Ocean Pearl (10 page)

The big talk we'd had last night had gone so well. I
was proud of myself 'cause it was my idea. I'd sort of
been the 'madam chair', the middle person, making
sure everything went smoothly.

Micki was totally fine about Georgie knowing her
secret. In fact, I'd say she was relieved. One more person
Micki didn't have to play the game with. That was the
exhausting bit. It could take up every ounce of energy.

According to Jake, this was a quick heart starter before
breakfast.

'We're pushing off early 'cause we've got a big
day ahead,' he explained. 'First we're having a single
girl-against-girl session under regular contest conditions,
a twenty-minute heat with your two best waves
counted as your score. The two girls with the highest
points surf it out in a thirty-minute final. The other
two – breakfast duty.'

The leftover southern swell was there to be taken
advantage of. The waves were fast and hollow. Georgie
was waiting at the start line with her smallest board.
That meant she was planning on pulling out every
radical move she had. Megan was standing there
sneering, still chewing like a cow even though her
mouth was empty.

It was critical with Megan that you took the advantage
early. The minute the siren went our boards hit the
water. Georgie was out for a paddle race against her. No
matter how hard I dug my arms through the water I
had no way of keeping up with Georgie and Megan.
Neither did Micki.

Georgie and Megan had the upper body strength
and speed to stroke into big waves. That was their
speciality. That's what set them apart and they knew it.

Georgie was first at the take-off zone and on the
inside. If I knew her, she was going to use this advantage
to frustrate the hell out of Megan.

There were long lulls between the first couple of
sets. We sat there for at least five minutes listening to
Megan groan and swear before anything decent rolled
through.

Georgie wasn't speaking nor was she letting
Megan's mouth get to her. She was quietly staring out
at the horizon, waiting patiently for that wave.

I felt like I had a clock in my head – tick tock tick tock
– and time was running out. The third wave in the set
had already passed. So I was doing my breathing and
telling myself not to stress. Stressing was for the
neurotics and I was not one of them.

Then it came. Georgie swung around and started
paddling. She had to work fast to pick it off as it chased
her down the line. Georgie was up, turning and
smacking it vertically off the top, all the way into shore,
then ending with a close-out smash!

Megan, I and then Micki weren't far behind. We
were all pulling rabbits out of the hat.

I was amped. Perfectly, I'd executed two tailside reos
followed by a roundhouse, hitting it off the foam.

Micki laughed as she paddled up next to me. 'Way to
go! Where'd that come from?'

'My new attitude,' I grinned. 'Take it as it comes.'

'That's cool. Can I have a bit of that?'

We were surfing under contest conditions so we
were meant to be taking it seriously and we were trying
to, but Megan sounded like a steam train as she tried to
catch up with Georgie. The huffing and puffing was
throwing us off our game.

'I think I can. I think I can,' I said and giggled, as in
front of us Megan worked her arms through the water
like a couple of oars.

'Shhh,' Micki whispered. 'She'll come and drown us
if she hears.'

Again Georgie was first at the take-off zone, just in
time for one of the biggest sets of the morning. She
paddled over the first two waves, then swung around
to take the third.

Megan looked like she was panicking in case there
was nothing left for her to pick off.

Suddenly she started waving her arms above her
head.

'What's Megan up to?' Micki said.

'Is she laughing or . . .?'

Megan was pointing at something on her left side. I
looked behind to see Jake running towards the shoreline,
giving us the signal to come in – now.

'Shark!' Micki cried.

'What! Where?'

'Dunno but Megan's spotted it.'

'Shark!' Megan started calling in a voice that was so
hysterical you didn't know if she was laughing or
crying. 'Shark!'

Georgie had let the wave pass and was paddling
towards us like a mechanical toy on overdrive. 'C'mon,
c'mon,' she was shouting. 'C'mon, Micki! Kia? Hurry.'

Together our arms dug through the water. We had to
catch this wave or we'd end up being breakfast.

'What's Megan doing?' Georgie was trying to look
behind. 'What's she doing? Why isn't she . . .?'

Too late. The water rose beneath us, propelling us
towards the safety of the shore.

Through the rush and hiss of the water I could hear
Georgie shouting, 'Where's Megan?'

'What the hell is Megan playing at?' was Jake's
greeting as we stumbled and collapsed onto the sand, a
big tangle of leg ropes and wild hair and puffing
breath.

'What is she doing?'

Shyan had the binoculars glued to her face. 'I can't
spot it, Jake,' she said. 'Can you?'

