Frankie and Joely (9 page)

Jill shoots him a look. ‘No you won't. You've got chores.' Jill turns to Frankie and says, ‘And you need some breakfast if you plan on riding anywhere else today.'

Wondering if Jill is trying to separate them, Frankie lets herself be led inside where Joely is already halfway through breakfast. A plate of fried bacon sits waiting for her, congealing in the heat.

Chapter 16

After breakfast, Joely spends ages in the bathroom. She's pretty sure she looks older this morning. Even Jill told her she looked beautiful. She's sure it's because of
the
kiss. That's what love does. It makes you glow.

She wants to tell Frankie about it, but she doesn't know what to say. What if Frankie gets jealous, or worse, what if she's hurt and thinks that Joely won't hang out with her on their holiday? Besides, she doesn't want to admit that she was out checking that the kangaroo was dead.

At least now Joely's happy about going to the pool. She can even leave Frankie swimming while she searches for Rory. Perhaps if she sees him today and things go well, then Frankie can hang out with them too. Actually it would be perfect if Frankie hooked up with Mack and then they could all double date.

Joely opens Jill's powder that she keeps in the drawer. Joely
hasn't used makeup before, but she's pretty sure it will hide some of the extra freckles that have popped up across her nose. She unclips the top, takes out the puff and starts wiping it across her face. It doesn't smell very nice, a bit like an op shop, but now she can hardly see any freckles at all. She wipes some more around her eyes and across her cheeks and pretty soon her face is almost the colour of Frankie's. Hopefully when she sees Rory again, he still won't have any idea how many freckles she has.

When Joely walks into their room, Frankie's nearly nude. Joely doesn't want to barge in, but she doesn't want to seem embarrassed either. So she stands in the doorway, staring at her best friend's smooth, freckle-less back.

Frankie turns around slowly, adjusting the straps of her bikini top as she does. When she sees Joely she gives her one of those smiles that makes Joely want to sigh.

‘What's with your face?' Frankie says, making Joely snap out of love.

‘What? Nothing.'

Frankie steps closer and Joely's aware of her friend's bare body. She touches Joely's skin with one finger. ‘Did you use makeup or something?'

Joely's tempted to lie, but she knows Frankie would know and that would be worse than admitting it.

‘Yes. I borrowed some of Jill's.'

Frankie frowns. ‘Why?'

Of course Frankie doesn't understand. Her skin's like poetry. Joely's is like a dot-to-dot picture in an activity book.

‘I wanted to hide my freckles,' says Joely, turning to look in the mirror to see if it was really that bad.

Joely stares, shocked. It's so much worse. Somehow she looked beautiful in the bathroom, but now, in the harsh light of their room, she looks like her head belongs to someone else. There's even a sharp yellowy brown line under her chin where the colour stops and the rest of her is freckly and pale. She feels stupid. As if freckles could be hidden with a few wipes of borrowed powder.

Blinking fast, she feels Frankie slide her arms around her and gather her close. Frankie's warm and soft and, in that second, Joely loves her more than she's ever loved anyone.

‘If you want to hide your freckles I'll help you do it so you can't tell,' says Frankie.

‘Really?'

‘Yeah. But you have to use the right colour for your skin. Otherwise you look weird.'

Frankie's bluntness makes Joely laugh. ‘Okay.'

‘We can buy something when we go into town.' Frankie kisses Joely on the cheek and screws up her face. ‘Something that doesn't smell like it was made last century!'

Without knocking, Thommo bursts into their room. He sees that Frankie's not quite dressed, spins around and starts apologising. Joely's relieved he can't see her face because she wants to take off the stuff before her cousin sees.

‘Um … Dad's let us off the paddock cos it's too hot, so we're going to the dam,' Thommo says, facing the door.

‘Not me. It's too hot,' says Joely hating the idea and wanting to get started on the de-freckling program.

‘Yeah, der, it's hot,' he says, turning a bit to watch Frankie dab antiseptic onto her nose piercing.

Joely smiles at the expression. Nobody says der in the city. Nobody says der full stop. Just her cousin and he's been saying it since he was five.

‘Can't be bothered, Thommo.'

‘Come on, Joely. That's pathetic. It's not getting any cooler, so you may as well get used to it. Else you'll spend your whole holiday inside!'

Frankie nudges her. ‘Yeah, come on. I want to see the dam. But we'll meet you there, Thommo. I'm going to ride my new bike and show Ged!'

‘Really? I might stay here,' says Joely, dreading the idea of riding the BMX across the paddocks in the sun.

‘Nah. Come on, it'll be fun. Get out, Thommo. Joely's got to get dressed!'

Thommo shuts the door. Joely doesn't want to go to the dam. She wants to go in to town to see if she can find Rory, not ride around a paddock in the heat. It's about a hundred degrees outside.

