Love and Muddy Puddles (15 page)

We were a week away from Pony Camp and all of us—Josh, Charlie, James, Tessa and me—had been pressed into service, despite the house building. Mud bricks could wait. The horses had to come first for a week and our job was to clean up the building behind the stables on Ness’s property to make sure it was ready for when the campers arrived.

“It’s where we’ll sleep,” explained Tessa, excitedly. She was finally coming back to her old happy self after the whole Dee incident. She’d gone quiet and miserable for a bit but it all seemed to be okay again now. “Basically, we hang out here when we’re not riding.”

“Which isn’t much really,” said James. “Most of the day we’re on the horses. It’s only at night and meals and things.”

“Does everyone sleep in the same room?” asked Josh.

“No, silly,” said Tessa. She smiled at him. It looked like it was on again between them. “It’s girls on this side and boys over there.” She pointed in the direction of two crowded bunk rooms, each on the end of the long main area. I looked around and wrinkled up my nose.

“It’s kind of smelly,” I said and I saw a tiny smile creep onto James’ face.

“I think that’s what the detergent and mops are for,” said Charlie. She emptied her bucket of water on the floor and passed me the mop. “Come on, sunshine.”

“Tell me you don’t clean on Pony Camp,” I said. “What else happens apart from riding?”

“If it’s cool, we light a fire in the fireplace and usually Mum has marshmallows—like heaps of them—to toast,” said Tessa.

“Yes, and then sometimes we play card games,” said James. “Really late. I think last year we stayed up till about 3am.” He grinned at me.

“Doesn’t Ness make you go to sleep?” Charlie asked.

“Ha ha, that’s funny,” said James. “If there are cards involved, she’s up later than anyone. But normally she can only do it on the first night. The second night she’s in bed by nine and snoring by 10.” He grinned at me. I raised my eyebrows, amused.

“And last year, after she went to bed we played this massive game of Truth or Dare,” said Tessa, her eyes shining. “It was so awesome—one guy actually climbed the roof of the stables and howled at the moon at midnight.”

“That’s cool!” said Josh.

“Awesome,” said Charlie.

I was inspired. “Hey, we should play Truth or Dare right now.” I looked at James who was still looking at me. “If we have to mop and clean at least we should do something interesting while we do it. What do you reckon?”

“Yeah, okay.” James nodded. There was a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m in.”

“So.” I leant on my mop and tilted my head at him. “Truth or dare?”

“Hang on a minute,” he said. “Not so fast. What are your rules?”

“Normal rules,” I said. “Simple. You answer the question with the complete truth, no exceptions. Or else you accept the dare.”

“What kind of questions are you going to ask?” I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or being straightforward.

“What do you mean? The usual kind, of course. Who do you like? Who do you fancy? That kind of stuff.” I looked at him, my eyes big with pretend exasperation. “You’re just trying to stall. What will it be? Truth? Or dare?” I tipped my head on the side, daring him with my voice.

His blue eyes caught the light and he hesitated for a second, but I couldn’t read his expression.

“I’ll take a dare,” he said.

“Alright,” whooped Josh. “It’s on.”

The four of us had to come up with a dare for James. Which was harder said than done. He was pretty much immune to the smell of horse poo and none of us could have stomached seeing him eat it so we let that idea slide. He could ride anything anywhere so a bareback gallop down the paddock was too easy. I was for suggesting that he climb up the inside of the chimney but Tessa reminded us that we’d be just making more soot and mess for ourselves to clean up. Finally Josh looked up and around at the millions of daddy longlegs spiders on the wall and ceiling.

“Why don’t we make it that he has to eat a spider?” he said.

“Three spiders,” said Tessa, jumping up and down.

“No, five,” I said, giving him a look. “Five squishy, crunchy spiders. Yummy yummy.”

It took a little while to catch the spiders but pretty soon James had them all in his mouth. “Delicious,” he said, and he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to show us that they’d gone down. “Ahh.”

“Ew,” I said, shuddering, but I was giggling too. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“Just like chicken,” he said, teasing me. “You should try some.”

Next we dared Josh to climb on the roof, which he did with a few wobbles and a few tiny flashes of fear in his eyes that probably only Charlie and I saw. Tessa seemed appropriately impressed. And then we asked Charlie who she liked for her truth question, but it was a very disappointing answer.

“No one.” She grinned. “I’m serious. I don’t like anyone. That’s the absolute truth.”

“That’s not fair,” I said. “No fun. You should do another one.”

“No way,” she said. “It’s your fault for not asking a better question.”

It was Tessa’s turn next and, like Charlie, she chose truth.

