Starfish Sisters (3 page)

Off she went on my wave! She was a natural but she
was handling the left perfectly. She was little but her
turns were precise. She made at least five or six of them
and even managed a bit of a snap on her backhand.

Then she got out!

She took that one perfect wave from me then got
out! Just like that, as if she owned the beach. How was I
going to last three weeks with that snaky biaatch?
Apart from Georgie, I hadn't met any of the girls and
now there were two that I hated.

Dad came walking down from the carpark. He had
the video slung over his shoulder and was clapping his
hands. He said something to the girl. Probably some
sucking-up remark. Whatever it was she seemed pretty
happy with herself as she ran off down the beach in red
flowery boardies that were soooo last year.

A clean set came rolling in. I let the first two go. Dad
was standing there all ready with the video camera.
How I wished that wave'd come back.

'Paddle!' Dad yelled.

It wasn't the one I wanted but it wasn't bad. I took
off and straight up executed a perfect turn.

Dad was filming, taking it all in. I steadied myself.
I'd pull into my backhand and line up the next turn just
like that girl had done. I'd show him I was as good.

I started off well but somewhere I lost my balance. I
fell off the board and under I sunk. When I surfaced,
I saw Dad was walking away.

'Nice little snap there, Micki,' Reg told me. 'You said
you wanted to work on your backhand. It's obviously
paid off.'

'Thanks, Reg.' He was probably just being kind but
it always felt good when Reg noticed my surfing.

'My Kia was obviously impressed,' he said. 'She just
tried to land one and she hates them with a passion.'

'Kia?'

'Yeah.' Reg gave me one of his crinkly frowns that
reminded me of the tissue paper I wrapped our
Christmas decorations in. 'Didn't you meet each
other?'

'Was that Kia out in the surf just then?'

'Yeah,' he laughed. 'You were just surfing with my
little pocket rocket!'

'I can't believe I was just out there with her.' I'd seen
pictures of Kia, but I guess in the surf in a wetsuit you
wouldn't recognise someone from their photo. 'That's
so cool! Wow.'

'She's a good little surfer, isn't she?'

The focus on her face when she was paddling was
scary. Now I remembered Reg telling me once that Kia
had the most amazing focus. He was right.

I'd only seen Kia, yet already I understood the
standard of surfing here was going to be totally
awesome. My skin goosed up with nerves.

'I hope Kia and I are in the same room.'

'You are.'

'Agghh!' I gave Reg a big hug 'cause I knew he'd
probably organised it that way. I'd been hoping he
would.

'You're in the Starfish Bungalow.'

These were going to be the best three weeks of my
life. Surfing with a real coach, getting to know Kia,
meeting heaps of girls who shared the same dream as
me and being away from home. I felt bad thinking that
last bit. But three weeks away from Dad – I didn't know
what that was like. I'd never been able to leave him for
that long.

Reg was watching me. 'You're excited, aren't you?'

'This is the best.' I meant every word of it. 'Thank
you so much, Reg.'

'Micki, you got here on your own abilities. There's
nothing to thank me for.'

'But if you hadn't suggested to the scout to go up
and watch me surf, I'd probably still be at home.' Before
I could stop myself I said, 'With Dad.'

Straightaway my cheeks started to burn. 'I didn't
mean it that way,' I shrugged.

'Hey Micki, you know, I know it's hard.' Reg put his
hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. 'How
about I take you up to the bungalow? You can unpack
and get settled.' He checked his watch, the one
Dad and I gave him last Christmas. It was a cheapy.
Reg'd be able to afford heaps better but he always wore
it. 'This place will be swarming with twelve excited
females in approximately thirty-five minutes. Let's go.'

It was only my second time out of Queensland, but the
surf camp looked like one of those tropical resorts from
Getaway
.

The walkway was decked in dark glossy timber.
Vines heavy with hot pink flowers climbed up the
railings and onto the roof, giving off the sweetest smell
that tingled the hairs in your nose and made you want
to sing out loud.

