Friendship on Fire

by Danielle Weiler

  y eyes were bleeding. They were stinging from the offensive sight that was before them. White, orange, horror. I put my hand over them to mask the reality of the abuse that was awaiting all students’ eyes.

  It didn’t help.

  I searched around wildly for Roman. He had arrived before me this morning and eyed me off when I came, but now he was nowhere to be seen, and I panicked. It was just me and the Blonde Brigade, who had rocked up early to the carnival by car instead of riding with the rest of the herded cattle. Let me clear one thing up; my blindness wasn’t purely because of their early presence, it was more their attire that disturbed me.

  Skye was at the front of the group of five. She was wearing white, see-through, triangle bikinis, a few sizes small and too revealing for a school function. I dreaded to think what they would look like when she got out of the water. The famous five were covered in orange blotchy fake tan, almost as bad as a case of eczema. Each carried an over-sized handbag, wore over-sized sunglasses and an over-sized hat, with only a sarong to keep their lower half semi-decent. I inspected their feet out of interest. The girls wore diamante-studded thongs and had silver nail polish to match.

  I couldn’t escape. I was trapped in this awkward meeting that would inevitably involve me being baited into being rude to them. May as well get it over with.

  ‘School captain,’ Skye greeted me enthusiastically.

  ‘Hi girls. Glad to see you here so early to support the school. What colour house are you in?’ I looked them up and down with my hands on my hips, being the absolute persona of school captain.

  ‘Who cares?’ Skye said, putting her hands on her hips to match. ‘Everyone knows we’re only here to see some skin. Don’t be such a drag.’

  Cadence, Bree and two other girls I didn’t know well enough to have the pleasure of knowing their names started giggling at Skye’s witty response. She smiled over her shoulder at their timing.

  I eyed them coolly and raised my eyebrows. ‘Isn’t it nice that you have such supportive minions, Skye? Did you shop at Cotton On Kids for your outfits?’

  Their giggles quickly turned into scowls. ‘Some people appreciate what we have, you know. We don’t get to show this off every day, so we have to take our opportunities,’ said Bree, sweeping her hand up and down her body.

  I stifled a giggle of my own. Sure the girls were attractive, but they weren’t supermodels by any stretch of the imagination. Not unless supermodels had alien skin.

  ‘I think you will be showing more skin than seeing it today, girls. This is a school function. We need to be modest, not hang everything out for the whole world to see like skanks. Put it away, would you?’ I turned to go.

  ‘You can’t make us,’ said Cadence, in her squeaky mouse-like voice. ‘We are here to support the school. Everyone knows kids would rather take the day off than come to a stupid carnival. None of the teachers will send us home because we are setting a good example as seniors.’

  She looked quite pleased with herself that she had made a somewhat logical point. I desperately wanted to tell them what everyone would really think about their outfits, but it probably wasn’t worth it. Let them embarrass themselves, my natural justice side told me. Let Mr Head tell them off and send them home if he thought they were being inappropriate. Let their bikinis become see-through in the water so I could laugh long and hard, along with the rest of the school.

  I grinned at my own thoughts. The Brigade frowned back.

  ‘Of course you are. Welcome to the carnival, then. I hope you win every race, seeing as you have volunteered for them all. Mr Head will be so pleased to hear of your level of school support,’ I cooed, smiling widely at them. ‘See you in the pool.’

  They spluttered in a small circle together but couldn’t come up with anything to retaliate. I walked briskly to find Mr Head, without being obvious to the girls. I couldn’t have them follow me and counteract my brilliant lie, could I? I wove around Twin Rocks Swimming Centre a couple of times until I found my longsuffering principal in the staff lounge and told him of the generous offer of the Brigade.

  He listened intently to me, then beamed and said, ‘Sounds marvellous. Well done, Daisy. You are turning into a fine school captain, even if your hair is still red.’

  I opened my mouth to say something but thought better of it. He would always be judgmental like that and nothing I said would change his attitude towards redheads. Or was it only people who decided to change their natural hair colour? He couldn’t talk. He needed to dye his hair black again to cover up the serious grey splotches on top of his head. I wouldn’t be the one to point that out to him; he could continue to look ridiculous on his own.

