Starfish Sisters

by J. C. Burke

  'Thanks, Courtney, and thanks to all of you,' Carla said. 'Just some house rules before we move off to lunch. The bungalows have been allocated. I'm sure you've all noticed how beautiful and freshly painted they are. We'd like to keep them that way too. There will be rostered jobs. They'll be pasted up in the dining room the night before. So whoever's on breakfast duty the next morning will need to check. Also the training timetable will come out the night before. They'll be up in this room, the dining room and the board outside each bungalow.'

  Carla's talk was interrupted by the 'beep beep' of a text message coming through on someone's phone. We all turned to where the sound was coming from. Ace.

  'Oh my God!' Courtney squealed and threw her hand over her mouth in the fakest attempt at looking surprised. She then proceeded to read the text, knowing every single one of us was watching. When she'd finished she put her phone away, re-crossed her perfect limbs and flicked her hair across to the other shoulder – just for something different. She was loving this.

  'It's probably a good time to bring up mobile phones.' Everyone laughed at Carla's comment. But I felt like yelling, 'You pack of suck-ups!'

  'It's hard to completely ban mobiles.' Carla smiled, mostly at Courtney, 'as there's only one payphone and I know some of you are far away from home. But, I do ask that they are used only when necessary and preferably in free time. When we are having sessions in this rec room I do not expect to see a mobile let alone hear one. I think it all comes under the umbrella of respecting one another. Okay?'

  Nods and 'okays' followed from all.

  'There are some obvious rules. Use of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs will result in being immediately sent home. That is not negotiable. For safety reasons you all must stay within the boundaries of the camp. But as it's so enormous I don't think you'll have any trouble with that. Part of the beach is sectioned off for us and there and only there is where we surf. Unless, of course, we go somewhere else on a daytrip, which is unlikely as most breaks are pretty crowded in the holidays. It took a long time to persuade council into this, so if you want to surf the right that's down the other end of the beach, too bad.'

  Megan from Tasmania had her hand up.

  'Yes, Megan.'

  'What time do we get up?'

  'Six-fifteen am, except weekends, which are eight am,' Carla replied.

  Megan and a few others groaned.

  A girl named Natasha called out, 'Is there a canteen or shop?'

  'No shop.' Carla shook her head. 'We're here to surf and be healthy. We're pretty strict on that. Brian, the cook, will make sure you have plenty to eat.'

  My tummy was already rumbling. I knew I should've had an extra bowl of cereal.

  'Yes, Kia?'

  For a second I wondered if Kia was going to request in full public view for Micki to be moved from our bungalow.

  'Are we going to be graded?' she asked.

  Carla nodded. 'We'll start this afternoon. If the wind drops any more we'll have to finish tomorrow morning.'

  So they were chucking us straight into the deep end. 'What about a couple of games?' I felt like suggesting. Weren't we meant to have a few getting-to-know-one-another camp moments before the pressure was turned up to full volume?

  Jaime from Victoria, who was even paler than me, called out: 'When do we get free time?' She seemed like my kind of girl.

  'In the evening and maybe an hour here or there in the day, depending on the training timetable,' Carla told her. 'There's a ten pm curfew which requires you to be back in your bungalows and ready for bed. All this stuff – rules, when the timetable's up, point tallies, last-day selections – all of it is in the blue booklet we'll give you after lunch.'

  This was worse than gaol. I knew it.

  'Okay, in a moment we'll move to the dining room for lunch. Parents, you're invited to join us if you wish. Otherwise, say your farewells beforehand.

  'Last thing, girls.' Carla clapped her hands. 'Enjoy this time but work hard too. It's a big opportunity. There was a lot of talent and some exciting surfing to choose from but only places for twelve. If you're not serious about this, then you're not in the right place.'

  I stared at my toes, wondering. Was I serious about this? I used to be. Maybe if I was once, I'd find my fire again here.

  KIA

  With those final words from Carla, I felt totally pumped. I was going to take every opportunity. I was going to work my butt off. I'd show them that I deserved to be here. I would be the first up and into the water, no matter what.

  Courtney, or Ace, which I was dying to call her, was just ahead in the lunch queue. This was a perfect opportunity to introduce myself.

