The Call of the Wild

by Julie Fison

  ‘Sisters, eh?’ he laughed, shaking the sand out of his floppy blonde hair. ‘Mine are even bossier.’

  As Lulu went off to find shells to decorate the mermaid, Liam told me more about his family. His sisters sounded funny, and his parents seemed really cool. They studied coral reefs, and his whole family were vegetarians.

  ‘I’m trying to be a vegetarian, too,’ I told Liam. ‘But Mum keeps sneaking meat into my meals, thinking I won’t notice. I wish I had your parents.’

  ‘No you don’t, they’re completely nuts,’ said Liam. ‘I think it’s because they spend all their time with their heads underwater, looking at coral. All that water has to do something to your brain.’

  ‘Maybe it’s good for you,’ I suggested, starting to dig a tunnel underneath the mermaid.

  ‘Let’s hope you’re right, because I spend almost every holiday with my head underwater, too. We go scuba diving a lot.’

  ‘Sounds amazing. What’s the best thing you’ve seen diving?’

  ‘Sharks are cool,’ said Liam thoughtfully. ‘I can identify over a hundred different species.’

  I shivered. ‘You swim with sharks?’

  Liam nodded, tunnelling under the mermaid from the other side. ‘Sometimes. Not great whites, if I can avoid them.’

  ‘Sounds like you have exciting holidays.’

  Liam nodded. ‘Always.’

  As Liam told me about a trip to a turtle-nesting site on the Great Barrier Reef, I pushed my hand into the tunnel under the mermaid to collect another handful of sand and touched something. When it wriggled, I realised it was Liam’s fingers.

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ I said.

  As I jerked my hand away, my whole arm tingled. I looked at Liam. His eyes had gone all intense, like he was shocked or something. He stared at me for a moment without saying anything, then looked away. He flicked the hair from his face and smoothed out the mermaid’s tail.

  And that’s when I noticed the colour of his eyes. Like, really noticed them. I’d always known they were blue, but I saw for the first time that they were exactly the same as the aquamarine in my mum’s engagement ring – a vibrant blue, like they’d been chipped from a precious stone. They were gorgeous. And they matched the rest of him perfectly. Liam was clever, interesting and caring – a totally gorgeous person all round. I realised that even though I liked him as a friend, there might be more to it.

  ‘That is the best mermaid ever,’ Lulu said, returning with her shell collection and interrupting my thoughts. She carefully placed her decorations around the mermaid’s waist and then clapped her hands. ‘Now we can have the brownies!’

  ‘Okay,’ I said, wiping my sandy hands on my top. I unwrapped the brownies, noticing that my hands were trembling slightly after our unexpected encounter in the mermaid tunnel. I just hoped Liam didn’t notice.

  ‘Mmm,’ Lulu purred, closing her eyes and sniffing.

  The brownies were still warm and they smelt heavenly – although there was something a bit different about the smell that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Lulu leaned across me to snatch one, but I offered them to Liam first.

  ‘Wow, they look good,’ he said, taking a brownie and putting the whole thing in his mouth.

  I smiled for a moment, proud that Liam was enjoying one of my homemade brownies, but I knew something was wrong as soon as I heard a crunch. Liam’s face twisted as he swallowed. He jumped to his feet, ran towards the end of the cove and flung himself behind a boulder. I turned to Lulu. By that stage she had a mouthful of brownies, too. A moment later she showered me with chewed-up brown mush. ‘Blahhhh!’

  ‘Lulu!’ I shrieked, flicking bits of saliva and brownie off my face. ‘What did you put in those brownies?’

  ‘Those chocolate chips taste yucky!’ she cried, still spitting out bits of brownie onto the sand.

  ‘What do you mean, chocolate chips? We didn’t use chocolate chips. We don’t even have chocolate chips!’

  Lulu nodded. ‘We do. In the blue container.’

  I shook my head. Why did I never learn? ‘Those aren’t chocolate chips, they’re dog biscuits!’

  I turned to check on Liam. He was hunched over behind the rocks. It looked like he was vomiting. Lulu had probably poisoned him!

  ‘Wait here!’ I shouted at Lulu as I rushed off to see if Liam was okay.

  ‘What about the brownies?’ Lulu asked.

  ‘Give them to the seagulls,’ I called over my shoulder. At least the birds would appreciate them.

