Three Words: A Novella Collection (10 page)

Georgie stood
up and put her shoes and iPod onto the ledge of the wall. Fingers
searching for a grip on the concrete, she flung her leg upwards
next to them, cringing at the ripping sound coming from somewhere
in the region of her thigh. Or was it her hamstring?

That was all
she needed. Those pants cost her seventy-five dollars. They had
special soak-up-the-sweat fabric in the crotch and butt-lifting
technology that she was sure wouldn’t work if her bum cheeks were
poking out. Georgie leant a little to the left, wiggling her leg as
she did, but it was pointless. The pants were firmly snagged and
she couldn’t put a hand down to free them without falling into the
water again, so she had no choice but to let them tear. And tear
they did
—
into a hole so gaping, the
whole of Perth could see she needed a bikini wax.

Two attempts
to hoist herself onto the grassy bank later, Georgie lay prone,
catching her breath and trying to get over her annoyance at her own
stupidity. It was when she straightened to pick few bits of shell
from her thigh that she saw him, jogging along the path towards her
and looking all buff and handsome. Georgie blinked.

Nate Adams. It
couldn’t be.

She flipped
her sunglasses down over her eyes and took another look, while
pretending to excavate the weed from her sock.

Nate
Adams.

He hadn’t
changed a bit and judging by the pounding that was coming from
Georgie’s chest as he drew closer, his effect on her hadn’t changed
either. It had been how long? And he could still make her heart
race like she’d just done a hundred meter dash.

Shoving her
foot into her dry shoe, Georgie tied the laces and stood up,
straightening her damp clothes as best she could. Her heart was
thumping uncontrollably now and a goofy smile had spread across her
face. It was Nate, the hero of the love story of her life. He was
here. Right in front of her.

As Nate drew
close and made to move past, Georgie signaled to him. “Nate!”

She half
expected him to stop and swing back, a beaming smile on his face as
he recalled the girl he’d loved when he was seventeen.

Instead, he
gave her a sideways glance and continued down the path, a look of,
well, nothing, on his face.

“
Nate?” Georgie called after him.

This time he
did stop. He turned, his expression changing to one of confusion.
“Yes?”

Well, this was
a bit awkward.

Georgie walked
towards him, hoping that a closer view would jog his memory. “It’s
me.”

Such had been
their relationship that Georgie was positive she wouldn’t have to
remind Nate of her name. She knew she looked different since the
last time she’d seen him but surely he couldn’t have forgotten her,
could he? They’d been in love since they were eight years old. Nate
had made her promise to marry him when they grew up. They had a
thing.

Chapter 2

Georgie was
eight when her family moved from Melbourne to Perth. Her dad got a
promotion at the lawyer’s office where he worked and, within the
space of a month, her life had been packed into a shipping
container and transported from one side of Australia to the other.
Mum and Dad had been excited about the move and the new house.
Georgie hadn’t been that pumped. She liked her school and her
friends. She liked that the park was across the road from her house
and that, on Saturday mornings, she went to tap classes with Miss
Suzie. Georgie didn’t want to move house.

The first day
at her new school had been nerve-wracking, to say the least. The
kids all knew each other, they’d been at school together since they
were four and their parents had drinks on Friday nights. The girls
didn’t look like they wanted more friends and the boys made fun of
skinny Georgie in her too long, grey, tartan skirt and her big,
blue, school shirt. They made so much fun of her, in fact, that
Georgie wet her pants, something she hadn’t done since she was
being toilet trained. She was mortified. Especially when she had to
suffer the indignity of wearing the spare knickers from the
teacher’s cupboard. They were too big and the elastic was loose
with age. And they had pictures of
My Little Pony
on the
front. Only babies wore undies with ponies on them. She’d have been
far happier if they had pictures of the
Spice Girls
. Georgie
spent the rest of the day hitching the knickers up every time she
walked and keeping her eyes to the floor so nobody would notice
her. Needless to say, she had no intention of going back to that
school again.

