Crush: The Girls of Summer

by SR Silcox

  Maddie nodded. “Okay. Sure. I’ll see you in the morning then.”

  As they watched Maddie leave, Will leaned in to Tess and said, “You’re right you know.”

  “About what?”

  “She is nice.”

  Tess smiled. “I know.”

  ∞

  Later that night, Tess had just turned off her bedside lamp when she received a text. She reached over and picked up her phone from her bedside table. It was Maddie.

  Thanks for tonight I had heaps of fun

  Me too

  Looking forward to tomorrow Sure it’s okay for me to come for breakfast?

  Of course! Gran will be happy to have u Might be sorry when u see what she’s got u doing

  Like what?

  U’ll see tomorrow

  Sounds ominous

  U have no idea ;)

  See u in the morning

  Tess smiled.

  Can’t wait

  Night xx

  Night

  Tess hesitated for a minute and then added ‘xx’ and pressed send.

  She lay back on her pillow, closed her eyes and smiled. Just as she was drifting off, her phone buzzed again. She swiped the screen to see a message from Lizzie.

  Who’s the girl?

  What girl?

  In the pic

  Tess had no idea what Lizzie was talking about.

  What pic?

  The one Will sent thru

  There was a pause, and then a picture came through. Tess zoomed in to see it was a picture of her and Maddie standing on the diving board with their arms around each other. Will must have taken it before they dived into the pool. Her stomach fluttered seeing herself standing like that with Maddie. Of course, it was totally innocent, and Tess knew that. She was just helping Maddie steady herself on the diving board because of her ankle, but to anyone else watching, it could have looked like something more. She text Lizzie back.

  That’s Maddie She’s staying at McGregor’s

  And?

  And what?

  You look pretty close Anything I should know?

  Tess thought about it for a moment and all the things she could say to Lizzie about the way she was starting to feel about Maddie. About how just the thought of seeing Maddie made her stomach flip. But she didn’t really understand it herself yet, and besides, it was too hard to tell Lizzie over text message. So instead, she just said

  U’ll get to meet her in the morning.

  Lizzie replied

  Fine See u at breakfast x

  Can’t wait to catch up x

  TEN

  When Tess went out for breakfast the next morning, Will, Lizzie and Maddie were all sitting around the table, tucking in to bacon, eggs and toast.

  “About time you got up,” Will said, shovelling a forkful of bacon into his mouth.

  “How long have you been here?” Tess asked, sitting down across from Maddie, who was sipping on what Tess assumed to be a cup of tea.

  “Long enough for Will to be on his third helping,” Lizzie said.

  “I’ve got a big day ahead,” Will said, mopping up the last of his eggs with a piece of toast.

  “Sorry about the concert, Lizzie,” Tess said. She poured herself some cornflakes, shook over some sugar, drowned it all in milk and dug in.

  “Don’t get her started,” Will said, pushing his chair back and taking his breakfast dishes into the kitchen.

  “I can’t believe I drove all that way, just for the concert to be cancelled,” Lizzie said.

  “I told you not to get her started,” Will called from the kitchen.

  Tess ignored him and asked, “Do you know why?”

  Lizzie shrugged. “One of the band members was sick or something apparently.”

  “Who were you going to see?” Maddie asked.

  “Three’s Company,” Lizzie replied.

  Maddie coughed.

  “Are you alright?” Tess asked.

  “Tea went down the wrong way,” Maddie croaked, patting her chest with her hand.

  “Are they rescheduling?” Tess asked Lizzie.

  “I don’t know. They just said the rest of their tour is cancelled until further notice.”

  “Wow. Sounds serious.”

  “Yeah. A couple of people on the fan site have said that they think they’ve broken up,” Lizzie said, pulling the crusts from her toast and biting into the rest.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, but who knows. I do know though, that no-one’s seen Indiana Rose for a couple of weeks. She wasn’t at the signing either.” Lizzie leaned in and whispered, “There’s even a rumour going around that she’s gone to rehab.”

