Friendship on Fire (54 page)

The teachers welcomed us back with more revision materials and Mr Head gave an ‘inspirational' speech during our lunchtime break. Yay.

As he was leaving the common room, he waved Roman and me over. My stomach lurched; what job would he get us to do now?

‘Daisy. Roman. In only a few weeks you'll have to give your graduation speech. Better start planning for it now,' he said and adjusted his belt buckle.

‘Yes, sir,' we said, frowning at the request. I'd forgotten about the end of year speech. That piled on to the stress of exams made me want to scream. I knew full well Roman would blitz the exams, the consistent way he studied.

In the locker bay preparing for fifth period, Skye's blonde head appeared through the vent in my locker door and I sighed.

‘Oh. I thought you'd be happy to see me. After two weeks away, I'm crushed,' she whined. I slammed the locker shut and turned away from her. ‘What are you going to do when you fail your exams, school captain?' she called after me.

I contemplated answering with a multitude of different, equally as insulting replies, but thought better of it. I needed to save my energy for study.

I was leaving the school gates amidst the traffic of students, bikes and skateboards, keeping my head down so as not to bump into anyone. All the things I had to do when I got home were weighing on my mind and I was completely distracted.

A little way down the pavement, near the children's crossing, I realised someone's feet were inert, facing my direction rather than walking with me. Worse still, I recognised the pair of shoes in front of me. I lifted my eyes to see Nate's gazing into mine, but more gorgeous than those I remembered in my dreams.

He appeared unsure of how to approach me, a stark contrast to the first time we met on these very grounds.

My legs wouldn't work, but I was hesitant about whether to fight or flee. Instead, my mouth hung open until Nate said something.

‘Daisy, hear me out. I just want to tell you one …' he began, with his hands held up in a defensive action.

I shook my head slightly, remembering the past few months and interrupting him mid-speech.

‘Uh, no. We've had this conversation,' I said assertively. ‘I have nothing more to say to you.'

‘But I love you. Doesn't that count for anything?'

His eyes pleaded with me and they were genuine. But it was too late.

‘Love doesn't cheat,' I replied uncomfortably.

‘I won't do it again, you have my word. I'm a changed man.'

‘I bet you are,' I murmured.

‘I am,' he said earnestly. ‘If you let me prove it —'

‘OK. You are. That still doesn't change my mind. Goodbye,' I said firmly, pushing past him on the busy footpath.

Nate grabbed me by the elbow and swung me around to face him. Our faces nearly touched in his vigour, yet it wasn't violent. I tried to pull my arm away, but he held fast. I contemplated screaming.

‘You were the best thing that ever happened to me. I can't let you go,' he whispered miserably.

‘You'll have to. Let go
,
Nate,' I yelled, yanking my elbow free.

From my left, a male figure approached quickly and pushed Nate hard. As Nate regained his footing, the figure was ready, standing fast in front of his eyes.

‘Stay away from her. She doesn't want you. You blew your chance already,' Roman said to Nate in a low, angry voice.

My heart leapt and sank at the same time. I was glad to see Roman and he was here to help me. But this was exactly like my dream, only without the strange medieval setting.

Nate smiled gently, leaning in closer to Roman.

‘Roman,' I said quietly, but Roman flicked a look over his shoulder that silenced me.

‘What's this about anyway? Don't you know it's rude to interrupt private conversations?' Nate spat at Roman.

‘I'm pretty sure anyone here except you can see she doesn't want to talk to you. Guess that expensive education from Daddy has gone to waste.'

Nate's eyes became shifty, looking from me back to Roman. I said nothing. I wasn't going to rescue him. Suddenly his eyes lit up with understanding. A theory.

‘Oh, I get it. You want a piece of her as well,' Nate grinned at Roman. He glanced at me with eyes that were full of defiance.

Once again I felt sorry for him, but hated him all the same. It was still a choice he made to behave like this.

While my heart wrestled with itself, I watched in slow motion as Roman took his right arm and swung it across Nate's face, sending him stumbling backwards off the path and into the grass.

Students walking around us stopped to point and gasp, as Roman, breathing heavily, turned to me and put his hands on my shoulders. I was one of the gaspers.

‘Roman, what have you done?' I asked, peering up at his hard-set face in shock.

‘He deserved it. I've been wanting to do that for a long time and he just gave me opportunity.' He rubbed his punching fist absent-mindedly.

I watched with dread as Nate scrambled to his feet and Roman turned from me to cover his back.

‘You have no reason to be here now, so I suggest you leave,' Roman said to him.

‘Last chance, Daisy,' Nate said, feeling his cheekbone gently, his hair and clothes dishevelled.

