The Boys of Summer (13 page)

A prod to my exposed foot caused me to drag
it away from the edge. A tickle and I kicked out. Scratching my
nose, I rolled over to push my face into the pillow with a sleepy
groan.

“Wakey, wakey,” an upbeat voice sing-songed.
Mum.

“Noooo, go away.”

“I have a surprise for you,” she coaxed as I
felt the mattress dip next to me.

She had my semi-attention now. I squinted at
the clock.

“But it’s so early.”

The bright and breezy note in my mum’s voice
lowered in astonishment.

“It’s 11.30!”

“Wake me in half an hour.” I turned over,
hugging my pillow.

“I guess you don’t want this, then.” I heard
the rustling of a bag as she got up to leave.

I sat bolt upright, blinded by my wayward
hair which swept across my face at haphazard angles.

“What is it?”

“Never mind, you’re too tired,” Mum
teased.

“Oh, be the grown-up, Mum, what is it?”

Mum became all excited as she hid an object
behind her back.

“Close your eyes.”

I was fully awake now. I loved surprises. Had
I told her about that top I had been eyeing off? She must have
noticed I came home without it yesterday. I sat on my knees,
pushing my bed-tousled hair back.

Holding out my hands, I closed my eyes. Mum
placed something in them, and they dipped under the unexpected
weight. Okay, definitely not a top. But it was solid and cool.

“Open your eyes,” Mum said, barely able to
contain her excitement.

I opened them with haste as Mum ripped the
plastic from the top with as much flair as a magician pulling a
rabbit from a hat.

“Ta-DA!”

“Oh …” I said, “wow.” That was about as much
as I could muster as I took in the hot purple, marbled bike helmet
in my hands with, oh Jesus, was that a lightning bolt on each
side?

“Do you like it?”

“Wow. It’s … wow.”

Mum nodded in appreciation.

“I saw you came home with another scrape on
your knee, and thought you really need to have one of these. It’s
the new shape, like the racing people wear, very smart.”

Smart was not the word I would have used.
Helmet hair
screamed inside me. I had never been so happy
that my chain snapped, rendering my bike useless.

“I know you kids don’t get around with
helmets, but I think once one starts wearing them, it will catch
on; the next thing you know, you’ll all be wearing them.”

I offered my best fake smile. “Thanks,
Mum.”

“Try it on!” She beamed.

I humoured her by placing the egg-like dome
on my head. It slipped forward, into my face.

I gave her a double thumbs up. “Awesome.”

She patted my cheek. “Looks great, you’ll
have to give it a test run.”

I grimaced, trying not to overact my
disappointment. I was a terrible actress.

“I can’t until my bike’s fixed; the chain,
remember?”

“Oh that’s right, well Dad can-”

“No rush, it’s kind of nice walking – won’t
do me any harm.”

In fact, I was pretty sure it may just save
my reputation.

As Mum went to leave my room, she stopped and
said, “I almost forgot.” She fished out my mobile phone from her
pocket that I had left charging in the kitchen.

“This thing keeps beeping at me.” Mum wasn’t
very savvy with technology, and she handed it over as if it had a
bad smell secreting from it.

I waited for her to leave before taking my
helmet off with great gusto; I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I
placed it on my chair giving it a horrified look.

Oh hell, no! Mum I love you, but this I
cannot do.

A reminder beep went off, and I crawled back
into bed to read 5 missed calls, 7 messages from Ellie. What
the?

9.06 am

Oh me Gawd! Oh Me Gawd!

Ring me!!!

9.10 am

Why haven’t you rung me??

9.38 am

OMG!! Check your emails woman!

And pick up your phone…I have to talk to
you!!

9.44 am

OH MY GOOOOOOOD!!!! Tell your dad to switch
your home phone over from the fax, I mean seriously!

9.46 am

Are you mad at me??

9.50 am

Because seriously now is not the time to be
mad at me…TRUST ME!!!

10.00 am

I am coming over to kick your skinny
butt!!!!!! Plus I want to see your face when I tell you!!!

I dove out of bed, tripping over my sheet
that was tangled around my legs, while I attempted to dial Ellie’s
number and fire up the computer all at the same time.