  Maddie coughed again. Tess glanced at her and Maddie was looking into her tea cup as if there was something in there making her cough.

  “I thought they were a clean band?” Tess asked, fishing the last of the cornflakes from her bowl and tipping it up to drain the last of the milk. Which she would never normally do except Gran wasn’t there to chastise her.

  “Publicity,” Will said. He leaned on the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest. “I bet they have to put on more concerts when they release new dates, all because of the speculation on why they cancelled this time. They’re trying to ramp up sales.”

  “Whatever,” Lizzie said, waving him away. “I’m not surprised though. From what I heard, there’s been trouble for a while.”

  “What sort of trouble?” Tess asked.

  Lizzie shrugged and said, “It’s all rumours of course, but their last album didn’t sell as well as the first one.”

  “So?” Tess said.

  “So, wouldn’t you be unhappy if you were a popular band and you weren’t selling your songs?”

  “I guess so,” Tess replied, though she really had no idea.

  “You seem to know a lot about the band,” Maddie said. She seemed to have gotten over her coughing fit.

  “Lizzie’s their number one fan,” Will said.

  “And the unofficial president of the unofficial fan club,” Tess said.

  Lizzie nodded and added, “I saw them on You Tube before they were famous.”

  “Really?” Maddie seemed a bit more interested now that she wasn’t choking on tea.

  “Yep. They only had a few hundred views on their videos when I first saw them, and then, out of nowhere, they just took off.” Lizzie shot her hand in the air to emphasise the point.

  “Wow, I never knew that,” Maddie said.

  “I’m not saying I deserve a cut of their profits or anything, but I can’t help thinking that me sharing their videos and songs so much might have helped them get to where they are today.”

  Will laughed. “Did we tell you she’s delusional?” He stepped over to the table, swiped the last piece of bacon from the tray and said, “I’d better get out there and start mowing before it gets too hot. I’ll catch you all later.”

  Lizzie ignored him and continued. “I just think that bands need to reward their fans by, you know, not cancelling concerts out of the blue with no explanations.”

  “Maybe they just didn’t want to play the music,” Maddie said.

  “Why?” Lizzie asked. “That’s what people want to hear.”

  “But if they didn’t sell their last album,” Maddie said, shifting on her chair, “then maybe it was because people didn’t like that music. And maybe the band didn't either.”

  Lizzie thought about that for a moment and said, “It shouldn’t matter. Bands shouldn’t annoy their fans like that.”

  “But shouldn’t bands reward fans with great music? And if they don’t think it’s great music, why would they play it?”

  “They shouldn’t have recorded it in the first place and asked people to pay for it,” Lizzie said simply.

  “I guess so,” Maddie replied.

  “And don’t you think it would be nice of them to actually reply to their fans on Twitter and Facebook or wherever once in a while instead of their agent or publicist or whoeve
r does it?”

  Maddie poked at the egg on her plate and there was an awkward silence, so Tess asked Lizzie, “Speaking of publicity, is your dad still going to put something in the paper for the festival?”

  “I think so,” Lizzie replied. She took a long drink of her orange juice. “I mean, he hasn’t said anything, but he’s done it every year. He’s got some fancy photographer coming up to take some photos for the anniversary feature he’s been talking about for months, so he’s been a bit distracted.”

  “Can you ask him? We really need to do something special this year.”

  “I guess I could take some photos on my phone and see if he’ll put them in with the article,” Lizzie said. Tess didn’t think Lizzie understood the gravity of the situation, but before she could explain any further, Gran bustled in and started clearing away the dishes.

  “I want to get started on those cakes soon,” she said, piling cups into plates and ferrying them into the kitchen. “Are you able to help today, Maddie?”

  Maddie nodded. “I can help out for a few hours this morning, but I’m busy this afternoon.”

  Lizzie stood up and piled glasses and cutlery on a tray. “I have all day so I can help with whatever you need.”

