The Mag Hags (10 page)

‘And who set it up?' asked Felix.

‘Lauren-Beth from the media office,' said Cat, lying through her teeth. ‘She said that Tyler would be available after shooting.'

‘Are you sure it was today?' said Felix. ‘I don't remember getting an email. Anyway, Tyler got motion sickness from all that shooting in the boat. So there's no way he can talk to you today.'

‘Can we reschedule then?' said Cat. ‘If I don't get this story, my editor will kill me and I might even lose my job. She's a total hard case.'

‘Look, I'll give you my mobile number and you can come down to the studio when we're shooting there,' said Felix, handing over a card and smiling at Cat. ‘We'll sort something out.'

Mand and Cat thanked Felix and the old dude that played Old Par, and walked up the road to the bus stop, hoping that Bone Marrow and Fit Club would be back in Baywood by now. The last thing they wanted to do was bump into them on the train.

‘That was bloody brilliant,' said Mand as they sat on the bus back to the station. ‘You were amazing. I love the line about Elvira being involved. I reckon you're going to pull off this interview – that would make our magazine unbeatable.'

The trip home was a mixture of exhilaration and dread – they had managed to organise a potential interview with TV's hottest star, but they still had the worry of wondering whether Ms Marrow had actually spotted them and if they were going to get hauled in front of McTavish for truancy.

Mand hoped the incongruous sight of two archenemies out together on a school day would be enough to make Ms Marrow question whether she actually saw what she thought she saw. Mand prayed that Bone wouldn't check the roll tomorrow, because if she did there would be a lot of explaining to do, and this time Mand knew she wouldn't be able to talk her way out of it.

The first thing they needed to know was whether their absence had been noticed at school, but as both girls had run out of credit on their phones, Mand suggested that Cat – who only lived three streets away from her – come back to her house, as Monday was Mel's salsa dancing night, and they would have the house to themselves to make the call.

When they got inside, Mand grabbed the house phone and they went straight up to her bedroom. Mand sat down on her bed, and Cat sat on the floor next to the acoustic guitar and open journal, which were lying on the floor. Mand dialled the number and Maggie picked up the phone.

‘Hi there,' said Maggie ‘What's up? Are you ill or
something? There must be a virus going around because Cat, Fit Club and Bone Marrow were all off today too.'

‘No, we wagged today!' said Mand. ‘We went down to the studio to find Tyler Grey. Cat's got the interview! She was brilliant! He's going to be in our magazine!'

‘Ohmigod!' said Maggie. ‘I can't believe you did it. That's amazing!'

‘But there's a small problem,' said Mand. ‘We saw Bone and Fit Club having lunch together in the city – and I mean
together
. Cat's pretty sure they saw us too.'

‘Bugger!' said Maggie, who was worried that the girls could be disqualified from the magazine competition if they were caught wagging. ‘The only thing that might save you is the fact that Fit Club and Bone obviously weren't that sick if they were having lunch with each other. I remember the casual teacher who took Bone's class today definitely said something about her having avirus …'

‘Let's hope that's the case,' said Mand. ‘We'll see you in English tomorrow, and keep everything crossed for us.'

After hanging up, Mand relayed the conversation to Cat, who looked less nervous. ‘Wow, we might just get away with it,' she said. ‘So how long have you played guitar then? I didn't know you did that.'

‘My dad bought me my first guitar when I was three. He's a musician,' said Mand.

‘Is he famous?' said Cat expectantly. ‘Would I have heard of him?'

‘He's the lead singer with Slinky Joe's Roadshow,' replied Mand. ‘Anyway, I started playing properly about three years ago. I've been writing songs for a couple of years.'

‘Is this one of your songs?' Cat glanced down at Mand's journal. ‘“Suburban Alien Chick”? What's that supposed to mean?'

‘You wouldn't get it.' Mand picked up her guitar from the floor and held it to her chest, like it was some kind of security blanket. ‘You've always fitted in, Cat. You're the type of girl that makes the rules for other girls to follow. I feel like I'm an alien.'

‘With three heads?' said Cat, reading the words in Mand's journal. ‘I feel like that when I look in the mirror, especially if I've got a big juicy pimple in the middle of my forehead! No seriously, every time I go home I feel like I'm on the wrong planet. Can you play it for me?'

‘Okay, but if you don't like it don't laugh or anything. I've got a fragile ego when it comes to my music.'

Mand tuned her guitar and let rip.

