The Call of the Wild

by Julie Fison

  Mum was meeting us in the car park to give us a lift home. I was feeling good again, now that Liam and Jack seemed to have forgiven me for ditching the movie night.

  ‘That actually went pretty well,’ I said.

  ‘Mmm,’ Annabel replied, busy on her phone, as usual.

  ‘What’s up?’ I asked, trying to read over her shoulder.

  ‘Just chatting with Marco,’ she said.

  Kimmi’s eyes brightened. ‘About the party?’

  Annabel shook her head. ‘What are we doing tomorrow?’

  ‘Well,’ I said, ‘we could work on the slushie-stall banner.’

  ‘Then maybe we could go to a movie,’ Kimmi suggested.

  ‘Or …’ said Annabel, grinning. ‘We could go wakeboarding.’

  ‘Wakeboarding?’ I said as we walked outside to the car park. ‘When do we ever do that?’

  ‘Tomorrow afternoon!’ she cried. ‘Because Ryan’s dad is taking their speedboat out. And Marco has asked us to come.’

  Kimmi stopped in her tracks. ‘You’re joking.’

  Annabel laughed at her. ‘For real. We’re going wakeboarding.’

  ‘Marco invited us?’ Kimmi’s eyes were wide.

  ‘Well, sort of. It was more my idea and Marco made it happen. It’ll be fun!’

  ‘It sounds amazing,’ I said. ‘Except I can’t actually wakeboard. In fact, I’m not even sure what it is.’

  ‘It’s like waterskiing on a skateboard. But that’s not the point!’ said Annabel. ‘Kimmi can hang out with Marco, I can talk to Ryan, and you’ll get to meet your new friend Saia. He’s going too!’

  Suddenly it felt like a million butterflies were on the loose in my stomach. ‘Oh my god, Annabel. You’re unbelievable!’ I squealed.

  ‘Just relax, don’t force it,’ Ryan shouted from the back of the speedboat.

  I sat in the water, my feet strapped to the wakeboard, clinging to the end of a towrope, getting cold and frustrated. Ryan was being really sweet (and very patient), but there was no chance I could relax.

  ‘Okay, I’ll try one more time,’ I called back. But I was beginning to think I would never get up on the board. All I had managed so far was three face plants into the water. How embarrassing!

  If I’d known it was this hard I never would have agreed to go first. The guys said I’d be able to get up, no problem – and I’d believed them. Big mistake! Now I was just making a fool of myself in front of everyone. I wondered what Saia must be thinking.

  ‘You right to go?’ Ryan asked.

  I gave him a wave. Ready as I’ll ever be, I thought.

  I gripped the towrope and pulled my knees to my chest, trying to remember everything I’d been told. Slowly the boat took off ahead of me. I felt the rope pulling on my arms. My legs straightened, but the board stayed behind. My body pitched forward. I was heading for another face plant, but somehow I managed to lean back far enough for the board to rise to the top of the water, skim across the surface and take my weight. Finally. I was up!

  I glanced at the boat to see Kimmi throw her arms in the air, cheering. It looked like Annabel was taking a photo. I smiled even wider. I was wakeboarding!

  By the time I looked down again, I realised that my board wasn’t running directly behind the boat – it had drifted off to the side. I could see the rough water of the boat’s wake ahead, but I couldn’t steer myself away. I ploughed straight into it. The board flew into the air and I went head-first the other way. I did a half-somersault into the water and felt water gushing up my nose. When I finally got myself the right way up, coughing and spluttering, everyone on the boat was cheering.

  ‘Not bad for your first go,’ Saia called, as I swam to the back of the boat. I looked at him sheepishly. It was sweet of him to say that, but I knew I was totally useless.

  ‘Yeah, I’m a natural,’ I said, laughing, as I climbed the ladder. ‘Naturally terrible, that is.’

  Saia smiled back at me. His smile was even lovelier in real life than it was in his profile pic. ‘No, you’re pretty good. I’ve seen people take thirty goes to get up. You were up almost straightaway.’ He put out his hand to help me back onto the boat. I felt goosebumps ripple up my arm as I took his hand. It wasn’t the chilly water that was getting to me – it was definitely Saia. He was just as cute as Annabel had promised.

  ‘Nice work, girlfriend,’ Kimmi called as I peeled off my wetsuit. I held it out for her to put on, but she shook her head. ‘Looks way too hard for me.’

