Love and Muddy Puddles (17 page)

When I heard his name all my arm hair stood up at attention and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. Of course. Darcy. How could I have forgotten? This was the moment I’d been waiting for, for nearly a whole year. My imagination went into overdrive. Maybe this would be the moment I fell in love across a crowded room, just like in the movies. If it was going to happen, I was ready. Although I kind of wished I wasn’t wearing the so-very-obviously-out-of-fashion pink dress. Even jeans would have been better. But it was too late to worry about that because the door opened.

And in walked Darcy.

Or maybe it wasn’t.

I squinted my eyes and furrowed my eyebrows. Was that him? He was a dark-haired boy and he swaggered across the room, letting Saffron give him a giggling kiss on the cheek and hugging Samantha. But it couldn’t have been Darcy, because for some reason I recognised him. I’d seen him before, and not just in a photograph. My mind had to tick a few beats before it worked out where. And when the answer finally came I had to seriously control my mouth from giving a very loud yelp.

Darcy was Dee. Arrogant, good looking Dee from the horse ride. The one I’d drooled over. The one who’d creeped out Tessa and made her cry. The one who James had warned off, and told me to stay away from.

I felt wobbly. Like I’d had my chair pulled out from under me. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Dee was Darcy? Darcy was Dee? Where was my dreamboat from the photograph I’d seen? Where was my hero from my Jane Austen novel?

But I had more important things to think about than Jane Austen right now. Darcy/Dee was heading to my end of the room and I didn’t want to talk to him. Not until I’d figured out a plan of attack. I tried to hide behind Samantha and an armchair (white of course) and look like I was casually not there. But it didn’t work.

Darcy saw me.

And he came right over to me.

And then it was like one of those ads on TV where they slow the action right down and the audience slowly watches the orange juice fall or the car crash into the truck or whatever disaster it is that they are showing as if there’s nothing else happening in the entire world right that millisecond.

Because everyone was watching Darcy. And everyone was watching Darcy watch me. I could see a look of recognition come over his face.

“Hey,” he said. But it wasn’t a nice ‘hey’. It had lots and lots of meaning in it. He opened his mouth slightly and kind of caught his lip between his teeth and then let it go. Slowly.

Then he smiled. But it wasn’t a nice smile. (This was beginning to be kind of a theme.) It was a smile with lots and lots of intention in it.

“Hey. Coco, right?” he said.

I nodded. Slowly. Miserably. Embarrassedly. (And yes, I know that’s not a proper word but it really should be.)

“You’re into horses, right?” he said. He grinned wider. It wasn’t a nice grin. “I bet you’re good at riding. Just like your friend. Tessa, isn’t it?”

I didn’t know what to do. My heart was racing. This was not good. This was all wrong. I kind of squeaked a reply but I don’t even know what it was—maybe a ‘yes/no’ combination which may have turned out to be a ‘yo’. But it didn’t seem to move him. He just stood there, still looking at me.

Before now, I had never realised that being looked at could be creepy and gross and icky. I suddenly needed to go to the bathroom and wash something. Anything.

“Um, gotta go,” I said. I quickly squeezed out from behind the armchair and passed Samantha, who was now hanging off Darcy’s arm, and ran down the hall looking into door after door for the bathroom.

It was the seventh door on the left, if you can believe that. And it was so perfectly gleaming white I could just about see myself in the tiles. But I wasn’t in the mood to check out my appearance. My head was spinning. I had to breathe. A lot. I felt ill, grossed out and mortified. My great come-back had turned into a great big fail. I was wearing the wrong dress, I was drinking the wrong thing and I was reacting the wrong way to the most popular boy in the room.

Pull yourself together,
 I scolded myself. 
This is all part of being popular. You’re just obviously out of practice and they all just need some time to warm up
—
I mean, they haven’t seen you for like, nearly a year. And you can avoid Darcy for now, at least until you figure all this out.