  Sticking my chin up in the air, I said, ‘Thanks for the compliment, sir. I’ll keep setting up until the students come. Oh, one more thing. The girls don’t want to be thanked for their contribution today; they only wish to be informed by you of the start time of every race.’

  He nodded his approval and waved a hand of dismissal at me. I ran to find Roman; this was too good a prank to keep to myself.

  Our job as school captains for the day was to listen out for what swimming events were coming up and make sure kids were participating in them. The Blonde Brigade had been announced by Roman at the start of the day as the role model standard of carnival etiquette for their amazing promise to go in every race. The girls smiled and nodded to the students and Mr Head, but I could see them plotting revenge against me. I wasn’t worried. What could they possibly do to me in a pool? Besides drown me, of course. That would end badly.

  I wasn’t a natural swimmer so I chose to go second out of four in the relay team after lunch. It was all freestyle, but the rule was each team had to have two males and two females in it for fairness. Mr Head made an exception for the Blonde Brigade, because they had been so fantastic. They had no chance of winning, but also had no chance of getting out of the delicious mess I’d put them in. Being constantly wet for five hours mustn’t have been the most pleasant experience for their fake skin, but I wasn’t sorry.

  When the gunshot sounded, I jumped next to my podium. Nervously, I waited while I watched Sarah swim fast towards me.

  Don’t stuff up the dive. Don’t belly flop. Don’t drown.

  She hit the wall and in I went, diving a bit deep for this kind of race. I tried to swim like a fish underwater, moving quickly to scramble to the surface to start my freestyle. I wasn’t going too badly. Not first, but not last. Was that Cadence last?

  Hitting the wall, James jumped in after me and ploughed his way to Roman, who was last for our team. I felt pumped, hoping the boys could win the relay for our house. I measured his strokes to other lanes and it looked like we were catching up. James touched the wall and Roman jumped in. His muscles flexed in his perfect dive and he almost immediately started swimming hard. I was jumping up and down, screaming for him to go faster. I scanned the other lanes; it was very close. In the last fifteen metres, Roman didn’t take a breath and hammered down the lane until he touched the wall. We both looked at the timer and she smiled back at us.

  ‘First place. Well done,’ she said.

  I squealed with delight, jumped back in the pool and hugged Roman tightly. His strong arms held my shoulders above the water as he panted heavily in my ear.

  ‘You did it. You won for us,’ I screamed in his ear.

  ‘We all did,’ he replied diplomatically.

  ‘I wonder what place the Brigade came?’ I unlocked my arms from around his body.

  ‘Hopefully last. The whole day has been a shocking show,’ he said, looking around for the drowned blonde rats. ‘Hey, Daisy. Hold still.’

  I stopped kicking and splashing and eyed him curiously. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Hmm. Interesting. I guess I should have known.’ He was staring at my head like a scientist.

  ‘What should you have known?’ This wasn’t a good sign. I felt uncomfortable about the sympathetic way he was staring.

  ‘It seems that your
red hair has developed some interesting streaks due to the chlorine,’ he said. ‘For now, you are red and green.’

  I searched his face for any sign of a practical joke. There was none.

  ‘Far out, Roman. What else can go wrong? How can I cover this one up?’ I whined. I imagined Mr Head accusing me of doing this on purpose, to annoy him. It was a great idea but I didn’t have the balls to do it off my own bat.

  ‘I don’t know. But I wouldn’t mind watching when Head sees you,’ he laughed.

  I flicked my legs under the water and rose up, trying to push his shoulders and head down into the water to punish him for teasing me. To my disgust, he didn’t move an inch. He watched me with amused eyes as I struggled to budge his body into the water. My shoulders slumped and I gave up, pouting.

  Suddenly, he grabbed my shoulders and effortlessly pushed me under the water. I struggled underneath the weight of his arms and kicked frantically. Within seconds, he let me up, spluttering and cursing at him.