We three sat up to see Megan stylishly bottom-turning
about to draw out a long arcing cutback.

'Where's – the – shark?' Georgie panted.

'There obviously isn't one,' Jake growled. 'Megan?'
Jake called through the loud hailer. 'Into the beach. Now!'

Boy, was Megan busted!

Jake went berserk. I'm talking a total psycho flip-out.
I think he forgot we were there 'cause he used just
about every swear word I'd ever heard.

Megan stood there kicking at the sand and looking
everywhere but at him.

Jake's arms were locked behind his back. He took a
step towards Megan and said something strange like, 'I
think you have been lying to us, Megan.'

Megan picked up her board and started walking
back to camp.

'Carla's office,' Jake said, jogging behind her. 'Leave
your board here and follow me.'

'I'll take the others up to the pool,' Shyan called.
'Come on, girls.'

It took my legs about a minute before they could
move. My voice? I think I'd swallowed that in the surf.

Wednesday 17 June, 9.11 pm.

In Starfish Bungalow with Kia and Georgie. NO
MEGAN! Lucky Kia made me stick you back together
coz today needs to be written down word 4 word. Kia
and Georgie even ordered me to write it coz they
reckon it's probably the weirdest day we'll eva have in
our lives. Kia said they (whoever 'they' r???) might
wanna make a movie about it some day. For about the
first time eva Georgie agreed with her.

OMG I don't even know where to start. The last
24 hours has been craaaaazy!!! I haven't even
mentioned wat happened last night, telling Georgie
about my dad, telling Kia about my mum!!!! That was big
and I feel good. But that'll take up heaps of space so
I'll write that lata coz Georgie keeps bugging me
(yes I am writing this in bed with the light on and
the others here) asking if I've written the bit about
us accidentaly ON PURPOSE hearing what Jake said to
Carla. There was lots of stuff they said, but this
line is what we've been discussing all afternoon and
night, trying to figure out what it means.

'Megan's been doing it here. She's been doing it all
over the place. Right under our noses.'

'I just wrote what Jake said,' I told Georgie.

'Did you say it word for word?'

'Yeah.' I read out Jake's line the way I'd written it.
'"Megan's been doing it here. She's been doing it all
over the place. Right under our noses."'

'That's perfect. But you don't need to read it out,
Micki. It's your diary. It's private.'

Georgie went back to the pile of bikini tops that she
was threading strings through. Now I got why Kia
and Georgie's Bikina business had been so quiet. It's
'cause they hadn't been talking to each other. But
neither Kia nor Georgie had said a thing about it –
until last night.

Actually, last night I got the impression that they
hadn't even really talked about it themselves. They
were acting kind of awkward when it came up in
conversation.

Kia felt so bad about breaking the Starfish pact. She
felt that she'd let us down. But I told her and Georgie
my view that here, at camp, was like a different world.
The outside world was so much harder that maybe
the promises we made here weren't compatible with
real life.

I nearly told them that I was a totally different
person at camp. I didn't because it would've sounded
too weird and also it'd make me feel self-conscious.
I wanted Miss Micki to be who they thought I was.
When I was down, like the last couple of days, I wanted
them to think that it was just Miss Micki being grumpy.
But now they both knew about Dad, maybe it meant
I didn't have to worry so much?

'It's good to have Jake's line about Megan written
down,' Kia said from behind a bikini catalogue she was
engrossed in. 'In case we ever find out what he meant.
"She's doing it all over the place,"' Kia repeated. 'But
what is she doing?'

The facts (which we don't have a clue about) and our
theories.

Theory 1: KIA thinks Jake was talking about Megan
having sex but Georgie and I looked at her like, 'Yeah
who with? A gorilla?'

Theory 2: GEORGIE reckons she must've been
stealing stuff.

Theory 3: I think Megan's been taking drugs. What
drugs I don't actually know, but I can tell. I even
said it a couple of days ago. Georgie and Kia reckon
my theory is ridiculous. Georgie said about a thousand
times, 'Micki, Megan is an elite sportswoman.'

So?

Besides, how many drug addicts have she and Kia
met?????

Dad had a mate called Frank. I say 'had' 'cause Frank
went to gaol. Which was the best place for him 'cause it
meant he couldn't come anywhere near my dad. Frank
was the reason Davo busted so many times. They were
real drug buddies.

It was a couple of nights ago, when I heard Megan
pacing around outside in the middle of the night, that I
thought of Frank, 'cause that's what he used to do.