I pressed the power button on the old
computer and, as usual, it whirred, groaned and chugged to life. I
swear, my parents had given me what must have been the oldest,
slowest computer in the southern hemisphere. And if that didn’t
have my leg jiggling in impatience, I pressed the power on the
modem and waited, waited and waited some more as the dialup beeped
and buzzed, connecting to the internet. Thank God it was a separate
line; between Dad’s inability to switch the phone back over from
the fax, or the fact that Mum and Dad were constantly using it for
the business, I would never have got a look in. I convinced them on
my sixteenth birthday that it was vital for my future study to get
with the times. So they got me a secondhand computer and the
internet with its own separate phone line. And I
did
use it
to study. Right after I chatted to Ellie and Adam for a couple of
hours each night on MSN Messenger.

Ellie wasn’t answering; guess it was payback
or she was riding over to kick my butt. What on earth had her
knickers in such a twist? I was used to Ellie’s dramatics, but this
seemed different, far more intriguing, even more so than my hideous
helmet.

Finally, my computer connected to the web,
and I tapped into my email account. I expected to see one BILLION
messages of harassment from Ellie, but there was only one from 8.04
am.

To: tessmcgee

Operation Go with Flow initiated!

Oh me Gawd! Oh me Gawd!

I hope you are sitting down, and I hope you
have relieved yourself because otherwise you are seriously going to
pee your pants!!!

I walked to the corner shop this morning to
fetch the paper and who do I run into, in his work rig, fueling
up?

That’s right! Stan Remington, looking all
windswept and interesting. Seriously he is so adorable!

Anyhow we got to talking and he invited us to
go out on the boat with him and the boys…THIS AFTERNOON!!!!

Hold onto your helmet honey…(Oh yeah I know
about that by the way. I mean I had to help your Mum pick it out
and all. So cute don’t you think??)

Anyway I will call you for rendezvous.

Meet the boys at the Onslow Hotel at 1pm.

Ellie X

P.S If you’re wondering…Toby will be
there.

PP.S And Angela has gone to visit her
grandparents and won’t be home for two weeks. (Just saying)

Sender: ellieparker

Boat.

Toby.

1pm.

Shit!

I looked at the time in a panic as I tried
to dial Ellie’s number.

“Come on, come on, Ellie where are you? Pick
up.” My leg was jigging rapidly, what had she done?

By 12.00 pm I was showered, dressed and still
unable to get onto Ellie. Now it was my turn to kick her skinny
butt. You couldn’t just drop a bombshell on someone and then not
answer. Furthermore, you do not encourage and help your best
friend’s mum to pick out a hideous bike helmet and expect to get
away with it. I would put that in the memory bank for later. For
now there was nothing else to do but grab my bag and pocket my
phone.

“Mum! I’m heading to Ellie’s.”

Luckily, Ellie lived only three blocks over
(be it three large blocks). The weatherman’s words echoed in my
head.
It’s going to be a scorcher!

Lesson learned! I had water, sunscreen and
coconut cream lip balm that I never left home without. I had opted
for a light yellow summer dress. Cool and airy.

I found Ellie in her bedroom, looking radiant
as ever in her cut-off denim shorts and halter top; she looked like
a catalogue model, but that wasn’t new.

“I trust you got my messages?” she asked as I
entered. She was sitting at her dressing table, moisturising her
long legs.

“Ah, yeah, are you serious?”

“I would never joke about such a thing.”

I believed that. Boys were an
extra-curricular activity Ellie took
very
seriously.

“Oh-my-God! Look at the time, we gotta go!”
Ellie leapt to her feet and grabbed for her beach bag, eyes
searching the floor for her thongs. “We have to meet at the hotel
at one.”

I had to force my heart to stop racing,
everything was happening too fast.

“I have to swing by my house first and grab a
towel and my bathers,” I said.

“No time! I’ve packed you everything you
need. Dad is going to drop us off. I told him we had a staff
meeting and then we were going to McLean’s for the afternoon. I
suggest you tell your mum the same.” Ellie shouldered her bag and
squealed with excitement. “Let’s go!”

