Hostage (4 page)

September

Nathan leaned his head out the car window, his trademark yellow hoodie pulled back off his face. ‘Want a lift?’

A group of girls tittered as Tully brushed past them, her backpack swung over one shoulder.

‘Sure,’ she said as she climbed into the passenger seat. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Nathan managed to burn some rubber as he took off and Tully waved to the girls through the window.

‘Have a good look,’ she yelled, then bounced back against the seat.

‘Friends?’

‘Huh!’

‘Isn’t that Ravel’s group?

‘Is that her name? We chatted today. Where are we going?’

‘Wherever you want,’ said Nathan. He turned on the radio and skipped through the stations.

‘The park.’

‘Sure. I didn’t even know you were at school today. Did you go to any classes?’ said Nathan.

‘Physics and Food Tech,’ said Tully. ‘I love Food Tech. It’s the only class where you can eat your schoolwork.’

‘So what did you do the rest of the time?’

‘Hung out. No one asks you why you’re in the gym change rooms when you’re wearing a PE uniform. Did you see the MySpace invite for the start of Schoolies?’ asked Tully.

‘Ravel’s invite?’ Nathan asked.

Tully nodded.

He shrugged. ‘Sure.’

‘Why didn’t you mention it? Laney still has me on internet rations at home just ’cause I used up all her download time last month. I totally missed it. Luckily, Ravel mentioned it in the change rooms.’

‘That’s nice.’

‘Made a point of mentioning that I wasn’t invited.’

Nathan laughed. ‘You wouldn’t go anyway,’ he said. ‘You don’t even like her.’

‘That’s not the point,’ said Tully. ‘It’s one thing to be invited and not go. It’s another to be uninvited.’

‘How did you even get to be a friend on Ravel’s MySpace?’

‘Last time I looked she was aiming for the most MySpace friends in the world. I can’t believe she knows half the people she has listed. Anyway, I just go online sometimes to see what’s going on. Knowledge is power. Someone said that. I think they’re right.’

‘Knowledge is power, hey? What sort of knowledge do you get hanging out in the change rooms?’

‘It’s amazing what people leave in their gym bag.’

‘You’ve been stealing stuff?’

Tully looked out the window. ‘Not stealing. Just looking.’

Nathan snorted. ‘Just looking?’

Tully nodded.

‘Be careful, Tul.’

‘I’ll never get why people like to label their gear. Just to make it really easy for people like me, I guess.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Ravel really pissed me off. So I waited until she left the change rooms then I found her bag, which was really messy by the way. Camel keeps her MP3 Player in her bag. She has crap taste in music.’

Tully smiled at the thought of the note she’d found tucked away in the bottom of Ravel’s sports bag side pocket. Now it was tucked away in her pocket.

‘Some girls are pigs, Nate.’

Tully thought Nate would be surprised if she gave him a run down of how messy those girls could be. They were so neat and perfect on the outside.

‘Why do you do it?’

‘I’m not a thief. I don’t steal anything, unless you count the hairclips. You can never have too many hairclips.’

‘Never,’ Nathan agreed. ‘So why? Aren’t you scared you’ll get caught?’

‘It gives me a rush. You know, the fact that any minute someone can walk in and find me with my hand in someone else’s bag. And sometimes I do get caught. I’ve always got an excuse. They always believe me. I guess I’m good at lying.’

‘Do you lie to me?’ Nathan looked straight ahead, then left and right before he turned into a side street.

‘Not you, Nate,’ whispered Tully. She pushed her fringe away from her eyes.

‘Just as well.’

They pulled up into a car space adjacent to the park. It was empty, save for an old model sedan near the toilet block.

‘It’s their own fault,’ she said suddenly. ‘I do it because they think they can shut me out. They treat me like shit. I don’t really care. But who do they think they are?’

Nathan turned off the motor. ‘Do you want to go home?’ he asked.

Tully frowned.

‘Come on,’ she said. ‘I’ve been thinking all day about this.’

Tully pushed her fringe back out of her eyes. It was hard to see in the dim light of the skate ramp tunnel, and she swore at the batteries in her torch that had faded to nothing after only five minutes. They’d been at it for over an hour and her back was feeling cramped.