“Don’t waste the question,” I said to the others before anyone could speak. “Seriously. We probably already know who she likes.” At this Tessa went red and Josh lowered his eyes. “We should ask a different question. Make it worthwhile.”

Everyone started to think. Should it be about horses? School? Old crushes? Suddenly I knew what to ask. It was perfect.

“I’ve got it! Don’t say anything, anyone!” I said quickly. “Tessa, here’s your question. Which is your ugliest feature? Your face, your bust or your dress sense?”

I told you earlier that I had a tendency to shoot off my mouth without thinking.

In my brain, it had all sounded so clever. Funny. Ironic, even. But as soon as the words came out of my mouth and met the open air, I saw them turn into tiny pieces of sharp glass and whiz through the room like bullets. I could see Tessa wincing, physically injured by each one as it came at her.

I stood for a second, aghast at what I’d done. And then the room turned into one of those ads where everyone stops except for the main character and the world is kind of frozen in one moment.

But then it unfroze. And the repercussions began.

First Tessa gasped at me. She was open mouthed. She swallowed, went to speak, swallowed and looked at me. “I, um,” she said. And then she couldn’t say anything at all. Instead, she turned and ran.

The door slammed and Charlie was at me.

“Coco. I can’t believe you said that. What were you thinking?”

“Good one, dumb-brain,” came Josh’s voice from behind. “Look what you’ve done. How do you think you’re going to slide out of making the insult of the century?”

I was waiting for James’s voice, but he had nothing to say. He just turned away, but not before I caught a glimpse of his face. It was disappointed and sad. I dropped my mop on the floor with a splash.

And then I turned and ran in the opposite direction. All the way back to the farm.

My face was flushed when I reached the shed and it wasn’t just from running. I shot past Dad, ignored Mum and flung myself straight onto my bed. My chest was heaving and I nearly felt like throwing up. It wasn’t fair. I hadn’t 
meant
 to upset Tessa. They had no right to get 
so
 mad at me about it. It was just a game. And everyone knows that when you go for truth in Truth and Dare you have to take whatever questions come to you. Anyway, it wasn’t as if Tessa thought she was perfect looking. She asked me to help her with her makeup all the time, and only a few weeks ago when we were looking through a magazine we found a section on dressing for your figure shape and she herself had pointed out the tips to minimise her chest, so it wasn’t as if she didn’t know she was big.

But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d done something terrible. Especially when I thought about the look on James’s face.

Why were his eyes so blue? Why did I care what he thought? And why did he look so disappointed in me so often?

I made a growl of frustration and slammed the doona with my fist. If only these people weren’t my friends. If only I was back in Sydney with people who understood me. Samantha would never get offended by a question like that. In fact, she’d probably be the one asking it about me. Country people could never take a joke. And now I’d either have to apologise or go to Pony Camp with everybody mad at me.

I rolled my eyes—a full roll—around and around
. I am so sick of this place
, I thought. 
I just have to get out of here.

An actual escape was impossible, but when my eyes finally came to rest on my laptop I decided a virtual escape would have to do. At least for now, anyway. I flipped it open, connected the internet and checked my email.

There, in my inbox, was my saviour. It was an email from Samantha. And it solved two problems in one.

Coco! Really important! Saff is having a party this weekend. Really big deal, heaps of boys, lots of cool people. Ti and everyone will be there. Even better: it’s at her house in Vaucluse right on the harbour. She says that you’ll be finished at your ‘school’ (she looked up the term dates on the school website) so she reckons there’s no reason you can’t come. Told me to invite you.

Seriously Coco, you have to make it. This is a big one. They’re starting to ask why you aren’t back yet. You’ve got to make an appearance, or maybe they won’t have you back next year.

Sam

PS. Darcy is going to be there. And believe me, he’s heaps better looking in real life. He said last time he wants to see you—he doesn’t believe you’re real.

My heart jumped. First with excitement, second with relief and third with fear. And then it did an extra little hop, skip and jump for another reason altogether: Darcy.

This would be the answer to my problems. I could skip Pony Camp altogether, avoid having to apologise to Tessa, get to catch up with my Sydney friends, re-cement my place in the group 
and
 meet my dream boy Darcy all in one night. One look at him and James’ blue eyes would be out of my head for ever. And then by the time I got back, the fight would have blown over and we could all have a happy summer holiday before I left to go back to Sydney in the new school year.

Yes, this was definitely a plan that could work.

My stomach was nervous though. Would the girls still like me? Would I be able to keep the story going about the school? Would I still fit in like I had before? And, most importantly, would Darcy like me?

The shed door slammed and I heard Charlie’s boots stomp across the floor.

