Hi,' whispers Frankie.

Joely rolls onto her side so she can look at Frankie. Strange, thinks Frankie as she stares at her friend's eyes. She's never really noticed how dark Joely's eyes were before. They are almost black.

‘I really liked him, Frank.'

‘I didn't know.'

‘You were with him the whole time, weren't you?'

‘Yeah,' says Frankie, wishing she could say no.

The ice has melted under her fingers. She shakes off the leftover drops and picks out another piece. She runs it back and forth across Joely's head making slippery snail-like circles.

‘I'm sorry, Joel.' Frankie leans down and kisses her cheek. She takes in her skin, peeling and red; her eyes, puffy; and her arms, bruised. It doesn't matter somehow. She still looks beautiful but she knows that Joely will laugh if she tells her.

Joely shifts onto her back and closes her eyes. Frankie watches, envious that she can go to sleep now.

Without opening her eyes, Joely whispers, ‘It's not just him. It's everyone. Don't you ever have enough?'

‘I'm sorry,' says Frankie.

‘I just wanted one boy. Just him. But you had to come along and steal him.'

‘I didn't know … I'm sorry …'

Frankie knows she's crying. She tries to touch Joely's arm, but she can't. So she does what she always does when she doesn't know what to say. She walks out of the room.

Chapter 42

Frankie runs into the water fully dressed. She can see him in the deep end of the pool, dipping up and down, playing. She forges through the water towards him. He senses her somehow. He turns when she's almost there and starts moving towards her with that stupid smile on his face.

Frankie smiles back as he reaches her. Her heart is racing.

He leans down for a kiss. She shoots up and pushes his head under the water with all her strength. It's only a second before he flips her off and under. She comes up fast and sends a wave of water into his face, fury surging through her. She hates him more with each splash.

‘Why?' she yells.

‘You found out then,' he says.

‘Why?'

He shrugs. ‘I was bored.'

‘So you fucked with us?'

‘I didn't fuck with either of you.' He sneers. ‘Although I think she would have said yes in a flash.'

‘I thought …' says Frankie, hating that he's hurt her.

‘You thought I liked you? I did. If it makes you feel any better. I liked you more than I liked her …'

He moves closer, like he's going to try to kiss her. She'll punch him if he comes any nearer.

‘So Mack dobbed you in, hey. I knew he would. Really burnt him when I told him I was with you
and
his cousin.'

‘Mack didn't say anything. He couldn't give a shit about me or you. Joely told me. She is my best friend, after all,' says Frankie wishing it were true and Joely had just told her what was going on so they could have played this boy right back.

Rory looks at her and she stares him down. ‘Joely didn't tell you anything. You got busted. She saw me kissing you at the party.'

Frankie wants to kill him: break his teeth, spit on him and hurt him so bad he'll never smile at a girl again. Instead, she sucks it all in knowing he'll expect her anger. Then she leans up and kisses him hard on the mouth, waiting for him to relax. Just as he does and he opens his mouth, she bites his lip so hard she expects it to rip right off.

He screams at her and she pushes off towards the steps, calling, ‘You're a loser, Rory Macleod.'

Walking out of the pool she smiles to herself and can't wait to get back to tell Joely that she made him pay.

Chapter 43

Joely doesn't want to open her eyes. She wants to stay lost inside her head where she can see his face and remember the way he kissed. Every time she opens her eyes she sees Frankie's bed, and Frankie's stuff, and it hurts all over again.

She hears the soft footsteps in the hallway and knows it's her. She feels sick waiting for the door to open. And then it does and her friend tiptoes in like an angel. Joely, can't pretend to be sleeping. She doesn't have it in her anymore.

Frankie kneels down on the floor. She leans in close so Joely can see her without moving too much. Frankie inches her hand forward and Joely thinks Frankie wants her to reach back and hold it tight. But Joely doesn't. Instead her fingers fidget, unsure.

‘I didn't know, Joely.'

‘I know.'

‘I wouldn't have …'

But you did, thinks Joely.

‘You're my best friend, Joel.' Now Frankie takes her hand and squeezes it to make her point. ‘He's an arsehole. He was playing us,' says Frankie.

Joely pulls her hand away. She doesn't want to hear this. She wants to believe it was real. At least for a bit.

‘He was just bored. He thought it was funny. I bit his lip and hopefully it'll need stitches,' says Frankie.

Joely tenses. ‘You saw him? Wait, you bit his lip? You kissed him?'

Frankie shrugs.

‘Did you see him, Frank?'

‘Yeah. I wanted to know why.'

‘I don't care why,' says Joely, hurting all over.

‘But he's an arsehole.'

‘You've said that already.'

‘Don't let him—'

‘What? Ruin our friendship?'

Frankie's crying now. Joely can see the tears, even though her friend has bowed her head to try to keep them secret. But she wants to see Frankie cry just like she has over the past day.

‘You're my best friend,' says Frankie in the smallest voice Joely's ever heard.

Joely doesn't want to let her off yet. She wants to make her beg, hurt her and make her understand that she isn't the one in charge this time.