  ‘Prick,’ I squealed into his face. He was laughing uncontrollably, eyes alight, hands holding my arms to stop me from smacking his chest.

  ‘Sorry. But you deserved it. Your cheek has to get you into trouble sometimes,’ he said, winking at me.

  My stomach twisted. I felt the same feeling as yesterday; the one where I couldn’t say anything, only stare at him and wish I had a great comeback.

  He frowned. ‘Daisy? Are you OK?’

  I shook my head and hit my ear like an idiot. ‘Yep, fine, just got some water in my ear,’ I lied.

  ‘Good. I didn’t want to make you brain damaged or anything.’

  ‘Nothing a good slap won’t clear up,’ I murmured dryly.

  Mr Head’s voice boomed over the loud speaker. It was time for the awards ceremony before we headed back to school.

  ‘Could Daisy and Roman and the house captains please come to the podium area? Everyone else, out of the pool and under your house tents, please.’

  Roman leapt out of the pool and reached back in to help pull me out. He was stronger than I thought. I felt like a feather under his arm.

  While we were walking to the awards area, Mr Head continued, ‘I would like to thank the school captains for their commendable effort in the organisation of the carnival. They have made a great contribution to the smooth running of the day and I’d like everyone to give them and the house captains a round of applause.’

  Everyone clapped in polite appreciation until we reached the microphone. Mr Head’s eyes narrowed as he saw my hair, but he said nothing. It would come later.

  We helped hand out the medals and certificates. Surprisingly, the Blonde Brigade didn’t win any traditional award after their entries into every event. However, Mr Head was clearly so appreciative of their combined efforts that he made a special award for them; the ‘exceptional participation’ award. I stifled a laugh as the girls paraded on to the podium and accepted their prize with mock grace.

  Skye and the girls marched up to me as I was rolling up the banners poolside. I ignored them, intent on finishing my task.

  ‘Those Grammar boys are something aren’t they?’ Skye asked, as she and the other girls licked their fingers. I shuddered. What was that?

  ‘Ew,’ was all I could say at their porn-esque actions. I moved past them and kept working, not wanting to encourage another meaningless conversation.

  ‘Don’t pretend you’re so innocent, Daisy Brooks. Everyone’s heard what you’ve been up to with Nate,’ said Cadence. Her mouth was shaped like she’d been sucking on a sour lolly.

  My skin prickled. ‘I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about and I don’t care,’ I spat back at them. ‘You girls need to get a life if you’re focussing on stalking mine.’ I turned my back on them.

  ‘Oh come on, aren’t you a bit curious about what Nate’s been telling everyone over at Grammar about you?’ Bree chimed in.

  ‘Nope. Because apparently I’ve done it myself. Why would I need to hear what I’ve done, from you?’ Sarcasm seeped through my voice.

  Roman was picking up rubbish nearby and I wondered if he was listening to the conversation. He hadn’t stuck up for me lately, so what made me think he would do it this time? It didn’t seem to matter to him if I was being ganged up on by five splotchy bimbos.

  ‘Just thought you’d like a chance to redeem yourself. You have quite a reputation around the schools now. But if you’d rather stay in the dark …’ Skye said coldly.

  ‘Yeah I would. Nate likes me, not you, so deal with it,’ I said, in a final show of defiance. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold my temper in, or my curiosity. What was Nate telling people? It couldn’t be true.

  I didn’t hear Skye’s verbal retaliation. The scenery went blue, then clear, then blurry. I shut my eyes as chlorine stung them and struggled to hold my breath after my sudden descent into the water at the hands of the cow standing above me at the edge of the pool. I would have shrieked with rage if the water wouldn’t choke me. My fingers itched to scratch and pull and do all the things classy girls shouldn’t do to girls they didn’t like.

  The next thing I knew, the cow’s legs flew into the air along with a pair of darker legs and joined me in the pool. Now what happened there? How did cow and stranger end up in the pool with me? I tried to recognise the white legs standing on the edge of the water, but couldn’t.

  Floating to the top of the water, I squinted into the sun to see Roman’s shadow kneeling by the edge, with a creased brow. He saw I was unhurt and his crease softened.