‘We’re gonna run out of black,’ said Nathan, shaking a spray can so that it rattled.

‘Then use brown. We’ve got brown, don’t we?’

‘It’s not the same—’

‘Seriously, Nate.’

‘Seriously, Tully. Let me see.’ He pushed Tully aside to look at the section she’d been working on. ‘Hey. Not bad.’

‘Sure.’

‘No really. It’s ... different.’

‘When do you think I’ll be ready to do something people are going to see?’

‘Umm...’

Tully pushed Nathan’s shoulder and he jostled her back before she held up her hand.

‘Someone’s coming,’ she whispered.

Nathan stuffed the cans into his backpack and Tully wiped her stained fingers on the wall behind her.

‘Leaving your fingerprints as evidence?’ whispered Nathan.

‘Shut up,’ said Tully.

A figure appeared at the tunnel entrance, bending down to look inside.

‘Hello?’

‘Griff?’ said Nate.

‘Hey, Nate. Thought I saw your car. Are you coming over tonight? We’re hanging out with Damo before he leaves for the coast.’

‘Sure. Who’s coming?’ asked Nathan.

‘Just the regulars.’

‘You’re on. Have you booked for Schoolies?’

Tully fiddled with her shoe as the boys talked then stole a peek at Griffin to find he was looking straight at her.

Griffin shook his head. ‘Can’t be bothered. I’m gonna hang around here until after Christmas then see what happens.’

Nathan nodded. ‘See you tonight, then.’

Griffin nodded towards Tully. ‘Bring a friend if you like. See you round nine.’

Tully waited for the boy’s footsteps to fade into the distance, then turned to Nathan.

‘That’s Griff,’ explained Nathan. ‘We used to hang a couple of years ago. He’s okay.’

Tully nodded. ‘I’ve seen him before. At school and in Smith Street. Is he kicking a bad habit?’

Nathan pulled the cans out from his backpack then selected one. He shook the can then added a dark outline to emphasise a line. ‘The only bad habit I know of was a bad zit problem, and they seem to have cleared up now. Can you pass me that can?’

Tully handed a can over then moved back to get a better look at Nathan’s artwork. ‘That looks good. I want to take it home and hang it on my wall. Do you think Michelangelo felt that way?’

‘What?’

‘Do you think he ever wanted to take a church ceiling home with him?’

‘I don’t think you can compare us.’

‘You’re right. You’re way better.’

‘So did you want to come tonight? Have a farewell drink with Damo?’ asked Nathan.

‘Oh, yeah. That is
so
what I want to do.’

‘Hey, just asking. I thought maybe I’d ask Desi to go.

‘Desi!’ Tully snorted.

‘What?’

‘Nothing.’

‘What’s wrong with Desi?’

‘She’s so ... plastic, Nate. I can’t believe she’d be your type.’

‘So what is my type?’

Tully shrugged. ‘Suit yourself.’

‘Why don’t you come? I won’t ask Desi if you come along.’

‘I’m busy. Maybe another time?’

‘I didn’t know your social calendar was so full.’

‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me,’ said Tully. She left the pipe tunnel and stood outside to stretch. She watched the afternoon sun wink off the windscreen of Griffin’s car as he drove out of the car park.

Dear Tully,

Happy birthday to the brightest six year old girl I know. I hope you got a lot of presents and finally got to the zoo with your mum. This money is to spend on whatever you want. (As long as that’s okay with your mum.)

Maybe you could visit me one day? See what your mum thinks.

Say hi to Sasha for me.

xx Roo

Fitzroy Police Station: 25 December, 2.25a.m.

‘Tully, please tell me about your relationship with Griffin Sorenson,’ asked Constable Tognetti.

‘I don’t have a relationship with Griffin Sorenson. I told you. Before this I’d just seen him around,’ said Tully.

‘Did you see him at school? Somewhere else? When was the first time you noticed him?’

‘I have no idea. He was never that important,’ said Tully.

