Surf School (12 page)

‘Hi, Tilly. Mitch here. Is Jasmine with you? Her mobile's switched off and she's supposed to be home.'

Tilly turned her back so Jamie couldn't hear. ‘Her mobile's on my recharger,' she lied. ‘She just ran back to the beach for her towel.'

‘Oh, well, can you let her know we're waiting for her. We're going out.'

‘Sure,' Tilly hung up, washed her face and raced to the door. ‘Be right back.'

She rode towards the beach. Diners flowed over the pavement at Jellyfish and she manoeuvred her bike around them and towards Fran, who was cleaning a table. Tilly hovered nervously.

‘Hey, Fran, seen Pink?'

Fran shook her head and kept wiping the table. ‘No, but you
could try the beach. She's probably down there with Mr Yellow Teeth again.'

Tilly ran her hands back and forth on the handle bars of her bike. ‘Fran, I'm really sorry about the other day. You've been so fantastic.'

Fran wrung the washer out, still not looking at her. ‘We really want to help you, Tilly, but you keep pushing us away, like you don't want us around. It's hard to know what to do.'

Tilly nodded. ‘I know. I'm so sorry. More than anything I want you all around. I just got crazy trying to do everything at the School. I got this thing in my head that if I could make the School better then Dad'd recover faster. I know it doesn't make sense but nothing makes sense since Dad got hurt.' She paused, not daring to look at Fran. ‘Forgive me?'

Fran threw her arms around Tilly and hugged her. ‘Of course, but you need to sort things out with Marlee. She saved those stupid boys. It wasn't her fault they almost drowned, but everyone around the beach thinks it is.'

Tilly's cheeks burned as she thought about her conversation with Shane, which now seemed to have travelled the length of the beach.

‘I know,' she said, ashamed. ‘Marlee wrote me a letter. I've tried calling her; I've been round to her place – maybe she's avoiding me?' She searched Fran's face for an answer.

‘I doubt it. Just keep trying. If I see her I'll tell her too.'

‘Thanks, Fran,' Tilly smiled gratefully.

She ripped down the bike path until she spotted Pink sitting crosslegged on the grass. Pink was singing tunelessly to a song
Tilly couldn't quite recognise and holding a bottle of beer. The guy with the dreads tapped his bongos and watched Tilly warily. Until now Tilly had only heard about Kim from Fran and Marlee, but now she could understand why he made them so uneasy. It wasn't one particular thing, but more an instinct.

‘Hey, Pink!' Tilly called, not moving from her bike.

Pink passed the beer bottle to Kim and raced over. She beamed at Tilly, whispering, ‘That's Kim. He's so amazing. He was just telling me about travelling through Africa.'

Kim flashed Tilly a peace sign, leaned back on his elbows.

‘Do you want to meet him?'

‘No,' Tilly said quickly, ignoring Pink's crestfallen look. ‘Sorry, not now. Your dad called. He's waiting for you. You're all going out.'

‘Oh, I totally forgot about Nanna's.' Pink held her hand up in front of her mouth, puffing breath into the palm of her hand. ‘Got any chewie?'

‘No. Just clean your teeth as soon as you get in,' Tilly glanced back at Kim. ‘You'd better go, your dad didn't sound too happy.'

Tilly pushed off, riding back the way she'd come but then veered down the side street towards Marlee's place, hoping to catch her.

The beach was almost empty but Marlee couldn't bring herself to go home, even though she still had her pamphlet run to do. She propped herself up on her elbows and peeked sideways at Kyle. He was looking at her.

‘My dad swears by these.' He knelt forwards, twisting his body gently to the side.

Marlee laughed. ‘He's winding you up! Bet that'll go down a treat in Hawaii.'

Kyle swapped sides. ‘That's where it came from. All the Hawaiians do them to build up their strength. Give 'em a try.'

‘No way. Look stupid by yourself.' Marlee laughed and pushed him into the sand.

‘You're just jealous you're not going,' he joked.

‘You betcha. I'd love to be going over there, especially with Jim as coach. You're so lucky, you know that, don't you?'

‘Yep. Why don't you apply? If they know you're serious you could go next season.'

‘Maybe I will. Right now I'd just be stoked to get a new board.' She raced into the water. ‘C'mon, let's have one last swim before it gets dark.'

I
t was nearly lunchtime when Tilly woke. The last four days had passed in a blur. She'd sleep all night and then, only a couple of hours after waking, she'd be tired again. So far she'd slept in her bed, on the couch, in the chair on the verandah, even on the loungeroom floor. If she'd been at the School, she was sure she'd have slept there too.

She vaguely remembered the police coming by earlier to drop off her dad's bike. It lay in the driveway, snapped and twisted like a grotesque sculpture. Tilly sat on the front step staring blankly at it. She checked her phone – there were no messages – then sent a text to Sam, telling him she'd be at the hospital soon.

Shane jogged towards her, still wet from the surf. He grabbed a towel as he ducked under their clothes line and sat opposite her on the path.