  ‘Daisy, thank God you’re all right,’ he said quickly. ‘I heard the girls bitching to you and I saw Skye push you into the water. I thought you might have hurt yourself.’

  I shook my head. ‘No, I’m good. Did you push her in?’ I asked, turning around in the water.

  Treading water, side by side, were Skye and Mr Head.

  Roman explained. ‘I couldn’t help it, I had to push her in for what she did to you, but Head got in the way. I accidentally knocked him in the pool. I’m in deep shite now.’

  He was trying not to laugh.

  ‘Well, thank you. My hero. Now help me out. I have to watch this for myself,’ I said eagerly.

  Roman pulled me out of the water and I watched Skye and Mr Head pant to get to the side. It mustn’t be comfortable swimming in a suit with heavy, black dress shoes. The rest of the Brigade rushed to the edge to pull Skye out and coo in sympathy. Roman and I watched Mr Head scramble to the drains and we braced ourselves for the lecture of a lifetime. His clothes gurgled with water logging.

  ‘You are the biggest bunch of hooligans I’ve ever had in my twenty years as principal of this school,’ he spat at us. ‘What a disgrace to the college. I will be contacting your parents about this and I will see you all on lunchtime detention for the rest of this week. Now clear off, before I suspend you, too.’

  We scurried off to get our stuff and call our parents to pick us up. Roman and I decided we may as well start walking and our parents would collect us where they found us on the way home from the pool. We left a long trail of water and wet footprints on the footpath, but couldn’t stop laughing and talking about the whole incident.

  ‘Did you see Skye’s face when she came out of the water?

  It was priceless,’ Roman said, grinning widely. ‘I thought her orange mask would peel off.’

  ‘Yeah, you’re lucky her posse didn’t push you in after that,’ I realised, surprised that they didn’t decide to defend her honour. They probably weren’t smart enough.

  ‘Course they wouldn’t,’ he said, straightening his shoulders. ‘They love me. Why would they do that to someone they love?’

  I elbowed him in the ribs. ‘Come on, don’t exaggerate. They love anyone with something between their legs who looks at them sideways,’ I said, ungracefully.

  ‘You’re probably right. And it’s a shame. I like the orange,’ he said, watching for my response.

  ‘You’re disgusting.’ I wrinkled
my nose.

  We walked in silence for a few minutes after that, thinking about the day’s events. It was exhausting.

  I squinted up into the sunlight at him and said, ‘You did well today, school captain.’

  ‘So did you.’ His genuine smile was becoming intoxicating.

  ‘Thanks for sticking up for me with Skye. I thought she’d get away with it like she always does.’

  ‘Daisy, if I stuck up for you every time she pissed you off we would be in even more crap with people saying we were in love or something ridiculous,’ Roman said with a nervous chuckle.

  ‘You reckon?’ I asked.

  ‘Think about it. I come to your rescue every time. It wouldn’t half make it worse, would it? We’d have those rumours to deal with. I couldn’t do that to you.’

  Oh. ‘So that’s why you always walk away when Skye comes to annoy me?’

  He nodded. ‘That, and sometimes I don’t want to hear another girl fight. It’s a guy thing. I’ve heard my sisters fight my whole life to know it’s not worth getting involved in the mess. Guess I kind of failed that theory today though, hey,’ he said, putting his hands in his wet shorts pockets.

  ‘Yeah, but I still appreciate it. It’s nice to know someone is willing to be there for you no matter what,’ I said, and linked my arm through his. ‘That’s what best friends are for.’

  ‘This is getting mushy, Daisy,’ he said, but let me hold his arm. ‘Is that Mum I can see at the end of the road there?’

  I squinted as far as I could see. The car looked familiar. We walked faster to meet her at a convenient place for her to turn around.

  ‘See you tomorrow. Being on detention together will be fun. We will probably kill each other after being in the same room for half an hour,’ he laughed, gently peeling my arm away from his.

  ‘Don’t remind me,’ I said. The wind picked up and my arm felt cold where he left it.