  Dad called out from across the room. 'Kia? I'm taking the trailer of boards down to the shed. Will you give us a hand to unload them?'

  Oh no, couldn't he find someone else to help him? Like . . .

  At the other end of the room, I spied Micki at the water fountain, filling up her bottle. Dad was coming towards me. Quickly, I slipped through the line and headed over to her.

  'Hi,' I said.

  'Hello,' Micki replied, giving me a big droopy puppy-dog look. 'Just getting some hydration. I try and drink a few bottles a day.'

  'Right.' Well, aren't you the perfect one, I thought. 'Oh, here's Dad.'

  'Kia!' Dad had the grumps. 'I've been calling you. I want you to help me unload the boards. The staff have to have their lunch.'

  Courtney was spooning some salad onto her plate and eyeing off the tables for a good place to sit.

  'Kia?' Dad repeated.

  'Dad, can't I have my lunch first? I need to eat and digest before the grading session. Can't – can't someone else help you?'

  Micki went belly first into my trap. 'I'll help.'

  'Have you had your lunch?' Dad asked.

  So he asked Micki if she'd had her lunch! Didn't my digestion rate?

  'I had a sandwich while I was waiting at the train station,' Micki the martyr replied. 'I'm really not that hungry.'

  'There we go,' I said.

  'Kia!'

  'Dad, Micki just said she's eaten.' Ace had just sat down and there was one seat next to her. It wouldn't stay vacant for long. 'Oh, don't forget to say goodbye before you go, Dad.'

  I wanted to bolt to the table, like in a game of musical chairs when only one chair was remaining. But I didn't. It would so not have looked cool. Instead, I walked as fast as I could, without seeming desperate.

  'Anyone sitting here?' I asked, as I pulled the chair out and sat down.

  Ace looked up from her mobile. 'Looks like you are.' She slipped her phone into her lap. 'My boyfriend keeps texting me,' she giggled.

  I felt the oxygen drain from my brain. This was almost like sitting next to Tim Parker.

  'I just told him I'm not allowed to use my phone,' she told me. 'Knowing my boyfriend, that'll make him call even more. If that's humanly possible.'

  'You go out with Tim Parker, don't you?' I just had to say it. 'I read an article about you two in Dolly.'

  'Oh yeah, that's right,' Ace said, shrugging. 'I don't really keep up with that sort of stuff.'

  'It was really interesting. I read it about six times. I've got a copy at home I could send you.'

  'Oh, that's so sweet.' Ace smiled. She seemed so modest. 'But honestly, my mum probably has about a thousand copies stashed in the garage. You know what parents are like.'

  'They must be so proud of you.'

  'I don't really ask them,' Ace replied. 'Anyway, they're divorced.'

  'Oh, I'm sorry.' How stupid could I get? The article even said Ace came from a broken home! My fingernails pinched at my skin. 'I'll be on the lookout if you want.'

  'Hey?'

  'When you want to use your phone. When, um, Tim calls you and stuff.'

  'That's so nice of you,' she said. 'I'm Ace, by the way.'

  'Ace.' I almost had to grip the table to stop myself from fainting off the chair. We were already on 'Ace' terms. Suddenly I wished I had a nicknam
e or a shortened version of my own name. But Kia – you couldn't really get any shorter than that.

  'I'm Kia.'

  'Ohhh. I met your dad before.' She took another peek at her phone. 'Outside, with the board trailer. We thought he worked here.'

  'He thinks he does too.'

  Ace sipped at her water. 'He said I brought too many boards.'

  I couldn't tell if she was pissed off or embarrassed by Dad's nosey comment. But I wanted to kill him!

  'How many did you bring?' I couldn't resist.

  'Six,' Ace replied. 'Do you think that's too many?'

  'No!' Wow, that was almost one for every day of the week.

  'It's just that your dad said a girl here only brought one board.'

  'I bet I know who he's talking about. Micki.'

  'Is that the young, skinny girl?'

  'Yeah.'

  'I've seen her before,' Ace continued. 'At one of the Gromfests in Coolum. I remember her, well, not so much her as her dad.'

  I shuffled around in my chair. It was essential I didn't get lumped with being some family friend of Micki's.

