Teena and I muffled our giggles.
Peep! Peep! ‘Focus, girls. This isn’t ballet.’
Teena groaned and rolled her eyes.
‘We should be grateful he’s training us,’ I said. ‘He really wants us to do well.’
‘There you go again, thinking the best of people.’ Teena shook her head and clicked her tongue with mock disappointment.
Peep! Peep! ‘Okay, that’s enough warm up. Give me six laps.’
We all set off in a group. The older boys pushed their way to the front of the pack, showing off as usual, running backwards or sideways and whooping loudly. The rest of us settled in behind.
Kyle, Jake, Jason and Peter were there from my class. They thought they were so cool hanging out with the Year Six boys and tried hard to outpace them. The Year Six girls were nice enough, but except for sucking up to Mr Gordon, they kept to themselves.
The second Mr Gordon pitted us against each other, the mucking around stopped and the serious fun started. Amazingly, when I raced Chloe and Miranda in the hundred metres, I beat them both. They were furious.
‘Well done, Ebony.’ Mr Gordon thumped me on the back. ‘Have you been training?’
With Dad on my case at home, I hadn’t had much time to run lately.
And I sure didn’t think pushing a wheelbarrow full of manure around a paddock was what he meant, so I said no.
‘Well, you’re clearly a natural, but you do need to knuckle down and train. If you want to be an athlete you should be running every morning and afternoon.’
I flooded with pride at his compliment. ‘Thanks, Mr Gordon. I’ll try my best.’
As I walked away, I heard Miranda say, ‘Ebony’s not that fast, Dad. She fluked it. I could beat her any day.’
‘Then why didn’t you?’ her father said. ‘If you want to earn that iPhone I promised you, work harder. Same goes for your sister.’
An iPhone. No wonder the twins want to win so badly. Mr Gordon bribed them so they had everything to gain!
‘Okay, people,’ Mr Gordon said towards the end of the session. ‘Enough sprints for today. Form your relay teams. Year Four, Five and Six age groups can race each other for fun. Girls first. Ebony, you run last today.’
‘I’m the fastest,’ Chloe protested. ‘I always run last.’
‘That’s right, Dad,’ Miranda agreed.
‘Not today,’ Mr Gordon said. ‘I want Ebony running last. You go first, Chloe. You’re second, Teena and you’re third, Miranda.’
The twins swapped angry glances as they silently took their places.
‘On your marks, get set … ’ Peep!
Even though it was only a practice run, I watched nervously as Chloe took off, the metallic red baton swinging in her hand. The boys shouted from the sidelines, jumping up and down. Chloe passed the baton to Teena. Seconds later, Miranda had the baton and was pelting towards me.
We were in front of the Year Six team by three metres. As Miranda closed in, I started jogging, extending my hand behind me ready to take the baton. Everyone was screaming now, even me.
Miranda stretched forward, but instead of slotting the baton into my hand, she dropped it. I watched it roll away on the closely clipped grass then looked back at her.
She flashed me a false smile. ‘Geez, sorry.’
The older girls exchanged batons and Bridget Mason, the school captain and their last runner, tore past me. I scrambled for our baton, but Bridget was super-fast and crossed the finish line as I rounded the final bend.
Mr Gordon’s furry caterpillars weren’t at all pleased to see me. ‘Disappointing.’ He shook his head. ‘You lost the lead and the race through clumsiness. You’ve let your team down, Ebony.’
He turned and strode over to Bridget and the others to congratulate them.
‘Bad luck,’ Chloe said.
‘Yeah, bad luck.’ Miranda smirked.
Teena ran up to dangle her arm over my shoulder. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Fine,’ I growled as the twins sauntered off.
After training Teena and I grabbed our bags then went to collect our bikes. Kyle and Jake were waiting for us, leaning against the bike rack and trying to look casual. Right away, I was suspicious. Neither of them rode to school. Teena shot me a questioning look. We slowed our pace, approaching the boys warily.
‘Hi, girls,’ Kyle said.
‘Howdy,’ Teena replied. Her voice didn’t waver like mine would have if I’d had to talk.