  Liam was at least standing upright by the time I reached him. He looked awful though, pale and queasy.

  ‘You all right?’ I asked.

  Liam wiped his mouth. ‘Yeah, think so. Sorry, that was gross. Guess I had an allergic reaction to the brownies. I don’t feel too good.’

  ‘Oh, that’s bad luck.’ I couldn’t admit that I’d fed him dog biscuits. He was a vegetarian! ‘Can I get you a drink? I’ve brought some cordial.’

  A flash of panic swept across Liam’s face. ‘No, no, no. I’m fine. Honestly.’

  He backed away from me, still looking nervous. It was understandable that he didn’t want to share my cordial after I’d nearly killed him with the brownies.

  ‘I think I might go home,’ he said. ‘Not feeling too good at all. I mean, the brownies were amazing and everything. I’ve just got a really sensitive stomach.’

  ‘I could walk you home if you like. Make sure you’re okay,’ I said, stepping towards him. He was so pale.

  He opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by my sister’s screaming.

  ‘Pee Pee!’

  I glanced at Liam. He was still looking terrible, but now he was trying to stifle a smirk. ‘Think your sister needs the toilet.’

  I rolled my eyes. ‘Yeah, guess so. Can’t take her anywhere,’ I joked. There was no way I was going to admit that Pee Pee was my nickname. I turned to my sister, who was being bombed by squawking seagulls. It looked like they’d found the brownies and were about to carry Lulu off, too.

  ‘Pee Pee!’ she shrieked, over the top of the birds.

  ‘You’d better go,’ Liam said. ‘I’m going to head off.’ He paused for a moment, holding his stomach. ‘I’ll see you at school.’

  ‘Yeah, sure,’ I said. ‘Thanks for inviting me. It’s been fun.’

  ‘No probs.’ He grimaced. He didn’t look like he was having fun at all.

  I hesitated for a moment and then ran off to save my sister. When I reached Lulu, I looked over my shoulder and saw Liam on the stairs. I waved to him, but he didn’t see me. I turned to Lulu.

  She was clutching a handful of brownies. Her eyes were as wide as frisbees and her body was frozen in panic. ‘I hate seagulls,’ she whimpered.

  I prised the brownies out of her hand and threw them towards the sea. The birds took off after them as I dragged Lulu in the opposite direction. As we trudged off, Lulu snivelled. ‘I don’t like this beach.’

  ‘I told you it would be no fun,’ I grumbled.

  I took out my phone and sent a text to Liam wishing him a speedy recovery.

  Then I texted Kimmi.

  Disaster at Baitman’s Cove! Just poisoned Liam with dog biscuits.

  Kimmi got straight back to me. Silly question. But HOW?

  I left my sister in charge of the brownies! I replied, sighing.

  Too funny! Kimmi replied. I might try that one on my brother! Meet you at the playground in ten minutes?

  ‘Sup!’ Kimmi called as she walked across the playground towards us, with a great big smile on her face. Kimmi’s smile was usually infectious, but today it wasn’t working on me at all. I pushed Lulu higher on the swing, the events at the beach still swishing around in my mind.

  ‘I’m such a loser,’ I groaned.

  Kimmi laughed. ‘You fed Liam dog biscuits. He’ll forgive you. You’re friends, right?’

  I took a deep breath, giving Lulu another push. I shrugged.

  ‘What?’ Kimmi asked. ‘You’re not friends an
ymore?’

  I sighed. ‘I’m not sure. I think maybe you were right yesterday.’

  Kimmi raised her eyebrows. ‘Oh?’

  ‘I might have a thing for Liam. Just a small thing. Or maybe a medium-sized one.’

  Kimmi clapped her hands together. ‘I knew it!’

  I shook my head. ‘And now I’ve tried to poison him. You should have seen the look on his face as he ran off. I’m not even sure I’ll be able to go to the Wild Club on Monday. I feel so stupid.’

  Kimmi squeezed my arm. ‘Don’t be silly. It wasn’t even your fault. There’s nothing to feel stupid about.’

  ‘It’s not just the poison brownies. What about Annabel? You saw the way she was touching his arm every five seconds at the mall.’

  ‘I guess.’ Kimmi thought for a moment and then shook her head. ‘But she’ll understand if you explain.’

