The Call of the Wild

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The Call of the Wild Page 11

by Julie Fison


  ‘Besties are the best,

  Forget all the rest,

  If you want a test,

  Go and eat an ice-cream sundae,

  With sprinkles and marshmallows.’

  ‘So, friends are better than ice-cream sundaes?’ Annabel laughed.

  Lulu thought hard about that. ‘Yes. Well, maybe.’

  ‘I guess there’s one way to find out,’ said Kimmi. ‘Anyone up for a late-night feast?’

  ‘Me!’ Lulu squealed, jumping up and down in the middle of our circle. She grabbed my hand and started dragging me away. ‘Let’s go home and make an ice-cream sundae!’

  I raised my eyebrows. It seemed risky to put Lulu in charge of food, but it was good to see everyone smiling again. When things calmed down I’d talk to Liam, and hopefully we could work things out, but for now I was just glad that Kimmi, Annabel and I were all best friends again. And eating an ice-cream sundae seemed like a good way to prove it!

  ‘Um, Kimmi, I know where Marco is,’ I told Kimmi.

  ‘You’ve seen him?’ she said brightly. She obviously had no idea what I was about to tell her. I put my arm around her and led her away from the guys, making sure that she had her back to Marco. Annabel followed us. ‘You’re not really going to like what I’m about to tell you,’ I warned her gently.

  The smile slipped from her face. ‘What do you mean?’

  I gave her a hug and then took a deep breath. I hated having to tell her that the guy she’d been dreaming about was with someone else.

  ‘He’s with another girl,’ I said eventually.

  ‘What?’ Kimmi said quietly. Her face went pale, and tears welled in her eyes. I felt awful, like I was the one who’d betrayed her.

  ‘Oh, Kimmi,’ I said, squeezing her tight.

  Annabel’s eyes were darting around the terrace. Then her head suddenly jerked towards the trees. ‘Oh my god,’ she mumbled, staring straight at Marco. ‘That dirtbag.’

  Kimmi’s body stiffened and she spun around, following Annabel’s gaze. ‘Marco?’ she whispered.

  ‘Forget him,’ I said, trying to steer Kimmi away, but she seemed determined to see for herself. Marco, on the other hand, hadn’t even noticed he was the centre of attention.

  ‘It’s one of the Fairmount girls,’ Kimmi mumbled. ‘The one we saw at the rugby.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said, putting my arm around her. ‘Come on, let’s go inside. Forget about him. He doesn’t deserve you, Kimmi.’

  Kimmi shook her head. ‘I just want to go home.’

  ‘Okay,’ I agreed, sighing inwardly. ‘Sure, we can call Annabel’s mum, we’ll see if she can pick us up early.’

  Kimmi nodded. ‘Sorry, I know you were having fun. But I just can’t stay here with them.’

  I turned to look at Saia. He was still behind us, with Ryan. I hated to leave him when we’d been getting on so well, but I had to take Kimmi home. I’d be seriously crushed, too, if I’d turned up and found Saia with another girl. I looked around for Annabel, but she was no longer beside me – she was marching towards Marco. What was she planning to do? Nothing she could say now was going to help Kimmi.

  ‘Annabel,’ I called after her.

  She turned and waved to us. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘We’re gonna sort this out.’

  Kimmi and I scurried after Annabel. It wasn’t until the three of us were standing right in front of Marco that he and the Fairmount girl finally looked up. Annabel fixed Marco with a killer stare. It was enough to scare me, but he didn’t even seem to notice.

  ‘Hey, neighbour,’ Marco said to Annabel, as if he was chatting to her over the fence.

  ‘Don’t hey neighbour me,’ Annabel replied sharply.

  Marco looked indignant and got to his feet. The girl he was with shuffled out of the way. She seemed to sense that Annabel was not someone to be messed with.

  ‘You might remember Kimmi?’ Annabel went on.

  ‘You’ve been leading her on all week. And now you’re making out with some other girl. What’s that about?’

  Marco frowned. ‘I wasn’t leading anyone on,’ Marco said, avoiding Kimmi’s gaze. ‘And don’t forget, I was the one who got you an invite. Westway girls don’t normally come anywhere near parties like this. You should be thanking me, not mouthing off at me. You owe me.’

  I squirmed at the insult, and I could almost feel the steam coming out of Annabel’s ears.

  ‘Who do you think you are?’ Annabel growled. If I was Marco right now, I’d be worried.

