Starfish Sisters (18 page)

'Are you meeting lover boy tonight?' Georgie asked
through the mirror as we were brushing our teeth.
'Hubba hubba?'

'No.' I flicked my toothbrush at her. 'He's camping at
Mount Warning tonight. He wants to climb to the very
top so he can watch the sunrise tomorrow morning.'

'So he's a bushwalker?' she said, smirking. 'Lovely.'

'Shut up.'

'Where do you meet him?' Kia called from the
bedroom.

I popped my head out to see her stretched over my
bed taking pictures with my mobile.

'I'm going to put those photos on myspace, Kia
Braidwood,' I threatened. 'And there's nothing you'll
be able to do about it.'

'You know I really thought I'd miss my phone.' Kia
was still snapping herself. 'But I haven't at all.'

'Yeah, it's been kind of nice, hasn't it?' agreed
Georgie.

Those two needed a lobotomy. Life was not livable
without a phone.

'I want to do that myspace,' Micki said. 'Everyone at
school has it.'

'You have to get it,' Kia told her. 'That way we can
post heaps of messages to each other.'

'We have to promise to keep in contact.' Georgie was
peeling little flakes of skin off her nose. 'I put so much
cream on today and yet I still got burnt. Why did I have
to be born with this complexion?'

'I'm going to really miss this place,' Kia sighed.

'We might all be back together in six months,' I told
them. 'Jake was stoked with our surfing this morning.
The way he was talking, even though I pretended I
wasn't listening 'cause I'm still pissed with him, was
like we are in the training team for sure.'

No one said anything back. But I guess for Georgie,
Kia and Micki it was such a huge dream that to agree
with me could have seemed like jinxing themselves.

'Hey,' Georgie said, 'I have an idea. Let's play truth
or dare.'

'Hey, yeah,' I agreed. This was the perfect night for
it. Jules was away and then when I saw him tomorrow
I could give him all the details.

We dragged the pillows and blankets into the middle of
the room and made a little camp site like we had the
night we sat up with Kia.

'I'll go first.' Georgie sounded very serious. Hopefully
she'd rehearsed the way she was going to ask
Micki what was wrong with her dad.

'Micki?' Georgie sat up. I swear I saw her throat
gulp.

Micki elected truth.

'Do you think you'll be selected on Friday?'

Why was Georgie asking that? She was meant to
lead in with a couple of questions like did she miss her
mum, and then ask the big one.

Micki held her face in her hands and sighed. 'I really,
really want to be,' she admitted. 'But I'm scared my age
is against me.'

'I'll go next?' Kia squirmed.

Now we were going to have to go around the whole
circle before we got back to Micki.

Georgie asked the same question about Friday.

'Well.' Kia rocked from side to side thinking about
her answer. 'Probably not. But I would sooo love to be
selected for the training team. Today I was thinking
maybe I could make it next year. Maybe?'

'What about you, Ace?' Georgie asked.

'Hang on.' It was hard to get Georgie's attention
without the others noticing. 'I haven't said if I want
truth or dare.'

Georgie shrugged. 'I know, but I wanted to ask
whether you think you're going to get into the team.'

Micki and Kia looked at each other, then at Georgie.

'You can't really ask me that, Georgie,' I whispered.
'It's not really fair.'

Georgie was the only one I'd told that I was a sure
thing, and that I was just here at the selection camp
because I had to be.

Georgie was staring at me but in a weird way that
was starting to give me the creeps. 'What? Why are you
looking at me like that?'

'Ace, I don't think . . .' Georgie began. 'I don't think
it's – definite – you'll be selected on Friday.'

No sound came out of my mouth. Did Georgie really
just say that? Me, the only sponsored one here, not
selected?

I couldn't think of anything to say. Not one single
thing. Georgie was being deadly serious.

'You've been distracted,' she continued.

Was she loving this? No! She wouldn't be loving
this. We were friends. I was the one Georgie spoke to
when she was unsure if she still wanted to compete.
Not Kia. Not Micki. Me!

'Ace, I feel so bad about saying it.'