  I sighed. ‘I suppose.’ But I didn’t feel any better.

  ‘A big push!’ Lulu shouted as her swing slowed, almost stopping.

  Kimmi nudged me aside and took over, sending Lulu high into the air.

  ‘Liam invited you to the cove, didn’t he?’ Kimmi said.

  ‘To pick up rubbish,’ I grumbled. ‘He didn’t invite me to the movies or anything.’

  ‘Still, he obviously likes you. You’ve probably been too wrapped up in orangutans to notice.’

  I sniffed. ‘I think I might have noticed if a guy had a crush on me.’

  As the swing slowed, Lulu jumped off and ran over to the slippery slide.

  ‘Yeah, so you keep saying,’ said Kimmi, sitting down on the empty swing. ‘I think you’re using that as an excuse not to go after Liam when anyone can see how much you like each other. Sometimes you just have to show a guy how you feel.’

  ‘Is that what you’re going to do at the party? Show Marco how you feel?’

  Kimmi laughed. ‘I think I’ve blown enough kisses at Marco to show him how I feel. Just waiting for him to blow one back, now.’

  ‘It’ll happen at the party,’ I smiled.

  ‘Hope so.’ Kimmi wrinkled her nose, looking uncertain, then stretched out her legs to get her swing going. ‘Come on, enough about boys. I bet I can swing higher than you.’

  I sat on the other swing, and together we flew back and forth. We soared so high, I felt like my feet were almost touching the clouds. With each upwards swing, my worries about Liam slipped off my shoulders. I swung high, then jumped off and landed in the grass. I rolled over on my back and looked up at the clouds floating across the sky.

  Kimmi landed beside me. Then Lulu was running towards us, her mud-stained tutu bouncing around her middle, looking as elegant as a baby hippo. She did a flying leap and landed on top of me.

  ‘Pee Pee!’ she laughed. She held out a scrunched-up little fist. ‘I’ve got something for you.’ Slowly, she uncurled her hand.

  I stared at a crumpled green thing on her palm.

  ‘A four-leaf clover,’ she said. ‘I found it for you.’

  I didn’t hold out much hope for a change in my luck. But as we were walking home, a message from Liam appeared on my phone. He’d finally replied to my text.

  ‘What’s it say?’ Kimmi asked, looking over my shoulder.

  Feeling OK now, the message read. It came with a picture of a new skateboard. Guess where I’ll be this afternoon?

  I looked at the picture for a moment and then handed the phone to Kimmi. Her face broke into a smile.

  ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ she asked.

  I was thinking a lot of things, but mainly I was relieved. Liam had survived the dog-biscuit brownies and was still talking to me – which was way more than I had expected. ‘That depends,’ I said. ‘Are you thinking it’s weird how guys get so excited about a short plank of wood?’

  Kimmi slapped me playfully on the arm. ‘I’m thinking we should go to the skate park.’

  ‘Are you serious? You want to just randomly turn up?’

  Kimmi nodded. ‘I’d say that text was basically an invitation to do just that.’

  I re-read the text. I couldn’t see an invitation in there at all. ‘I think he’s just letting me know that he’s alive.’

  Kimmi shrugged. ‘The skate park is almost on the way back to your house, so we could swing by and check it out.’

  I gave it some thought. ‘Couldn’t hurt, I guess.’

  I grabbed Lulu’s hand and we walked off towards the skate park. I really didn’t want to seem like a skater groupie, but Liam and I were friends. Surely it would be okay to take a look, just to make sure he really was all right after the brownies. I was pretty sure he hadn’t invited me to the skate park, but it would be cool to see him on his new board. I made sure I had my lucky four-leaf clover in my pocket, hoping it would work some more magic.

  Kimmi, Lulu and I paused behind a tree not far from the skate park to check out the situation. The ramps were busy and the guys were wearing helmets, so it was hard to spot Liam. I thought I’d know him straight away, but there were a lot of guys who looked just like him. The one that stood out was a tall guy, a bit on the lanky side.

  ‘That’s Jack, isn’t it? With the black helmet. He’s just about to go down the ramp.’

  Kimmi peered at the guy. ‘I think it is. Guess he’s down here with Liam.’

  ‘We should go over and say hey.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Kimmi said, but she didn’t move. She just stood watching Jack negotiate the ramp. He was pretty unreal.