'This is seriously beautiful,' I uttered. 'I've never
been anywhere like this.'

A giant fish pond dotted with water lilies met the
end of the walkway. There the path split into three. To
the left, an arrow pointed the way to the Dolphin
Bungalow, to the right was the Seahorse Bungalow and
straight ahead was ours, the Starfish Bungalow.

The front door was open. I ran down the pathway
and into the room. I couldn't help it. I wanted to see it
all now and soak up every teeny second of it.

Inside, a girl was groaning and grunting as she tried
to push one of the beds into a corner.

'Do you want some help?' I asked her.

She turned around. Her face was red and sweaty
but immediately I recognised her.

'Kia?' I grinned.

'Kia!' Reg came in with my bag. 'Guess who this is?'

Kia stopped and looked at me, the same crinkly
frown landing on her forehead, then went back to
pushing the bed.

Okay. Awkward.

'Can you believe it?' Reg said. 'At last, you two get to
have a surf together and you don't even know!'

'Micki was doing the surfing,' Kia hissed from the
corner.

Kia couldn't have thought I was hassling her? I was
on the inside. I called for it too.

'Kia, what are you doing with the beds?' Reg asked.

'I thought it was better, for Micki, if her bed was a
little bit away. Us older ones will probably want to stay
up later. That way we don't disturb her.'

'I don't think anyone will be staying up late,' her
dad said. 'You guys are going to be totally exhausted.'

If it was awkward before, it was ten times more
awkward now. The last thing I wanted was to make
hassles between Kia and her dad.

'I don't mind,' I said. 'I get a lamp over there. So . . .
so that's good.'

'See!' Kia smiled at her dad. At least I think it was a
smile. She showed her teeth.

Reg carried my bag over. Away from the others, my
bed looked like a marooned boat in the middle of the
ocean. 'I guess these drawers are yours then, Micki.'

Kia opened the door of the bathroom. 'Have you
seen the ensuite, Dad?'

Reg and I peered through the doorway. The
bathroom was gorgeous. It was three times the size of
my bedroom at home. Little tiles painted with starfish
went all the way up to the ceiling.

'Wow!' I could not believe this place. I wanted to get
my diary out and write it all down.

'I don't know how four of us are going to manage in
such a tiny bathroom,' Kia said. 'Especially us older
ones. I mean, Courtney McFarlane's a model. She'll
need to –'

'Courtney McFarlane!' I blurted. 'Is she in this room?
She's one hundred per cent sponsored by Ocean Pearl.'

'Everyone knows that,' Kia replied, like I was the
most stupid person on earth. 'She goes out with Tim.
You know, Tim Parker.'

But I couldn't help myself. This was getting more
unbelievable by the minute. I was trying to stop myself
from squealing. 'He's number eighteen on the WQS!'

'Sixteen,' Kia corrected.

'And, and she's in our room?' I asked again.
'Courtney McFarlane?'

'She probably asked to be.'

Now I was officially speechless.

'When did you meet Courtney McFarlane?' It
sounded like Reg was trying not to laugh. 'In your
dreams?'

Kia was not amused. 'Dad, you don't know everything
about me. I've met . . . Ace a couple of times.'

'Ace?' Reg and I said together.

'That's what her friends call her,' Kia replied. 'Ace. It
started from ice, like ice queen, and then somehow
became Ace.'

'Right.' Reg smirked. 'Ice. I mean, Ace.'

'Is she a bit –' I wanted to say this nicely – 'a bit
snobby?'

'No!'

'Oh, sorry. I just thought –'

'She's really, really nice,' Kia told me. 'You just have
to get to know her first.'

Kia mumbled the next bit as she pulled more clothes
out of one of her bags, but I heard it: 'I don't know
what she's going to think about being in a room with a
twelve-year-old.'

Heaps and heaps of stuff was piled up on Kia's bed.
She had at least three different-coloured pairs of Havaianas
and about ten bikinis.