  'Do you know him?'

  I went to reply but thankfully didn't.

  'He's strange,' Ace continued. 'Really strange. They didn't camp or stay in a motel, they slept in this total bomb of a car. It was disgusting.' Ace put her fork down, like she'd vomit if she ate and told this story at the same time. 'One afternoon her dad fell asleep and locked himself in the car with the windows up. It was so hot. Micki was fully freaking out. I think one of the other fathers had to break into the car. He must've been dehydrated or something 'cause an ambulance came and took him to hospital. After that, she didn't compete again in the contest. Which was good, because you just didn't feel safe with that creepy man hanging around.'

  For a second Ace stopped and looked at me. 'Oh! Oh, he's not a good friend of your dad's, is he? Oh my God, have I just been totally rude? Is Micki like a close family friend? I'm going red, aren't I?'

  This whopper I was about to tell was in the name of self-preservation.

  'We've just met him at the odd contest and stuff too,' I lied. 'We're not close family friends or anything.'

  'Thank God!' Ace almost squealed. 'Did you think he was weird?'

  'Really, really weird.' That wasn't a lie. I'd only met Davo twice and that was years ago. But I remembered there was something weird about him. When I asked Dad he just told me not to be so judgmental. Now I had a witness that he was weird!

  'I thought I had really put my foot in it then,' Ace said. 'Like you were old friends.'

  'It's fine. Don't worry.' I forced the corners of my mouth to turn upwards. 'We kind of know Micki 'cause my dad feels sorry for her.'

  'Sweet,' Ace crooned. 'Let's hope her dad doesn't decide to drop in while we're here.'

  'Who?' Georgie arrived at the table with a huge plate of food. 'Who's going to drop in?'

  'Micki's dad.' Ace giggled.

  'Huh?' Georgie looked straight at me.

  'How would I know?' I mumbled. It was Operation Change the Subject. 'Hey, I wonder when the grading session's going to start?'

  'They're grading us by bungalows,' Georgie told us. 'The dolphins are first.'

  'I don't even know what bungalow I'm in,' Ace said.

  'Oh, you're with us,' I answered, 'in the Starfish Bungalow.'

  'So I'm being graded with you guys?' Ace asked.

  'Looks like it.'

  'I'm Ace, by the way,' Courtney said to Georgie.

  So maybe she lets everyone call her Ace. Still, she told me first.

  'I'm Georgie, and I'm off to get some more bread.' Why was Georgie being so rude? 'Do you guys want anything?'

  'No thanks,' Ace and I chimed together.

  When she was gone, Ace leant forward and whispered, 'How much food is on her plate? You know the nutritionists will get really stuck into her.'

  Georgie arrived back at the table, along with Micki the puppy dog.

  'There's no bread left,' Georgie complained. 'I hope this isn't going to be one of those camps where they don't feed you enough.'

  Ace gave me a 'See, I told you' look. I answered her with a 'You sure were right' nod.

  'I didn't know you made bikinis,' Micki butted into our conversation. 'Your dad was just telling me how good they are.'

  'They wouldn't fit you,' I said, just in case she was dropping a hint.

  Georgie gave me a greasy. She was into anyone wearing our bikinis. Free advertising, she called it.

  'Don't worry, Micki,' Georgie grunted through a mouthful, 'they don't fit me either. But for the opposite reason.'

  Ace gave me another nod.

  'These old tree trunks,' Georgie continued, 'these thunder thighs, don't really suit a bikini, I'm afraid to say.'

  Georgie had a habit of saying all the wrong things.

  'I bet you carve up the big swell, though,' Micki the crawler chimed in.

  I watched Ace put her fork down and stare at Georgie.

  Georgie was blushing. But it was obvious she was loving someone saying what a hot surfer she was, especially in front of Ace.

  'The other week when Kia's dad was up visiting, he told me you were a really powerful surfer,' said Micki. 'I wish I was but I'm such a shrimp.'

  Quickly I gave Ace an 'I don't know what Micki's talking about' shrug.

  'They're taking away the lunch, Kia,' Ace announced. 'You better grab something to eat or you'll flake out for the grading.'

  I'd forgotten all about eating. I took some slices of turkey off a platter. Hopefully that'd be enough protein to get me through the afternoon.