Kyle pushed himself off the bike rack. He took a step towards us then hesitated, glancing back at Jake. Jake nodded. Kyle turned back to Teena and me.
‘Ah, er … ’ His face turned the colour of over-boiled peas.
‘Spit it out,’ Teena said.
Kyle’s tongue darted over his lips. Suddenly he hurled the words at us, ‘Do you want to go with us?’ He thrust his hands in his pockets and studied the ground.
‘Go where?’ I said.
Kyle snorted.
Jake jabbed him in the arm. Slowly, like I was deaf, he said, ‘He means go out with us. Be our girlfriends.’
‘Oh.’
With her hands on her hips, Teena looked at one boy then the other. ‘Who’d be going out with who?’
‘It’d be me and you.’ Kyle scuffed the ground with the toe of his sneaker. ‘And Jake and Ebony.’
My eyes met Jake’s. We blushed the same raspberry colour then looked away.
‘Why us?’ Teena said.
Good question. The boys hardly talked to us. They were always too busy playing footy or handball or hassling little kids.
Kyle shrugged. ‘Why not?’
I’d heard about being swept off your feet but I doubted this was how it happened. Still, I’d never been asked to be someone’s girlfriend before. I felt a tingle of excitement at the thought.
Does Jake like me? Actually like me? I wondered.
‘We’ll think about it,’ Teena said, cool as.
‘Okay. Let us know tomorrow.’
‘Okay.’
Teena and I grabbed our bikes and bolted. After a few blocks, Teena was laughing so hard she had to pull up. I skidded to a halt on the gravel road. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘Did you see their faces? They looked like they’d been caught peeking in Mrs Murcher’s bathroom window. They were so nervous.’
‘I had no idea what Kyle was on about at first.’
‘No kidding.’
We started pedalling again, slowly this time. ‘Are you going to say yes?’ I asked.
‘I will if you will.’
‘Do you like Kyle?’
‘He’s cute,’ Teena said. ‘Better than the boys at my last school.’
‘If you like grubby fingernails and freckles the size of sultanas.’
‘Very funny. Do you like Jake?’
I’d never thought about Jake much. He was simply another boy to endure or avoid, depending on what mood he was in.
‘He’s okay. I guess.’
‘He’s cute.’
‘You think so?’
Jake had blond hair, which I liked, and a chin dimple. But he had stick-out ears and was kind of smelly, like Springer when he’s wet.
‘Sure. He’s got this dreamy look about him.’
‘I just thought he couldn’t concentrate for more than three seconds. I didn’t realise it was a good thing.’
Teena laughed. ‘He’s creative, that’s why. I’ve seen his artwork. He’s very good. He doesn’t make a big deal of it, though, because the other boys would be onto him like flies on rotten meat.’
‘I never noticed.’
‘Anyway, it’d be fun having boyfriends. We could all hang out together. It’d be cool.’
Except Dad would freak out if he knew.
‘Have you ever had a boyfriend?’
‘A few.’ Teena tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and glanced over my shoulder. As usual, I couldn’t tell if she was serious. ‘So, what do you say?’
‘I’ll th
ink about it.’
‘Me, too. Let’s meet here tomorrow morning and we’ll talk about it before we get to school.’
We said goodbye and headed off. The rest of the way home I daydreamed about being Jake’s girlfriend. Having to hold his hand or maybe even kiss him. Was that what he expected? The idea was kind of scary.
The minute I rode through the gate I heard the yelling. I threw my bike under the house and ran inside.
‘This place is a pigsty. Toys and rubbish everywhere.’ May and Rose cowered on the floor. Dad turned on Mum. ‘Why can’t you keep this place clean? You’ve got nothing else to do.’
‘Hi, everyone,’ I said as soon as there was a break in the yelling.
‘Hi, love.’ Mum’s face relaxed slightly when she saw me. She rubbed her belly, a pained look flitting across her face.
I kissed her on the cheek then stood in front of her, shielding her slightly from Dad.
‘Where have you been?’ he snarled.
It took all my courage not to flinch. ‘Training.’
‘That’d be right. You wouldn’t be doing anything useful.’ He threw his hands in the air. ‘I give up.’