I took a few deep breaths and opened my eyes really big a few times in the mirror, just in case any extra tears had collected there, ready to spill out at some inopportune time. I shook myself a little, straightened my dress and sorted myself out.

“Come on Coco. This is a party. You can be fun, witty and beautiful. You belong here,” I said, but quietly, just in case anyone was walking too close to the door outside. “Make it work.”

I walked back down the hallway towards the lounge room. The door was open but the sound seemed different. When I’d fled, five minutes before, people were laughing and talking and clinking their drinks. Now it was quiet.

Completely quiet.

Which was weird.

It’s nothing. They’ve all probably just
 
gone outside, onto the balcony or something
, I thought. 
I’ll go and look out there.

I took a few steps forward and then I heard a ‘click’ behind me.

Which was also weird.

I turned around to see Darcy standing with his back against the door. He was grinning. Kind of. It was less of a grin and more of a leer.

“Cute dress, Coco.”

“Where did everyone go?” I asked.

“Does it matter?” he said.

“Um, yeah,” I said, anxious. “I just want to find the others.”

“They wanted us to get to know each other,” he said, shrugging. “They’ve headed outside.”

“I want to go too,” I said. My voice went high. “The view is good.”

“They said you were part of their group,” he said. He took a step closer to me. “Just my type.”

“I don’t know anything about that,” I said, looking around nervously. “Come on, let’s go outside.”

“Stay here with me,” he said. “Let’s sit down.”

He grabbed my arm and headed towards the couch and in a flash all I could see was Tessa in the bush, crying, and Darcy’s thunderous face and James’ tight lips and I knew that James had been right. I should stay away from this guy.

“No!” I shouted and kicked him in the shins. Pointy-toed flats might not have been in fashion, but they obviously had some bite because he was so surprised that he let go of me, swearing and holding his leg. I nearly turned and said sorry but then I realised that would be stupid so I ran to the door leading to the outdoor area. I gave it a few hard pulls and then realised it was locked so I fiddled with the clips and bolts and, just as Darcy was getting up again (with the same angry face I’d seen before), I flipped it open and ran outside.

I’ve got to find Sam,
 I thought desperately. 
She’ll know what to do.
 
Things can’t get any worse than this!

Which is, as I’ve said, time and time again, an incredibly stupid thing to say. Because every time I do, things seem to get worse.

A lot worse.

When I ran out onto the patio, my friends turned from their conversations and stared at me. I looked back at them. And then I realised. They did not have welcoming looks on their faces.

Tiger Lily, especially.

“So. Did you like Darcy?” she said, stepping forward. “Have fun in there?” A trickle of laughter went around.

“What?” I said.

“You heard me. Did you have fun with Darcy? Because you were really into him a year ago. So we thought we’d set it up for you.”

I blinked a couple of times. And then I looked at Samantha for help. “Do you know...?” But my voice trailed off because she looked away from me. Deliberately away. And then I saw that everyone else was watching us. Like something big was about to happen.

I heard Isabella’s voice, half-hearted and quiet from behind me. “Don’t do this to her,” she said. “Come on.”

“Why not?” said Tiger Lily, still clear and loud. “She broke the rules.”

“What?” I said. I was confused and terrified and trapped. “No... no I didn’t.”

“Yes. Yes you did,” said Tiger. She was mocking me. Saffron came to stand beside her. Her voice was much more reasonable.

“We let you into our group,” she said. She sounded soothing. Almost nice. “We made you popular and beautiful.”

“...yeah, even though you’re not that pretty,” said Tiger Lily.

“And then,” Saffron shrugged, “you broke our rules. And you lied to us.”

I tried again. “I didn’t...” but I knew I did.

“Really? You didn’t?” said Tiger Lily. “What’s this?”

She pulled out her phone and held it up to my face. There was a photo on it. Of me. In gumboots. Covered in mud. In Kangaroo Valley.

“That was you who took that picture that day? I didn’t even see you.” I said to Tiger Lily.