Micki and Kia nodded in agreement.

I sat there feeling like I'd just been nailed by some
freak wave that'd rolled into the bungalow unannounced.

'Maybe it's not too late?' Kia's voice gurgled through
the silence in my head. 'Jake said, "Ace'd better get her
act –" '

'Jake?' A barking sound erupted up my throat. 'Jake!
When did Jake talk to you? What did he say?'

'He, he didn't talk to me,' Kia muttered. 'He sort of
mentioned something, something in passing to Georgie.'

'What! What did he say to you, Georgie?'

Georgie wouldn't meet my gaze no matter how
hard I glared at her.

'He said that you hadn't been focused and that you
were wasting your talent,' she said. 'And that the time
here had almost run out.'

'Exactly,' Kia said. '
Almost
run out. He didn't say it
had
run out and that Ace had no chance.'

Quickly I looked to Georgie to gauge her response.
But she just shrugged. This had to be a joke. Well, it was
a bad one.

'What about if Ace worked really hard from now?'
Kia was consulting Georgie about my future! 'Do you
reckon Jake would reconsider?'

'There's still the reserve position?' Now that, coming
from Micki, was really waaaay too much.

I jumped up. I had to get out of here.

There was no point going into the bathroom because
when I came out
they'd
still be here. I couldn't text Jules
to meet me, thanks to some stupid quest of his to see the
sunrise. And Tim, well, there was no Tim anymore.
Anyway, all he'd probably say was, 'You'll still have
your sponsors 'cause you look good,' which'd make me
want to scream and shout more than I already did!

So I left the bungalow door shaking in its frame and
started walking.

Soon, I was running. Angry, spitting thoughts were
charging through my head like bullets.

I am Courtney McFarlane, the Ocean Pearl girl! Fully,
one hundred per cent sponsored. I got my first sponsor when
I was twelve! Georgie hasn't signed a thing and she's almost
fifteen! Less than two years ago I was picked as a wild card
for the nationals! I have won more titles than Georgie's
shoved hamburgers down her fat throat! What the hell would
she know?

In less than a second, the thoughts drained from my
head. Three guys, totally off their faces, were stumbling
along the beach towards me. It was like they'd
appeared out of nowhere. I hadn't seen them coming.
I hadn't even heard them and now they'd spotted me.

It was too late to turn and go the other way.
Suddenly they were right there, right in front of me.
Face to face.

'Hey gorgeoush.' The taller one stepped towards
me. 'Whad are you doin' ta'night?'

The other two started laughing and coming closer.
One of them was playing with the fly on his jeans and
kind of wiggling his pelvis like I wanted him.

My heart was banging and the air in my throat was
being squeezed out. A word spiralled through my
brain. It was big and black:
RUN
!

I ran.

Behind me I could hear them calling, until soon their
voices became my voice screeching through my brain.
Courtney McFarlane, promising Ocean Pearl-sponsored
surfer who could've had a big future on the women's pro
circuit, found raped and mutilated on Coolina Beach
.

My feet pounded along the sand, faster and faster,
until I felt the grass, the soft damp grass underneath
my feet that told me I was almost home.

The zinc was so thickly pasted on my face that it was
almost hard to talk. But I had not come to surf camp to
lose my nose. My thighs perhaps. But not my nose.

'Do I look like an idiot?' I asked Micki.

'Yes!' answered Kia.

'Here, give me some.' Micki wiped her finger across
my cheek. 'I'll put some on my nose.'

'I really need to wash this stuff off my hands.' I held
up my glistening white palms. 'I wish Ace'd hurry up
in the loo.'

'Do you think she's talking to us?' Kia asked me.

But like Kia, I had no idea. Except that today could
be – interesting.

The door handle clicked and we all looked over as
Ace came out of the bathroom.

Quietly, she said, 'Good morning.'

We gave a mixture of mumbles that formed a 'Hey',
'Hi' and 'Morning'.

'Hey, Georgie, what's after breakfast?' Kia asked.
''Cause I think they were going to change it to –'

'A stretch class. That's what they changed it to,' Ace
answered. 'Then after that are surf groups until lunch,
then the same after lunch.'