While Mum and I packed the toys away, Dad threw himself on the lounge so hard the springs shrieked. ‘Where’s my afternoon tea?’ he bellowed. ‘I’m starving.’
‘I’ll get it.’ Mum called as she waddled her huge bulk into the kitchen as fast as she could go.
‘Grab us another coldie while you’re there.’
‘Come on, girls,’ I said. ‘Let’s go play on the swings.’
I quickly changed out of my uniform then shooed the girls out the back door, wondering for the hundredth time why Mum was so obedient. Why didn’t she tell Dad to get his own food, his own rotten beer? I didn’t say anything, though. It wasn’t worth it.
‘Let’s play inn-keepers,’ said May.
‘All right. How?’
‘I’m the inn-keeper and I live inside the cubby. You and Rose are the out-keepers.’
I laughed. ‘And we live outside the cubby, right?’
‘Right. Have you played this game before?’
I stayed with the girls for ages. At dusk, I sent them in to Mum then dawdled up to the shed to milk Honey. I’d thought about Mr Gordon telling me to train more so after I finished milking I did two laps of the paddock in my pink gumboots. I probably looked ridiculous, but it wasn’t like I was in a fashion parade, and it sure saved stepping in cowpats in my one good pair of sneakers.
From that night on, every time I milked Honey I did a few laps of the paddock, complete with pink gumboots.
‘What did you decide?’ Teena greeted me the following morning.
‘I’m still not sure.’
We pedalled towards school. ‘How come? Don’t you like Jake?’
‘He’s okay,’ I said.
‘Then what’s the problem?’
‘I’m not sure I like him enough.’
‘Geez, Ebony, you don’t have to marry him.’
‘What if he wants to hold hands or, or kiss?’
Teena shrugged. ‘It’s not so bad.’
‘Have you kissed a boy before?’
‘Only Luke and Dad.’
‘Gross.’
‘Not like that. I mean, no, I haven’t kissed a boy before. Not properly. Have you?’
‘Never. I thought you said – ’
‘Ah, I say a lot of things.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Anyway, how bad can a kiss be?’
I shot Teena a frantic look. ‘That depends.’
‘Look, who knows if the boys even want to kiss us? They might just want to hang out and stuff. That’d be cool. We can always tell them to take a hike if we get sick of them.’
‘All right.’ I caved in. ‘When will we tell them?’
‘Recess. We don’t want to look too keen.’
When we arrived at school, Kyle and Jake were playing handball. They didn’t look up when we rode past and I thought maybe they’d been joking when they asked us out. It turned out they were simply playing it cool, because the second Teena and I sat under our fig tree, they hurried over.
‘Morning, ladies,’ Kyle warbled, his hands in his pockets again. ‘Got an answer for us yet?’
‘We need more time,’ Teena said.
Kyle’s eyebrows jumped. Obviously, he hadn’t been expecting that. ‘Okay. All right.’ He scratched behind his ear. ‘How much more time?’
‘We’ll let you know at recess.’
‘Okay,’ Kyle said again. He and Jake wandered back to their handball game. Every so often they’d glance over at us.
‘What did those two want?’ Chloe and Miranda sauntered over to stickybeak.
‘Who?’ Teena said.
‘You know. Kyle and Jake.’
My eyes drilled into Teena’s meaningfully. ‘Nothing!’
‘They asked us to go out with them,’ she said at the same time.
I glared at her. She grinned back.
Miranda’s mouth gaped. ‘You two?’ She looked from Teena to me and back again in disbelief.
‘Yep.’
‘Why?’
Teena studied Miranda carefully. ‘You like one of them, don’t you?’
‘I do not.’
‘Do, too. Which one?’
‘I’m not telling.’
Chloe sighed. ‘She’s got a crush on Jake. Hardly talks about anything else.’
‘Chloe.’ Miranda flared. ‘I told you to keep quiet.’
Chloe shrugged and looked away. ‘It’s so obvious.’
‘It is not.’
‘It won’t do you much good, I’m afraid,’ Teena said. ‘Jake likes Ebony.’
I had the sense to look guilty, but inside I was smugly satisfied. Jake liked me, not Miranda. After she had dropped the relay baton intentionally yesterday, I felt like it was a bit of payback.
