Spiralling Out of the Shadow (The Spiralling Trilogy) (2 page)

I
climbed aboard my flight to Queensland, checking the rows as I shuffled down the aisle, and oh my goodness! Sitting in the seat next to mine was the hottest guy. His citrusy scent hit my nose. A shiver ran through my body. Not that I was interested. I didn’t want a boy distracting me from school. Right now, all I wanted was to have fun with my friends.

I glanced at him again as he turned the page of his
Business Review Weekly
magazine. He smiled, pushing together his crow’s feet. Hmm, at least ten years older than me. This man was the ultimate in gorgeousness. He clipped up his seatbelt nudging me with his bulging bicep.

My tongue died in my mouth. I couldn
’t think of a thing to say as I slid past him. I sat in silence and began to turn him into the perfect man. A gentleman who always opened the door. A man who was strong enough to fight off a lion, yet soft and sincere inside. A man who was polite and caring. A man who could focus and chase his dreams.

T
ouchdown. Bounce, bump, bounce.

Yikes!
Bad timing. I was busting to go to the bathroom. Our less-than-smooth landing brought me smash-bang back to why I was on the plane and why I was landing in Brisbane. This week was all about best friend visiting duties.

I though
t about the last conversation I’d had with Stephanie. In hindsight, I’d been swept away in the moment. My suggestion for her to come live with us was probably one of the craziest, most harebrained ideas I’d ever had. I mentioned the idea to Mum before I flew out and she also seemed thrilled with the idea.

‘
Well of course she could stay with us,’ she’d said. ‘We can offer her Peter’s room now that he’s planning to go to Melbourne.’

My brother’
s room had been pretty much empty since he met Phoebe, his new squeeze.

I exited the plane and left Mr Biceps behind, expecting to
see Stephanie waiting for me. I’d imagined we’d scream, ‘Hello!’ wave our arms and do a couple of leg kicks, something Stephanie liked to do in public to let everyone know we were dancers. But no. No one was waiting. I followed the signs to the baggage carousel, drifting along with the other travellers. Alone.

Where were they?
With my phone wedged between my shoulder and ear, I looked up. The phone slipped off my shoulder and I only just caught it before it crashed to the floor. Standing beside me was the perfect Mr Biceps.

Stephanie
’s voice snapped me back to reality. ‘Tabbie, are you in?’

‘
Yes! The plane just landed. This is so exciting. Are you here?’

‘
We’re caught in traffic. I’ll ring again when we’re closer.’

‘
Who else is with you?’

‘Just Mum.
April’s at a friend’s house and Dad’s working.’

I threw the phone back into my handbag and swung around to watch Mr Biceps walk away. Content that I
’d now burnt his profile, front on and rear image into my memory, I dragged my bag off the conveyor belt, then bumped my way through the crowd and out into the sunshine.

My mobile buzzed.

‘Hi Tabbie. Do you want us to come inside or are you out already?’

‘
I’m outside.’ I waved to a sea of cars lined up, searching for their bomb of a family car. ‘I can see you.’

They
pulled up in front of me. Stephanie jumped out and opened the back door of the car. We embraced. Her body trembled against my arms but when she pulled away her face gave no clues. Diane opened the boot, dumped my bag and said a quick hello before she jumped back into the driver’s seat. She was like that.

‘
What have we got planned?’ I slid into the backseat and Stephanie followed.

‘
Nothing really. Maybe a day of exploring tomorrow.’ She leant back against the seat and swiped away a tear.

‘
Steph ...’

‘
Stop.’ She held a hand up to my face. ‘I’m fine,’ she whispered, flashing warning eyes towards her mother.

Steph
and her mother weren’t close at all.

I stared through the window
, mourning the schedule of socialising that was on the agenda back home. I had to let it go and cheer up Stephanie.

‘
So, I’ve been dancing, but it—’ She cut me off before I could finish saying, “it isn’t the same without you.”

‘
Suzie and Janet still irritating?’

‘
You’ve never called them irritating before.’

‘
Well, they are.’ Stephanie pulled at her fingernails.

I bit the inside of my mouth and turned away. She used to only be like this when she was super stressed about something. Maybe it was more than just the move and kids at the new school.

‘Is it better having your dad around more?’

‘We don’
t seem to see him any more than when we lived in Sydney and he travelled up here a couple of days each week.’

‘
Oh, bummer.’ Maybe that was adding to her problems.

Stephanie shrugged.

‘Co-ed is pretty different, hey?’

‘Yeah.’

I expected her to go on but she looked out the window.

‘
What’s Peter up to?’

‘I haven’
t seen him since you left. He spends all his time with his girlfriend or working at the servo. Mum and Dad are happy now he’s planning to go to university next year, even though he wants to go to Melbourne.’

‘
What about his girlfriend?’

‘
Phoebe? Yeah, I don’t know. His course won’t start for another ten months. They mightn’t even be together then.’

S
ilence echoed off the internal car walls, doing my head in until my mobile chirped. I seized the moment to entertain myself texting back and forth to Janet. Stephanie forced a sigh. I put my phone away. Conversation had never been stilted between us like this. We always talked without stopping. Like we survived on each other’s breath.

I br
oke the silence and whispered, ‘Have you talked to your parents about the possibility of moving back to Sydney?’

‘
Kind of ... no, not really. Just ... I’ll tell you about it when we get home.’