I knew I hadn't brought enough stuff. I should've
spent the cheque Reg gave me for an early birthday
present on clothes instead of putting it in the bank. But
I wasn't that into clothes. They were a bit of a waste of
money and I was only two hundred and seventy-five
dollars off getting my new board. Plus I desperately
needed a new wetsuit.

Reg was walking towards Kia's bed. 'I don't think
you should scrunch up your wetsuit like that, Kia. You
need to take better care of it.'

'It's fine,' Kia snapped.

'No, it's not fine, Kia,' Reg replied. He took it and
laid it out on the bed. 'That's not the way to treat it.'

'Is that one of those fully sealed wetsuits?' As soon as
I said it I regretted it. The look Kia shot me told me I
should've too. But it was so cool. I would die to have one
of those. They were like the most awesome wetties you
could own – totally out of my price range.

Kia grunted something I didn't catch and I went
back to my empty drawers.

'Hello?' a girl called from the doorway.

'Aggghhhhh!' Kia's shriek almost blew my
eardrums. 'Georgie, you're here!'

They must've been best friends the way they
hugged each other.

'How cool is this place?' Kia babbled. 'Did you see
the fish pond? And the rec room has, like, the biggest
flat-screen TV you have ever seen. And the beach is
sectioned off just for us. And the training pool is, like,
so –'

Luckily for me, I had something to do 'cause I was
so invisible.

Reg coughed. 'Kia?'

Please don't make a big deal, Reg. She'll hate me even
more.

'Kia?' Reg said a bit louder. 'Aren't you going to . . .?'

My hands folded the same T-shirt for the third time.

'Whatever, Dad.' Kia so obviously rolled her
eyeballs. 'Georgie, this is Micki.'

I peered up. The heat from my forehead was almost
burning a hole in my skull.

'Hi Micki.' The girl called Georgie gave me an
enormous smile. 'Good to meet you.'

'Hey.' I smiled back.

Georgie was big. Not fat. Strong and solid-looking.
But her face was round and kind. 'This place is pretty
cool, isn't it?'

'It's the best,' I whispered. 'The best.'

My mother did U-turn number five and we'd only
been in the car ten minutes.

'I said left, not right, Mum.'

'You didn't! You said right! ' Mum shot me a greasy.
'Stop looking at your damn phone and start looking at
the signs. Please, Courtney. It is your surf camp we are
trying to get to. Not mine.'

'Sorry,' I spat. It wasn't my fault my mother had no
sense of direction.

'What time were you meant to get there?' Mum
loved to stress over the boring details. Before Mum and
Dad got divorced, Dad always used to tell her, 'Doreen,
don't sweat the small stuff.'

For the twenty thousandth time, I checked my
phone was on. Why hadn't Tim called or sent a text? I
was seriously beginning to feel pissed off. In less than
an hour he'd be on a plane to Indo. I hadn't got to see
him yesterday or the day before because he was flat out
getting ready for his trip. That meant it would be
almost six weeks until I saw him.

'Courtney, if you look at your phone again, I'm
going to throw it out the window. Got it?' Mum was
changing lanes like a maniac. 'Now, what time is the
meet and greet?'

'Eleven.'

'We're going to be late!'

'Well, that's too bad. What do they expect? I can't get
from a photo shoot in Brisbane to Coolina in thirty
minutes. It's a two-hour drive, minimum. They're not
exactly going to chuck me out if I'm late.' I checked the
car mirror. My hair was starting to sag so I turned up
the air conditioner. 'They knew I was committed to do
the shoot before they set the camp dates.'

'What turn do we take off the highway?' Mum was
slowing down and the car behind was flashing their
high beams at us.

'This is so embarrassing.' I slid down the seat as the
car overtook us.

'Look, there are signs up ahead. What do they say?
Courtney!'

'Coolina, fifty-eight kilometres,' I read.

'Half an hour and we'll be there.'