‘Doesn't it bother you wearing second-hand bathers?' asks Joely.

Frankie knows what Joely's doing. It's what always happens when they have a sort-of fight. Frankie has learnt that the best way to deal with it is to ignore Joely and eventually she snaps out of it. Besides Joely doesn't really bother her. But she does wish that Joely would just say what she wanted rather than being all grumpy and sulky.

Frankie shrugs and looks down at the spots on her bikini top. ‘I like it. It means they've had a life before the one I'm giving them. At least this way I get to wear things that have done something cool. Even if my life sucks and is super boring, my clothes are adventurous.'

‘So your bathers might have been worn by some crazy model on a fashion shoot in Milan,' says Joely.

‘Yeah. Or they could have swum the Atlantic.'

‘Has anyone ever swum the Atlantic?'

‘I dunno. But if anything could, it would be my red bikini.'

‘So if they've swum the Atlantic, they're obviously going to swim in the dam, too.'

‘I will if you will,' says Frankie cheekily.

‘It's really muddy. And the bottom's all squelchy. And there's yabbies. And maybe an eel.'

‘And?' says Frankie daring her.

Joely sighs. ‘Okay. We'll go together.'

‘Eels don't hurt do they?'

Joely widens her eyes. ‘Oh yes, they bite. They have these sharp little teeth. I think Thommo has still got the scars.'

Frankie spins round. ‘Liar.'

But even though Joely smiles, Frankie isn't totally sure that Joely is lying. Maybe eels really do bite. She'll have to make sure she never stops moving her feet while she's in the water, just in case. Surely it would be much harder to bite something that was moving.

‘Come on, let's go,' says Frankie, feeling impatient as she watches Joely pull on a rashie.

‘I was waiting for you. Aren't you getting dressed?'

‘Nah. I was just going to wear this,' says Frankie.

‘You can't ride across paddocks in a bikini.'

‘Why not?'

‘People wear clothes here.'

Frankie starts laughing. ‘You sound a hundred.'

‘No I don't. You just can't ride bikes with my cousins in that.'

‘Why? Do I look bad?'

‘Can you just put on a t-shirt at least,' says Joely.

Frankie shrugs and pulls out a skimpy singlet dress. It doesn't cover much more than her bathers did, but at least it will shut Joely up.

Chapter 17

Riding isn't as much fun as Frankie expected. In fact, it's really hard sitting on the plastic seat and bumping across the bone-dry paddock. It's okay for Joely because she stands up to ride. Each time Frankie tries that she wobbles and stacks, so she stays sitting down even though her bum aches and her legs are too long for the bike. At least Ged got to see her, so even if she never rides it again after today, hopefully he'll feel like he did something nice, and that matters.

‘Are we almost there?' she yells to Joely who is ages in front.

‘Yes. Next paddock,' calls back her friend.

Joely has been saying next paddock for about twenty minutes and Frankie is beginning to wonder if her shortcut across the paddocks has made them lost. There is nothing pretty about where they are riding. It's just one long stretch of brown grass with a few cows dotted around. The sun is scorching and for once Frankie wishes she'd worn something other than a dress. It's not just the sun. The flies are so thick it's like she's wearing a coat of them.

‘It's over there,' calls Joely, turning to the left.

Frankie sighs and tries to turn the handlebars just a little bit like Joely showed her. But the wheel starts to wobble so she straightens up again.

‘Where are you going?' yells Joely.

‘The long way,' Frankie calls back.

Determined, Frankie tries again and this time manages to bend a corner and ride over to where Joely has dumped her bike.

‘Argh!' yells Frankie as she hits the fence.

‘You do have brakes, you know,' says Joely, pulling the bike off her.

‘Yep. I know.'

Joely smiles and holds out a hand. ‘Actually, you did pretty well for someone who can't really ride.'

Frankie smiles back. She loves that about Joely. Just when she thinks Joely is being hard she sees something that nobody else notices, and says something to make Frankie feel better.

Joely stands on the bottom rung of the barbed wire fence and lifts the top rung up by carefully holding the small section between two barbs. Frankie's impressed that her friend knows how to do country things.

‘Climb through, just watch your head.'

Frankie manoeuvres herself through the small hole and then holds the wire the way Joely did. As Joely clambers through, Frankie lets go too early and the wire catches the back of Joely's head, tangling her hair.

‘Ow, Frankie,' screeches Joely.

Frankie grabs the wire again and pulls it back, but Joely's hair comes with it. ‘Sorry,' says Frankie, picking through strands of her friend's hair trying to get it away from the metal.

Joely gives Frankie a look that says more than words could ever say and yanks her hair free, leaving a clot of it on the wire fence. She trudges off towards the dam saying, ‘Now that we've ridden the bikes, and shown Ged we like them, can we please not ever ride them again.'