  ‘Kimmi?’ I said nudging her. ‘Oh my god, are you checking out Jack?’

  ‘I might be,’ Kimmi said coyly.

  I laughed. ‘I thought you only had eyes for Marco.’

  She sighed. ‘I do, but I wonder if he’s ever going to see me.’

  ‘Of course he will.’

  Kimmi paused. ‘But what if he’s not into me at all?’

  Now it was my turn to offer support. ‘Oh, come on. Everything will work out at the party. You’ll see. I bet you two are hooking up by the end of the night.’

  The smile returned to Kimmi’s face. ‘You’re right,’ she giggled. ‘How could he resist me?’

  ‘Let’s go ask Jack where Liam is hiding,’ I said, taking Lulu by the hand. But I’d only taken a few steps when I froze, then dived back behind the tree, dragging Lulu with me.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Kimmi asked.

  I nodded to the far side of the skate park. I’d just spotted a guy with his helmet under his arm and hair flopping into his eyes. It was definitely Liam. But it was the girl who was with him that was giving me heart palpitations. She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder as she chatted to Liam. It was painful to watch, but I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

  ‘It’s Annabel,’ Kimmi gasped.

  Just as she said that, Lulu jumped out from behind the tree. ‘Annabel!’ she shouted. Annabel spent a lot of time at our house and Lulu adored her.

  I grabbed my little sister and jerked her back behind the tree. ‘Shh,’ I hissed. ‘It’s like hide-and-seek and Annabel’s up. We can’t let her know we’re here.’

  We edged back the way we’d come, then raced around the corner so there was no chance we’d get caught spying on them. When we stopped, I could feel my heart thumping. There was a sick feeling rising in my stomach.

  ‘This is worse than I thought,’ Kimmi puffed. ‘Annabel must really like Liam.’

  I winced. A sharp pain was developing in my chest. ‘Well, I did tell her we were just friends.’

  Kimmi looked down, distracted by something on her phone. Then her face froze. ‘Oh no,’ she frowned. ‘Do you want to see this?’

  I shook my head, but looked anyway. My heart sank as I saw Annabel’s latest post. It was a picture of her and Liam at the skate park. Annabel was wearing Liam’s helmet. The post read: How do I look?

  It had been up only a few minutes and it already had ten ‘likes’ and three comments – everyone telling Annabel how cute she looked and asking about Liam.


  That was when I knew for sure: I had no chance with him at all. If Liam had to choose between Annabel and me, he’d definitely choose her. She was confident and pretty. Guys just loved her.

  All I had to look forward to was a status update from Annabel announcing that she and Liam were ‘in a relationship’. I wondered if that would happen before the end of the weekend.

  On Monday morning, I took my seat on the bus next to Annabel and Kimmi, still not feeling great after possibly the worst weekend ever.

  ‘Looks like you had a good weekend,’ I said to Annabel, trying to manage a smile. I’m not sure why I mentioned it, because I didn’t want to hear about Annabel’s weekend. If she went on about how much fun she’d had with Liam, I wasn’t sure how I’d handle it.

  ‘Not too bad,’ she said mysteriously, giving us a slight smile.

  ‘Cute pic of you in Liam’s helmet,’ said Kimmi. ‘What’s going on?’

  Annabel shrugged. ‘He’s like a cryptic crossword – so hard to work out. But I think I’m getting it. I’m hoping to unlock his secrets at the Wild Club meeting at lunchtime.’

  ‘Yeah, should be a great chance,’ I muttered.

  ‘Something wrong?’ Annabel asked. ‘You don’t mind me hanging out with Liam, do you? You said you were just friends.’

  I laughed. ‘Me? Mind? Of course I don’t mind.’

  I could see Kimmi was about to say something, but she closed her mouth when I glared at her. I didn’t want Annabel to know what was really going on in my head. If Liam and Annabel were into each other, I’d deal with it. I’d just go back to being friends with Liam. I didn’t want to fight with Annabel over a guy.

  Annabel looked out the window dreamily. ‘Liam’s so gorgeous. You should have seen him at the skate park.’

  ‘Wish I’d been there,’ I said, relieved that Annabel was too caught up in Liam to notice how my voice wobbled. I took a deep breath, determined to be a good friend. ‘So, what did you find out about him?’