  Marco backed away, but Annabel took a step towards him. ‘You think you’re too good for us,’ she said angrily. ‘Well, I’ve got news for you, neighbour: my friend is way too good for you! So stay away from her.’

  ‘Whatever,’ Marco said, backing off.

  I watched him leave, proud of the way Annabel had stood up for Kimmi. ‘Way to go, girlfriend!’ Even Kimmi managed a smile, though she still looked shaken.

  ‘What a loser,’ Annabel said, shaking her head.

  I turned to face Marco’s friends, wondering what they’d made of the scene. Would they be mad at us for humiliating Marco? Ryan and Saia looked away, as if they were feeling uncomfortable. Were they embarrassed about us, or Marco? We stood awkwardly for a few moments, then Ryan grabbed Annabel’s hand. ‘You want to go inside?’

  ‘Good plan,’ Annabel said, grabbing Kimmi and dragging her along too.

  I looked at Saia and he took my hand. I felt goose-bumps spring up along my arm as we followed the others inside. The party was really pumping now and before long we were all swept up by the throbbing beat. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Saia as we danced. The way his shirt matched my dress, it was almost like we were meant to be together. Every time he looked at me, I thought about kissing him. I wished I’d asked Annabel for some kissing advice, but it was too late now – she was way too busy dancing with Ryan. Kimmi was on the other side of me. The guy in the black shirt had found his way over and was edging closer. She didn’t seem to mind so much now.

  I turned back to Saia – his face was so close I could feel the heat from his body. My heart was thundering in my chest. Then the strobe lights suddenly stopped flashing. Everyone shrieked as the whole room went black. I knew this was it.

  I leant towards Saia and closed my eyes. His lips met mine, like we’d been thinking the exact same thing. As we kissed, the entire world seemed to stand still. My mind soared to the ceiling and it felt like a thousand fizzy lollies were dancing on my lips.

  My first kiss was nothing less than perfect.

  ‘Yeah, I think Marco’s gone home,’ I told Kimmi, praying she wouldn’t notice him behind me.

  I glanced at Saia, hoping he would understand what I was doing. Thankfully, he nodded.

  ‘Wasn’t looking too good when we arrived,’ Saia said. ‘Got a pretty bad knock at the game today.’

  I shot a grateful smile at Saia. He seemed to know I was trying to protect my friend.

  Kimmi frowned. ‘But he’s not answering my texts or anything. Hope he’s okay.’

  ‘He’s fine,’ Ryan laughed. ‘No brain, no pain.’

  ‘Harsh,’ Annabel giggled. ‘But probably fair.’

  ‘Should we go back inside?’ I suggested, eager to get away before Annabel and Ryan said the wrong thing and ruined my plan.

  Kimmi opened her mouth, but I grabbed her hand before she had a chance to reply and led her inside. With any luck, Marco and the Fairmount girl would stay outside and Kimmi would never find out what was happening. I’d break the news to her tomorrow. She’d be crushed, but at least she wouldn’t be humiliated in front of a hundred people.

  Inside, the music was thumping and everyone was bobbing around in a big seething mass. The party was getting wild. Annabel wiggled her way into a gap in the crowd and soon we were all bouncing along to the beat. I watched Saia’s face as we danced, letting myself get swept along with his smile, and before long I was thinking about kissing him. I wished I’d asked Annabel for some advice
on that, but she was way too busy with her arms around Ryan now. I turned to check on Kimmi, but she was no longer beside me. I glanced about, thinking she’d been swept off by the crowd, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. I spun round, feeling terrible. I was supposed to be looking out for her, but I’d forgotten her completely.

  ‘You seen Kimmi?’ I asked Saia.

  He looked around and shook his head. ‘Do you want some help to find her?’

  ‘No, thanks,’ I said. If Kimmi was crying in the corner somewhere, I didn’t think she’d want a guy around to see her. ‘I’ll take Annabel. See you back here?’

  Saia nodded and I gave him a little wave, then grabbed Annabel’s hand, and led her out through the crowd.

  ‘Hey,’ she said, when we reached the terrace. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Kimmi’s gone. We have to look for her.’

  ‘Ryan was just about to kiss me!’

  ‘Sorry, but I think Kimmi’s looking for Marco,’ I explained. ‘Problem is, he’s with another girl.’

  ‘Oh my god,’ Annabel gasped. ‘You saw him?’