August

Tully remembered the first time she’d noticed Griffin. She’d been sitting on a bench outside the office waiting to have a word with the vice principal.

The boy was standing at the office window waiting for someone to talk to him. Inside the glass-enclosed room, women glided about like comets in a fish bowl. No one looked at him, even when he cleared his throat loudly.

‘You have to ring the bell,’ said Tully finally.

‘What?’

‘The bell.’ Tully pointed to the sign on the office window that read ‘Ring bell for service’.

The boy shrugged.

Tully watched as he rang the bell and waited. He was tall with shoulder-length hair that looked like it had been chewed by rats. His school jumper didn’t quite reach his wrists and he pulled his sleeves down as he waited for someone to notice him. There was something about the way he pulled at his sleeves that made her feel like she knew him.

‘Hey!’ yelled Tully.

A woman with short hair and a sensible cardigan looked up from a filing cabinet. She glared over her glasses at Tully before assuming a friendly face for the boy.

‘Can I help you?’ she asked.

The boy pulled out an envelope, folded so that it fitted into his back pocket.

‘I need to make an instalment,’ he muttered.

‘You’ll have to speak up.’ The woman grimaced and Tully thought it might have been meant as a smile.

‘Fees.’ The boy shoved the bag under the glass partition.

‘Name?’

‘Griffin. Griffin Sorenson,’ he said.

‘Next year’s fees? You’re early,’ she said.

‘That’s this year’s fees,’ he said. Then he walked away without once looking at Tully.

‘Excuse me,’ called out the office lady. ‘What about your receipt?’

Tully sidled up to the window. ‘I think he was in a hurry. I’ll take it to him,’ she said.

The woman frowned. ‘You know him?’

‘Sure. Griff. Griffin Sorenson. He’s in my English class.’

‘Well ... just wait.’ The woman tapped at a keyboard, then retrieved a page from the printer nearby. A phone rang beside her and she answered it as she slid the page toward Tully through the partition, her fingers lingering on the edge of the page as if unsure about letting go.

‘I’ll make sure he gets it,’ said Tully as she snatched the page and folded it into quarters. ‘Happy to help.’

Then she walked down the corridor, giving a little wave to the vice principal’s closed door as she passed.

‘Happy to help,’ she repeated.

That night she added the receipt to her box of treasures.

So the office was the first time she’d noticed Griffin. And then she’d noticed him kicking around Loserville Chemist. And then the park. And of course he’d ended up at Ravel’s party. Tully hadn’t known he would be there but she suspected he might have been. Deep down she wondered if that’s the real reason she went.

That and revenge.

October

Ravel’s Schoolies Party Starter had already spilled out into the street by the time Tully swung by. Smokers leaned on cars and one guy was already throwing up in the gutter. Tully watched the ebb and flow of bodies for a while. Music thumped out through the front door and girls in tight dresses laughed at nothing as they tipped bottles to their lips and sucked down the liquid. She saw kids from school but there were plenty of people she didn’t know. Tully stepped across the road and threaded her way through the crowd at the door. She’d been worried about door security, but a young guy with stringy hair ushered her through.

‘Glad you could come,’ he slurred.

Ravel’s house was a single-front Victorian and seemed to have the same layout as Bamps’s home. The light was off in the first room on the left and a writhing mass of dancing bodies was highlighted by a disco cube perched in one corner of the room.

Further down the hall, again to the left, was another dark room. The room was packed, though only some people were dancing while others lounged about on the furniture and the floor. Someone had provided candles for mood lighting and they cast long shadows onto the walls and ceilings. A group of girls, sitting in a circle on the floor, was trying to conduct a séance.

Tully shook her head as she continued down the hall into a larger room.

‘What are you doing here?’ A hand shot out from the crowd and pulled Tully into a corner. It was Nathan.

‘Nice to see you too,’ Tully said with a smirk.

‘I didn’t think you were invited?’ Nathan had to shout into Tully’s ear to make himself heard.

‘I just wanted to see what I was missing out on,’ Tully shouted back.

‘What?’

Tully leaned in closer, then noticed a girl watching them.

‘Did you bring Plastic Girl?’ she yelled into Nathan’s ear.