Miranda clicked her tongue and shook her head. ‘I don’t know what he sees in her.’
‘Oh, my goodness!’ Teena shrieked, pointing at Miranda. ‘What is that?’
‘What?’ Miranda’s head flicked left then right.
‘Something’s moving in your hair.’ Teena’s eyes bulged with horror.
I slapped my hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t laugh.
Miranda clutched her hair. ‘Where?’ she gasped, flipping her ponytail this way and that as she studied it frantically.
Teena suddenly broke into a fit of giggles. ‘You should see yourself.’
Miranda’s mouth set into a scowl. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Not funny,’ she said in a voice that was snow-cold. With a huff, she stomped off, her nose in the air.
Chloe opened her mouth to say something then shut it again. She turned and ran after her sister.
‘I thought your dad swore you to secrecy,’ I giggled.
Teena’s eyes twinkled as she shot me a mischievous grin. ‘I couldn’t help myself. Not after she was mean to you.’
Touched by Teena’s loyalty, I tried to pretend it was no big deal. ‘I’m used to it.’
‘Well, I wish you’d get un-used to it.’ Teena elbowed me in the ribs. ‘Miranda only gives you a hard time because you let her.’
That morning, I hardly heard a word Mr Gospel said. All I could think about was Jake. Soon, he’d be my boyfriend. My very own, my very first boyfriend. The time crawled by and I grew more nervous.
Then, fifteen minutes before recess, Mr Gospel sprung a maths quiz on us. I was so wound up I couldn’t concentrate. Every time I read a question, my eyes glazed over and I’d think about kissing Jake. What would it feel like?
I looked around the room. Most kids had their heads bent over their desks, scribbling away. Angus was gnawing his pencil to shreds. Hungry again. Kyle was slumped to one side, his head cradled in his hand, his tongue poking out as he wrote.
I stole a glance at Jake. He was staring out the window, his pencil tapping listlessly on his desk. Suddenly, he grinned and nudged Kyle. Kyle looked up as Jake squish
ed his eyes together and screwed up his nose like he was straining. Then came a noise, like a trumpet blowing, long, loud and squeaky.
The class erupted, the boys clapping and whooping with delight, the girls shrieking in horror and pegging their noses. A potent smell, like a mixture of rotten eggs and Vegemite, wafted past me. Jake and Kyle laughed so hard their heads wobbled. They clutched their sides as tears gushed down their cheeks.
Gross!
I glared at Jake, but he was too busy basking in his foul glory to notice. He was so pleased with himself you’d have thought he’d discovered a way to bring dinosaurs back from extinction. Unfortunately for Jake, he wasn’t that smart.
‘Settle down, please, and finish your questions.’ Mr Gospel swiped his hand in front of his nose, wading through the thick air to open the windows.
‘The deal is off,’ I whispered to Teena.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m not going out with Jake. Not when he fluffs in public.’
‘Fluffs? Who says that?’
‘I do.’
‘You’re one weird chick, you know that?’
‘Maybe, but I’m still not going out with him. You can go out with Kyle if you like but I don’t want anything to do with stinky Jake.’
I could have sworn Teena looked relieved. ‘I’m not going out with Kyle either, then.’
When we gave them the news at recess, the boys weren’t happy about it.
‘Was it something we did?’ Jake asked.
Teena glanced sideways at me with a cheeky smile. I pinched her arm. Hard.
‘Nope,’ she said, all innocent.
‘We’ll buy you some lollies if you change your mind,’ Jake offered.
‘No we won’t,’ Kyle said hotly. ‘If they don’t like us we’ll ask someone else.’
‘Don’t burst a brain cell,’ Teena said. ‘It doesn’t look like you can afford to lose any.’
‘Ha ha,’ Kyle sneered.
Teena shrugged. ‘I suppose that’s it then.’
Kyle shrugged back. ‘Whatever.’
The boys drifted away to join the soccer game at the other end of the playground.
‘They look heartbroken,’ Teena said.
‘Absolutely miserable.’
‘I suppose this means Jake is free for Miranda to chase after again,’ she said.
I shrugged. ‘She can have him.’
Running from the Tiger Page 6