 

Suburban Alien Chick

 

Four walls holding me

Green lawns bindi free

Dad washes his car

Mum washes her hair

Not a care, not a care

 

But I feel like an Alien

I may as well have three heads

An eye in the middle

My planet is just a car ride away

So, take me away, take me away

 

Shopping centre willing me

Spend my money freely

Chicks chasing boys

Boys chasing chicks

Not a care, not a care

 

But I feel like an Alien

I may as well have three heads

An eye in the middle

My planet is just a car ride away

So, take me away, take me away

So, take me away, take me away

So, take me away, take me away

 

If I stay here, I'm doomed

I can't breathe your oxygen

It makes me choke

It makes me wheeze

 

I need atmosphere to breathe

To breathe

So, take me away, take me away

So, take me away, take me away

My planet is just a car ride away

So, take me away, take me away

 

‘Jeez Mand, that really rocked! You should go on
Popstarz
,' said Cat, happy that she was impressed and wasn't just saying it to be nice.

‘No way, too commercial,' said Mand.

‘Well, how about playing at the formal? You know Hoolio is going to do a set. I'll talk to the rest of the organising committee. Really, you'd be great.'

‘No, thanks' replied Mand, but was quietly chuffed anyway. ‘Can you sing? We could try some harmonies.'

‘Sure, I love singing, but I've only ever done it in the shower,' said Cat. ‘I'd like to try though.'

The girls spent the next hour making music together until Cat got a phone call from her mother demanding to know just where the hell she was. ‘I'm at my, er, friend Mand's,' she said, looking over at Mand with a look that said exactly what Mand was thinking – how in the hell had two girls who only weeks ago would have gladly seen each other off to Siberia suddenly become friends? The world was indeed a strange place.

A chill wind whipped up the chip packets that blew like colourful kites across the front oval as the rain drizzled down. The weather was befitting Mand's mood. She had a sense of dread that trouble was just around the corner and trouble stuck to Mand like super-adhesive glue sticks to your fingers.

It wasn't her fault; it was just that Mand had a sense of justice that cut deep. Like the time she had the Green Team environmental warrior group picket the canteen and bar anyone from entering until they agreed to stop using polystyrene packaging. She'd had Gwendolyn Farrari, the tuckshop lady, in tears and received a twoday suspension for an unauthorised protest. Or when she got the whole school to sit down at assembly until the suspended Amos Ellery was allowed to return to school with his bright green hair. That incident made the
Baywood Times
, and Mand was interviewed alongside Amos on the local news.

Ever since then McTavish had been looking for an excuse to get even. The word ‘expulsion' had even been
bandied about. If she and Cat were busted by Bone and Fit Club, it could be curtains for Mand's school certificate. It was enough to make her feel like vomiting.

As she walked up to the school gates, Cat was sharing a similar sense of dread, but for different reasons. She felt sick at having to face the Us Crew after the incident at the civic centre. Could she really have been kicked out of the crew that she had started, even named?

‘Hey Cat, congratulations on getting the Tyler interview, that's just so awesome,' said Maggie, catching up to Cat as they walked into school.

‘Well, I don't have it in the bag just yet,' said Cat. ‘And Mand and I could be in serious trouble for wagging school.'

 

As the girls walked across the quadrangle, Cat's palms became sweaty. The Us Crew were already on the steps behind the auditorium.

‘Ohmigod, look who it is – the supermodels,' said Kylie Mannigan, who was sitting on the top step, where Cat always sat, staring down at her. ‘Vogue, strike a pose girls?'

The Us girls burst out laughing. Cat had never trusted Mannigan; it was Jessica Humble who had convinced Cat to let that cow into the Us's and now look what had happened.

‘I thought you bitches were supposed to be my friends,' said Cat, staring particularly hard at Maxine Cue, who only two weeks ago had been talking about how they'd be friends for life and would push prams through Prospect Park together after they had babies.

‘Wow, Cat's hanging out with Maggie No Mates now,' said Maxine. ‘Well, at least you've got one friend in the school.'

Then the Us Crew started chanting as though they were demented Buddhist monks: ‘Them, them, them, them, them, them,' over and over again, pointing and laughing at Cat. Cat could feel a sob that started in her chest and moved up into her mouth but, thank god, stopped short of her eyes. For once, she was lost for a smart put-down.

‘You should be called the Pus Crew, you're so disgustingly toxic,' said Maggie squinting up at the girls. She grabbed Cat by the arm and dragged her across the quadrangle.

‘Don't touch me!' said Cat pulling away. There was still hope that if she could get that cow Mannigan out of her crew, then she'd be their leader again, and forming a bond with Maggie Jones wasn't going to help.

‘Yeah, all right, Cat,' said Maggie, strolling off in the opposite direction before turning and saying: ‘Whatever', a word she never used but which, at that point, fitted the situation perfectly.

