The January Wish (17 page)

‘Wow.’ Sylvia’s mouth gaped open along with the curtain.

It actually looked fantastic. Somehow the ruffles spread out once the dress was on, and really flattered her petite figure. ‘I like it,’ Grace said, turning side to side in front of the mirror.

‘It’s made for you,’ Sylvia said. ‘But if you like, we’ll look around at some other stores just in case.’

‘I’m happy to go with this one.’ Grace smiled, waiting for Sylvia’s agreement as she had offered to pay for it, and closed the curtain to get back into her white cheesecloth skirt and lime green singlet.

When Sylvia got her purse out to pay at the counter, Grace saw it. Another dress. A
perfect
dress. Even better than the pink ruffle one. ‘Um…’ she started. ‘Sylvia?’

‘Yes?’

Grace pointed feebly in the direction of the other dress, an amazing satin creation with varying shades of purple and silver. Strapless, the dress itself looked like an embrace, wrapping from the back around to the front and crossing over in the middle.

Thankfully, Sylvia didn’t seem disappointed. In fact, she seemed in awe of it as well. ‘How did I miss that?’ she asked, moving towards the dress like a moth to a flame. ‘This is exquisite,’ she said, lifting the dress off the rack and turning it over in her hands.

Grace stepped closer, and her heart sank to her stomach. It was double the price of the pink dress.

Sylvia didn’t seem to notice. ‘Try it on Grace. If you like it more than the pink dress, then we’ll get it.’

‘But…’ Grace gestured surreptitiously towards the price tag.

‘It’s twice as much, so what?’ Sylvia led Grace back to the change room, the sales assistant’s face lighting up, probably in anticipation of her commission. ‘Grace, I want you to wear the dress you like the best. If this is it, then this is it.’

This was it.

Grace didn’t want to take it off. When she closed the curtain after showing it off to Sylvia and the sales assistant, she stood for a few moments, looking at herself in the mirror. Bloody awesome! She wished Jonah could see her now. Maybe he’d come to the concert, she could ask him tonight. After meeting his friends at Café Lagoon last Saturday night, Jonah had asked Grace if she would like to join them all at the annual Youth Festival in Miracle Park tonight. In Tarrin’s Bay, there seemed to be a festival or some kind of event on almost every weekend. She couldn’t wait to see him. Although it wasn’t like a date; his friends would be there, but surely he wouldn’t have asked her if he didn’t like her in
some
way.

‘Your daughter looks beautiful,’ Grace heard the sales assistant say outside the change room. There was a brief pause and then a soft, ‘Yes, she does,’ from Sylvia. Grace wished she could have seen Sylvia’s expression at Grace being called her daughter. It must be weird for her. Hell, it was weird for Grace too.

Grace took the dress off, changed quickly, and went straight to the counter before any rival teenager could grab it from her. There was only one in her size. She was so glad she’d noticed it before Sylvia paid for the pink dress, nice as it was.

‘Half an hour and we’re done, can you believe it?’ Grace said as they walked from the shop, boutique bag in her hand.

‘Told you I was a good shopper. Although it was you who found the dress. Maybe you didn’t need me after all.’ Sylvia chuckled.

‘Are you kidding? I would never have gone into that shop if you hadn’t brought me to it.’ Oops, Grace hoped that didn’t offend Sylvia. ‘I mean, I usually go to the cheapest shops first,’ she corrected.

‘Then let’s say it was a joint effort,’ Sylvia said.

Grace nodded. ‘So, where to now?’

‘You’ll need some jewellery to go with the dress, and a nice pair of heels.’

Wow. Grace hadn’t thought beyond the dress. Shopping for fancy clothes without paying a cent, followed by a fun night ahead with a cute guy—this was every eighteen-year-old girl’s idea of the perfect day!

Grace was almost at the Wishing Fountain, the obviously popular meeting spot in Tarrin’s Bay, when she received a text message.

Soooo sorry Grace but I have 2 stay at work till about 9pm, 1 of the staff went home sick. U can still meet the others as planned. If u want to hang around, meet me at cafe at 9. Jonah
.

Oh, crap. Should she go back to the caravan, or meet Jonah’s friends? She barely knew them, and didn’t want to tag along like the odd one out. But if she didn’t meet them, they’d know she was only coming to see Jonah. How desperate would that look? She continued walking and came to the fountain.

They were already there. Everyone smiled to greet her.