‘G'day, Tilly.' He dried off, his smile sheepish and endearing. ‘How's your dad going today?'

‘He's getting better,' she said flatly. And then out of habit added, ‘Want some lunch?'

Shane nodded. ‘Yeah, that'd be great, thanks. I'm starving.' He followed her inside, and Tilly forced herself not to ask how things were at the School. She needn't have bothered because Shane, as usual, got straight to the point.

‘Your dad's really onto something with those ads. We've had a lot more bookings since they went in.'

Tilly said nothing, shoving bread into the toaster with a little more force than she needed.

‘I've missed you.'

‘Really?' Tilly tried to keep the hurt out of her voice. ‘You're the first person in a while to tell me that.'

‘It feels a bit empty without you girls. I was just getting used to having you around.'

When Tilly didn't respond, he went on. ‘Look, Til, I know I can be grumpy and fly off the handle sometimes but that's just me. I blow up and think things through later. And as you know, the last few weeks have been a bit hard for all of us. Sometimes when we're under pressure or just worn out we say things we don't mean.'

Tilly buttered the toast, her back to him.

‘Truth is,' he continued, ‘you've been fantastic these last few weeks. You and all your mates. Especially Marlee. I was a bit hard on her. I didn't understand what'd happened until Kyle told me the full story later.'

‘What happened about the boys? Did their parents do anything else?'

‘One of the boys came in the next day with his mother. They wanted to thank Marlee for helping them. His story was totally different from the other boy's. It was much closer to Kyle's version and it made sense when I thought about the behaviour of those kids in class.' He pulled out an envelope. ‘Can you give this to Marlee?'

The guilt button was triggered in Tilly's gut. She reached across the table, picked up the envelope and tucked it into her boardies.

‘I was telling your old man last night that I couldn't have managed any of it without you.'

‘You said I was a pain in the arse,' Tilly replied, still smarting from his comment.

Shane laughed. ‘Well, you can be. So can I. Be lying if I said anything else. What I didn't say, and should've, is that you've been great. More than great. Look at this.' He pushed a sheet of paper towards her. ‘Class numbers have increased steadily each week and last week was our highest on record. I showed Phil last night – he nearly rolled out of bed!'

Tilly ran her finger over the figures as if that would help make them more real.

‘The thing is, Tilly, I'd love you to come back. I've put two more instructors on and that's taken a lot of the pressure off, but can you help out occasionally until they get settled in? Kyle's there at the moment but he still hasn't got a clue how the bookings work and, well, when he's in a mood he's got even less
social skills than me. Although the girls seem to like him,' Shane added, puzzled. ‘Some days they flap around him like seagulls over a chip.'

Tears pricked Tilly's eyes. ‘I thought I was being a nuisance. Everything I did seemed to make you angry.'

‘I'm not good with change. I always need a bit of time getting used to things.' Tilly put the plate of toast down and Shane bit into a piece hungrily.

‘Here,' he unclenched his fist. A ball of wet notes rolled onto the table. ‘For Fran,' he mumbled. ‘Seems her stuff's a bit of a hit.' He sipped his tea, chuckling. ‘Even one of the guys bought a bracelet.'

As the notes uncurled Tilly tried to estimate how much was there. More than one hundred dollars in four days! Fran will be stoked. She forced herself not to reach over and smooth the notes out.

‘And,' Shane squinted at a sheet of paper covered in Kyle's scrawly handwriting that had more notes folded up inside, ‘here are some photo orders Kyle took. He told the customers they'd be ready next week. Can you do that?'

Tilly scanned the list. ‘Wow, orders from four classes, and I've had some more online.' If she worked fast she could buy frames today and start putting them together.

‘So …'

‘Sorry,' Tilly looked at Shane. ‘Got a bit sidetracked adding up the orders. More toast?' She darted over to the toaster, shoving two more slices into the machine, and collected her notebook.

‘So,' Shane began again, ‘can we find a way to work together? You know I don't like all that marketing stuff but I can see the difference it's made to the School and the positive effect it's had on the pupils. It attracts the girls and they bring their brothers. So if you could help occasionally and do your photos and web page, that'd keep things rolling for us and give you a little money.'

Tilly's brain flew in five directions at once. She jotted down the possibilities. ‘We could do letterbox drops and I can finally do a corporate brochure. Barb Cook wants to book classes. We could double the School's figures.'

Tilly spoke quickly and all Shane heard were bubbles of sound exploding. He squeezed his eyes shut trying to follow what she was saying.

‘Hold it right there.' He put his hand up. ‘This is where we went off the rails before. Let's make a plan and add in a little thinking time. And don't forget your old man. When he gets home he won't be up to much for a while. He doesn't need us throwing him into a world takeover.'

Tilly reluctantly shut the book. ‘You're right. Sorry. I get excited when I think of how we can make that place great.'