“Your sister did though,” she said. “What did you think? That no one would ever find out you were lying to us? You’re a nobody. I mean, really, Kangaroo Valley?”

I was still looking for help. Even in unlikely places. “Sam? You told them?” I half whispered it.

“Sammi had nothing to do with it,” said Saffron. “She’s out of the picture.” Now her voice was cutting and clear.

But Samantha stepped up. Her voice was extra-sweet. It kind of reminded me of when she told me that purple didn’t suit me.

“It wasn’t my idea to lie in the first place,” she said. “I just wanted to do the best by Saff and Ti and the others.” She looked around at them. “If you can’t be a true friend and do what you’ve agreed to do, then you kind of, you know, get what you deserve.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry, but you’ve brought it on yourself.”

I felt like the world was spinning. These were my friends. Dropping me. In public. I was still trying to get my head around it and my body wouldn’t cooperate. I chewed my lips, stood on one leg and then the other, shrugged my shoulders, adjusted my posture and looked around me from side to side. My eye caught a movement. It was Darcy coming out onto the balcony. He winked. I shuddered and nearly retched.

“She didn’t want to play with me,” he called out to Saffron as he walked down to the pool, making a face like a surprised child.

Saffron made a face at me. It was elegant and beautiful, but it was still a face. “Oh dear,” she said. “You won’t drink, won’t play and you look terrible. I’m afraid you’re not good enough for us.” She shrugged. “Although really, you never were. You were always our sympathy makeover person. We were a bit bored and we wanted a project so we picked you. But now we’re dropping you.” She tilted her head. “Sorry.”

She turned away and went to giggle in Darcy’s ear. But my lecture wasn’t over yet. Tiger Lily stepped forward.

“By the way, if you ever come back to St Agnes, we’ll be making sure you’re a lot worse off than that fat loser Shannon. She changed schools, she was so miserable. But we know people where she goes now, so I made sure they heard about her. It’s not going to end.” She shrugged. “I guess the point is, you can’t come back here. Looks like you’ll be living in Wombat Hole forever.”

“Kangaroo Valley!” I said. It was through tears. I couldn’t help it. They were running down my face. 
I can’t believe this is happening,
 I thought
. Surely I can still change it.

“But you were so keen for me to come tonight,” I said, pleading.

“We lied,” said Saffron, smiling, still hanging on to Darcy’s arm.

“Fair’s fair, right?” said Tiger Lily. “I mean, you lied to us first.”

“Oh, and by the way?” said Darcy. “You probably really need to do something about your teeth. I wouldn’t actually 
want
 to kiss you. Kind of gross.” He screwed up his face and looked down at Saffron. “You, on the other hand...”

Everything had hurt, but the crack about my teeth hit me low in the stomach. I couldn’t breathe, I could hardly see through tears and I felt like doubling over to protect myself. 
How can I get out of here?
 I thought. 
I need to get out of here
. But it wasn’t over yet. As I turned around, looking for an exit I felt hands on my back, pushing me. The pressure was firm, and then stronger. I couldn’t resist it and my whole body had to move. And then I was toppling and tossing and falling.

Right into the pool.

I swallowed water and came up, coughing, spluttering and panting for breath. It’s nearly impossible to breathe when you’re crying at the same time. I rubbed the water out of my eyes and looked up and that was when I heard it. Everyone was laughing. At me.

There was no way to salvage any of this. It was over. I climbed out of the pool and ran, tripping over, dripping water through the house, heading out the front door. In the front yard I scrabbled in my bag for the phone Mum had given me. At least that hadn’t gotten wet. Inside I could hear them laughing and high fiving and turning up the music.

I dialled Dad’s number and paced while the connection was made. Everything always is so slow when you’re desperate to escape. I manically tried to wipe the drips from my hands off the phone, but I had nothing dry to soak them up with and I was about to start crying all over again when Dad’s voice came on the line.