Dragging herself up onto the edge of the pool, she staggered onto the grass and fell to the ground.
“When I finished the race,” she gasped, still trying to catch her breath, “I duck dived under the water and came up on the far side of the pool. But when I floated to the top, I became tangled in all that netting!”
“The more I tried, the more tangled I became. I thought I was going to drown!”
She put her head in her hands and sobbed, uncontrollably; and could not stop.
I felt really sorry for her and wrapped my towel around her shoulders. Tears of relief that she was ok began to trickle down my cheeks. The intensity of the previous few minutes suddenly came crushing down and I began to shake with emotion.
As she looked up in the semi-darkness, I could see that her face was also streaked with tears. “You saved my life, Julia! If you hadn’t spotted me under the water, I could have drowned.”
Silently, I stared back at her, too afraid to speak. As the sound of loud cheering continued on the other side of the pool, I realized that no-one was even aware we were missing. Overcome with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I shuddered with dread at the thought of what could have happened.
Without warning, she began to sob once more; huge wracking sobs that seemed to come from the depths of her soul.
Impulsively, I put my arm around her and patted her gently; all thoughts of our past history had disappeared.
When she looked at me again, her expression was one of disbelief. “How can you be so nice to me, Julia? After the way I’ve treated you!”
“I am such a terrible person, and yet, here you are!”
Staring at her quietly, I was lost for words.
“Julia,” her voice was filled with more sincerity than I had ever heard her use before, “Will you ever forgive me?”
Revelations…
On the way back to school in the bus, Sara and I sat together and throughout the entire forty minute journey, she did not stop talking.
I barely said a word as she shared what seemed like her life story. It all came pouring out, things that I’d had no idea about, whatsoever. And I sat in total shock as I listened to her speak, one word after another.
All along, I’d thought of her as being the girl who had everything. Her parents were very rich, she lived in the most incredible house, she owned the coolest clothes, she was super pretty and she was friends with all the cool kids at school. I mean, seriously, how could a girl like that have problems?
But it appeared that she did!
Problems that I never even knew existed!
Apparently, she rarely saw her parents. Her dad was always working and her mom was always busy doing her own stuff and she was often out with her own friends. It seemed that they never had time for Sara. I guessed because of that, she craved attention and tried to seek attention elsewhere, in any way possible.
Sara then went on to admit that all along, she’d been jealous of me.
Jealous of me! I was totally shocked when I heard those words.
“But how can that be?” I’d asked her, completely stunned at her remark.
“Because you have everything I want, Julia,” she replied simply.
Shaking my head with disbelief, I sat there, wondering how on earth that could be possible.
“You’re pretty, you’re really smart, you’re talented in so many different ways,” Her voice sounded in my head, but I was overcome by what she was saying.
“You have the coolest boy in our grade for a boyfriend and you have a real best friend. Not someone who hangs around with you because they think you’re cool, but because they care about you and value your friendship.”
“And on top of that,” she continued quietly, “The other kids respect you.”
“I would love to be like you, Julia!”
I did not know what to say. I was shocked beyond words. I thought back to all the times I had spent feeling envious of Sara; all the misery I had suffered because of the way she treated me. And all along, she had actually been jealous of me!
When I explained how I had suffered since meeting her, she hung her head in shame.
“Julia, I am so sorry!”
I looked at her then, overwhelmed with emotion and then a burst of realization seeped abruptly through to my very core.
“But Sara!” I exclaimed suddenly. “It’s not completely your fault?”
She looked at me quizzically. She had no idea what I was talking about.
“It’s all about communication!” I continued. “I should have talked to you sooner!”
“What?” she asked, curiously. “What do you mean, Julia?”
I was sure I’d read about it in my dream book at some time, but had taken no notice.
“The way to solve a problem with another person is to talk about it!”
“Focus on the result you want, but also take action to make it happen!”
It all came flooding back to me then and suddenly seemed to make perfect sense. In a situation such as ours, the secret was to communicate. Beyond any doubt whatsoever, I knew that was the key.
Rather than keeping concerns and emotions and problems bottled up inside, it was essential to talk about them. If a person or a situation is bothering you, it’s always best to bring it out into the open, to tell the person how you feel and make them aware of the impact their actions are having on you.
It seemed so obvious right then and I was astounded that it had taken all this time for me to realize it; a near fatal accident was what had finally encouraged us to talk.
Memories of the hate filled moments I had suffered while hidden away in my bedroom roared into focus and I thought about the time and energy I had wasted.
“Can we make a promise to each other,” Sara asked then.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“If we have a problem, in future let’s just get it out in the open and talk about it!”
“Deal!” I had said, laughing. “I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard in a long time!”
