Starfish Sisters (8 page)

Gently I pressed the 'read' button.

There was a text. A text much worse than any of the
others. I could not risk anyone reading this or my reputation
would be destroyed for good. No one would be
in 'awe' of Courtney McFarlane anymore.

I didn't want a second read of it. It made me want to
throw up. My finger pressed 'delete'.

'Scrape your jaw off the floor, Kia,' I said, 'or someone
might step on it.'

Ace had just emerged from the bathroom modelling
one of the black-and-gold striped bikinis. She looked
amazing.

'So, what do you think?' Ace did a few laps of the
bungalow.

'Tim will have a heart attack,' Kia mumbled. 'What a
shame he's going to be away. Can't you convince him
to –'

'Put off a WQS event so he can see our fashion
parade?' I said. 'I don't think so, Kia.'

'If he was around he'd come,' Ace told us. 'Last
night he told me he missed me so much that he
thought his heart was going to split in two.'

'Did you speak to him?' Kia pried. 'When?'

'After you'd all fallen asleep. We had quite a long
chat.'

'Oh, that's so cute,' Kia said. She was seriously in
need of a slap across the face. If Ace wasn't going to do
it then I would. 'You two are such a great couple. I hope
I have a boyfriend like Tim one day.'

'You could always have camel-face back,' I
suggested, knowing that'd really annoy her.

'Get lost, Georgie. I'm being serious.'

'We are really lucky to have each other,' Ace whispered.

Ace looked like she was about to burst into tears.

'Are you okay?' Kia put her arm around her. 'Are you
missing him?'

Ace began to cry – first just little tears and the odd
sniff, then the full catastrophe of blubbering into Kia's
shoulder. Kia patted her gently and whispered soft
comforts. I could see the smile hiding just inside her
lips.

'I really, really miss him,' Ace sobbed. 'And this afternoon
he's going to Indo so he'll be out of range and we
won't even be able to text each other.'

'I thought he was going on the weekend?' Kia said.

'No, he's got to leave now. Sorry,' Ace sniffed, 'we
just both got a bit emotional last night.'

'Hey, you've got me,' Kia comforted. 'I'm here
anytime you need to talk.'

I felt the spew gush up my throat.

Ace broke out of Kia's arms and sat on the bed. 'I
guess we better get to the beach.' Ace slipped some
boardies on. 'You don't mind if I wear this bikini, do
you? I can't be bothered getting my own cossie from
the clothes line.'

I opened my mouth but Kia got in first.

'Oh, of course not!' she said, not even thinking
about the hygiene laws we were meant to abide by.
'You have it. It's yours.'

I glared in Kia's direction. But Kia really wasn't
thinking straight. She was smack in the middle of an
'I love Ace' haze.

'You should be the Bikina model.' Kia was almost
gasping she was so taken by her own idea. 'That'd be
the best ever.'

While I calculated Kia had just flushed forty-five
dollars down the loo giving the cossie to Ace – forty-five
dollars that could've gone towards Micki's new
board – Kia gushed about how Ace could be the model
on the Bikina website I was designing. How we'd have
to cut off her head so that OP didn't find out, but that
wouldn't matter because Ace's body – her slim, brown
legs and perfect curved hips – were so amazing that no
one'd even notice she didn't have a head!

Go figure, Kia!

Ace clutched her new, free bikini. 'Oh, thank you so
much. I love it,' she grinned. 'I can take my G-string off
now.'

Well, the hygiene laws didn't matter now the bikini
was hers.

Ace picked up her phone and excused herself.

'I'll see you guys down at the beach,' she said and
waved to us from the bathroom door. 'I just want to
make my last call to Timmy.'

'Why did you give Ace that bikini?' I spat, as Kia and I
made our way to the beach for surf relays that were
scheduled for the morning. 'Are you going to put the
fofty-five dollars in the kitty?'

Kia pulled one of her pathetic 'you're being mean to
me' faces.

'No, I didn't think so!' I snapped.

'Get a life, Georgina!'

We walked the rest of the way in silence. Kia needed
more than a good slap across the face and a cold
shower. She needed a personality transplant.

'Please step up, Jaime from the Dolphins, Natasha from
the Seahorses and Kia from the Starfish,' Jake read
from his clipboard. 'You three are the relay team
captains. You will start and finish the session.'