  'Kia?' Dad came up behind me. 'I'm going in a minute.'

  'You're not staying for the grading?'

  'No. I thought I'd pick up Charlie early from daycare.'

  'Okay. Bye then.'

  'Come outside for a minute.'

  'Why?'

  'Because I want to say goodbye to you.'

  Something was up with Dad. I could tell from the calm, but not really calm, sound of his voice.

  We walked out of the dining room, across the lawn and towards the garden that bordered the tennis courts.

  'Where are we going, Dad?'

  'This is a beautiful place, isn't it?' he said.

  'Yeah.'

  'You're all so lucky to have this wonderful opportunity. You all deserve it too.' He was heading somewhere with these words. 'Every single one of you girls has worked hard to get here. So wouldn't it be disappointing if it was ruined because of' – he paused – 'people being unfriendly to others.'

  Surprise, surprise! Now I knew where these words were headed.

  Dad stopped. I wanted to keep walking but I could tell he was on the verge of having a famous Dad lecture. If I didn't stop and at least pretend to listen it could end up with him shouting and that would be embarrassing if not 'please shoot me now' humiliating.

  'You've been really unfriendly towards Micki. I'm shocked. I'm disappointed. I just don't see why you would behave like that towards her. You don't even know her.'

  'Exactly.' I pulled leaves off one of the bushes. 'I just can't act like we're best buddies all of a sudden just because you and Davo are.'

  'I'm not asking you to do that.'

  'Besides, Dad, she's heaps younger than me. It's not like we have stuff in common.'

  'She might be younger in years, Kia, but she's more mature than you.'

  'What's that supposed to mean?' Dad was really, really annoying me now.

  'She's been through a lot.'

  'I know she has.' Dad had been ramming that fact down my throat for years. When it came to Micki it was hard to compete for a sympathy vote. 'I know her mum died when she was three.' A rustling on the other side of the garden interrupted me. I jumped and grabbed on to Dad. I wasn't a very 'wildlife' kind of girl. 'What was that?'

  'Probably a bird.'

  'Or was it a snake?'

  'It would've been a very big snake if it was,' Dad said. 'Look, Kia
, I brought you up to be kind and considerate. I'm not asking you to be best friends with Micki. I'm asking you to be nice and maybe check in every now and then that she's going okay.'

  Back to the topic of Micki. I ground my toe into the ground until I felt the gravel scratch the top layer off my skin.

  'You've got so much,' he told me. 'She doesn't. So be kind. Please.'

  I headed back to the dining room and even then Micki was present, crossing the lawn like she'd appeared from nowhere. There was no escaping her.

  MICKI

  Friday 5 January, 11.06 pm: Day one

  Hellooooooooooo Diary!!

  I'm here at surf camp! At last. As you know I was beginning to think the day would never come.

  So today . . . today hasn't been exaaaactly as I imagined. Most of it has been perfect and that'z what I'm going to tell you about.

  I rubbed my neck, feeling the mark where my diary had been sticking into me while I was lying in bed waiting for the others to fall asleep. This morning when Georgie arrived at the bungalow I'd managed to slip my diary inside my pillowcase without anyone noticing – namely Kia. If she'd seen that I kept a diary she would've thought I was an even bigger baby than she already did.

  From the second I met her it was obvious she didn't like me. Then hearing them after lunch just confirmed it.

  But no! I wasn't going to write any of that stuff in my diary. My diary was going to be positive and happy, so that when I was at home I could read it and remember what a good time surf camp had been. I needed that.

  Yet now I was feeling confused about what I was even doing here. Was it because I was a good surfer and that I was promising and had a 'big future' ahead of me, like Reg said the talent scouts told him? Or had he made it up? Was I really here because he felt sorry for me, because, as he'd told Kia, I'd 'been through a lot'?

  I felt horrible. That seemed to be my speciality: feeling horrible yet managing to smile the whole time. Was that the big future I had ahead of me? Pretending? I'd had enough training.

  No!

  Slowly, I took a deep breath in. I liked it when my chest rose and filled with air. It made me feel strong. And then when I breathed out it was like I could feel all the bad thoughts leaving my body.