‘I was just trying—' starts Frankie.

‘I know. And that was really nice of you, but they are
way
too small. And I don't want anyone seeing me ride it in town!'

Frankie laughs. ‘Since when do you care about that sort of thing? Especially here?'

‘I just do.'

Frankie can't push it any further because a barking dog is rushing straight at them. Frankie considers making a run for it, but Joely crouches down and lets the dog leap at her and lick her face. Frankie steps away. She doesn't like dogs. She never has, and it shocks her to see Joely so at ease. Last week, if someone had asked, Frankie would have described Joely as timid, frightened even, but being here, Frankie realises how wrong she was. There's this whole part of her friend she has never noticed before.

‘This is Clover,' says Joely still having her face licked. ‘She lives on the farm next door.'

‘Right.' Frankie's grossed out by the dog spit being sprayed across her friend's face.

‘She's friendly. You can pat her,' says Joely laughing.

‘Nah. It's alright.'

‘Took your time,' yells Mack as Frankie carries her bag over to where they're sitting.

‘Hardly full of water, is it?' Frankie can't believe what a sad-looking swamp it is. She was expecting ‘the dam' to be this incredible place where everyone hung out and mucked around. She was actually hoping Rory might be here, but it was just the four of them, the dog, and a couple of spindly gum trees.

‘It's deep enough to swim,' says Thommo. ‘Only just, but it's better than going to the pool which is always packed. This is where the party'll be.'

Frankie's heart races at the thought of the party. It will be so dark out here. She can find Rory and, as long as they stay in the shadows, nobody will see them.

‘We go yabbying here sometimes,' says Mack. ‘Catch a bucketload and then take them home and cook them up.' Mack looks at Frankie before adding, ‘Should hear them scream when you drop them in boiling water.'

Tired of being made to feel like she's a city girl who doesn't know anything, Frankie strips off her singlet dress and looks at her friend. ‘Come on, Joel.'

‘Not yet.'

‘Please.'

‘Maybe later.'

Frankie hates it when people pike. Especially when they promise. It's just like her mum all over again. Angry, she shoots Mack a look. ‘Race you to the water.'

She doesn't wait for him to answer because she doesn't want to lose her nerve. She runs straight in. The thick mud clings to her toes and stops her. The water is so cloudy, so murky that she doesn't want to imagine what might be under the surface. But, hearing Mack thundering towards her, she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and dives under.

The water is not even cold. It's like a warm bath that a hundred people have already washed in. Frankie surfaces and feels dirty, but she refuses to get out. She wants to prove something, show them all that nothing scares her.

But then she feels a sharp nip on her leg and, screaming wildly, she starts running out of the water.

‘There's an eel,' she shouts, and is almost out when she hears someone laughing behind her.

Mack. The eel.

‘Hilarious,' she says, splashing him.

Mack's still laughing. ‘The look on your face.'

‘Yeah. Funny.'

‘Can't you take a joke?'

There's something about the way Mack stands, legs spread, shoulders back, like he's the strongest man alive that makes Frankie want to tear him down. He's one of those. He doesn't know how to talk to her so makes fun of her instead. It reminds Frankie of all the different schools she's been to, where kids try to size her up. If they can't put her in a box then they're mean to her. It's why she loves Joely so much. Joely's always treated her like an equal.

‘Do you usually crack yourself up?' says Frankie, walking slowly towards Mack.

‘No,' he says, curling his lip.

Frankie bends down and scoops up a handful of mud from the bottom of the dam. Mack holds his position, like he's daring her to come for him. Frankie flings the mud at him, hitting him square in the chest.

‘Argh, you stupid—'.

She laughs and runs out of the water, calling behind her, ‘Can't you take a joke, Mack?'

She can tell by the way Thommo's looking at her that he's impressed. Mack's a pretty overbearing big brother, so it must be nice to watch him torn down.

‘How was it in there?' says Joely, rubbing too much sunscreen over every centimetre of her body.

‘You'd know if you came in.'

‘I was going to, but you got out too quickly.'

‘Yeah, whatever,' says Frankie, lying back on her towel and looking up through the gum tree at the sky.

Mack stays in the water for nearly an hour. He doesn't want to be near Frankie with her smart mouth and tiny bikini. He likes watching her from back here though. He wonders about her talking to Macleod yesterday. Perhaps he should tell her what that guy's all about. But then maybe it wouldn't hurt if someone messed with her a bit.

By the time he comes out of the water, only Thommo looks awake.

‘Aren't you swimming?' says Mack.

‘Nah.'

Mack suddenly realises why Thommo hasn't moved. Frankie is lying next to him, her eyes closed, so Thommo can pretend to be sleeping but actually look at her all he likes.

Mack sits down on Thommo's towel, making his brother move, to give him some room.