For a couple of months he stayed at our place. He
was so wired he never slept. He'd just walk around the
house all night. I'd hear the floorboards creak as he
moved from room to room.

Some days he'd sit in the lounge room like a zombie
and then other days he'd be talking so fast and
jumping from one topic to another that you didn't have
a clue what he was on about. He scared me the most
when he was like that.

But it was mainly two things that got me thinking.
Megan chewing gum, her jaw going around and
around in circles the same as Frank's did. And Megan's
eyes. Big, crazy eyes that looked like they didn't belong
to her face anymore, just like Frank's looked.

'Do you reckon Carla and Jake'll tell us?' Georgie
said. 'The truth, I mean, about what the hell has
happened?'

'Who knows?' Kia answered. 'I just want to know if
Megan's coming back. Her clothes are gone but her
boards are still here. I'd love to have a go of that green
stripy one.'

'Megan said she'll be back,' Georgie reminded her.

'Yeah, but did she mean "I'll be back tomorrow" or
"I'll be back to get my revenge."'

'She meant "See you tomorrow."'

'You think?'

While Georgie and Kia pulled apart the three words
'I'll be back', I recorded the shark – or rather the no-shark
– story. How over the top was that? As we
paddled out this morning, none of us said anything
about being scared, but I was conscious of the fact
Shyan had seen a shark the day before. The others
probably were too.

That was one theory the three of us did agree on.
Megan giving the shark signal wasn't for a practical
joke. It was 'cause Georgie was winning out there and
Megan couldn't play catch-up like she usually did.
Psycho but true.

'I just can't believe Megan,' Georgie said. 'Did she
really think that Jake and Shyan were going to score
her on that wave? She was meant to be paddling in
with us, getting away from the supposed shark.'

'She wasn't winning,' Kia replied. 'It was freaking
her out. I don't know why you don't get that, Georgie.'

'But Megan knows about good sportsmanship. I
mean, she's an elite – '

'Georgie!' Kia shouted. 'You keep saying that.'

'But that would mean she was cheating.' Georgie
was starting to do yawns that were so long they were
turning into yodels. 'Megan wouldn't cheat.'

'She did,' I said to Georgie. 'I reckon she was
cheating in lots of ways.'

Georgie growled and pulled the doona over her
head.

We were exhausted, which we had to expect 'cause
we hadn't got to bed till three am. Plus, after the Megan
incident Jake and Shyan hadn't let up on us, so we
were double exhausted.

We'd had pool activities, the longest gym session
ever, another two surfs and Pilates. They'd even
shoved us into the kitchen for a healthy cooking lesson
with Brian, who was as unhappy about it as we were.

I reckon they thought that if they kept us busy we
wouldn't think about what'd happened.

Wrong! Getting us out of the way just made us all
the more curious. That's why Georgie had come up
with the idea of sneaking around to the fire exit next to
Carla's office.

We chocked the door open, just enough to lean our
heads out and just enough to pull them back in and
disappear.

The conversation between Carla and Jake was just
a muffled 'mrrbermemrr ' through the wall. Except the
odd time Jake raised his voice and we heard things
like 'But the cleaner even said Megan was up in the
bungalow then!' and 'Carla, none of us want to
believe it. But being juniors doesn't make them
exempt.'

'What's exempt mean?' Kia had whispered.

'I think he means that just because we're juniors
doesn't make us innocent,' replied Georgie.

I nodded in agreement. That sounded about right.

'But innocent of what?' Kia asked.

'Shut up and we'll find out!'

That's when Georgie got braver. She crept out the
door, got on her hands and knees and crawled along
the carpet till she was about two metres from the
entrance to Carla's office.

She stayed a couple of minutes then scuttled back.

'I just heard Carla say, "Does this become a police
matter?" I think she's crying. She keeps going, "I can't
believe this, Jake, I can't believe it."'

'Is Megan in there?' I asked.

'No,' Georgie reported. 'She's with Shyan. That's all
I could get.'

The three of us were sitting on the bottom step of
the fire stairs. The cold, hard concrete was making my
bum feel like a block of ice.

'What are we going to do?' Georgie said and
groaned. 'Whatever Megan's done, it's serious.'

That was also about the tenth time today Georgie had
said 'What are we going to do?' She was fully stressing
out about what Megan had or hadn't done. As we'd
made our manic escape from the 'shark', it was Georgie
who kept calling out 'Is Megan okay?' Not me. Not Kia.

Out of us, Georgie was the one who actually had a
relationship with Megan. Most of the time it was
sledging and fierce competition but under all of that
Georgie respected Megan as a surfer. Now it seemed
that Megan hadn't deserved Georgie's or anyone's
respect.

