Blue Water High (36 page)

But suddenly there were hands dragging her back from the precipice.

‘Whoa there,' said Simmo. Just like he had when she'd jumped up off the stretcher in the medical tent on day one. He kept her hand in his and guided her down the rest of the way.

At the bottom she stared up at Heath angrily.

‘What are you laughing about?'

‘I'm just … happy. That's all.'

Just like Heath to come out with something you couldn't argue with. Cranky as she was, she was too wobbly on those heels to say no to his arm on the way out to the van. After lobbing into that beaten up old van for the past year with salt water dripping and sand falling out of their shorts, it was kind of weird to step inside pulling your dress up behind you.

Andrew had taken charge of the evening's celebrations at the clubhouse and he had gone to town. There were long white silks falling from the ceiling and columns of blue laser light beaming up from the floor in every corner of the room. Waiters floated around carrying trays of blue smoking drinks and the place was full. There were dozens of industry types there – journalists and photographers and everyone who was anyone in the local surfing scene. At the back of the stage a huge sail had been draped across the wall and onto it footage of all of them throughout the year was screening. At first Fly thought it was a cobbled together version of Simmo's famous ‘one-on-one footage'
but as it went on, as it danced into them at the boarding house, them horsing around over the pool table, the board auction, the South Coast regional finals, Fly realised it wasn't Simmo's work at all.

She looked to Heath. ‘This is you?'

Heath nodded – it was him.

‘It's amazing.'

Heath stared up at the screen for a long time.

‘Thanks. Andrew reckons there might be an opportunity for me at Solar Blue – however things pan out.'

Fly reached up and hugged him for all she was worth … and she would've gone right on hugging him if Andrew's voice hadn't intruded.

‘Alright everyone!'

It took a while for them all to settle. Fly could feel the rest of the crew gathering around them.

‘I know this is a party so we'll keep the speeches short.'

Fly saw Simmo and Deb standing at opposite ends of the stage, but they were smiling at each other. This was a big thing for them too.

‘As you know,' Andrew said, ‘it's been a big day and a big year for all the Solar Blue team. And I want to say a huge thanks to Simmo and Deb for all they've done.'

The crew exploded. All thoughts of obstacle courses, underwater training and whiteboards disappeared as they clapped out their gratitude. As much as they complained through the year, they all knew they couldn't have done it without Deb and Simmo.

‘And none of this would be possible without the superhuman patience of Jilly.'

They roared out their thanks to Jilly. She stood at the side, dressed to the nines, blushing a hundred shades of violet.

‘Simmo tells me it's been a year none of them will forget.'

Fly could sense the ants starting to crawl up all their legs. For a man who had promised to keep the speeches short, Andrew was good at stringing it out.

‘And,' he looked down at all of them, ‘we hope you won't either. Now, I'd like to ask our two winners to come forward and receive their official invitations to join next year's pro circuit. I'd like to invite Dean Edgley –'

The room exploded. Edge stood there, his head bowed in relief. Fly watched him, a huge grin over her face, until he raised his head, unable to hide the smile as he started to make his way towards the front.

Andrew reached out and pumped his hand before handing over the envelope.

Fly looked at the other girls. She felt hands reach for hers – Bec on one side, and Perri pushing Heath's hand out so she could hold the other one. Anna appeared at Perri's side and reached around for Bec's spare hand.

‘And joining Edge on the world tour …'

Fly could feel the breath in the room, it was almost like the ocean – pulling in, pulling out … And then he said it.

‘Fiona Watson!'

She thought she might explode there and then. There was an intense pressure on her hands. Bec and Perri squeezing out their congratulations and suddenly Anna's arms around her neck. She thought she might faint. She had won. The girl on the bus with the Macarena hairdo, the girl who had ducked kisses and gone green and feared the ocean and growled like a dog, had won.

As she walked to the stage she felt like the whole world had slowed down. She could only just make out the crowd,
beaming against the lights, chanting her name. She knew she had taken the envelope, she knew it held her ticket to the world, but she couldn't quite believe it was true.

But it was still true when she came down from the stage, it was still true after they'd all hugged the breath out of her. She couldn't believe how happy they all were for her. Bec, Perri and Anna had all been waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs – they told her that they'd voted and if they were going to be beaten by anyone, they had wanted it to be her.

She saw Heath waiting behind them, but before she could reach him there were official duties to be taken care of. Andrew promised to keep them short, but she had a role now and it came with responsibilities. For the next half-hour, Fly and Edge answered questions and gave credit where credit was due and smiled for the cameras and said the right things. Finally Simmo barged in and looked to Andrew.

‘Come on, Andrew, give them a break, will you? You've got them for a year, so let us play.'