  I nodded. ‘I didn’t say anything, because I wanted to protect Kimmi.’ But then I realised something: I hadn’t only been thinking of Kimmi when I decided to lie about Marco. I’d been thinking of myself. I knew if Kimmi found out, she’d want to go home, and that would spoil things with Saia. I pulled out my phone to text her. ‘Oh, no,’ I sighed. ‘I’ve missed ten texts from her.’

  I scrolled through them, feeling worse and worse. Just as I thought, she’d gone to look for Marco, and found him – under the tree with the Fairmount girl.

  I can’t stay, her last message said. I’ve called Mum. She’s coming to pick me up.

  ‘What a dirtbag,’ Annabel growled, looking around for him.

  I put my phone away and thought for a moment. I couldn’t bear the idea of Kimmi going home on her own, and there was still a chance we’d catch her before her mum arrived. ‘Quick, let’s see if she’s out the front.’

  We raced down the driveway to the street. It was quiet, except for a dog barking. I spotted Kimmi slumped against the fence.

  ‘Kimmi!’ I called.

  She turned and gave us a slow, sad wave as we ran towards her. ‘I saw Marco with another girl,’ she cried.

  Annabel threw herself at Kimmi, giving her a massive hug. ‘What are you doing? You don’t have to leave just because Marco’s a loser.’

  Kimmi shrugged. ‘Yeah, I do. But you stay. Have fun.’

  Annabel and I looked at each other. I knew she wanted to stay just as much as I did, but we couldn’t abandon Kimmi when she needed us most.

  ‘Of course we’re coming with you,’ I said. ‘We’ll just race back and tell the guys we’re going.’

  Kimmi shook her head. ‘Don’t let Marco ruin your night, too. Just stay with Saia and Ryan.’

  I grabbed Annabel’s hand. ‘We’ll be right back.’

  We were just about to rush off when Kimmi’s parents pulled up beside us.

  ‘Hello girls,’ her mum called out the window. ‘How was the party?’

  Kimmi opened the back door and climbed in. ‘Bad,’ she grumbled.

  I looked at Kimmi, knowing what would happen if we ran off now. I really wanted to say goodbye to Saia, but there wasn’t time. Instead, I sent him a quick text explaining what was happening, then climbed into the back of the car, pulling Annabel in with me. As we drove off, I turned and watched Ryan’s house disappear behind us, feeling hollow. It was like I was leaving a little bit of my heart at the party.

  ‘So, what happened tonight?’ Kimmi’s dad asked. ‘I thought you girls were planning to stay at Annabel’s.’

  ‘Nothing happened,’ Kimmi replied flatly.

  ‘Nothing at all?’ her mum asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ Kimmi repeated. ‘Now, you two just talk to each other, because we’ve got private things to discuss in the back.’

  ‘I see,’ Kimmi’s mum said.

  Kimmi looked like she was about to cry.

  ‘I can’t believe Marco did that to you,’ Annabel said. ‘That’s the last time I’m ever talking to him.’

  ‘I know,’ Kimmi said. ‘I can’t believe it either. But I saw it all for myself. He was actually kissing that girl. I had to get out of there.’

  ‘Who was kissing?’ Kimmi’s mum interrupted.

  ‘No-one!’ Kimmi snapped. ‘This is private.’

  ‘Fine, be like that,’ her mum said, and pumped up the volume on the radio. Some completely random old people’s music was on.

  ‘Mum, no!’ Kimmi screeched.

  But her mum pretended not to hear. Then things got worse – her dad started singing along. He sounded even worse than my dad. Kimmi protested, but that just made him sing louder, and then her mum joined in.

  ‘You spin me right round, baby right round, like a record baby …’ I’d heard donkeys with better singing voices.

  ‘So embarrassing.’ Kimmi glared at her parents.

  I couldn’t help smirking. It was definitely painful to listen to, but it was also pretty funny. Beside me, Annabel was dancing in her seat. When I nudged her, she started singing, too. It wasn’t even the proper song – just something she was making up as she went along.

  ‘Marco is a dirtbag, baby, dirtbag. He is such a slime ball, what a lo-ser …’

  I looked at Kimmi, raising my eyebrows. She shrugged and put her arm around me. We both joined in. ‘Marco is a dirtbag, baby, dirtbag …’

  It looked like Kimmi was beginning to have fun, but as soon as we finished singing, she got sad again.

