The Beauty in Between: Too Close (A Beautiful Series Novella) (10 page)

We still got
bitchy comments from Cassie and Co, but they were easy to ignore.
School was almost over, and we wouldn’t have to put up with her
anymore.

Once the exams
had all been completed, school finished for all of us. So to
celebrate the end of our high school life, the school once again
put on a formal dance.

“I really don’t
know if I want to go,” Trina told me one afternoon while we were
sitting together at my house, going over the university course
manual. We were both leaning towards studying law and were applying
to Sydney Uni as our first choice, and the University of Western
Sydney as our second choice. Sydney Uni, was harder to get into and
had a much higher minimum acceptance mark from our exams, but UWS’s
mark was a little lower, which is why it was a good backup.

“Go where? To
Uni?” I asked her, a little shocked.

“No, to the
formal or the ‘Prom’ as stupid Cassie still likes to call it.”

“We can boycott
it if you want, get drunk and throw eggs at the celebs when they
get out of their cars,” I suggested, half-jokingly. Although, I
would have dearly loved to see the look on Cassie’s face when an
egg splattered all over her nice dress.

“That would be
awesome! I’m so in!” Katrina laughed. “We can’t get drunk first
though, because we’ll need to be able to get away. We’ll park your
car around the corner and wear hats and glasses and stand in with
the crowd of parents and friends while they’re taking photos. Then,
as soon as they get out of their car, we’ll egg them and run.” She
laughed and sat back in her chair. “It will be epic.”

I watched Trina
as her evil plan unfolded with an amused grin on my face. “Well,
look at you. I’ve never seen you go this nasty before – I like it,”
I said, nodding my head while I chewed on the end of my pencil
thoughtfully. Weighing up how likely it would be that we’d actually
get away with this. I decided getting back at Cassie was worth the
risk and held out my hand. “Alright, let’s do it.”

Trina grinned
and took my hand, shaking it solidly to seal our plan. We then set
our applications to the side and got into my car to go and scope
out the location of the Year 12 Formal, so we could easily plan our
attack.

When the night
of the formal finally arrived, Trina and I did our best to dress so
we’d blend in with the crowd, but not be immediately recognised. We
loaded up a small Crumpler bag with about a dozen eggs and then
drove to the venue.

We parked at
one end of the street and then walked to the opposite side of the
circular driveway, where everyone would be dropped off to make
their grand entrance.

The grounds had
these really exquisite gardens, so it was easy to obscure ourselves
by the side of a palm tree while we waited.

“Don’t lean
against it,” I warned Katrina. “Those things are always full of
Huntsman.”

Trina stood up
straight and immediately brushed off her arm. Shuddering she said,
“I hate Huntsman, they’re the worst kind of spiders with their long
creepy hairy legs! Yuck!”

Families had
already begun to gather with their cameras at the ready, and I
could see Cassie’s mother in amongst them. I nudged Trina and
pointed her out so we could keep an eye on her, she’d know which
car Cassie was coming in, so she’d serve as a warning for us to get
ready.

We stood and
watched the first few cars come up the drive, letting their
occupants out at the front entrance. You’d think it was some kind
of award show the way the flashes of cameras and phones were going
off.

Eventually, I
noticed Cassie’s mum getting excited. “This must be her car now.
Get ready,” I said to Trina, reaching in the bag to grab as many
eggs as I could carry in one hand.

Katrina let out
a loaded breath. “Fuck, I’m so nervous now. I don’t know if I can
do this!” she hissed.

“Don’t think
about it. Just do it,” I told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her
forward. “Load your weapon.”

She closed her
eyes for a moment and took an egg in each hand. We walked quickly
towards the black limousine as it pulled up and waited while the
door was opened by the driver.

“Ready?” I said
to Trina as I saw the first leg emerge from the limo.

“Not really,
but I’ve come this far.”

Out stepped
Cassie, wearing this long peach coloured dress that was shimmering
with little bits of silver stuff all over it. She was followed by
Ben, who was wearing a suit with a tie that matched her dress.
After them came, Terry with Maddie and Aaron with Mara.

“Go!” I called
over my shoulder, sprinting with Trina close by my side. We let go
of as many eggs as we could on our way past. Hitting them square in
their chests and exploding egg everywhere. I’ll never forget the
shocked looks on their faces. Suddenly, I felt so much better about
the last few years of crap they put me and Trina through.

All I could
hear as we ran away were the shrill screams from the girls and the
gruff swearing of the guys.

“Shit! Ben and
Aaron are chasing us!” Katrina called out to me.

“Fuck! Run
faster!” I yelled, grabbing her hand and pulling her along behind
me as we sprinted for my car.

We hit against
it with a bang and thankfully, I didn’t drop the keys, and the car
started first turn. I planted my foot and sped off.

“Did they see
the car?” I asked Katrina as I turned the corner.

“I don’t think
so, I couldn’t see them. I think we had too much of a head
start.”

All of a
sudden, we both burst out laughing.

“I can’t
believe we just did that!” Katrina gushed. “Did you see Cassie’s
face! I will remember that for the rest of my days.” She sighed and
settled back into her seat.