  ‘Go on,’ I said. ‘If I can do it, anyone can.’

  But Kimmi didn’t move. ‘I’m fine right here, thanks.’

  Kimmi was sitting between Annabel and Marco, looking very comfortable. Marco had his shirt off and his shades on, leaning back with his hands clasped behind his head, checking out the world with a slight sneer. Yes, he was cool. But didn’t he know it!

  ‘Guess it’s your turn,’ I said, handing the wetsuit to Annabel.

  She giggled and complained about how cold and clingy the wetsuit was as she wriggled into it. ‘Here goes nothing,’ she said, heading for the back of the boat.

  ‘You’ll kill it,’ Ryan said, giving her a wink and a fist bump. Annabel flashed him a great big flirty smile before jumping over the side.

  I laughed to myself. Annabel sure knew how to get what she wanted. She and Ryan had only just met, but they sure didn’t look like strangers now.

  ‘All set?’ Ryan called as Annabel got into position.

  She took hold of the towrope with one hand and gave Ryan the thumbs up with the other. I held my breath as the boat’s engine revved. I knew how hard this was going to be for her. But as the rope tightened, Annabel emerged from the water like some kind of sea nymph – upright, smiling and beautiful. I couldn’t believe it. She was up on her first go. Trust Annabel! She was gifted like that – just good at sporty things without even trying.

  Ryan punched the air. ‘Way to go!’

  Annabel cruised behind the boat like she’d been doing it all her life. Ryan couldn’t take his eyes off her as she soared across the water, her wet hair fluttering in the wind. He was still staring when she finally let go of the towrope, ending her wakeboard session gracefully, rather than spectacularly – like me. Then it was the guys’ turn. Marco was first up, handing his shades to Kimmi before getting into the water.

  ‘He’s so cute,’ Kimmi sighed as the boat took off.

  Marco had no trouble getting up. He flew across the water, showing off with twists and turns. Kimmi didn’t miss a second of his performance. If she wasn’t hooked on Marco before, she certainly was now. But it bothered me that he was so into himself.

  Saia wasn’t like that at all. He’d only been out a few times on Ryan’s boat and didn’t have Marco’s confidence. He didn’t do many tricks and he fell off a couple of times. But even when he did, he kept the same lovely grin on his face. Nothing seemed to annoy him, which made me like him even more. He was still smiling when he climbed back onto the boat. Water droplets were clinging to his lashes, bringing out the deep colour in his eyes. He looked so adorable.

  ‘You’re pretty good,’ I said, as he grabbed a towel and dried off.

  ‘Not really,’ Saia grinned. ‘Wait till you see this guy.’

  Ryan got in and showed us what wakeboarding was really about. He did jumps and turns and all sorts of tricks that I wouldn’t be able to do on land, let alone on the water. It was totally impressive.

  ‘He’s even hotter than I thought,’ Annabel whispered to me. ‘I am so going to kiss him next Saturday.’

  The sun was sinking and the whole harbour was bathed in a glorious golden light as we cruised back towards the marina. On the seat opposite me, Saia had his eyes closed, enjoying the last rays of the late afternoon sun. His skin seemed to be glowing, and I felt a tingle run down my spine just looking at him. Beside me, Kimmi seemed to be in a trance, her eyes on Marco, while Annabel was playing footsies with Ryan.

  ‘Can’t wait for the party,’ said An
nabel. ‘It’ll be epic. Shame it’s a whole week away.’

  I smiled to myself. It sounded like Annabel was fishing for an invitation to see Ryan before the party.

  ‘Yeah, it’d be cool to do something before then,’ he said. ‘But I’ve got stuff on tomorrow and then we have training basically every afternoon next week. We’ve got a big rugby game next weekend, which we might win, if our coach doesn’t kill us first.’

  Saia groaned. ‘Oh, man. He’s crazy.’

  ‘He’s like some rabid dog when anyone does anything wrong,’ said Marco.

  Kimmi laughed, way too loudly, and smiled at Marco. ‘So, does his rabid-dog style get results?’

  Marco shrugged. ‘Well, we’ve won every game so far this year. So … I guess.’

  ‘Maybe we should come to watch you play next week, then,’ Kimmi said.

  Marco smiled. ‘Cool. It’ll be a close game. Might be a bit ugly, though. Can’t promise there won’t be any blood.’

  The guys all nodded.