I shrugged. I was going to be there for three weeks.
An hour wasn't going to make any difference.

'It's blowing a gale in here,' Mum complained,
again. 'Please, turn the air con down a bit.'

'Mum, Tiffany took an hour and a half on my hair
this morning. Can't I enjoy it for a bit?'

'You'll be getting it wet in an hour.'

I put my fingers on the dial, pretending to turn the
air con down. I wanted my hair to look good for when I
got there. After that I didn't care.

My mobile rang. The name 'Timmy' lit up the
screen.

'Hey babe,' I said. I didn't want him to know that I
was mad. 'Are you at the airport?'

'Nah.' He sounded like he was eating. 'Brent and
Rasta just got back from Brazil. So I'm going to hang
here for a couple more days.'

'Oh?' I tried to make my voice sound light. 'I
thought the heats started on the weekend?'

'Weekend after that.' He still sounded like he was
chewing. 'So me and the fellas thought we'd party a bit,
'cause I won't see them for a while.'

'You know we're not going to see each other for six
weeks.' I couldn't help it. It just slipped out. 'Tim?'

'Then think how much better it'll be when we do.'

I checked Mum. She was concentrating on the road.

'Will you miss me?' I whispered.

'You betcha.'

'Every night before I go to sleep' – I turned towards
the door and cupped my hand over the phone – 'I'll
look at the moon and think how you'll be looking at the
same moon too.'

'Yeah, right. I'd rather think of you the way you were
the other night,' Tim replied. Straightaway, I wished he
hadn't said that. He'd been saying a lot of that stuff since
– since the other night, and it made me feel weird, like I
wanted to have a shower and scrub the grime off my
skin. 'That's all I'll be thinking about, you sexy thing.'

Some shouting and whistles erupted in the background.
I sat up straight, almost knocking my head on
the windscreen.

'Are Rasta and Brent in the room?'

'Settle, Ace,' Tim laughed. 'They just walked in with
some beers.'

'But it's the morning!' Yet that's not really what I
was worried about.

'So? It's our breakfast.'

'Tim?' I glanced at Mum. She was staring straight
ahead, concentrating on the road. 'Will you call me?'

Away from the phone he yelled, 'Chuck us one,
Rasta.'

I waited.

'Sure, sweetie,' he answered. 'Okay babe, I've got
to go.'

Tim wasn't good at saying goodbyes.

Now Mum was looking at me and not the road.

'What?'

'I don't know, Courtney. You are still only sixteen.'

'So? What are you trying to say?'

'Tim's a lot older than you, sweetheart.'

'It doesn't bother him that I'm younger.'

'No, I'm sure it doesn't.'

'What's that meant to mean?' I snapped. 'Anyway,
it's not like he's ten years older. He's six years older. So
what?'

'I still think he's too old for you.'

'We weren't thinking about age when we fell in love.'

Mum did one of her famous sighs.

'Well, we weren't.'

'There are so many nice boys your own age,' Mum
said. 'What about Charlie, that boy we see on the circuit
sometimes?'

'Charlie Sweeney!' Yuck. My mother had no taste.
Except when she met my dad. 'Mum, he's a little grom.
I think my taste is just a little bit more sophisticated
than that, thanks.'

Coolina, twenty kilometres, the next sign read. I got
out my make-up bag and put a bit more foundation,
bronzer and lip gloss on. I was into the natural look.
There was nothing more tacky than girls who caked
it on.

'Courtney?'

'Yeah?'

'You always said you'd tell me . . .' I knew where
Mum was going with this and as far as I was concerned
it was nowhere. 'You'd tell me if you, if you were
thinking about having sex. I personally think you're far
too young to be thinking about it. But that said, I know
it happens and the important thing is safe sex and
being really sure that it's what you want to do.'

'Yes, Mum.' I was not going to have this conversation
with her – ever.

'I mean, that's the most important thing: you being
comfortable and ready.'

I fiddled with the radio.