  “You can help with the cupcakes,” Tess said. She ferried the cereal boxes into the kitchen and offloaded them onto the bench. “We might get the afternoon off if we all get in and do them.”

  “Great,” Lizzie said, taking the tray into the kitchen and stacking the glasses on the sink. “Can’t wait.”

  As Tess filled up the sink and started washing the dishes, Gran began ferrying out the un-iced cupcakes. “I hope you’ve got your baking hat on Maddie,” Tess heard her say. “We’ve got a lot more of these to do, and only a few days to do them.”

  Tess smiled. Even though she’d normally be the first to volunteer to be outside, she was looking forward to spending the morning with Maddie and Lizzie.

  ELEVEN

  After a couple of hours of icing and packaging the baking, Maddie held up the limp piping bag in triumph and said, “Done.” Tess looked up and laughed. Lizzie finished tying a ribbon around a clear cellophane bag that held four pieces of pink and white coconut ice and looked up.

  “What’s so funny?” Maddie asked.

  “You’ve got icing everywhere,” Tess said.

  Maddie scrunched her nose and looked down at her hands, which were stained pink and blue. She looked back at Tess and smiled sheepishly. Tess threw her a hand towel and Maddie wiped her hands and face. “Gone?”

  Tess nodded.

  “Do we get to eat any of these as payment?” Maddie asked.

  “Unfortunately, no. Gran makes us buy them on the weekend like everyone else,” Tess replied.

  “Really?”

  “’fraid so,” Lizzie confirmed.

  “Well,” Maddie said, tapping her chin with her finger. “Hypothetically, what would happen if one of the cupcakes just, you know, fell onto the floor?” She grinned mischievously, her hand poised above a newly-iced cupcake that sat perilously close to the edge of the table. Lizzie sucked in a breath.

  “Well,” said Tess. “You couldn’t really sell it after that, could you? Hypothetically.”

  “Hypothetically,” Maddie said and deftly flicked the cupcake off the table. Before Lizzie or Tess could jump up to retrieve it, Will appeared, seemingly from nowhere, scooped up the fallen cupcake, wiped off the top and shoved it into his mouth.

  “Oops,” he said, grinning.

  Maddie laughed. “So not fair.”

  “You snooze, you lose,” Will replied, licking the icing from his fingers. He peered into the kitchen and said, “Bloody hell. Is she feeding an army? It looks like Betty Crocker fired off a scattergun.”

  “You know what she’s like with baking. Especially for the festival.”

  “What are you doing inside anyway?” Lizzie asked. “I thought you had a heap of stuff to do.”

  “Pop’s let me go for today, but he’s given me a list as long as both my arms to get to tomorrow.”

  “Are you sticking around for dinner?” Tess asked.

  “Can’t. Mum felt so bad about me missing out on the interview that she’s making me a condolence dinner tonight.”

  “It’s not like you missed out completely,” Lizzie said.

  “A condolence dinner?” Maddie asked.

  “I missed out on a job interview,” Will explained.

  “Will’s mum thinks food makes everything better,” Tess said. “Kind of like Gran and baking.”

  “Oh,” Maddie said.

  “Yeah. She must feel really bad for me. She’s making me Guinness Pie.”

  “Will’s mum makes the best Guinness Pie in town,” Tess said. “So good, that the Royal Hotel took it off the menu because Mrs Armstrong wouldn’t give them her recipe, and people kept complaining that the pub’s version wasn’t as good as hers.”

  Maddie laughed.

  “Do you think she’ll make enough for leftovers?” Lizzie asked.

  “Probably, but you could always just come for tea if you weren’t doing anything.”

  Lizzie shrugged and said, “I guess so. Dad will be working on the paper and I think Mum’s working a late shift tonight. I’ll let you know.”

  “Cool,” Will said. “I should get going. I’ve got some stuff to do for the band, but I’ll be back in an hour or so.” He swiped another cupcake off the table and walked away, winking at Maddie.

  “I’ll tell Gran on you,” Tess teased.

  Will called back, “I’m her favourite. She’ll never believe you.”