I could tell Kia was looking everywhere except at me.

'Okay, Jaime, you get to pick first,' Jake instructed. 'It
doesn't have to be from your bungalow or training
squad.'

'Just one?' Jaime asked.

'One at a time,' Jake answered.

'Okay.' Jaime was biting her bottom lip. A hundred
dollars for who she picks. 'Um.' She pointed exactly to
where I predicted. 'Ace, please.'

Ace stepped forward next to Jaime. Her nose was
still a bit red from crying.

Natasha picked a girl from her bungalow.

'Kia, you're next,' Jake said.

My foot inched forward as I got ready to step
towards her. 'Megan,' Kia announced.

Okay.
I dug my hands into the pockets of my boardies
and watched my foot step back to the standing position.

Ace was whispering in Jaime's ear. 'Georgie,' Jaime
obeyed. I went over and stood with Ace.

'Thanks,' I mumbled.

Again, Natasha picked another girl from the
Seahorse Bungalow.

'Ooh, I can't decide between Tahlia and Bree.' They
were Dolphin girls. She was purposely leaving Micki
out and what was worse than that, she actually seemed
to be enjoying it.

'Pick Micki next,' I whispered to Jaime.

'You're both so good.' Kia was still digging in the
knife, harder with each new word. 'I wish I could pick
you both. Um . . . um . . . Bree. Sorry, Tahlia.'

Then Kia made a big show of high-fiving Bree like
they'd known each other more than a few days.

'Micki,' Jaime selected.

Ace and I clapped and cheered as Micki stepped
forward.

As Shyan and Jake told us the rules for the relay, I
watched the back of Kia's head nod and shake with
each instruction. How had I been friends with her all
this time yet never known how capable she was of
being cruel – really cruel. A sour taste tingled on the tip
of my tongue.

'We'll be keeping track of your scores during these
formal surf sessions,' Jake explained. 'So every wave
counts. The selections are not dependent on the final
day contest. Look at the next two and a half weeks as
one big competition, not just the final day. I want you
to get used to that pressure. This camp is as much
about learning to deal with that pressure as it is about
improving your techniques.'

Pressure! For me today wasn't about pressure. Today
was about revenge.

'When the siren goes it's the captains in first,'
Shyan continued. 'They will select the take-off zone
for you and that's where you all go from and paddle
back to.'

'Pressure or what?' Jaime groaned.

'You'll be right,' Ace said.

'I'd pick that left peak,' I whispered to Jaime. 'Trust
me, I found out the hard way. That's where all the
choice is.'

'The captains finish off the relay,' Shyan added.

'So they get two scores then,' Megan piped up.

'Yeah, but they have to do two sessions,' Ace called
back.

'You'll all have a go at being a captain,' Jake
explained. 'As captain you'll be scored on other things
too. Choice of take-off zone, capability with team
members and your fitness level in that second heat.'

He threw each team a rash vest. 'Red for Jaime,
yellow for Natasha and green for Kia's team.'

After a bit of stretching, the siren blasted and we
were off.

My choice of the left peak was a ripper. I knew Kia'd
want that as her take-off zone too, but Jaime was a
strong paddler and got there first. Now it was ours! The
three of them began to carve it up while the rest of the
beach watched us as we cheered and screamed.

'Take a picture, it lasts longer!' Megan screamed at
the spectators. 'How cool is this, being over here while
they're all over there?'

'How embarrassing,' Micki said, and hid her face
against my back. 'I wish Megan would stop it. They're
all going to think we're so up ourselves.'

The extra foot or two on that left peak had Jaime
looking the goods from the beach.

She came in just as the siren blew. I was next.

'It's a beauty,' Jaime panted at me. 'Good choice.
Thanks for that.'

'No worries,' I called back as I ran down the beach.

The rip pulled me out and I was at our take-off zone
first and on the inside.

All the techniques my coach, Steve, had taught me
were charging through my head, like it was a proper
contest. I watched the waves in my head, watched how
I was going to tackle them and what moves I would
make.

I started paddling. I needed to be fast to pick off this
set. My arms felt strong as I chased and hunted.

Drive
, I said to myself as I executed a quality bottom
turn, once, then twice. The wave had everything I
loved. It was clean and hollow, sectioning up beautifully,
and was fast. If I could just keep my focus I could
really carve this up.