He dragged Edge and Fly back towards the dance floor as if they were suddenly back in some training exercise. He held Fly back a moment before he let her go.

‘Couldn't be happier, Fly,' he said.

‘Me either,' she beamed back.

Then he pushed her out into the swirling mass. He'd done his job and he'd done it well.

Fly danced hard, but all the while she kept an eye out for Heath. He didn't seem to be anywhere. She danced past Matt and Perri who were in the middle of organising Perri's first visit to Melbourne. She danced past Bec and Edge who had decided that Edge would make Sydney his
base for the world tour. Anna and Joe had a bigger distance to deal with, but Anna had postponed her flight home for another month, so they were in the middle of deciding how best to spend the time left … But where was Heath?

Finally she saw him, leaning against the door, staring out to sea. She fought her way over, starting to worry that the win might change things for them in a way she wouldn't like.

‘Hi.' She suddenly felt like she was back at the beginning, nervous and not sure where to start.

Heath turned. ‘Come on,' he said. ‘I've got a present for you.'

He grabbed her by the hand and led her out of the noisy room, down the stairs and into the car park.

‘Actually, I've got two,' he said, reaching into the back of the Solar Blue van.

The first one was smallish, wrapped in brown paper. Fly squeezed it to try and get a clue – she was a present squeezer from way back – but it gave no hints.

‘Come on, just open it,' Heath said.

Fly pulled back the paper and stared down at her thongs. Heath had given her her own thongs? As a present?

‘I'm not ready to say goodbye yet,' Heath said. ‘I'm going to make you stay up a long time … So I thought you might as well be comfortable till you go to bed.'

He reached down and lifted the edge of her aqua skirt,
and then, like Prince un-Charming, he took off those beastly high-heeled slippers and slid Fly's tired feet into her battered old thongs. She could have cried with relief.

‘I like you more than . . ' She couldn't believe how good those thongs felt. ‘More than anyone else I know on the planet.'

Heath smiled up at her. ‘Same to you.'

Then he stood up. ‘One more,' he said, as he headed around the side of the clubhouse. When he came back he was holding a board bag with a big white ribbon around the middle.

‘Though this one's really as much for me as it is for you.'

He held the board out to her. Fly reached out, took off the ribbon and unzipped the bag. There in the moonlight, across the white surface of the board, she saw Hinemoa swimming through the water, following the notes of her boy on the other shore.

‘I thought maybe if you took it with you, you might not forget me in a hurry.'

She didn't know what to do with what was rushing up inside her. She reached out and squeezed him hard.

‘Not possible,' she said.

And then she remembered something. She reached for her purse.

‘I've got something for you too.' She pulled out a coin. ‘Although it's not really from me, it's from Mr Savin.' She held out the coin he'd tossed in the air, the one which had decided Heath's fate.

‘He thought you might like it as a souvenir.'

Heath was frowning. ‘Why would he give me that?'

‘Maybe 'cause it's got two heads.'

Fly and Heath danced for a long time. She remembered falling asleep twice on his shoulder. But when she woke the third time she was lying down, her head against his stomach. She could see the sun peeping up over the horizon through the windows of the clubhouse and she could hear Bec's voice.

‘Come on, you two. Wake up.'

She pulled herself upright, but it felt like the world was swimming.

‘Come on,' said Bec. ‘There's something we've got to do.'

‘Now?' said Heath from the floor.

‘Yes, now. Come on.'

Fly finally managed to get Heath upright and the two of them groggily followed Bec to the large glass door of the surf club, which looked out across the ocean. Cyclone Leon had moved on through and left them with the most perfect, curling surf you could wish for. The rest of the crew were all waiting.

‘Ah,' said Heath. ‘I see what this is. It's what we in the English-speaking world call a
door
.'

‘You woke us all up to see the door?' Fly sleepily asked.

‘No,' said Bec. ‘I woke you up 'cause I think we should all go for a surf. But also 'cause it's the last time we'll ever be together as a group.'

This woke them right up.

‘And I was looking at this door, and I thought …'

‘You thought we should gang-tackle the door?' said Matt.

‘That's a bit savage,' said Perri.

‘No, you idiots.' Bec was starting to get cheesed. ‘Look – this side of the door is our past. That side is our future.
I just thought that maybe we could all step through into the future together.'

They all looked at her blankly.

‘Okay, I guess it is kind of corny. I just felt like we had to do something.'

‘It is corny,' said Fly, ‘but it's nice too.'

She reached out her hands. Heath took one side and Perri took the other, and then suddenly the hands reached out across the line.

‘On the count of three everyone!' Fly called out.

One! Two! Three!

They all took a big step forward and started running for the water. Fly looked to one side and the other, and she knew, whatever happened from here on in, she had just had – no questions, no doubt, no reason to call home and check – the best year of her life.