'Oh.' Kia nodded. 'Thanks.'

I finished making my bed. So Ace had read the
timetable. Did that mean we'd got through to her?

'I'm, I'm sorry about the way I behaved last night,'
Ace said.

'Where did you go?' Kia was always so clumsy.

I puffed my pillows waiting for Ace to bite. But she
didn't.

'I just went for a walk,' she replied. 'I needed some
air. So – do you forgive me?'

Kia's 'Yes' hit the ceiling while Micki's and mine
hardly got off the floor.

'Georgie?' Ace said. 'Are you mad with me?'

I wanted to say, 'Mad? No, I'm not mad. But I'm
really sick of you leaving the bungalow in the middle of
the night and not coming back for ages.'

Instead, I settled for, 'I thought you were mad with
me.'

'You were just saying what someone else told you.'
She shrugged and started to pick her clothes up off the
floor.

I excused myself and went to the bathroom. I did
not feel like this.

'Carla wants to speak to you and Ace,' Shyan told me,
as I was demolishing my third bowl of muesli.

'What, now?'

'Finish your breakfast,' she laughed. 'She's in her
office.'

'Where is Ace?' Kia asked.

I glanced down the length of the table. I'd assumed
she was sitting away from us. Even though she'd asked
for forgiveness and stuff it was obvious there was still
something up her bum.

'She's still in the surf,' Megan told us. 'She told me
she wasn't hungry.'

'See you later.' I took my bowl and left the table.

I couldn't be bothered going down to the beach to
get Ace. It'd be easier to see Carla on my own.

'What do you think Carla wants?' Kia had followed
me to the mess table.

'No idea,' I answered.

Kia was watching me, her forehead all crinkled and
worried. So many times she'd looked at me in this way.
I'd never understood how deep that frown really went.
But now I did.

The cutting thing – well, I'd never get that. But I
understood that the doubt and uncertainty I could see
in her was what drove it.

'I'll tell you what Carla wanted when I get back.'
I smiled at her. 'I promise.'

'Hey, Georgie,' Carla called from her desk. 'Come in.'

'Thanks.'

'Is Ace behind you?'

'No,' I replied. 'I came on my own.'

Carla handed me a bit of paper and a pen. 'Write
down what you want me to print out about the fashion
parade tonight. Can the girls order the bikinis? Are you
going to say it's a board fund for Micki or have you –'

'We're not having the fashion parade.'

'Oh?'

'Sorry,' I sighed. 'I think I thought that 'cause we
hadn't said any more to you that you presumed it was
off. Sorry, Carla.'

'But Ace told me a couple of days ago that it was
going ahead,' Carla explained. 'She even asked me
about some friends you guys had around here – if they
could come and watch too.'

My back sunk into the chair. Friends? How about
friend, singular? One guess who that was.

'So is it on?' Carla asked. 'Otherwise I'll arrange
something else for tonight's activity. I think you've all
watched just about every DVD on the planet.'

'It's off.' I stood up to leave. 'Completely off.'

I spied Ace walking up to the bungalow. My legs
switched into fast gear, as I cut across the grass towards
her.

'Ace?' I called.

Didn't she hear me? Or did she just not bother
stopping?

'Ace!' I called louder.

She turned and waved.

My pace accelerated into something between a half-walk,
half-run that had my bum swinging from side to
side.

Ace waited at the doorway to our bungalow. 'What's
wrong, Georgie?'

'I want a word with you,' I panted. 'Inside.'

I shut the door behind us and stood against it. My
heart was thumping.

There was a part of me that wanted to cry and
another part that wanted to grab Ace's blonde locks
and pull them till she screamed for forgiveness.

'What is it?' she asked. 'I thought we were sorted.'

'Well. We're not,' I answered.

Ace shrugged.

'Was there something you'd forgotten to tell me?'
I spat. 'About tonight? Hmm?'

Ace muttered a 'huh?' before the recognition flashed
across her face.

'The parade.'