'We should go back.' Kia stood up. 'They've got to
come out soon. I mean, they've been in there for yonks.'

'Yeah but –' started Georgie.

'Georgie?' I said, touching her hand and squeezing
it. 'There's nothing we can do.'

'I know. I know,' she sighed. 'Okay. Let's go.'

We'd just snuck down the first flight of stairs when
Jake's voice had suddenly boomed through the wall.

'Megan's been doing it here. She's been doing it all
over the place. Right under our noses.'

'Run!' 'Hurry up!' Our voices echoed in the stairwell
as three pairs of ugg boots hit the concrete at such a
pace we were almost trampling on one another.

I've caught the yawns from Georgie. I'm almost
writing with my eyes closed. So I'll say goodnight but
just one thing. Georgie and Kia are the BEST!!!

They are fully pissed with Ace. Especially Georgie.
Last night she was upset and saying things like 'You
know Ace loves you' and 'Ace thinks of you like her
little sister', but today WHOA . . . MASSIVE TURN
AROUND . . . Georgie was totally spitting. She hasn't
said it, but I think she feels used. Fair enough 2.

I don't know what'll happen the next time one of us
sees Ace. Thank goodness Megan's coming back. I
never thought I'd say that. But at least I'll never
have to be her friend. It's lucky for Georgie 2 coz if
I know Georgie she'll make sure Megan never wins
again, and that's gonna be a good thing for Georgie.

But then how r we gonna surf with a cheat (and a
druggie coz I'm soooo sure I'm right) and be in the
same team! That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't Carla
and Jake realise that wouldn't work??? But if Megan
wazn't coming back they would've told us tonight and
they didn't so that wouldn't mean that Ace is . . .

I really needed to go to sleep 'cause I wasn't thinking
straight.

2 tired. Kia's already asleep.

M M xx

PS good to have u back

When I was eleven, I'd got back from school one day to
find Annie, our neighbour, sitting on the front steps of
our house. That was not a good sign. In a really chirpy
voice, she'd told me that Dad had 'made himself a bit
sick' and had gone to hospital. But there was 'nothing
to worry about'.

Annie took me back to her place and made toast
with honey. I remember trying to swallow the bread
but I couldn't force it past the lump in my throat. So I
rolled it around the sides of my mouth until it was
squishy enough to slip through the gaps.

All afternoon and into the night I watched the front
door, waiting for my dad to walk in and take me home,
while Annie chatted, nonstop. I wasn't listening to a
thing she said, but I do remember the way her voice
sounded – really, really fake, as though everything was
fine and there wasn't this spun-out eleven-year-old
sitting at her kitchen table wondering if she was ever
going to see her dad again.

Now I'm older, I understand that Annie didn't know
how to handle it. Poor Annie. She's had to get better at it.

This morning was the same. It was a totally different
situation but it was the same. The way Jake and Shyan
sang 'Good morning, girls' and talked extra loud and
laughed more than usual reminded me of Annie
and that day.

Georgie summed it up when she said, 'Why isn't
anyone talking about the enormous elephant in the
room?'

'What elephant?' Kia said, scanning the dining room
for one.

'Kia! It's a thing you say, like why hasn't anyone
mentioned . . .' Georgie waved her hands. 'Oh, forget it.'

'What Georgie means – ' I started, trying really hard
to keep a straight face. But I stopped 'cause Jake was
walking towards our table.

'Rec room in five minutes, girls,' he said. This time
he sounded serious.

Shyan, Jake and Carla were waiting there for us. But
there was no Megan with them. Carla looked
exhausted. She'd piled on extra make-up but it wasn't
fooling anyone.

Georgie, Kia and I curled up on the couch, waiting
to hear whose theory was right.

'Girls, before we begin,' Carla said while she played
with the rings on her finger. 'I just want to say thank
you for being so great yesterday. You all just rolled with
whatever we threw at you. No questions. No
whinging. You got on with it. So, thank you.'

Kia started to give us a clap. Georgie nudged her
and she stopped.

Carla cleared her throat. 'Megan's gone and she
won't be coming back.'

The three of us sat bang upright on the couch. 'No!'
Georgie gasped.

Jake stared at his feet. Shyan looked like she was
about to burst into tears.

'Megan's been very foolish.' Carla's voice was trembling.
'She's broken the most important rule, not just a
rule of this surf camp but also of fair play and good
sportsmanship. Not to mention trust and integrity.'