“Coco? Are you here? Are you okay?” She sounded concerned.

“I’m on my bed,” I said. I didn’t want to say any more.

“I know you didn’t mean it about Tessa,” she said. She sat down next to me. “But she is really upset. You’d probably better apologise, especially before Pony Camp.”

I rolled away from her. “Maybe I did mean it. Anyway, I’m not going to go to Pony Camp.” I pointed to the screen of the laptop. “I’ve been invited to a party. It sounds like more fun.”

Charlie read through the email. As soon as she saw Samantha’s name she rolled her eyes. “Pfft. That girl? Seriously, why would you want to go to a party with her when you can go to Pony Camp? You don’t want to miss out on the social occasion of the year, do you? You’re always wanting friends. This is the place to make them.”

“
This 
is the social occasion of the year!” I pointed to my computer screen, angry. “
These
 are my friends. Those other people—Tessa, James and all the other horse-loving bumpkins—are just fill-ins for me. I’m not planning to stay here, you know. Mum promised I could go back to Sydney and I’m going to. I can go to Pony Camp any time. Anyway, I wouldn’t even like anyone who goes there.”

“How do you know you don’t like them? You haven’t even met them.” Charlie sounded shocked.

“I already know, okay? Anyway, it’s compared to the other people. I like Sydney people better. I just do. It’s how I am. I’ve fitted in here because I’ve had to and because there’s been no one else, but you know I’m not meant to be here. I’m a different person to you.” I sat up and shook out my hair.

Charlie sat up next to me and imitated my hair shake, but in a mean way. “Yeah, you’re different because you’re a snob. You’re just someone who thinks she’s better than everyone else.”

“That’s not true.” I was hurt. “I don’t think I’m better than everybody else.”
“Well how come even before today you still hardly talked to Tessa?”

“I talked to her.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, but only ever to tell her she’s wearing the wrong thing. You’re basically mean, Coco. You think you’re helping her but you’re actually only hurting her feelings. And she’s been really upset, especially since that guy did all that gross stuff to her on that ride you guys went on.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you even know? That’s how much you even care about her. That guy Dee, the good looking, creepy one took her into the bush and tried to kiss her and touch her and all kinds of stuff.”

“Eeewww.” I put my hands over my ears. “He can’t have.”

“Why not?” said Charlie.

“Well, he looked so nice,” I said.

“Well, he’s not. He said some really horrible things to her and she felt so bad, like it was her fault. If James hadn’t managed to get her to tell him, he might have got away with it,” she said. “Or done something worse. Anyway, that’s so typical of you. As soon as someone’s pretty or good looking or wears good clothes you think they’re perfect. But if someone looks like, I don’t know... normal or a bit funny or even ugly, you don’t even treat them like a person.”

“I do too,” I said. “It’s just when they won’t even try, I can’t help it. I just don’t like people who look like...”

“... like Tessa?” said Charlie. Her voice was getting louder. “She is who she is. She wears the wrong shirts for her shape. But it’s not a crime. It’s not...” she searched for the word, “... evil. You treat her like she’s done something actually wrong. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to apologise for you to her. You’re lucky she still even talks to you. I don’t know what your problem is.”

“Whatever,” I said. I made a face at her. “Anyway, it’s not my fault she’s shy and takes things personally. I can’t help it if she doesn’t want to hear the truth.”

“You can talk.” She sounded huffy.

“What does that mean?” Now I was angry. My voice was loud.

“You’re the one who doesn’t want to hear the real truth.”

“Oh, and what’s the real truth, Miss Smartypants?” I was trying to stop from yelling. I didn’t want Mum to hear us.

“Basically you’re rude, you’re up yourself and you think you’re better than everyone. Tessa puts up with you because of me and Josh. And James doesn’t have any time for you.”

I went cold. How dare Charlie talk to me about James. He was none of her business.

“Forget Pony Camp. There’s no way I’m going, even if Mum won’t let me go to the party. I’d prefer to stay here.” I turned away from her and stalked stiffly through the kitchen and right out of the shed. If I could have slammed the door, I would have. I went straight down to Cupcake who was standing by the fence, eating grass. Her life was so simple. No parties, no dream crushes and no twin sisters to tell her things she didn’t want to hear.

“I don’t care if it’s true,” I told her. “I’m not going. I’m going to Sydney and I’m going to see all my actual friends again. The people I like and who like me.”

Cupcake nibbled my hand and I gave her a carrot and a scratch. She nuzzled into me and her big eyes said, ‘I get it. Poor, poor Coco.’

“What would I do without you, sweet horse?” I whispered. “You’re my best friend.”