‘Get off. You've got your own towel,' says Thommo, kicking him in the leg.

Mack digs his finger into Thommo's knee, pushing as hard as he can, like he used to when they'd fight after school.

‘Ow, piss off,' says Thommo loud enough to make both girls sit up. ‘Now look what you've done. It was all peaceful before.'

‘Screw this,' says Mack jumping up. He's not going to sit around feeling left out just because his little brother is trying to make it with some chick. He wishes Joely had never brought her friend.

But as he starts to walk away, he sees a look in Thommo's eyes that he's never seen before. It's a look of daring, like the look Rory gave him that year when they came back from summer holidays and suddenly Rory had grown. His little brother isn't going to back down anymore.

To make a point, Mack stands back over Thommo. He needs to take charge. Round them up and move them to another paddock just like he used to with the cows.

‘I reckon we should go out tonight. See what's on at the cinema,' says Mack, wanting to show Frankie the good bits of the town.

Joely laughs. ‘It'll be the same movie they screened last year.'

Mack puffs up, angry that Joely's not falling into line. ‘Nah. They screen all the stuff that's on in the city,' he says.

But Frankie surprises him. She rolls over onto her stomach and says, ‘Yeah, that'd be fun.'

He doesn't answer because he's too busy staring at all
the little marks on her back, the criss-crosses from where the
towel has left its touch on her skin. Even lying so close, she's so out of his reach. It reminds him of Anna. He should've treated her better. He hates feeling like this, like he's out of place and forgotten. Payne is his town and he won't let Frankie or any other girl make him doubt that. If Frankie isn't interested then maybe it's not too late to win back Anna.

Mack kicks dirt on his brother's towel. ‘I'm outta here.'

‘Bye,' Joely says. No one else says goodbye, making Mack feel even more left out than he already does.

He kickstarts his motorbike and revs it loud. A billow of exhaust smoke wafts around him and he roars off across the paddock. He doesn't want to go back to the house because his dad will probably put him to work, and his mum will have all sorts of questions he doesn't want to answer. So he rides down to the back road. A truck drives past and the driver toots. Mack waves and turns into town.

If he fixes things with Anna then he can show her off at the New Year's Eve party and make Frankie realise she's missing out. He stops outside the Ice-cream Shoppe, knowing she's in there. She's always there. Her dad owns it and she spends all summer holidays working, even public holidays. It must suck serving customers all holidays while everyone from school is just hanging out. Next year it'll be his turn.

He brushes aside the plastic strings in the doorway and tangles himself awkwardly. By the time he's made it through, she's already seen him, and it's too late to prepare.

‘Mack,' she says in that husky voice he fell in love with.

‘Anna,' he croaks.

‘Double or single?'

‘Whatever.'

He watches through the frosted glass as she turns around
to pull a waffle cone from the stand. She seems to take ages to
make a decision, but then pulls out the scooper and leans
into the cabinet. Mack can see down her top to her boobs. He knows she's doing it deliberately, showing him what he's missing.

‘Four bucks'll do,' she says, handing him over a mint-chip cone. He hates mint chip, and he's pretty sure she knows that.

He slaps a five-dollar note on the counter. ‘Keep the change.'

‘A tip? Aren't you the big man.'

If only she knew how far from being big he felt.

‘Anna—' he starts.

‘No apology necessary.'

He wasn't going to apologise. Why should he? ‘Whatcha doing later?' he murmurs, licking the ice-cream even though he hates it.

‘Might go out with Rory.'

‘Macleod?' barks Mack, his heart beating fast.

‘Who else?'

‘Don't.'

‘Piss off, Mack.'

‘I mean it, Anna. He's bad news.'

‘Yeah, yeah. I know how you two feel about each other. It was all you ever talked about.'

That isn't true. Mack never talks about Rory. He just hates him. Always has, always will. He's desperate to think of something to stop her, but then the scoop of ice-cream drops from the cone and lands on his foot, oozing onto his thong.

‘Shit.' He shakes his foot. Ice-cream splatters everywhere. ‘You got a cloth?'

Anna is already there with a mop. Mack can't believe how good she looks.

‘Move, will ya,' she says, mopping around his feet.

He jumps back, wishing.

‘It wasn't my fault,' he says, knowing how pathetic he sounds.

She stops mopping and shoots him a furious look. ‘What? The getting pissed bit? Or vomiting on my best dress? Or dumping me?'

‘I meant the blokes turning up.'

‘Oh that? I wasn't even counting that bit.'

‘They thought it was funny. Crashing the dance. They made me have a drink with them. You know for old times.'

‘Old times! You're seventeen, not seventy, Mack.'

‘Yeah, I know.' She was making him sound stupid.

Anna walks across to the plastic strings. She holds open a bunch. ‘See ya round, Mack.'