‘What?’

‘Plastic Girl.’ Tully gave an insincere wave to the girl who was now approaching them.

‘Play nicely, Tully,’ said Nathan. ‘I’ll get you a drink. Hey Desi, you know Tully?’ Then he moved off.

Desi smiled. ‘Hey, you look amazing.’

Tully knew how she looked and amazing wasn’t the word she would have used. She looked the girl up and down. Desi was too perfect. The hair, the nails, that smile. There was only one thing she had against Desi. She was too perfect, but not good enough for Nathan.

‘I didn’t know you were coming,’ said Desi.

‘Guess you don’t know everything,’ said Tully quietly.

‘I hope it’s okay that I’m here with Nathan ... Someone told me you two weren’t going out anymore,’ said Desi. Her speech was a little fuzzy around the edges and Tully guessed she’d started partying early.

‘Well they got that wrong,’ said Tully. She scanned the room for Ravel’s bouncing ponytail.

‘Oh.’ Desi looked uncertain.

‘We were never going out,’ said Tully. ‘Hey Nate, cheers.’

Nathan squeezed through the crowed, winked and handed over a bottle to Tully and a bottle to Desi. ‘Ladies.’

They toasted the end of school, Nathan sucking back on a bottle of water because he was driving. Tully held her bottle up to her lips and pretended to sip.

After the build-up, the exams had been an anticlimax. Tully had studied a little to keep Bamps happy, and to get extra time on Aunt Laney’s laptop. The chat had been flying about in cyberspace. People moaning about their exam schedule and calculators running out of batteries at the worst moment and questions on the exams that they’d never even studied. Ravel had done the most moaning, though everyone expected her to get in the high 90s for an ENTER score. The girl was a freak, thought Tully.

‘I can’t believe we don’t have to go back next year,’ said Desi, shaking her head.

‘Well, Tully could spend another year at school. You know she only turned 17 in August?’ said Nathan.

Tully scowled at him.

‘Wow, really?’ said Desi. ‘But you look so much older. Did you skip a year or something?’

‘Yep. I’m, like, naturally gifted in the brains department,’ said Tully. ‘In fact, I could have gone to uni this year but my mum thought I shouldn’t miss out on the fun of Year 12.’

‘Really?’ Desi’s eyes were wide as she sucked back on her drink.

Nathan nudged Tully and frowned at her.

‘What?’ she said.

‘Anyway, I think it’s kind of sad. I’m really going to miss that place,’ said Desi.

‘Oh, yeah,’ said Tully. ‘Really sad. Nate, don’t you think?’

‘Yep, sad. Stuff it, I’m going back. They can’t keep me away,’ said Nathan raising his drink in a salute.

‘So what are you doing next year, Tully?’ asked Desi. She swayed a little on her feet and Nathan steadied her.

‘Doing?’ said Tully.

‘Next year. What uni preferences did you put down?’

‘Uni? I don’t know. The career’s advisor filled something out for me. I can’t even remember. Hey, I think someone’s...’ Tully waved into the crowd. ‘Scuse me,’ she said. ‘Just catching up with someone.’

Tully let herself be swallowed by the crowd. She was pushed and jostled until she found herself standing on the other side of the room looking into the kitchen which was bathed in the brightness of halogen downlights. The kitchen looked modern, nothing like Bamps’s kitchen. Ravel was at the sink mixing a drink, her skin glowing a golden orange under the lights. Fake tan, thought Tully as she pulled her mobile from her pocket and took a picture of Ravel’s surprised face when she looked up.

‘Hey, Camel, great party.’ Tully bounded over to Ravel and gave her a hug as if she were part of Ravel’s hugging group.

‘Get out,’ said Ravel.

‘What? Noooo. You don’t really mean that. Hey, your house is nice. Are your parents here? Thanks for the drink.’ Tully held up her Cruiser bottle.

‘Get out. Or I’ll throw you out.’ Ravel’s eyes were glittering. Tully wasn’t sure if she was going to cry or going to punch her.

‘You wouldn’t throw me out,’ said Tully. She grabbed a handful of chips from a bowl on the sink. ‘Hey thanks—I’m starving.’