‘It is already. Everything else is extra.' Shane twisted his watch towards him, then stood and drained his tea. ‘Speaking of which, I've got ten people waiting for me right now. Any chance you can give Kyle a break? He's really antsy to get away by 12.30.' He rinsed his plate and cup, stacking them neatly on the draining board. ‘It's gotta be a girl. I've never seen him carry on like this. He even brushed his hair this morning before he went for a surf.'

Tilly nodded, her heart thumping at the thought of possibly seeing Marlee. ‘Sure. I'll be down soon.'

Shane kissed her cheek. ‘Thanks. Your dad's proud of you and so am I.'

Tilly hung her head, embarrassed by the praise, wishing he'd leave.

‘Tell Kyle I'll be there soon as I can,' Tilly said.

When Shane left, she threw some gear into a bag, adding the money for Fran, then quickly opened the Blood Book.

If there are a million ways to say sorry, I'm going to find them all and say or do them. I feel SOOOOOOOOOOOOO bad about the things I've said. I should never have doubted you.

You're the family of my heart, Marlee Rose, and I lost sight of that for a while.

Can we talk? At least let me apologise in person.

Your best friend, even tho you might not think so …

Tilly

 

It didn't take Tilly long to find Marlee. She was sitting on their favourite seat looking at the surf. And her watch. In the few minutes it took Tilly to cross the road, Marlee had checked her watch four times. She jumped when Tilly put a hand on her shoulder.

‘Expecting someone?' Tilly smiled.

‘No. Yes. Just a friend.' Marlee turned back to the surf. A silence lapsed between them. Not the comfortable silences they normally shared watching the surf but an awkward one and Tilly couldn't help feeling that Marlee wanted her to go away.

‘Are you training for the contest?'

Marlee nodded.

‘Do you want to borrow my board? It'll only be a problem if we end up in the same heat.'

Marlee shook her head. ‘Thanks but I'll stick with mine. Hopefully it'll be the last time I need it.'

‘How's the training going?'

‘Pretty good.' Marlee checked the time again, looking down the path past Tilly.

Tilly held the Blood Book out to Marlee. ‘Marls, I'm so sorry about everything. I feel really bad. I didn't realise what'd happened in the surf. I thought you'd walked out and left me, and I've been stressed out about Dad, and the School.'

Marlee's eyes teared up but she said nothing. She turned back to the surf, her foot tapping endlessly against her skateboard.

Tilly struggled on. ‘You've been so great helping out. Dad
and Shane say that too, not just me.' She gave Marlee the envelope. ‘The boy you helped in the surf left this for you.' Then she added her money from the photo sales. ‘And here's some money for the work you've done.'

Marlee glanced at the envelope but didn't take it. ‘Thanks, but I don't want the money.'

Tilly tucked the money into Marlee's pocket. ‘I insist. And don't go all stubborn on me.'

‘Okay.' Marlee didn't smile or make any move to stop her. She jabbed her foot on the end of her skateboard, flipping the deck flat, and placing her foot on top, ready to take off.

Tilly smiled hopefully. ‘If you wanna come by later I'll be home. I can make apple crumble now – your favourite.'

‘I've got my pamphlet run tonight, so maybe after that. See you.' Marlee said it politely as though she would try and make it.

Tilly stepped forward instinctively to give Marlee a hug but Marlee swept her foot back, pushing the skateboard along the pavement, then paddled at the ground to pick up speed. She waved, not looking back.

‘Hi, Tilly!' Kyle glided past her on his skateboard.

‘Hi, Kyle. Hey! You left your sunnies at the School.'

But he waved and kept going. Tilly watched him disappear. Only then did she realise that she was still holding the Blood Book.

Tilly picked up the backpack she'd filled with clean washing. The ripe mangoes she'd carefully packed rolled around giving off a ripe summer smell that mingled with the dense afternoon
heat. She'd also put in Marlee's portion of slightly burnt apple crumble from the night before – Tilly had waited until midnight before finally giving up hope that Marlee would come – an article from the local paper was folded into one of the pockets. Someone had responded to the story about her dad's accident and the police had called this morning to let her know. No registration number, but they saw a vehicle driving away and the police thought it could still be in the area. Things were looking up.

‘Hello, my darling!' Phil called chirpily, holding his arms out to Tilly as she walked in.

‘Shhh, Dad, you'll get us chucked out.' Tilly climbed onto his bed, snuggling next to him. He hugged her so tight a mango squeezed out of her backpack and dropped onto the floor.

‘Oh, you've laid an egg!'

Tilly laughed, chasing the mango under the bed, then settled back down to show her dad the article.

Phil read it carefully, scratching his chin. The slightly grey prickles made a soft velcro noise as he ran his fingers back and forth. ‘The police have talked to me a couple of times but I can't remember anything. Wish I could. I've tried but I only get flashes, nothing that fits together. Maybe this new evidence will be enough to find the car.' He ran his finger playfully down Tilly's nose. ‘You know what, Til? I'm so glad to be alive and almost home. I just want to focus on that. The good things in life are what keep you going.'