‘Hey Grace,’ Susie said, her arm around Josh. There was also another girl, Lauren, and two other guys, Chris, and, oh what was the other dude’s name? Something difficult to pronounce. It was on the tip of her tongue.

‘Did you get Jonah’s message?’ Josh asked, eyebrows raised.

‘Yeah, just then,’ Grace replied, holding up her phone.

‘The bugger’s always standing us up,’ Josh said.

‘I don’t blame him wanting to rack up some extra bucks, he needs as much as he can get,’ the nameless guy said.

‘Jianyu,’ Lauren whispered, nudging him discreetly in the ribs.

Jianyu!
That was his name. She repeated it in her mind a few times to imprint the memory. Anyway, what was that nudging about? So what if Jonah needed money? Probably spends his income on the finer things in life. For a moment Grace imagined Jonah taking her out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, candlelight warming his face, their hands entwined on the table…

‘Let’s grab some burgers,’ Josh said, leading the group towards a stall set up in the park. They all walked together, three girls and three guys, and strangely Grace was reminded of
The Brady Bunch
. When she was younger she loved watching the reruns on TV, total ‘comfort television’.

Steam rose from the hamburger stall, and strong smells of onions, beef, and tomato sauce had Grace salivating. Mark Bastian wouldn’t approve, but she wasn’t about to tout her health plan in front of Jonah’s friends. She held up her phone and took a photo of the festival while there was still some light.

They wandered around the park, hamburgers filling their mouths, live music filling their ears as it emanated from the stage. It was an alcohol-free event, and people wearing glow-bands around their wrists handed out brochures on the dangers of alcohol and drugs. Grace didn’t need one, she wasn’t stupid. Unlike some of the kids at school last year who drank themselves silly after the HSC, a couple of her friends included. All Grace wanted to do when it was over was go home, throw all her books out, and sleep for a week. All that effort, and she still didn’t know what to do with her life. That was what this year was about—finding out where she came from and where to go from here. After yesterday’s audition she had a twinge of hope that maybe she could pursue a music career, but in reality, it would probably be really hard to make a living from playing the piano. If she could sing, well that would be another matter, but not that many people became famous pianists.

When they all finished eating, they tried out a few of the novelty games, like trying to throw a toy frog on a floating lily pad. Grace’s frog kept landing on the edge, pushing the lily pad away and floating off with the other reject frogs. Three bucks down the drain. Lauren managed to get her last frog on a lily pad, winning a plastic toy bird who tweeted incessantly when you threw it up in the air.

‘Here, you have it,’ Lauren said, handing the creature to Grace.

Gee. Thanks.
‘Aww, that’s nice of you,’ Grace replied, taking the bird. She bet if Jonah were here he would have got all three frogs to land on the lily pad, winning her one of the giant fluffy toys which would take up half her caravan.

As the late summer sun went down and was replaced by a moonlit sky, they lined up for the dodgem cars. They were clearly the most popular attraction, the crowd growing larger by the minute. Grace and Lauren took the last two dodgem cars, while the others had to wait for the next session. Grace enjoyed bumping and dodging the other cars, her head bobbing this way and that, despite the insistent ramming from behind by a creepy looking guy in a black singlet and beanie. Whenever she tried to go around him he’d cut her off, sniggering to himself. Idiot.

Soon the cars went limp and the girls clambered out, Lauren mouthing to the others, ‘We’ll meet you around back.’

‘I haven’t been in a dodgem car for ages!’ Grace remarked.

‘They’re always fun,’ Lauren replied. ‘So tell me, what do you think of Jonah?’

Luckily it was dark behind the dodgem track so Lauren wouldn’t be able to see her blushing. ‘Um, he’s nice I guess.’ Grace shrugged.

‘Just nice? C’mon, I saw the way your eyes sparkled when you watched him work at the café last Saturday night,’ Lauren insisted.

Grace bowed her head, unable to withhold a grin. ‘Is it that obvious?’

Lauren nodded. ‘That’s good, because I reckon he has the hots for you too. Big time.’

‘What? Huh? Why? What did he say?’ Grace’s speech reverted to that of a five-year-old after a red cordial overload.

‘Let’s just say he’s been talking about you. A LOT.’

Grace giggled like a child and covered her face with her hand. Just then an arm swung around her shoulders.

‘Evening darlin’, lookin’ good tonight.’ It was the idiot from the dodgem cars, his beefy skin emitting a combination of alcohol and body odour. Grace shrugged his arm off and stepped back, but he swung his arm back around her, the other around Lauren, pulling them in close to his body.

