Friendship on Fire (36 page)

My saved biscuits weren't there. Had I had a blonde moment and put them somewhere else? I looked in my drawers, even behind my laptop. Nothing.

Treston watched from the doorway, amused.

‘They were good,' he complimented. ‘However, you should have given me some in the first place, as any good sister would have done. Now the chef gets none. Oh well.'

‘How could you?' I screamed, slamming the door in his face. His chuckles from outside only infuriated me further.

I picked up my diary again. Secretly, I didn't want to forget anything that had happened during my two days away. My parents didn't question me about Nate's conduct; I suspected Mum warned Dad beforehand. She would have told him that if I had any news, I'd tell them in good time. As it turned out, I didn't. They were content to hear the mundane tourist stories I told them.

My mind wandered to Roman and his holidays at Marion Bay. The rain must have hit them as well. Would he be back now with his parents? Had they had a nice time together? Had he spent the whole time hating me because I should have been there with him? Did he know I'd gone away with Nate? I still felt bad. I knew he wouldn't listen if I told him; it'd just make it worse. Better to keep it to myself.

The next morning I was woken by a knock at my door. Groaning, I rolled over and managed to croak, ‘Come in.'

Mum opened the door and whispered, ‘Daisy. The new girl is here. It's a bit early to hang out isn't it? Did you plan something with her? You should be dressed already if you have.'

Checking the time, I nearly fainted. Seven-thirty in the morning, on school holidays, was an ungodly hour. ‘No, I haven't made plans with her. Tell her I'll be out in a minute, please?'

What does she want?
I grumbled to myself as I pulled on some jeans and a long sleeve round neck top.

She was waiting shyly on the couch in the lounge room, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand, courtesy of Mum. Mum was getting ready for work and looked relieved when I came out so she could get back to her own business.

‘Hey,' I said, collapsing on the couch like a bogan.

‘Hey,' she replied, drinking her hot chocolate.

‘What's up?' I asked, trying not to appear irritated.

She fidgeted her thumbs on the mug, seeming uncomfortable. ‘Well.' Her eyes darted around the room, unsure of her presence in my house. ‘You said I could come over whenever I wanted, if I wanted to hang out. So, here I am.'

Fighting waves of sleepy nausea, I forced a smile. ‘So I did. And here you are. Early. It's good to see you.' I was a horrible liar.

She smiled back genuinely and waited for me to continue. Couldn't she come back later?

‘What would you like to do then? My house isn't that interesting.'

Her eyes lit up at the choice. ‘Can you show me where the beach is? I love it so much. And I've missed it, with all our travelling.'

My beach antennas pricked up. She loved the beach? Like me? As much as me? Was it possible? Rach had tolerated the beach, but she didn't particularly like it. Shana was instantly forgiven for waking me up so early. If she could prove her love, that is.

‘Sure we can. It'll be a bit cold there at this time of the morning, but the wind won't have picked up yet. It's a perfect opportunity. Wait here.'

I bounced into my room to collect Roman's birthday presents. The Billabong scarf, gloves and beanie especially would come in handy until the sun came out later.

Shana had already rugged up in case I accepted her request. Her olive skin shone with telltale signs of sun worshipping and her choice of clothes indicated she'd come from a beach culture before here.

‘We'll take my car, if you like,' she offered.

‘I was about to ask you that. I have my licence, but no car yet. Wonderful. Have you had breakfast?' I asked, my stomach rumbling.

‘We haven't had a chance to do proper food shopping yet, so I brought these.' She dug into her satchel and pulled out five of my Anzac bikkies, wrapped in a tea towel. My heart lifted at the sight of them. I could taste them after all. This girl was a gem.

‘You're awesome,' I squealed, as she frowned and held the biscuits up to me. To explain, I said, ‘I saved three for me last night, but my brother stole them from my room. I wouldn't give him any of your batch. I have three of
them
.' Nodding towards the rest of my sleeping house, she smiled with understanding.

‘I'm an only child, but I can only imagine what it's like to have older brothers.' She got up to leave with me. We were about the same height. She was slightly smaller than me in body size.

I had the magnificent task of holding the biscuits while she drove us to the beach. I nearly forgot to direct her a few times. I was so used to people knowing where they were going in Twin Rocks. Only a few cars were staggered in the car park at South Beach and I could see why. Light fog veiled much of the water and sand, making it hard to see for surfers, the only other ones up at this hour.

