The Call of the Wild (14 page)

Are they pretty?
I texted back, a little disappointed to hear that Saia seemed to be having fun without me.

Not as pretty as you! How is Liam?

Fine, I think. But weird.

In a good way or a bad way?

Just a weird way. Full report later. Better get back to slushies.

Got to go too
, Kimmi replied
. Annabel says hi. She’s very busy with Ryan right now.

I watched Liam through the open trailer door. He and Jack were mucking around and, for a moment, I wished things were easy between us, the way they were with him and Jack.

‘Everything okay?’ Liam called from the doorway to the trailer.

‘Sure,’ I smiled, walking towards him. ‘Just checking on the girls. Kimmi says the party’s amazing.’

‘Thanks for staying,’ he said softly. ‘I know you really wanted to go to the party.’

‘It’s okay,’ I said. I really wanted to know what was going on behind those bright blue eyes.

Liam turned to go back into the trailer, then seemed to change his mind. ‘Er, Phoebs,’ he said in a serious tone.

My heart thumped. I was sure I could sense something important coming.

‘Do you think –?’

That’s as far as he got before Jack abruptly ended our conversation by pouring a slushie down the back of Liam’s shirt. Way to ruin the moment!

‘Cheap shot!’ Liam shouted, shaking slushie out of his shirt and turning around to chase Jack with a mop.

Jack bounced around the trailer, howling with laughter.

By then a bunch of kids were shouting out orders. Liam put down his mop, Jack stopped laughing – eventually – and we all got back to work. I wondered what Liam had wanted to ask me. Was it something about
us
, or was it just a question about the Wild Club? It might have even been a question about slushies. But we got so busy I didn’t have time to ask him.

By the time the slushie machines finally ran dry, Liam and I still hadn’t had a chance to talk. The movie had finished without us seeing any of it, the floor was awash with multi-coloured slop and so were we. My dress was probably ruined forever. On the up side, we had made a pile of money for the orangutans. Polly came by to collect the takings. She shook her head when she saw the state of the trailer and the colour of our clothes, but she was pretty impressed by the amount of money in the cash drawer.

‘Great work,’ she said. ‘Good luck with the clean-up!’

I looked around and sighed. I hated cleaning. ‘I don’t remember signing up for this,’ I said.

‘Sorry, princess,’ Jack said, handing me a dishcloth. ‘The servants have run away.’

‘Ha ha.’ I started at one end of the bench.

Liam picked up the mop and Jack began cleaning the machines. As I was wiping down the bench, I heard my phone go off. I ignored it at first, but it went off.

It was a message from Annabel with two words:

In love!

She’d sent a pic of her and Kimmi, with their arms around Marco and Ryan. The four of them were pouting like models.

Everything went to plan?
I texted.

Nearly had a disaster
, Annabel replied.
I spied a Fairmount girl moving in on Marco. But I gave her the evil eye and she backed off.

Well done!
I replied. Kimmi would have been devastated if Marco had ended up with another girl.

How is the movie night going?
Annabel asked.

Just cleaning up
, I replied.

You know how to have fun!

Sure do! Talk later. More fun cleaning to do!

I put my phone away and looked at the guys. Liam was mopping Jack’s legs and Jack was trying to wipe Liam’s face with his sticky cloth. This was going to take a while.

The oval was almost deserted by the time we finally closed the door to the slushie trailer. The three of us wandered back through the school to the street in silence. The guys didn’t live far away and were walking home, but I had to wait for my mum to collect me.

I found a bench and sat down with a heavy sigh. It had been a long night. I was also disappointed that it was going to finish like this. I still didn’t really know how Liam felt about me.

‘I’ll wait with you until your mum arrives, if you like,’ Liam said, sitting down beside me.

‘Thanks,’ I said, smiling. ‘That’d be good.’