I said nothing, only continued to gasp in horror and pray that Nate wouldn't try to fight Roman. I couldn't bear it.

Nate brushed off his pants, picked up his bag and turned to walk across the road where his car was parked. So he'd been waiting for me.

Even though I'd let Nate go already, I still felt hurt at the concept that what I dreamt for us would never be. I probably wouldn't see him again.

I burst into tears right then and there on the path, trying to control the sobs that overtook my chest. Instantly Roman pulled me to him, putting my head on his chest and holding me there gently while I cried my eyes out for every injustice in the world.

‘Oh I like this story. The virtue of the damsel in distress is protected by hot, muscly Roman,' Sarah bubbled on the phone. ‘Keep going, this is great.'

‘My life isn't a TV show, you know,' I mumbled back.

‘Sure it isn't. Then what happened? Keep talking.'

I sighed. Why did I call Sarah first?

‘Fine. He walked with me, but after I finally stopped crying, we were at my house and I had big puffy eyes and ugly crying stains on my uniform.'

‘Yeah, I don't particularly care, what did
he
do?'

‘Uh. He just put his hand on my cheek and gave me this blue-eyed sappy look before walking off.'

‘Is that it?' she shouted.

‘Yeah.'

‘No kiss?'

‘No,' I frowned.

‘No passionate thank you sex?'

I wrinkled my nose. ‘“Thank you” sex? Is there such a thing?'

‘I think there should be.'

‘OK,' I said, taking a deep breath. ‘No, there wasn't any of that.'

‘Shame, really.'

‘Sarah …'

‘You love it.'

She started chomping on something on the other end.

‘What are you eating?'

‘What's it to you?'

Rolling my eyes, I continued. ‘So, back to the real issue. Once again, I cry over Nate in front of Roman and stuff up the only chance I get to talk to him properly. He probably thinks I'm a nut-job who hops into bed with anyone. What's wrong with me?'

‘Who cares?' she said. ‘He saved you. That has to count for something.'

She was right. He did save me. He just doesn't talk to me.

‘I guess.'

‘I think you owe him.'

‘Do you?'

‘Yep. Big time. I'm sure there are a few things he wouldn't say no to. Call it a thank you. Refer to previous comment,' she giggled.

‘Shocking, Sarah, as always. Can we have a normal conversation now?'

‘No. I'm going to finish my food. Bye.'

And she hung up on me. I dialled Shana's number.

‘Sorry babe, I think I have to agree with Sarah on this one,' Shana said without sympathy. ‘Roman might not be talking to you at the moment, but he sure is showing you.'

‘What if I need both?'

‘You might get both one day, but for now you have to take what you can get. I'd love it if James fought for me …' she began, threatening to turn this conversation into a soppy mess about her relationship.

‘Well thanks for your non-help. Bye,' I grumbled, hanging up the phone.

So I went to find Mum.

The year twelves had ‘last day' syndrome. Counting down the days of our school life with excitement, anticipation and equal dread at the impending exams occupied our time so much we didn't notice anyone else at school but ourselves. All that mattered was year twelves and the freedom milestone that awaited us.

We planned each of the ‘last' things we would get to do at school, such as ‘last Monday', ‘last maths lesson', ‘last walk to the canteen' and ‘last time to trash the common room'.

Seeing as Mr Head wouldn't let us destroy our own school for Muck-Up Day, we decided to visit Addison Grammar and destroy parts of their school instead.

We planned for jelly crystals in their swimming pool, burning our school name into their lawn and putting honey on their door handles. And, like the prepared thieves we were, they never found out who did it.

Roman was, like me, in the group who broke into the Grammar school wearing black and giggling like — well — schoolgirls. While I caught him laughing and smiling around me a few times, I can't say any of it was aimed at me directly.

I desperately wanted him to talk to me, to give me the attention he handed over in bucket loads to other people, but he still withheld it from me. Maybe I had put him off by crying over his shoulder about Nate. I guess I couldn't blame him.

On the last day of school we put our class year in sand on our front oval, making a perfect contrast to the impeccable green grass. We figured Mr Head couldn't stop us from graduating because we hadn't technically done any damage to school property.

Standing at the front gates for the last time, I watched the stream of students leaving the school property and wondered if I would miss my time here. Besides my friends, would I actually miss anything about school?

While I was having my moment with sentimentality, Rachael walked past me on the path. I guessed she hadn't seen me before coming this way, otherwise I imagine she would have avoided me. She caught my eye just as I caught hers and we stared blankly at each other for a few seconds before I pulled mine away. I remembered, with a stab of pain, though not as sore as it once was, what we had, what she threw away, what she took from me.

Like strangers we ignored each other on the once familiar path that held so many good memories for us.