'Not just doing it because you think you have to. I
mean, I know what boys can be like.'

I turned up the volume.

'They can be very persuasive if they're trying to get
you into bed.'

'That's enough, Mum!'

I stared out at a red tractor that seemed marooned in
a mass of sugarcane plants. I craned my neck watching
it gradually disappear into a tiny red dot. What would
Mum know about me? Just because I was her daughter
didn't mean we shared the same ideas. She just didn't
realise that. But that's the way it was. And that's the
way it always would be.

'So,' Mum was still rabbiting on, 'I just wanted to say
that although I don't agree with it, I am there for you if
you want to talk. Okay?'

'Yep.'

'Look, Australian National Sports and Surf School,'
Mum said, pointing at the new sign. 'What did it used
to say?'

'National Sports Camp, I think.' Two years ago I'd
done a camp here. Since then the centre had been
improved. Everyone I spoke to said now it was totally
amazing, like something out of Bali. The facilities were
supposedly to die for.

'Are you excited?' Mum asked.

'I'm just starting to feel excited now,' I said as we
drove through the entrance. 'Wow, how good does this
place look.'

'Courtney, I'd be very surprised if you weren't
selected for the National Training Team.'

My mother could be so stupid. She still needed
things spelt out for her and she was forty-seven! 'Mum,
the whole reason they've got me to come to the camp is
because they want to select me for the team. I'm not
talking about the training team, either. But you have to
follow the steps. You have to be selected for the training
team in order to be selected for the national team.'

'Hmm, your modesty,' Mum laughed, getting out of
the car. 'You certainly don't get it from me.'

'Let's not muck around with my boards,' I told her.
'Someone else can unload them. I think we should just
go straight in.'

Mum checked the introduction notice. 'The rec
room,' she read. 'That's where the meet and greet is.'

'Look, ask this man.' An old bloke was pushing a
trailer of surfboards towards the beach. 'Quickly, Mum,
ask him.'

'Excuse me?' Mum almost whispered.

'A bit louder,' I said. 'He's probably half deaf.'

'Hello?' Mum called. 'Excuse me?'

He stopped and started walking towards us.

'Hello.' He smiled.

'Hi.' Mum waved. 'My daughter and I have just
arrived. We had to drive down from Brisbane this
morning. The traffic getting out of the city was terrible.'

'He doesn't need your life story, Mum. Just directions.'

He held out his hand. 'I'm Reg Braidwood.'

'Doreen McFarlane.' My mother actually looked like
she was blushing. 'This is my daughter Courtney.'

'Ace?' How did that man know my nickname?
Maybe he was some sort of psycho stalker who got off
on my bikini posters. There were hundreds of them.
'I'm Kia's dad,' he told me.

'Right,' I nodded. Who the hell was Kia?

'Is your daughter here too?' Mum asked. 'Sorry. We
thought you worked here.'

'I just help out,' he said, grinning. 'We only live an
hour south.'

Mum finally stopped blushing and got to the point.
'We're looking for the rec room?'

'I'll take you there,' he replied. 'Leave your boards
and bags. You can get them on the way back.'

'No, you can get them on the way back,' I wanted to
say. Like, as if I'm going to carry all my surfboards! I
hadn't done that since the day OP signed me up.

The old bloke turned to me like he wanted to make
conversation or was having the biggest perv. I checked
my phone so I wouldn't have to look at him.

'You've got a few surfboards there,' he said. 'What,
five?'

'Six,' I replied.

'That's a lot.'

'OP, you know, Ocean Pearl, look after me.'

'One little girl here's only brought one.'

Up ahead was the rec room. I could see everyone
seated in a big circle.

I flicked my hair a couple of times. It was still
standing up beautifully.

The man slid open the glass door. Luckily for me, it
made a bit of a squeak. Everyone turned and I walked
in smiling. I felt their eyes watching and their mouths
dying to whisper, 'That's Tim Parker's girlfriend.'

You could've heard a pin drop.