Jack sat down next to Liam. A bit of shuffling went on and then Jack jumped to his feet again. ‘Ewww, I’m sticky all over. I think I’ll go home and have a shower.’

‘Okay, dude,’ Liam said, giving him a friendly shove. ‘Why don’t you do that?’

Jack gave Liam a fist bump. ‘I’ll be off, then,’ he said, and then disappeared into the darkness.

I glanced at Liam. I couldn’t help thinking that Jack’s departure hadn’t been a coincidence, that Liam had asked Jack to leave us alone. I felt a little buzz of excitement run through my spine at the possibility that I was finally going to find out what Liam wanted to ask me. We sat in silence for a few moments before Liam eventually spoke.

‘So,’ he said quietly. ‘Glad you stayed to help out? Or are you sorry you missed the party?’

‘I’m glad I stayed,’ I replied. It wasn’t the important question I’d been hoping for, but it was a start. ‘We made some money for the Wild Club and it was great to see my film on the big screen. And it was pretty fun hanging out with you and Jack. Even though you spilled as many slushies as you sold.’

‘Well, Jack totally lost the slushie fight.’ Liam said, smiling. Then he shuffled his feet awkwardly and stared down the street. ‘Guess your mum’ll be here soon.’

‘Yeah, soon,’ I said.

We sat in silence for what seemed like forever after that. And I began to wonder if Liam was actually going to ask me anything important. Maybe Jack really had just gone home because he wanted a shower. Liam had spilled slushies all over him, and then mopped his face and hair, after all. But as I watched Liam out of the corner of my eye, tapping his fingers on the bench, I knew I needed to find out what was going on in his head – and fast, because Mum would be here any second.

‘I was thinking we should go to the movies some time,’ I said, tentatively.

I watched Liam as the tapping stopped and his expression changed. A smile spread across his face. I knew I’d said the right thing. I still didn’t know exactly what was going on in his mind, but I felt like I was getting closer.

‘I was just thinking the same thing,’ Liam said. ‘Yeah, that’d be really cool.’

‘Maybe we could go tomorrow,’ I suggested.

Liam’s face fell. ‘Sorry, not tomorrow.’

‘Oh,’ I said, wishing I hadn’t pushed him.

‘Not because I don’t want to,’ he went on. ‘It’s just – I’m going out with my parents.’

‘Family lunch?’ I said. ‘Poor you.’

Liam shook his head. ‘There’s a pod of whales off the coast. My parents are going out tomorrow to take a look and I’m going, too.’

‘How cool,’ I said. ‘Sounds a lot more exciting than any family outing I’ve ever been on.’

Liam’s face brightened. ‘You want to come too?’

‘Are you joking?’ I asked.

Liam shook his head. ‘It’s not a tourist boat. We’ll be going out with a bunch of scientists. They never talk – except when it’s about whales. Then they never stop.’

I laughed. ‘Sounds like a perfect way to spend the day.’

‘Great,’ he said, quietly. ‘It’ll be fun.’

Liam looked at me again with that intense expression that he’d been giving me all night, and I wondered if he was going to kiss me. But by then it was too late. Mum had pulled up beside us.

‘You want a lift home?’ I asked.

‘Nah,’ Liam shook his head. ‘Jack won’t be far away, I’ll catch up with him.’

‘Okay, see you tomorrow,’ I said, getting into Mum’s car.

Mum chattered to me all the way home, but I hardly heard what she was saying.

Tomorrow, I’ll have all day to hang out with Liam again
, I kept thinking. And who knows what might happen then!

Liam’s hurt expression stayed with me the whole time as Kimmi’s mum drove us to Ryan’s party. Beside me, Annabel was bursting with excitement, but I just felt rotten about letting down my friends in the Wild Club. To make things worse, I’d rushed off so quickly, I hadn’t even wished them good luck.

‘Stop moping,’ Annabel said, noticing my mood. ‘You’re going to have an amazing time. Forget Liam and start thinking about Saia.’