‘Really? Am I?'

Frankie nods. She still hasn't looked up.

‘You want every boy to like you,' says Joely.

‘I don't.'

‘You do. It's not enough that Thommo and Mack have been fighting over you. You had to have Rory, too.'

‘I didn't know,' says Frankie again.

‘But if you had known, Frank, would you have left him for me?'

Frankie doesn't answer and Joely is pleased. It means she can be angrier with her friend than with him.

But then Frankie says quietly, ‘Would you have left him for me?'

‘No,' says Joely quickly.

And saying it makes Joely understand that their friendship wasn't as strong as she thought. That she was the one who would give up Frankie and all that she meant for seven days with a boy she barely knew.

‘I only kissed him. That's all. Just in case you wondered,' says Frankie.

‘Really?'

‘Yeah.'

Joely wonders if it's normal that it matters to her if her friend didn't have sex with him. But it does. Now they're equal. It means he liked them the same.

‘You know what, Frankie? I just wanted to be chosen. Nobody ever chooses me.'

‘I did,' says Frankie crying.

Joely thinks back to the first day they met, and how giddy with excitement she felt that she'd finally met someone who wanted her around.

‘Well, obviously you're not enough,' says Joely, realising as she says it, that it's true.

Frankie says nothing. She wipes the back of her hand across her eyes, and moves away from the bed. She grabs her backpack from the cupboard and starts filling it with everything she can, slowing only to fold her green leather coat and tuck it in between layers of protection.

‘Frank,' says Joely, ‘what are you doing?'

Frankie doesn't answer. She just pulls the pack shut, zips it up then grabs her book from the table. ‘You lost my page,' she says to Joely and walks out of the bedroom.

Joely can't believe Frankie knew she'd looked at her book. She can't believe she didn't say anything before, that she wasn't even angry about it. Then realising what she's done, Joely tries to get up, but the room swims around her and she crashes back onto her bed. She grabs her phone, madly trying to turn it on so she can ring Frankie and tell her to come back, tell her she was wrong. But the phone's dead.

Then she hears the wire door slam and she knows it's too late.

Frankie's gone.

‘Thommo?' says Frankie from the shed doorway.

He looks up, taking in her suitcase. ‘You wanna lift into town?'

Frankie nods, relieved she doesn't have to ask.

‘Sure,' he says, wheeling Mack's bike over.

She gets on the back and waits for him to climb on. She doesn't want to put her arms around his waist, not after all Joely has said. She doesn't want him to want her, but she can't balance with her backpack on if she doesn't hold onto something. So she grabs the leather seat instead as he climbs on and kickstarts the bike. She half expects Joely to come after her, but the house is still.

As Thommo revs the engine, he leans back, as if asking her to hold him instead of the seat. Finally, she slips her arms around his waist and presses into him, wishing she could take back the week and start again.

They ride out the gate and Frankie's sure she can see Jill watching from the kitchen. She wonders if she's happy to see Frankie leave. They drive past the dead kangaroo, and Frankie realises she didn't even get a chance to find out why her friend was sleeping in a ditch with the stinking carcass.

She never thought it would be Joely who would hurt her. That's why she picked Joely in the first place. Joely was safe, someone who would love her, no matter what. Stupid.

Frankie wishes she'd remembered her sunglasses to cover any tears that might fall on the ride into town. At least she knows that Thommo won't care if she cries. He doesn't seem to find anything too hard to cope with. He just rolls with it. Frankie used to be like that. Before she met Joely she could just cruise in and out of schools, never look anyone in the eye, and shrug if it all got too much. But now she cared. And that was the worst bit.

Thommo turns into the main street and Frankie hopes they'll pass Rory, so he'll notice she has her arms wrapped around some other guy. She still doesn't get what happened, why he set out to hurt her and Joely. What sort of person did that?

They cruise past the Ice-cream Shoppe and the op shop. For a second, Frankie wants to run inside and give back the old lady's coat so she can find someone more deserving to hand it onto. But it would be worth a bit if she sold it, and Frankie could do with the money. There's no point keeping it now because it's not like she wants to remember this place.

The bike slows and they pull up in front of the train station. Frankie wonders if there'll be a train anytime soon, or if she'll have to spend the night. Better holed up here than anywhere near Joely. She leans her head against Thommo's back before she gets off, liking the warmth from the sun on his t-shirt and the smell of aftershave through his clothes.

‘Thanks, Thommo,' she says, standing up.

‘No worries,' he says because he doesn't know how to grab her and stop her from leaving.

‘Can you thank your mum and dad for me? Say goodbye.' She bites her lip.

‘Yeah. No worries.'

It's something to do with the look on his face or maybe it's the freckles that remind her of Joely but, without realising what she's about to do, she leans down and kisses him on the lips, her hands in his hair, her breath in his mouth. As she pulls away, she shrugs and he smiles, surprised by the kiss.

‘I'll see ya,' she says and starts up the ramp to the station.

Thommo watches her go.