On the second
day, having lost the argument with her mother about going to
school, Georgie entered the classroom subdued and quiet. All night
long she’d prayed to God to make her invisible but he hadn’t
answered, so she’d had to get dressed in the big baggy uniform and
follow Mum into the classroom. It was as she was putting her lunch
order into the basket that she met Nate. He was skinny too, like
her, but he was tall and blonde and he had a mouth as big as a
football and no front teeth. It made his whole face look like a
gaping hole when he grinned. Which he did constantly.

“
I’m Nathan,” he said, his blue eyes twinkling with boyish
mischief.

Georgie looked
around. Surely, the boy wasn’t talking to her? After the events of
the day before, she’d fully expected the entire class to ignore
her. “Are you talking to me?”

“
Well, I’m not talking to the bookshelf. Are you new in our
class?”

Georgie
swallowed. She waited for one of the other children to approach
Nathan and tell him he shouldn’t talk to the new girl because she
wet her pants but everyone else seemed to be waiting to see what
this boy would do.

“
Yes. I’m Georgie.”

“
I was sick yesterday. My stupid sister Charlotte gave me
Chicken Pox and my mum wanted me to stay home ‘one more day’ to
make sure I wasn’t gonna die or anything.” He rolled his eyes as if
to say there’d been nothing wrong with him, only
girls
had
to stay home when they got a disease. Then, he held out his arm and
pushed up his sleeve, revealing three brownish scabs on underside
of his wrist. “See?”

“
Eww,” Georgie said.

Nathan beamed
proudly at having repulsed her. “Have you had Chicken Pox?”

“
When I was five. I have a scar.” She lifted the hair at the
nape of her neck, showing him the indent.

“
That’s big.”

“
I know. I have one on my foot, too. I had scabs in my hair
and all over my tummy.”

“
I had them under my arms,” Nate countered.

“
I had them between my fingers.” Georgie revealed yet another
tiny scar.

“
Coolaphonic.”

Georgie had no
idea what ‘coolaphonic’ meant but it sounded like the type of word
she ought to know.

“
What’s that mean?”

“
It means more awesomer than cool,” Nate replied.

Georgie
nodded, storing the information away.

Their
conversation ended as the bell rang and the children went to sit on
the mat ready to begin the day. Nathan squeezed into the space next
to another boy and sat beside Georgie. He sat very close so that
his knee touched her knee when they crossed their legs and when he
was chosen to take the lunch orders to the canteen, he picked
Georgie to accompany him. He smiled at her the whole way there and
back, chattering incessantly about the things they did at school
and the things he liked. He asked if he could come to her house to
play one day and Georgie told him he could. She was smitten.
Nobody, other than her parents, had ever given her so much
attention. When the returned to the classroom five minutes later,
Georgie Bird was no longer the geeky wet-your-pants girl. As Nathan
held the door open for Georgie to enter before him, she realized
she’d moved up a notch in the classroom pecking order. She had made
friends with the coolest kid in the class.

By the end of
the term, Nate — as he liked to be called — and Georgie were best
of friends. He was smart and funny and when he held her hand,
Georgie felt like she was the only little girl in the world. Nate
had a way of getting into mischief but never getting into trouble.
He only had to smile his smile at the teacher and say something
funny and she forgave him. Not that he was ever really naughty. He
was just a bit of a boy. Georgie liked that about him. It was as if
she was being mischievous by default.

Every Friday
afternoon, the class was allowed free time if they’d completed
their weekly tasks. Georgie and Nate worked hard, so they always
got free time and they always chose to play in the back corner of
the classroom where the teacher kept the big plastic carton of
Lego
. Georgie designed houses and Nathan made trucks and
cars. One particular day, he made a
Lego
gorilla that he
stomped through Georgie’s village and used to kidnap one of the
Polly Pocket
dolls she’d put in the castle she’d made. (He’d
watched a re-run of
King Kong
the previous weekend with his
dad).