I tapped my foot and bit my nail as I stood
in the Onslow Hotel ladies’ room, staring at two microscopic strips
of bleached white material. Ellie had chosen a bathing suit for me.
I use the term ‘suit’ loosely, as when one usually thinks of a
suit, one would think of actual body coverage like the one-piece
bathers I was more accustomed to.

I should have worked out something was a bit
fishy when Ellie changed with lightning speed and left me alone in
the change room, dumping the bag in front of me.

“There you go! Everything you need. I’ll be
out in the bar waiting for the boys.”

I thought she was just overeager for them to
arrive. I thought little of it until I took out the rolled-up towel
and peered into an empty bag. My heart clenched with fear; in
Ellie’s haste she had totally forgotten a bathing suit for me! But
as I unraveled the towel, a white square fell out, revealing two
tiny pieces encased in a sheer, barely there sarong. My suspicion
was right. She had forgotten a bathing suit, because this was
barely anything.

I hated her, cursed her and stood there,
staring for a full ten minutes. I couldn’t go on the boat with them
in this. And if I did, I just wouldn’t swim. Simple. I could keep
my dress on and have a bit of a tanning day. That’d be alright.

I gritted my teeth and tried the bikini on. I
had never felt so utterly naked, not even when I
was
naked.
I crept out to adjust the foreign pieces in the mirror and
Oh my
God!
There was just so much skin … and was that a hint of
cleavage? Not possible.

Ever since I had been branded Tic Tac Tess, I
had taken to wearing loose, flowing tops that diverted all
attention away from
that
area. It was not until I was forced
to wear the Guinness top that I was forced to reveal any form of
shape in that department, hence why I was so uncomfortable now. Not
only were they out there for the world to see, but they were barely
contained by tiny strings that felt like they could be blown undone
by a breeze.

I was going to kill her! Before I could dive
back in to the cubicle and change into my clothes again, Ellie
burst through the door. My instant reaction was to cover myself
with my arms as if I was standing naked, which wasn’t too far from
the truth.

Ellie’s eyes bugged out; even
she
thought it was too revealing.

She looked me up and down. “Tess, you look
amazing!” she gaped.

“Yeah, well take a good look because this is
not going anywhere.”

Ellie grabbed my arm, preventing me from
walking back into the cubicle to change.

“They’re here and waiting in the bar.”

I frowned, pulling away from her. I didn’t
care; this was a bad idea. I should have known from the very
beginning. I guess I did know, but I should have had a plan for
when it happened, when the second I confided in Ellie she would be
pushing me into things I didn’t want to do. Now I was literally
poured into a bikini that I would never have worn even in the
privacy of my own bedroom, let alone in front of the Onslow
Boys.

“Tess, trust me! You
want
to wear
that. If you want to grab someone’s attention, this is how I’d do
it.”

“I’m not you!” I snapped.

“No, you’re not,” Ellie said. “You’re Tess
and you’re beautiful. And believe me, when people see the real you,
Tic Tac Tess will be a thing of the past. Come on, Tess, just this
once?”

It was like a physical blow, saying that name
to me. Adam and Ellie never
ever
uttered those words,
knowing how much the nickname hurt me.

There was a knock on the door.

“Come on, you lot, you ready?” called Sean.
“You’re taking so long the seasons are changing.”

“Coming,” yelled Ellie.

She gave me an imploring look, grabbing my
shoulders and turning me towards the mirror.

“Learn to see what others see,” she said as
we both appraised my reflection, “because, believe me, that girl in
high school, the supposedly flat-as-a-board nobody … this is not
her.”

“Fine.” I slipped on my dress over the
bikini.

We weaved through the restaurant, sighting
the Onslow Boys propped on stools in the main bar.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the helmet,
either,” I muttered like a bad ventriloquist, plastering a fake
smile on my lips.

“Geez, did you wake up on the wrong side of
the bed or what?”

I thought back to my lack of sleep, and Mum’s
annoying awakening.

“You could say that.”

Sean and Toby led the way down to the jetty.
Boats of all shapes and sizes dotted the harbour, a hub of distant
splashes and screams echoed from the water as people lapped up what
was the beginning of the hottest part of the day. We neared an
impressive boat with navy inscription scrawled along the hull.