‘Hey, get lost, will ya?’ Lauren had him off her in a second, holding an arm in front of Grace as if to shield her.

He didn’t get the message. He leaned in towards Lauren, trying to put his arms around her. ‘C’mon babe, show me some love,’ he slurred.

Lauren pushed his arms down and away. ‘Leave us alone. C’mon Grace.’ They turned away and walked quickly in the direction of the crowd.

This only irritated the guy. He lurched forwards and grabbed Lauren’s ponytail, pulling her head backwards. Grace’s heart skipped a beat and she froze, not sure whether to run or help Lauren. She didn’t have to do either. In an instant, Lauren had spun around, her forearm pushing his arm out of the way, before grabbing his shoulders and kneeing him in the groin. As he collapsed forwards, crying out in pain, Lauren grabbed Grace’s hand. ‘C’mon,’ she said.

‘You bitch, arghhh!’ The guy tried to walk towards them again but couldn’t, his hands cupped around his groin.

‘Take that!’ Grace yelled, throwing the plastic toy bird at him. It missed. But at least the sound of the bird’s tweeting shocked him enough to wonder what the hell it was.

Lauren found one of the security guards who was covering the crowded area and pointed out the guy to him. Moments later he was escorted out of the park.

‘You were amazing!’ Grace told Lauren. ‘I thought he was going to drag us off somewhere, but you…you kicked a grown man’s arse!’

Lauren smiled. ‘I didn’t want to hurt him, he obviously just had a few too many, but when he grabbed my hair my instincts took hold.’

‘Damn good instincts! I just froze. Great help I was,’ Grace said.

‘It was nothing. Just my training kicking in.’

‘What sort of training?’ Grace asked.

‘Taekwondo. I got my black belt last year.’

‘Awesome! I picked the right girl to hang with then,’ Grace said.

‘Actually, the others are black belts too.’

‘All of you? Jonah too?’

Lauren nodded. ‘That’s how most of us became friends, we’re in classes together. Susie and Josh also went to the same school as me, and I’ve known Jonah since I was a kid.’

‘Wow. And I came here tonight feeling like the odd one out to start with, now I find out you’re all ninjas!’ Grace laughed.

‘Actually, ninjas undergo different training. Anyway, no need to feel like the odd one out, I’m glad you came tonight. You’re a lot of fun.’

‘I am?’

Lauren nodded and smiled.

It felt nice for Grace to have made a new friend. She missed her friends from Melbourne. ‘So what do you do during the day, Lauren? Do you work, or study?’

‘Study,’ she replied, shaking her blonde hair loose from its ponytail. ‘I’m in my final year of a dance degree at Welston Uni.’ She scooped up her hair and retied her ponytail.

Grace’s eyes widened. ‘Wow, I didn’t know you could do dance at uni. I’m starting dance classes in town soon, though I doubt I’ll be any good. You must be awesome if you’re in your final year!’

Lauren flicked her hand. ‘Ah, it’s what I love to do. I hope to start my own dance school one day.’

‘So you’re a
dancing
ninja,’ Grace said.

Lauren chuckled. ‘Yeah, maybe I should invent my own style of
entertaining self defence.
’ She moved her arms in a beautiful flourish and followed up with a sharp punch in the air.

‘Sounds like fun!’

‘Who knows, it could be the next craze,’ Lauren replied, then burst out laughing.

‘What are you laughing at? Do I have food stuck in my teeth?’ Grace slid her tongue across her teeth just in case.

‘No, sorry,’ Lauren said. ‘I’m just remembering the way you threw that annoying bird at the guy.
‘“Take that!”
‘ she mimicked Grace’s earlier display of aggression, and they both folded forward in giggles.

‘What’s so funny?’ Josh asked, the rest of Jonah’s friends coming over from behind the dodgems.

‘Oh, nothing,’ Lauren said.

‘Actually, Lauren just saved me from getting attacked by some creep. She was awesome!’

‘Really? You okay?’

Grace nodded. ‘I’m fine. He grabbed Lauren by the hair, but she got him where it hurts before he could do anything else.’

‘Way to go girl, is he gone now?’ Josh asked.

‘Yeah, he got escorted out of here.’

‘You’ll have to tell Master Jin at class next week,’ Susie said, before turning to Grace. ‘He’s our Taekwondo instructor,’ she explained.

‘I thought so, Lauren told me you guys all do classes together.’

‘Hey, you should come along!’ Lauren put her hand on Grace’s arm.