Lean, look back, keep low – low target, low target
, my
head instructed.

I twisted, lifting my arms, and snap! What a cutback!
It was strong and precise. It felt good. I heard Ace
cheering from the beach.

Megan wasn't having much fun with Kia's take-off
zone. There was only time for her to manoeuvre a half
turn before it closed out in the next section. She was
now just wasting waves, hunting them and not getting
anywhere. She was looking pissed off and I imagined
on the beach, Kia was looking even more pissed off.

But I didn't have time to focus on Kia and her hangups.
I got out of the water and ran down the beach, just
like Jake had told me I should've in my video analysis
session. I dived back in at the rip and paddled back out
to our take-off zone. Everything was working. I was
almost having fun.

If there'd been any doubt Kia wasn't speaking to me
before the relay, there was absolutely no doubt now. In
fact, she couldn't even look at me.

We weren't trying to rub it in over lunch but Jaime,
Micki, Ace and I were so pumped about the relay and
our team score that it was all we could talk about.
Without a word, Kia stood up and took her plate to
another table.

'She's a bad sport, that girl,' Jaime whispered. 'I
haven't told anyone but I remember her from a contest
down south. She was totally spewing, I mean like
screaming and yelling at her father 'cause she didn't
make the finals. As soon as I saw her dad at the meet
and greet I remembered who she was.'

'She didn't used to be a bad sport,' I said, trying to
work out if that was actually right. But to be truthful, I
wasn't sure.

'She's probably just super-competitive,' Jaime
shrugged. 'But you're her best friend, maybe you
should have a word to her about it 'cause she'll get a
bad name.'

'Actually, that's true,' Ace told us. 'All the guys hate
Chad Parsons from the US because he is such a bad
sport. Tim reckons he saw him put his fist through a
wall when he didn't win at Pipeline last year.'

'Wow,' Micki and Jaime echoed. 'Chad Parsons!'

'Don't you just love his accent?' Ace leant across and
giggled. 'I love a guy with an accent.'

'It must be totally awesome having Tim Parker as a
boyfriend,' Jaime said, sighing. 'Getting to hear about
what goes on behind the scenes and stuff.'

I noticed Ace squirm around in her seat a bit. Maybe
it was weird people always asking questions about
your boyfriend and prying into your personal life;
opening a magazine and seeing yourself in a bikini (I'd
hate that!). Like, what about Kia having kittens every
time a text from Tim arrived? It'd get to you after a
while. I knew it would with me and I'd come to realise
that Ace wasn't that unlike me (except for the long legs,
etc., etc., etc.). She was really just a regular girl.

'I guess I don't really think about Tim like that. I
mean, maybe I did in the very beginning.' Ace blushed
a hot pink and her bottom lip quivered. 'I guess I just
fell in love with him. He was like my first proper
boyfriend.'

'You're making it sound like you've broken up,'
Jaime tisked. 'Which will never happen, because you
two are like the perfect couple.'

'No more talk about Tim,' I said to Jaime. Was I the
only one who detected the wobbly lip? 'Ace is missing
him, badly.'

That night – after a yoga class that Ace started crying in;
a beach run during which Kia told me I was a bitch
because I knocked shoulders with her; a water aerobics
session where Micki almost drowned she was laughing
so much; then dinner, where Brian came out into the
dining room and basically told us we were all useless in
the kitchen – we were called up for an evaluation of the
surf relay.

By that time, the relay felt about a million years ago
and as my mum would probably say, we were all a bit
too 'tired and emotional' to be pulled apart by the
coaches. We already knew that our team had won
because we were given our overall team score at the end.
But now we were to get our individual scores and talk
about how we felt being in a team affected our surfing.

I wasn't nervous 'cause I knew I'd surfed well –
really well, probably the best in at least six months.
Maybe, just maybe, things were going to work out.

Megan was first in the room and first with her hand
up. 'I'd like to say that I felt really, really constrained
having to use Kia's choice of take-off zone.' There was a
definite tremble in Megan's voice. 'And because of her,
my surfing was crap and I scored poorly and now
that's on the record.'

From where I was sitting I could see Kia's fingers
twisting around and around her wrists. 'Psycho
moment to my three o'clock, in about one minute flat,'
I felt like announcing.