‘Sorry it's not the best time to introduce you to South Beach. It's normally much more beautiful than this,' I said, sweeping my hand in front of me.

‘I don't care what it looks like, honestly. I'm excited to be at a beach. It's home for me, like I can be at one with nature.'

A hippy? I was trying not to be judgmental, but this girl was hard to read. Or put into a box.

We stood at the lookout and breathed in the salty air, staring out as far as we could where the fog wasn't as thick. Then we hit the sand, walking right towards the massive white sand dunes.

‘So what school are you going to? You are still at school, aren't you?' I asked.

‘Yeah, year twelve. I think the school is called St Dominic's?' Her eyebrows furrowed at the name.

‘Oh cool that's my school. It's a big change for part way through the year, isn't it?' I asked, reading her face as she spoke.

‘Sure is.'

I kept quiet after that response, not wanting to put pressure on her to tell me why she'd left in the first place.

‘What classes are you taking?' I asked to change the subject.

Shrugging, she responded, ‘Not sure if I'll do the same ones yet. I probably should. It'd be too hard to start something new, being so close to mid-year exams.'

‘I'd recommend you do the same ones. I doubt our principal would let you change anyway. I'm the school captain, you know.'

She smiled with encouragement. ‘Really? That's awesome. Do you have to do heaps of speeches and stuff?'

‘Not heaps. Well there is a bit of planning for school events, but I share that with my co-captain, Roman.' The mention of his name made my stomach squeeze.

‘Oh yeah,' she teased, not knowing what she was getting into.

‘No it's not like that,' I blushed. ‘I have a boyfriend. We are best friends. Or were.'

Her eyebrows rose. ‘What happened? Too stressful?'

‘Something like that.' My lips pursed and we kept walking in our Ugg boots along the sand.

We were both keeping secrets today and that was fine. A first proper meeting had to stay casual, to suss each other out. So far, she was down to earth and unassuming; exactly what I needed.

‘So tell me about this boyfriend? You been together for long? Serious?' Her hands slipped into her pockets, suggesting she was ready to listen.

‘Gosh, where do I start? His name is Nate, and he goes to the Grammar school down the road from our school. At first I thought he was a total prick. But he's misunderstood.

He's sweet, and charming, and really cheeky. For the most part we are getting serious, yeah.' I smiled at my summary of him. It was spot on.

‘Cool. He sounds nice. I had to leave a boyfriend behind when I left; it wasn't pretty. But I know there are plenty more fish in the sea,' she said diplomatically.

I noticed the pain in her voice. What had made them leave so dramatically and just her Dad with her?

‘For sure. Maybe not at our school,' I replied, rolling my eyes.

‘Can I tell you something?' When I nodded, she said, ‘I'm so nervous about school starting. Please tell me it's easy to fit in.'

‘Only if you don't have red hair,' I muttered, shaking my head at the memory. Shana frowned, confusion in her brown eyes. Luckily, her hair was raven black and red probably wouldn't show through it if she did ever colour it. I laughed, to show her I was joking, even though I wasn't.

hoa. Look out. We have a new girl at school. Competition. Watch where you're going, won't you sweetheart?' Skye winked at Shana as she stepped on the books Shana was quickly trying to pick up off the ground. The nervousness she mentioned a few days ago showed loud and clear. I bent down to help her just as James did. Odd. I didn't see James often at school, unless he was with Roman. His gentlemanly side had remained a mystery, until now.

‘Thanks guys, but I've got it,' Shana said in a small voice. Her cheeks shone a rose colour underneath her olive skin. She was very pretty; I was sure she'd pick up one of our boys in no time. Maybe they wouldn't consider her a ‘school girl' as they didn't know her yet. It would be a mad scramble for her first term here.

‘Oh, how sweet. Now you've got everyone helping you. And Daisy has finally found a new friend since Rachael started hanging out with my crew. Better hang on to this one tighter, hey school captain?'

‘Whatever Skye.'

My chest burned with the new knowledge of Rachael changing friendship groups without telling me. Skye would have been banking on me not knowing. She'd be gloating to her friends as soon as she saw them about the surprised look on my face when I found out my best friend wasn't ‘best' anymore.