  ‘What do you like about that game?’ Annabel asked. ‘Seems all you do is smash each other to bits.’

  ‘That’s why it’s fun,’ said Marco.

  The guys all laughed. I guess they had a different idea of fun from us. But I’d noticed they had a different idea about a lot of things. Holidays, for one. Ryan had said his family was going snowboarding in Colorado over the Christmas break. Saia was off to a Pacific island and Marco was visiting family in Italy, and planning to do some skiing while he was there. Annabel joined in the ski talk. She’d been to Japan and thought it was totally amazing.

  ‘The snow’s unreal, and I love the steam baths,’ she enthused.

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ Ryan agreed. ‘Japan rocks.’

  ‘Totes,’ Kimmi nodded, even though she’d never actually been to Japan.

  I stared at my feet, hoping no-one would ask what I was doing for the holidays. My family was just heading to my grandma’s beach house.

  It was okay for Annabel. She fitted right in with the Highgrove guys. She lived in a beautiful house right next door to Marco. Her place wasn’t as big as his, but it was much, much better than mine. Her family went on cool holidays and she always had gorgeous clothes. She was basically like a private-school girl who happened to go to Westway. Kimmi was doing a good job of fitting in too, but I felt like a total fraud. I was worried that at any moment, someone was going to realise who I was and throw me overboard.

  I looked at Saia as he laughed with his friends about some beach resort I’d never even heard of. I definitely wanted to see him again, and it had been an epic day, but I wondered if Saia and I had enough in common for things to go anywhere.

  ‘Kinda fun hanging out with Highgrove boys, eh?’ Annabel said as we left the marina to find Kimmi’s dad, who was giving us a ride home. ‘Ryan is so cool.’

  ‘Yeah, I can’t wait for the party,’ said Kimmi. ‘You know what Marco said?’ She paused, twirling her hair in her fingers. ‘He said I’m too pretty to be at Westway.’

  ‘I’m not sure that’s a compliment,’ I scoffed. ‘He’s basically saying that all girls who go to Westway are ugly.’

  ‘But he’s also saying that Kimmi’s pretty – which is true,’ Annabel said, smiling.

  I put my arm around Kimmi. ‘Well, I guess I can’t argue with that.’

  Kimmi giggled. ‘Marco is gorgeous. I’m so in lurve!’

  ‘So, you don’t think it’s all a bit weird, us hanging out with Highgrove guys?’ I asked,

  ‘No,’ Annabel said firmly. ‘Why?’

  I shrugged. ‘Well, what’s going to happen at the party? We won’t know anyone.’

  ‘We’ll know the guys. I’m going to be with Ryan, Kimmi’s going to be with Marco. And you’ll be with Saia.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ I said, pretending to be surprised.

  Kimmi laughed. ‘Come on. I can tell you like him.’

  ‘Well … he does have a pretty cute smile,’ I said. ‘But we’re so different. I don’t know anything about rugby, or skiing or wakeboarding or …’

  ‘No-one’s going to test you,’ Annabel interrupted. ‘Stop panicking for five seconds and chill out. You like Saia and, from the way he’s been smiling at you, I can tell he’s into you too.’

  By Thursday our plans for Ryan’s party seemed to have taken over everything. Annabel, Kimmi and I talked nonstop about what we’d wear, what we’d say and what we’d do.

  Annabel and Ryan messaged each other so often they were practically an item. Kimmi had been dreaming about Marco every night, which she took as a sign that things would work out at the party.

  Things with Saia were going well, too. Texts were flying back and forth between us, and even though I’d been worried about us not having anything in common, it turned out we did: we both had too much homework and too many annoying teachers. Saia always managed to cheer me up when things at school were bugging me. I could imagine his adorable smile every time he texted me, and I loved the way he always finished his texts with ‘xx’. It was so cute!

  But with all the talk of the party, Kimmi and Annabel had completely lost interest in the Wild Club. We hadn’t even started working on the banner for the slushie stall. The girls had also gone right off the idea of helping to set up the stall on Saturday afternoon.

  ‘We’ll be too busy getting ready for the party,’ Annabel said, as we headed for our lockers.

  ‘We’ve got all day to get ready,’ I said. ‘I’m sure we’ll have time to help set up the stall.’

  ‘What about the game?’ Kimmi reminded me. ‘We promised we’d watch the guys play rugby.’