English class was the last period of the day so everyone was particularly over it, especially Ms Marrow, who was sick of the sight and sound of teenagers by this point. It was the first time all day that Cat and Mand had set eyes on her. With every crackle of the tannoy, the girls had been half-expecting to be summoned to face the wrath of McTavish. Thankfully, they had managed to get through the day without hearing their names called, and judging by the nonchalant look on her face, Bone either hadn't seen the girls in the city or wasn't going to admit it.

The class reluctantly got into their groups with as much energy as they could muster for late Tuesday afternoon, when the school week seemed to drag on like a visit to your senile great-grandmother in an old people's home.

Ms Marrow worked her way around the room, squatting by groups of students. The group containing Colm Brannigan and Abdul Minary were working on a skate-board mag because at some point in their lives they had all owned one, while Jessica Humble had managed to talk her group into making a magazine on her favourite subject: fashion.

The Mag Hag
girls sat in the far corner peering at Belle's laptop and the photos from the future formal with intense concentration.

‘Ohmigod, I look so fat!' squealed Cat.

‘I hate myself in pictures,' said Wanda, who preferred to be behind the camera than in front of it.

‘I told you I'd look like a tube of toothpaste!' exclaimed Maggie, who thought the Giraffe nickname was apt in this case as her limbs looked even longer and skinnier than normal in the silver dress.

‘Jesus,' said Mand, getting testy at the moan fest about how they looked – even after the girls had agreed with everything in her body image feature. ‘Will you chicks just get over yourselves!'

Apart from the way they looked individually, the girls were delighted with the shoot and told Belle what a brilliant photographer she was, and lavished praise on Wanda for the amazing clothes she had made and the wonderful job she had done styling the shoot.

‘Wow, girls, these photographs look so professional,' Ms Marrow said as she peered over the girls' shoulders. ‘And the clothes are fantastic!'

‘Can I see, Miss? I've heard the hags are appearing on that TV show, what's it called, oh yeah, Baywood's next top model for ugly chicks,' said Gav Estery, laughing and talking loudly enough for the whole class to hear.

Cat noticed Jessica Humble wink at Estery conspiratorially.

‘Well, Gav, I hope you boys come up with something as creative as the girls have, because let me tell you, they're going to be a hard act to beat,' said Ms Marrow.

‘Yeah Estery, we know how much you love girlie mags, which is great because it's ours that you're going to be reading in Hoolio's when we win the competition,' said Mand with a determined sneer.

Estery sauntered back to his group feeling slightly less confident that
That's Skate Mate
would be the winning magazine after all.

‘There's still heaps to do,' said Maggie at the end of the lesson. ‘I think we need another meeting. Whose house haven't we been to?'

‘It's your turn, isn't it, Cat?' said Belle.

‘Sure,' said Cat, feeling apprehensive. She didn't socialise much at her own home, preferring to hang out anywhere other than 72a Thompson Street.

‘What about a Saturday afternoon session?' suggested Wanda. ‘I've got so much studying to do this week.'

When the final bell rang, the classroom emptied faster than an Olympic 100 metres race (current record: Asafa Powell of Jamaica – 9.7 seconds). Mand and Cat were nearly joint gold-medal holders but just as they got to the door, Ms Marrow called out to them. The girls knew that the shit was about to hit the fan.

‘Right, first off, what were you doing in the city on a school day?' asked Ms Marrow sternly as she sat on her desk, her arms folded. ‘I hope there is a very good reason, and I mean a very good reason'.

‘We did it for the mag, Miss' cried Cat. ‘You said we
should hunt down stories. So we did. We got an interview with Tyler Grey! You know, from
Federal Investigation
. He's going to be in our magazine!'

‘That's all well and good, Cat,' said Ms Marrow. ‘But going into the city without permission – I'm assuming your parents don't know – on a school day. I don't remember that being in the brief.'

The girls were in serious trouble now.

‘Are you feeling better now, Miss?' asked Mand innocently, her mind launching the escape plan she'd cooked up in case drastic measures were needed.

‘Better?' said Ms Marrow, starting to look worried. ‘What do you mean?'

‘I heard there's a virus or something going around,' said Mand, a bit cockily. ‘Mr McGary had it as well. Apparently, it's very contagious, transferred via saliva, I heard.'

‘Yes, much better, Mand, thank you for your concern,' said Ms Marrow, now knowing if she reported the girls to McTavish, she'd have some serious explaining to do herself.

‘Okay, I'll put this indiscretion down to youthful enthusiasm but step out of line again and there'll be trouble'.

‘Yes, Miss,' replied Cat, trying not to smile but failing. ‘It won't happen again, we promise'.