As I crawled into bed later that night, overcome with exhaustion from the trauma of the day, I thought again of my parting words to Sara as we hopped off the bus.
I knew that we had both learned an incredible lesson and I was so grateful for that. Never again would I suffer in silence, the way I had. And feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders, I drifted into a deep sleep.
Two weeks later…
The day arrived when each group had to share their health and fitness project ideas with the rest of the class, as well as demonstrate what was involved.
When it came to our turn we were prepared, with each of us dressed in our exercise gear ready to share our routine with the class. We had all worked together and the result was a combined effort that included ideas from each of us. We’d put together several of the latest hit songs, so that a verse from each was played throughout.
We all voted for Sara to be the instructor, while we followed her actions. Although we all knew the routine well, we wanted to demonstrate exactly how the idea worked, with an instructor teaching the steps.
To our huge surprise, before even half way through our routine, several of the kids in our class had left their seats and were copying our movements. As I scanned the group who were watching intently from their desks, I could see some kids tapping their fingers or their feet in time to the music, while others were singing along.
Before finally coming to an end, almost everyone was joining in, trying to keep up with the exercises and even Miss Watson was moving in her spot to the beat of the music.
We finished off to a huge round of applause as everyone cheered and clapped. They even asked us to go through the entire routine again so they could take part from the start.
Millie, Sara, Lucy and I later agreed that it really didn’t matter whether we were selected as the winning group. The most important thing was that it had been so much fun. And even more importantly, we had worked as
a team and we knew that our project was a success.
I would previously never have thought it possible but as I stood there alongside Sara, the smile she flashed me was one of genuine friendship.
“Thank you so much, Julia! Today was awesome!”
Then, turning towards me once more, she asked quietly, “Is it ok if I call you sometime? Maybe we could make plans to hang out one weekend when you’re free?”
“Yes, of course!” I beamed with a smile. “That would be great!”
And the warm feeling that ran through me right then, as I headed over to Millie, Blake and Jack who were waiting for me to join them, was one of gratitude and joy.
Finally, Sara and I had come to a truce and I felt comfortable with the thought that our problems were behind us.
I for one, had certainly learned a valuable lesson, one I would carry with me into the future and I vowed never to make that mistake again.
With a grin, I walked into Blake’s open arms and hugged him tightly. I was the luckiest girl alive. I could not imagine my life without my best friends and I looked forward to the future.
Hugging Blake once more, I took comfort in the warmth of his strong arms. How could life be anything but magical from now on? After all, I knew the secrets to creating the life I wanted.
Life itself, was indeed a mystery, but if you wanted something badly enough, you really could make it happen!
As I stood there with the others, smiling and laughing, I felt a sudden premonition, a feeling of apprehension, and I looked cautiously around.
A shiver ran down my spine and I rubbed my arms to fend off the cold feeling that had unexpectedly engulfed me. I wondered where the cool draught had come from as it had been such a hot day.
Quickly, I shook away the weird sensation and walked towards the bus stop, hand in hand with Blake.
I felt so safe right then. Life was good. But if anyone were to tell me what was in store for the future, I would never have believed them!
***
Book 6 - Changes
Determined…
I paced my room defiantly. Unable to remain seated, I was on my feet for the umpteenth time. The anger bubbling inside me had reached boiling point and I was on the verge of exploding. A mixture of rage and panic worked its way through my veins and at one point, I found it difficult to breathe.
How could they do this to me? How could it be possible? And how on earth could I be the only one in the family to object?
Even my brother was convinced that it was a good thing. “It’ll be exciting, Julia! Something new and different!”
But his words of encouragement had fallen on deaf ears. I was not interested in hearing them. Just because he’d broken up with his girlfriend, and was looking for an escape, how was that going to benefit me?
It just wasn’t fair!
Noticing the pitiful reflection that stared back from the full length mirror attached to my cupboard, I creased my brow in disgust.
“It’s your life, Julia!” I whispered angrily to the face in the mirror. “If you don’t like it, then speak up! Make them listen!”
As I watched the throb of my pulse beating wildly at the base of my throat, my mind continued to race. I knew it was useless. I’d already tried to convince them and they had simply shaken their heads, unwilling to discuss any alternative whatsoever.
But right then, as I stood staring into the mirror, I knew I had two choices; just give up and allow them to destroy my world or stand up and fight. Knowing deep in my heart that I had to do something, anything to avoid the destruction of everything that was so good in my life, I turned towards the window and pushed it open, the rush of cool night air instantly attacking my senses.
Hesitating for a moment, I took a quick glance back. And then, shaking away all doubts, I quickly threw on a sweater before climbing out onto the overhanging tree branch that scraped alongside the window ledge.