  I sighed. There seemed to be no point trying to convince them. ‘Okay, well, even if we can’t set up, we should make the banner for the stall. And we still have to go to the Wild Club meeting tomorrow,’ I insisted. ‘We promised Jack and Liam we’d be there.’

  Annabel groaned.

  ‘It’s not going to kill you,’ I said, pausing outside the girls’ toilets. ‘Look, Bunga needs you.’ I nodded towards the Wild Club poster, so Annabel and Kimmi would see Bunga’s sad eyes staring at them.

  ‘All right, all right,’ Annabel said. ‘We’ll go to the meeting tomorrow.’ She turned to the poster of Bunga. ‘But just for you.’

  ‘Bunga says thank you,’ I said in a silly orangutan voice. But as I looked at the poster, I felt guilty all over again that I was going to Ryan’s party instead of the movie night. I was well and truly committed to the party now; there was no way I could change my mind. But then I had an idea. Maybe there was still something I could do to help Bunga!

  That night, I got through my homework as quickly as possible and then, instead of re-reading all the texts I’d had from Saia, like I’d done every other night, I got to work.

  By fourth period on Friday, I could feel a knot growing in my stomach as it got closer and closer to lunchtime, when I knew I’d be seeing Liam and Jack. I wondered what everyone in the Wild Club would make of my little project. I’d stayed up late working on it and had only saved it to a USB that morning.

  ‘I still don’t know why we’re here,’ Annabel said as we hovered outside the door. ‘It’s just going to be really awkward. We haven’t even done the banner like we said we would.’

  ‘Come on,’ I said. ‘The guys have probably forgotten all about the banner.’ I didn’t think that was true, but I wasn’t going to give Kimmi and Annabel any excuses to get out of the meeting.

  ‘You think?’ asked Kimmi hopefully.

  ‘Anyway, I’ve got something to show Liam and Jack.’ I waved the USB at them.

  ‘What is it?’ Annabel asked, nervously. ‘It’s not some random video of us dancing or something is it?’

  I shook my head. ‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ I shoved Annabel and Kimmi in ahead of me. The room was busy with groups of people chatting at full volume, finalising preparations for the big night.

  The guys were huddled together at our usual bench, talking.

  ‘Hey, you mad
e it.’ Liam smiled as we walked in and sat down with them.

  ‘You didn’t think we’d come?’ I said.

  Liam shrugged. ‘Wasn’t sure.’

  ‘So, how’s the banner going?’ Jack asked.

  Kimmi glanced at me and scowled. ‘The paint was still a bit wet,’ she explained, ‘so I left it at home. We’ll have to bring it to the stall tomorrow.’

  ‘Cool,’ Jack replied. ‘Can’t wait to see it.’

  ‘I’ve got something else to show you,’ I said, holding up my USB. ‘I was thinking we should use the fundraiser to educate people about orangutans. So …’ I put the USB into the laptop on the desk. Everyone gathered around as I ran the mouse down the files and clicked on Save the Orangutans. I could feel Annabel shuffling beside me, getting impatient, but she stopped fidgeting as the music started and footage of some baby orangutans came up on screen.

  ‘So cute,’ Annabel cooed.

  Kimmi started oooing and ahhing too. ‘They are so adorable.’

  I had edited together clips of baby orangutans cuddling each other, clinging to their mother’s backs and sucking on babies’ bottles. There was some footage of adult orangutans too. My favourite was an old-man orangutan brushing his teeth.

  ‘Sweet,’ said Liam, laughing.

  And then came the images of the bulldozers, bringing total destruction to the forest. Kimmi and Annabel stopped giggling.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Kimmi asked.

  ‘They’re clearing the forest for timber and palm-oil plantations,’ I said.

  ‘They can’t do that!’

  Complete silence fell as some sad footage of starving orangutans followed, showing animals that had been forced out of their forest home by loggers. The film finished with a close-up of a helpless baby orangutan with big, round, sorrowful eyes. The caption read: We must act now, or orangutans will disappear from the wild by 2023.

  Kimmi wiped a tear from her cheek.

  ‘Wow,’ Liam said, blinking.

  ‘Powerful stuff,’ Jack added.

  I pulled the USB out of the laptop and handed it to Liam, buzzing from the way everyone had responded to my film. It had really worked. ‘Hope you can use it somehow tomorrow night,’ I said. ‘There might be a laptop you can put it on, or something.’