  “He is Gran’s favourite you know,” Tess said to Maddie. “And he's not even really family.”

  “Who’s my favourite?” Gran called from the kitchen.

  “Will,” Lizzie said.

  Gran smiled. “He’s a good boy, Will.”

  “Good Boy Will ate two of your cupcakes,” Tess said.

  “Oh, that doesn’t matter. He’s been working hard outside with Pop all morning.”

  “Does that mean we can have one?” Tess asked.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Gran replied, swiping at Tess with a tea towel. She surveyed the table. “You girls have done a lot more than I thought you would. I’m impressed.”

  Maddie grinned. Even though it had been tough going, icing all those cupcakes, she’d had a good day. “I should get going,” she said. “I have an appointment I need to get to, and I probably should have a shower and get changed.”

  “Thanks so much for helping,” Gran said. “You’re welcome for dinner tonight, if you’re not busy.”

  “Thanks,” Maddie said. “I’ll check with Jo and let you know.” She smiled as Tess helped her up and handed her the crutches.

  “I’ll walk you out,” Tess said.

  Maddie managed to hop her way down the three brick steps and turned to see Tess grinning at her. “I’ve had plenty of practice at the McGregor’s,” Maddie said.

  Tess nodded and replied, “You looked a bit better than you did yesterday, trying to get down that one step at the bakery.”

  Maddie considered poking her tongue out, but she thought Tess might think it childish if she did it twice in two days. So she just wiggled her head and said, “Ha ha.”

  “I’ll see you later?” Tess asked.

  “I hope so,” Maddie replied. She knew that coming to Tess’s for dinner later would hinge on how her phone call went this afternoon so she didn't want to make any promises.

  TWELVE

  After making a start on the Cow Pat Bingo field, Tess and Lizzie decided it was far too hot to be working outside. Gran and Pop had gone into town to take the cupcakes to the bakery to store until the weekend, and Will had just arrived back after spending some time with his band.

  They’d all just moved down a few metres on the front veranda chasing the shade, and Tess lay back on the banana lounge listening to Lizzie and Will discussing the cancelled concerts again.

  �
�Listen to this,” Lizzie said, reading out yet another update. “Someone who says they’re close to the band says that Indiana Rose has definitely gone to rehab.”

  “And they know this how?” Will asked. He was bent over the screen on his tablet sorting out his band’s play list for the weekend.

  “He’s been around for ages, like me. He always seems to know what’s going on.”

  “Sounds like a snitch,” Will said. “Or an idiot who wants everyone to think he knows the band.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Lizzie replied. “At least someone seems to be telling us all what’s going on.”

  “What does it matter?” Will asked. “The concerts were cancelled. Why do you need to know why?”

  “Enquiring minds want to know, and I need to have something to write on my blog next week.”

  Though Lizzie wanted to be a proper journalist, she spent a lot of time maintaining her fan blog for the band. It was mainly just gossip and a place for her to chat to other fans, but she took it very seriously.

  “Speaking of gossip,” Will said. “I overheard Pop tell Gran that the council weren’t going to stump up any money this year. What’s that about?”

  “Who knows?” Tess said. “But it’s got Pop worried. He says they've had stallholders pull out too, so it’s not looking good. He even said we might not have a festival next year.”

  “Really?” Lizzie looked up from her phone.

  Tess nodded forlornly. “Not much we can do he reckons.”

  “I don’t know,” Will said. “I reckon there's plenty we can do.”

  “Like what?” Tess asked.

  “You know what,” Will said.

  Tess shook her head. “Pop won’t go for it, Will. He won’t let us get more bands than we have—”

  “Which is how many exactly?” Lizzie asked.

  Tess sat up. “Look, we just need to get through this year, and then we’ll have a whole year to come up with something better.”

  “We have come up with something better,” Will said. “We could talk to Pop—”

  “No,” Tess said, sliding her feet off the chair and onto the floor. “I told you, Pop said no, and when he makes up his mind, there's no changing it.”