'Yes, the parade,' I repeated.

'I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you I spoke to Carla about it.'

'No, Ace. You forgot to tell Carla that we aren't
having the parade.' The pace of my heartbeat had
quadrupled. 'You had no right to go ahead and
organise it! They're not your bikinis. It's not something
you can just –'

'I thought we were doing it for Micki. That's why
I went ahead.'

'Bullshit!' I shouted. 'You went ahead 'cause you
were going to try and get Jules up here so he could
watch you strut around.'

'How dare you!' Ace screamed back.

'Carla told me that you asked about some' – I
wiggled my fingers as I spat out the word – ' "Friends"
that we knew around here, coming to watch the
parade.'

Ace's mouth opened wide but she knew she'd been
caught. There was no use trying to deny it.

'How could you do that?' My voice sizzled. 'I
thought you understood it wasn't right when Kia
couldn't be a part of it.'

'But I said she could be the compere.'

'Kia couldn't be a compere if her life depended on it!
Don't you see how nervous she gets? Not everyone's
like you, Ace.'

Ace sort of dropped onto her bed, bum first.

'They'd all want to know why Kia wasn't modelling
her own bikinis that
she
designs. It's different me not
modelling 'cause I'm big. I look ridiculous in them. No
one'd question it. But Kia's got a really good figure and
she couldn't use the excuse that the water's cold 'cause
she'd be on land.'

Ace's head was bobbing up and down in time with
little sobs.

'I don't know why you went ahead and did it, Ace,'
I said. 'I mean, I do know why but I can't believe you'd
do that to Kia. Not after what's happened.'

'I know,' Ace sniffed. 'You're right. Everything you're
saying's true. I don't think I really thought about it.'

'Shove over,' I grunted.

Ace moved up a little. I sat down on the bed and put
my arm around her.

'I don't know what's wrong with me,' Ace cried. 'I
feel all over the place.'

'It was pretty harsh what I said to you last night.
And Friday's almost on us. Hardly anyone spoke at
breakfast. I think we're all starting to feel the pressure.'

'Oh, it's not that.' Ace shook her head. 'I mean, it is
but it's not. If you know what I mean.'

'Not really.'

'I feel like I've stuffed everything up.' Again Ace
shook her head and fresh tears started springing from
her eyes. 'I'm scared. I'm so scared. Just say I don't get
selected on Friday? What'll happen? OP will dump me
for sure or I'll just end up being their bikini girl until
I'm fat and old and look like my mother.'

'It's not too late, Ace.' I felt so bad that I had been the
one to bring Ace down. It wasn't my fault, though. Jake
was right, she brought this on herself. Still, it was
horrible to see. But Ace could get back on top. She
was driven, whether it was in the surf or chasing Jules.
I'd seen it. In many ways her drive had inspired me.
'You can get back on top, Ace. You got over your
shoulder injury.'

'Did I?' she replied. 'I feel like that's when it all
started going wrong. I wasn't surfing and I met Tim. I
know now that was a lethal combination.' Ace's tears
stopped. She sat up straight and I heard her suck in the
air. 'And I'm never going to let that happen again.'

Ace's words started softly then grew louder and
louder. 'You know, I thought that Tim really liked me.
But he didn't – he didn't
really
like me. The worst thing
is, I feel so used by him.'

'Ace,' I whispered, 'Tim didn't deserve you.'

'I went all the way with him, you know.'

'Did you?'

'He wasn't very nice to me.' Ace leant her head on
my shoulder. 'Not like Jules. Jules makes me feel – light.
Tim didn't. I feel this enormous relief that I'm not with
him anymore.'

Back and forth we rocked.

'If by some miracle I make the selections,' Ace said, 'I
am going to do everything I can to get back on top. I'm
going to get in there with a new attitude and show
them that I'm not finished. I know I can do it.'

'That's the spirit,' I told her.

'Will you help me, Georgie?'

'I'd love to.'

'Your name will be called out on Friday,' she said.

I kept my mouth shut. I didn't dare let anyone hear,
especially myself, how much I wanted it.