Dad had said on numerous occasions that he needed to trim that branch, but had never seemed to get around to it. For a split second, I was thankful that his lack of time when it came to household chores was in my favor. And when I reached towards the branch to carefully test its strength, I felt a sudden determination.
Nothing and no–one was going to stop me!
Four weeks earlier...
Ever since Blake and I officially became girlfriend and boyfriend, my life had become magical. Millie thought we were the cutest couple and several others had made similar comments. To me, that was not important. I really didn’t care in the slightest what anyone said or thought.
The simple touch of his hand on mine would cause my skin to tingle with happiness. Being with him made me so happy! Right then, Blake was the most special person in my life and I was convinced that he would be a part of my world forever.
“Childhood sweethearts!” Millie would often tease, all dreamy eyed. “It’s so romantic!”
I always rolled my eyes and ignored her mushy comments because to me, being Blake’s girlfriend seemed the most natural thing in the world. We were best friends and I was sure that nothing could come between us.
At first my mom didn’t like the idea of me having a “boyfriend”. But when she realized that Blake and I had so much in common and that we simply enjoyed hanging out with Millie and Jack, she changed her mind completely.
“You have such nice friends, Julia,” she commented just the other evening, after dropping them all home.
It was Saturday night and they had all come to my house for movie night. This was something that we seemed to have made a habit of, and at least once every couple of weeks, we hung out together at each other’s houses. That was what made everything so perfect, the fact that the four of us had become such a close group.
I was convinced that Jack really liked Millie but was simply too shy to ask her out. So I tried on several occasions to convince her to do the asking.
“Why not?” I said as we sat together on the bus, headed home from school. “I know he likes you, it’s so obvious!”
But Millie refused to be the one to pop the question.
“Imagine if he said no,” she replied with a shake of her head. “That would be so embarrassing. And besides, it might spoil everything! Maybe we’re better off just being friends.”
I looked thoughtfully at Millie, but didn’t respond. Deep down, I knew that she was interested in him. She’d made that pretty clear for quite some time now. But rather than push the topic, I decided to let it go. And besides that, perhaps things were better off left as they were. It would be terrible to upset the balance that had formed between us all.
Thinking of our little group reminded me of the band rehearsal we really needed to organize. Earlier that day our principal, Mrs. Harding, had called me to her office to ask if we would play at graduation. In addition to the usual more traditional style of entertainment, she was keen to have something a little different this year and thought that our band would be the perfect choice.
Ever since we had won the school talent show, we’d been in demand for various events that the school had been involved in. The last one was a fund-raising day that was held in the school grounds one Saturday afternoon. Although we thought we’d played well and sounded pretty good, we hadn’t expected the applause we received at the end of each song. And when we finally finished, heaps of people including some older kids who we didn’t know, began raving about how great we were. One lady actually asked if we’d play at her daughter’s 15th birthday party later in the year. We certainly hadn’t been expecting that, but the real shock came when she offered to pay us.
“Would you accept $300?” she asked, curiously.
The look on our faces must’ve been priceless, although I think she took it the wrong way because she then asked if we usually charged more!
Do we charge more? What a crazy question! We couldn’t believe that we were being offered money at all, let alone $300. Because we simply loved having a chance to perform in front of an audience, we would’
ve been happy to do it for free. Although, of course we didn’t tell her that!
Blake’s dad was convinced that we were destined for stardom. While I thought he was overreacting, it was a pretty good feeling to get so much positive feedback.
However, since that afternoon, we actually hadn’t found a chance for a proper practice session. And I knew that if we were going to perform at grad, then we definitely had some serious rehearsals to do.
Sitting alongside Millie on the bus that afternoon, I found it hard to believe that I’d forgotten to mention this news and I turned towards her to fill her in on the details. But then I caught sight of the person who had caused such a ruckus at school, and I realized that I could be excused for having a memory lapse.
The new boy, who I’d realized was sitting across the aisle from us, had started at our school just the week before. Apparently, after returning to class from morning recess that day, he had totally freaked out at another kid for some reason and started swearing and yelling. According to the kids in his class he went totally ballistic.
At that time, my class was at computer lab, which is situated quite a distance away, so we didn’t hear about it until lunch break. And then it was all that anyone could talk about.
Making eye contact with him from my seat alongside Millie had definitely not been my intention, but when I caught him looking my way from his spot across the aisle, I felt an uncomfortable chill. Even though the weather was not at all cold, I rubbed my arms for warmth. Deciding that he was a person that I didn’t want to have anything to do with, I turned abruptly back towards the front making sure not to turn around again.
When I whispered to Millie, she was tempted to also take a look but after warning her that it was not a good idea, she stopped herself just in time. He had very dark and extremely intense looking eyes and if I were to be honest, I found him kind of scary.
Julia Jones' Diary - Boxed Set - Books 2 to 6 Page 23