‘What are you doing here? You weren’t invited. Not invited. I already told you. You don’t belong here.’

‘So, Camel, what is it you’re trying to say...?’ Tully shoved the plastic chip bowl from the sink and the chips scattered across the floor. ‘Ooops.’

‘Right ... Luke! Lucas! Get her out of here.’

‘Oh great. Lucas. He’s your boyfriend, right? That uni guy you’ve been going out with all year? So what does he think about you and Wiggy hooking up?’

Tully watched the colour drain from Ravel’s face.

‘Hey, don’t worry. I’ll ask him myself. Hi Luke!’ Tully waved to a tall guy pushing his way towards Ravel.

‘What’s up?’ he asked. He draped an arm around Ravel’s shoulder and pulled her close.

‘What’s up?’ Tully said, looking at Ravel.

Ravel shook her head. Tully held out her hand and Luke looked confused.

‘Ravel just wanted to introduce me,’ said Tully. ‘I’m Tully McCain. It’s great to finally meet you. Ravi’s told me so much about you.’

Luke grabbed her hand and squeezed it. ‘Hey, nice to meet you.’

‘We should all catch up one day,’ said Tully. ‘When Ravel gets back from Schoolies.’

‘Sure.’

‘I’d better get back to my friends. Hey, thanks for such a great party, Rav.’ Tully gave Ravel another big hug then moved out of the kitchen and up the hallway.

In the front room she stood hard up against the wall in the darkness and closed her eyes. She let the music wash over her and through her and tried to swallow the sour taste of victory that had left her feeling sick. Ravel was no worse than a lot of girls she had met.

But it was Ravel’s fault. Tully had found the note in Ravel’s bag after she had ‘uninvited’ Tully to the party. There wasn’t much to the note. Just a couple of lines and the letter W, but Tully had put two and two together and come up with the whole equation. She’d started watching Ravel and Wiggy at school. It was pretty clear there was something going on. The idea of coming to Ravel’s party and causing a scene had made Tully’s heart thump with excitement but now that it had happened...

The music changed from trance to a Rick Springfield flashback and Jessie’s Girl had everyone singing along. Tully felt a shot of certainty run through her that someone was watching her. She opened her eyes. It was hard to be sure in the intermittent light but someone near the window seemed to be looking her way. Then she realised who it was. He lifted his hand to her and she waved back, only to realise he was waving to someone else.

‘Hey, Griff,’ came a shout from the doorway.

She watched as Griffin pushed his way towards the door. The dancers jostled on the makeshift dancefloor and as Griffin drew even with Tully someone pushed him from behind. Tully held her breath, her cheek momentarily against Griffin’s chest, the thump of the bass blending with the thump of his heart through the thin material of his shirt. Griffin pushed off the wall and held her gaze long enough to mumble, ‘Sorry’ before moving on. Her face burned where his fingers had carelessly grazed her cheek as he’d slipped past her.

It had taken three more songs for her heartbeat to return to normal. As she left the party she patted the back of the guy still leaning over the gutter outside. Then she placed her untouched Breezer bottle next to him and wished him well. Further down the street she noticed two figures leaning into each other and recognised Nathan’s yellow hoodie. She kept her eyes on the ground and walked past them only to hear Nathan say, ‘Hey, Tully?’

‘Goodnight, Nate,’ she called back.

‘I could really use a hand here.’

Tully doubled back. ‘What’s up?’

‘Desi’s not feeling well. I need to get the car. Can you stay with her?’

Tully sighed as Desi slid to the ground, then she sat down next to her.

‘Only if you give me a lift home,’ said Tully. ‘Hurry up.’

Tully ignored the sniffling girl next to her until Desi said, ‘I think I’m going to be sick again.’

Tully pulled the girl’s hair away from her face, and leaned her forward into the gutter. ‘Better out than in,’ she said. She rubbed Desi’s back gently once the convulsions had stopped. ‘Not so perfect after all, hey Plastic Girl?’ she whispered.

That was the last time Tully had seen Griffin. Until Christmas Eve.