The road wound its way up the Great Dividing Range
to Toowoomba. We got caught behind a slow, fumy truck. Their old Ford gurgled and surged forward, only just picking up enough speed to pass the truck by the time we drove out into openness again at the top of the range. We drove another fifteen minutes to pick up Stephanie’s little sister. The snaking road mixed with inconsistent speed made my stomach churn by the time we arrived at their house.

Steph led me to her room where I collapsed onto her bed and hoped the motion sickness would settle.

‘Keep out!’ she told her little sister, then closed the door with a slap.

‘
So has there been any change at school?’ I asked.

‘What do you mean?’ Stephanie sat beside me.

‘When you stopped getting all embarrassed and just smiled at the guys harassing you?’

‘
No, they’re still the same. I’ve only tried the smile thing once. Today.’

‘
Give it time. Now tell me, why aren’t you dancing?’ I rolled over onto my elbow, thankful my stomach had stopped churning.

‘
Tabbie!’

‘
Come on, Steph. You love dancing and you’re so good at it.’

‘
Well, I guess I was just angry with Mum and Dad and everything, so I told them I didn’t want to dance. Like, ever again. Now that I’ve said it, I guess it’s true.’

‘
Just because you said it once to your parents doesn’t mean you can’t ever dance again. Let me show you part of the new routine.’ I was willing to try anything to get her out of her mood. I found the song on my iPod, plugged it into Steph’s dock and started to dance. ‘Make you want to join in?’

‘
No.’

‘
Just a little?’ I pulled a cute and cheesy smile to lighten her mood.

‘
No. I’ve made my decision.’

‘
There’s more to it than what you told your parents, hey?’

‘
The girls who dance here hate me.’

Oh dear.
Tears. I found a box of tissues and passed her some. ‘They just don’t know you yet.’

‘
They don’t want to know me, Tabbie. They hate me. They’re mean. They’re rude. And they’re just different to us.’

I was lost for words
. Now was definitely not a good time to tell her I was dancing lead. Should I console her? Should I encourage her to be stronger? What was I meant to do to help her? A “Dinner’s ready” call came from downstairs.

I sat back and observed
the Stronges. Their amusing antics made them interesting to watch. Sweet April wanted to be a superstar. Mr Stronge worked long hours and didn’t seem to care too much about home life. Mrs Stronge and Mum had been friends when we were in primary school, but for some reason they stopped shopping and going out for coffee together. I never really understood why. I did ask Mum once, but she brushed off the question with a comment about Diane not caring much about anything deeper than shopping.

After dinner, we retreated to Stephanie
’s room. I needed to lift her out of her tank of misery.

‘
I need to get back to Sydney.’ Stephanie smoothed out the creases on her doona.

‘
So, let’s work it out. How can we get you there?’ I had to admit, life would be better with Stephanie around again.

‘
Mum and Dad are anti boarding school.’ Stephanie shrugged. ‘Dad doesn’t have good memories of going himself. Plus I don’t think their budget would extend that far.’

‘
What about living with us?’
I won’t regret this, will I?

‘
Have you said anything to your parents yet?’

‘
Yeah, this morning.’

‘
And?’

‘
They said that it should be fine. And if Peter does move to Melbourne next year, we’d have a spare room.’

‘Really?

I nodded. Like, would I be telling her all of this if it wasn’t the case?

‘I’
d have to talk Mum and Dad round.’

‘
Imagine that! It’ll be so much fun.’ Life could return to how it was before she left.

*~*~*~*

Stephanie dragged me around the streets of Toowoomba. Boring, outdated clothes lined the windows.

‘
The shopping here is abysmal!’ I’d had enough.

‘
I know. Help me get away from here.’ Steph clung to my arm, scuffing her shoes on the concrete path, making a scene. Always the centre of attention.

We walked to a huge,
leafy park a block away.

‘
This park is gorgeous.’

I ran from Stephanie into the lush green lawn that seemed to flow forever. I was in love. With the park, that is.
I wanted to run over the rolling grassy plain and dance through the tulips—well, if there were tulips. Guess it was the wrong time of year. But Stephanie didn’t seem to be in a running mood. She dawdled behind me.

‘
I guess it’s nice.’ Stephanie looked from left to right. ‘First time I’ve been here.’

‘
Let’s lie in the shade under that giant tree.’ I led the way. ‘You should come here whenever you get sick of living in this town. It’s just delicious!’

‘
Yeah?’

‘Doesn’
t it lift your spirit? Being here in these beautiful gardens under these giant trees?’

‘
I suppose it does.’

Had Stephanie
taken time to open her eyes to anything nice that surrounded her since she’d moved?

‘
Yeah.’ She gazed from one end of the park to the other. ‘It is pretty.’

We lay on the grass chatting for hours. The silences had stopped and I was sure our friendship had survived the move. The shade slid fo
rward with the arc of the sun. Diane returned to pick us up as I was getting drowsy from the warm rays.

For the rest of the week
, ferocious winds and downpours hid the sun and kept us indoors playing cards, watching movies and laughing until our sides split. I had accomplished my mission. My best friend looked much happier than when I’d arrived. My job here was complete. It was time to go back to the real world and get out of this country city.

‘
You know I’m going to miss you hugely. Now, will you please keep smiling? The world can be a happy place here, just like it was in Sydney.’