  ‘You’re better off without him.’ I squeezed her hand, trying to console her.

  She nodded. ‘But it still hurts.’

  ‘I know what will make you feel better,’ Kimmi’s mum said, interrupting again. ‘A chick flick! We can all snuggle up on the sofa and watch a movie.’

  ‘Mum!’ Kimmi protested. ‘Stop listening in! I’m fine, and I don’t need to snuggle with you on the sofa. I’m not three.’

  ‘It’s not a bad idea, though,’ I whispered.

  Annabel nodded. ‘Popcorn, a movie, a box of tissues. You’ll be over Marco by midnight.’

  Kimmi smiled. ‘Sounds cool. So long as Mum doesn’t join in.’

  As Kimmi and Annabel talked about which movie we could watch, my phone buzzed with a message. I quietly checked it, hoping that it was from Saia. I wondered what he thought of me disappearing with Kimmi and Annabel. I was pretty sure he’d understand, but my fingers trembled as I opened the message, I was so nervous. Sure enough, it was from Saia.

  Sorry you had to go, he said. Do you want to meet up tomoz? How about the cove?

  My heart jumped as I read it. Sure thing, I replied.

  Annabel saw me texting and leant across, peering at my phone. ‘You’re meeting Saia tomorrow?’

  I glanced at Kimmi, who looked hurt. ‘But I thought we could do something together,’ she whimpered.

  ‘We will,’ I said. ‘We can all go to the cove.’

  ‘With you and Saia, all loved up?’ she said forlornly. ‘That’ll be fun.’

  I thought for a moment and then sent another message to Saia. Annabel and Kimmi want to come too.

  Saia replied right away. Cool. I’ll bring Ryan and James. James says he met Kimmi at the party.

  I held my phone out so Kimmi and Annabel could read it.

  Annabel started bouncing up and down right away, but Kimmi frowned. ‘James? The guy that I fell on?’

  ‘Guess that’s the one,’ I smiled. ‘Cool, huh?’

  ‘But I don’t even know him,’ Kimmi moped. ‘What if we have nothing in common?’

  ‘As long as he’s nothing like that dirtbag Marco, it should be fine,’ Annabel said.

  ‘And besides,’ I added. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re different. Don’t they say opposites attract?’

  A tiny smile flickered across Kimmi’s face. ‘They say that, do they?’

  I grinned at Kimmi
and Annabel. ‘They do. And you know what? They might just be right!’

  I let myself enjoy the feel of Liam’s hand on mine for several glorious moments – long enough to know that I didn’t want to be just friends with him. I knew for sure how much I liked him, and now I could see he was into me, too. But while I wanted to stay like this forever, I kept thinking about Annabel. What would happen on Monday when I saw her? Or the next time I saw Liam at the Wild Club? How was that going to work out? I gently slipped my hand out from under Liam’s and put it in my lap.

  ‘There’s something we need to talk about …’ I began, unsure what to say after that.

  Sorry, I shouldn’t have …’ he paused. ‘You do have a boyfriend at Highgrove, don’t you?’

  ‘No,’ I whispered indignantly. ‘That’s not it. It’s because of Annabel.’

  ‘Annabel?’ Liam asked, a dumb look on his face.

  I nodded. ‘Yes, that’s the one. Long blonde hair, bubbly, pretty.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, without smiling. ‘I know who she is. But what’s she got to do with anything?’

  Now it was my turn to stare at him with a dumb look. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She’s just a friend. Annabel and I aren’t together,’ Liam said firmly.

  I turned and stared at the big screen, confused. ‘You’ve been hanging out with her all week,’ I said, trying to work out the truth.

  Liam nodded. ‘Working on the stall. It doesn’t mean we’re an item.’

  ‘What about the skate park? You invited her skating. I saw her. She was wearing your helmet.’

  Liam shook his head. ‘I didn’t invite her. She just turned up. I thought she just wanted to learn to skate.’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket. ‘You want to check my messages? See if you can find anything incriminating?’

  I looked at his phone and then shook my head. I didn’t want to trawl through his messages.

  ‘Okay, here’s one from yesterday,’ Liam went on. ‘Annabel asked me what time we were setting up. And this is how I replied.’ He showed me the screen.

  Setting up at 5, it said.

  That was it. There was no ‘love’ or kisses or smiley face. It was actually pretty abrupt. It seemed like Liam was telling the truth.

 

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