“
Stop it, Nate,” Georgie cried. “Give me back my
Polly
Pocket
or I’ll tell the teacher.”

Nate held the
tiny doll between his fingers. He lifted it high above his head
where he knew Georgie couldn’t reach it. “Make me.”

Knowing Nate
would give in if she were upset, Georgie threw a pout in his
direction. “Give it back.”

“
No.”

“
But that one’s my favorite. Please?” This time, she really
was upset. She wanted that doll back. Nate had a habit of losing
things and
Polly Pocket
dolls were so small he could lose it
quicker than she could blink. Her eyes grew watery. Her lip wobbled
and she began to bite on her nails, something Georgie never did
because Jessica had told her that was how babies were
made.

“
Please?”

“
Here,” he whispered, as he placed the doll in the palm of her
hand. “I’m sorry, Georgie. I didn’t mean to make you cry. It was
only a joke.”

Georgie put
the doll in her pocket and zipped it up where Nate couldn’t get it
again. She pushed the tears away with her fingers and began to pull
the pieces of
Lego
apart, putting them into the box. “It’s
okay. I’ve had enough of this game, anyway.”

Nate sat up,
leaning his back against the laminate cupboard. “Georgie?”

“
Yes?” Georgie shifted to sit up beside him, her annoyance
with him forgotten as she examined the serious look on his face. He
was very quiet, which was a bit of a change. She hoped he wasn’t
getting Chicken Pox again. One of the other kids had got it
twice.

“
You know how we’re best friends?”

“
Yeah?”

“
When we grow up do you wanna get married to me? If we get
married we can live in the same house and we’d never have to have
sleepovers again.”

Georgie
thought about this for some time. It sounded like a good plan. She
did like going for play dates at Nate’s place and she hated when
her mother arrived to collect her. If they got married they could
be together all the time. Imagine that.

“
Don’t people need to be in love to get married?” she asked.
She was pretty sure that was how it happened with the Disney
princesses.

“
I guess so but we love each other already, so it’d be
okay.”

“
How do you know?”

“
My mum said when people are in love they want to be together
all the time.”

“
I want to be with you.”

“
She said people who love each other be nice to each
other.”

“
You’re nice to me. Mostly.”

Nate leant
very close. His shoulder grazed Georgie’s. His voice was small and
soft as he put a hand to her ear and whispered, “People who love
each other kiss all the time.”

Georgie pulled
away. “Eww. I’m not kissing you. You have boy germs.”

“
There’s no such thing.”

“
Jessica said there is.”

“
Jessica makes stuff up.”

“
Oh.” Georgie turned to face him. Thoughts ticked over in her
mind. Then her hand reached out to his knee. “I saw Mummy and Daddy
kissing!” she exclaimed, confirming his idea. “They were slobbering
all over each other. It was in the bedroom. I was meant to be in
bed but I had a bad dream.” She gave him a demonstration on the
back of her hand.

“
Gross. They must
really
love each other if they were
doing that.”

“
Yeah.”

“
So, if we kiss that will mean we love each other and then we
can get married, right? And you are the prettiest girl in the class
by a long way. Even more than Jessica. Her big white teeth and
ribbons are just plain ugly.” The logic was twisted but somewhere,
in some parallel universe, it made sense.

Georgie bit
her lip. “What about the boy germs?”

“
There are no boy germs!”

“
Well, I guess it’ll be okay then. If
you
think it’s
okay.”

Nate peeked
sideways around the classroom again. Nobody was watching them. He
gave a slow, serious nod.

Georgie
puckered and closed her eyes. She felt the warmth of Nate’s breath
as he leaned closer, placing a chaste kiss on her mouth. Her lips
tingled and a funny feeling began to race around in her chest.
Somewhere, she heard the sound of drums playing. Opening her eyes,
Georgie frowned at Nate. His eyes were still closed. She moved
slightly away.