I glanced over
at her, a firm grin planted on my face, just like there was on
hers. “That was probably the best – holy shit!”

“What?” Katrina
said suddenly looking around us frantically. “Are they behind
us?”

“Ah no. Just
stay still ok,” I told her, slowing the car and pulling over.

“Why? What is
it? Oh god, it’s a spider isn’t it? It’s a great big giant hairy
mother fucking spider!”

Suddenly, the
Huntsman crawled forward on her shoulder. “Just stay still and
calm. I’m going to get it,” I instructed getting out of the car to
move around to her side.

I opened her
door and took her hand, pulling her out while she made a high
pitched squealing noise. “I felt it move!”

“Trina, you’ll
scare it and it will jump off you and into the car. Just come with
me.”

She continued
to squeal with a much quieter tone as I pulled her away from the
car, keeping my eye on the spider the whole time. I raised my hand
and swatted it forward so it landed on the ground in front of
us.

“There it’s
gone.”

Trina then let
out a huge scream and jumped on the poor thing, stomping on it over
and over again until there was nothing left to see but a couple of
legs and pulpy mess.

“Holy crap,
Trina. It’s not like it was poisonous. You could have let it
go.”

She visibly
shuddered. “I hate spiders,” she stated, stomping the spot one last
time before getting back in the car.

“I can see
that,” I mumbled, following suit and getting back in as well.
“Where to now?” I asked her once we were moving again and had
calmed down.

“Let’s get
something to eat. Fish and chips at the river?”

“Sounds
perfect, all that egging and spider thwarting certainly works up an
appetite.”

We went and
ordered our food and took it down to Nepean River, then settled
ourselves on the bank and ate quietly, watching a team of rowers
glide by in their boats, a coach following after them in his speed
boat.

I pulled out a
bottle of Southern Comfort and offered it to her. “Thanks,” she
said, taking a swig and then offering it back to me.

“Nah, I’m
driving. I’ll drink later.”

“Is it wrong
that I don’t even feel a tiny bit bad over what we just did?”

“Killing a
defenceless spider? or egging the Celebs?”

“Egging the
Celebs. That spider deserved everything it got.”

“Nope. Cassie
has been a bitch to you for years. I’m surprised you haven’t
retaliated before now.”

“She’s been
worse to you.”

“Ah, she’s just
got some weird fixation. I think she decided that if I wasn’t going
to date her, then she was going to make it so no one wanted to date
me.” I shrugged and bit into a potato scallop. “I hated the way she
treated you more. She deserved what she got today.”

“You think so?
You don’t think we were over the top?”

“I thought you
said you didn’t feel bad?”

“I don’t feel
bad as such, but I do wonder if it was a little over the top.”

“As over the
top as claiming that I forced her to have an abortion or as over
the top of her telling everyone that we’re related and in an
incestuous relationship?”

“Well, when you
put it like that – no,” she laughed, picking the crispy batter off
a piece of fish. “Do you wish we’d gone to the formal?” she
asked.

“No Trina. I’d
prefer sitting here with you any day.”

We went quiet
again for a while, staring out at the now glass like water.

“Let’s go,” I
told her when we'd finished eating. “We’ll go home and get changed,
and I’ll take you clubbing so we can get smashed like you
wanted.”

She laughed and
helped me roll up the remains of our food in the white butchers'
paper. “That sounds like music to my ears.”

I dropped Trina
off at her house and went back to mine get changed and call a taxi
to take us to the train station. We had decided to go to one of the
clubs in the city and only had about forty-five minutes before our
train would arrive.

I told my mum
that I’d be home at some ungodly hour and dashed out the door, to
the tune of her telling me that just because I was eighteen didn’t
mean I could do whatever I wanted. I smiled to myself, knowing that
as long as I came home before the sun was up – she’d be fine.

When I arrived
at Trina’s, she was already dressed and waiting for me. “Whoa!” I
whistled at her. She was wearing a fitted black dress that barely
covered her arse and a pair of low strappy heels. She’d piled her
hair up on her head and put a tiny bit of makeup on. “You look
absolutely smoking hot Trina,” I gushed at her.

“Just look
after her David. I’m not happy about her going out in that scrap of
a thing she’s wearing,” her dad told me.

“I’ll keep her
safe Mr Mahoney,” I assured him.

Outside, we
heard the taxi beep its horn to let us know it was there. Saying
goodbye to her family we rushed outside and started the hour and a
half journey from where we lived to the city.

The nightclubs
close to home sucked, so the trip was worth it, but it meant you
had to be mindful of the time so you could get back home before
sunrise. We generally spent the train ride in, drinking southern
and coke out of a sports bottle, so we’d arrive slightly tipsy
anyway. Drinks were really expensive, and we were going out to
dance and have fun, not waste time forcing our way up to the bar to
drink enough to feel something.

By the time we
arrived at Town Hall station, we had emptied the sports bottle and
threw it into the rubbish bin on the platform before continuing on
our way.

We went to the
Shark Bar which is called that because of its affiliation with The
Sharks football team and the fact there was a massive fish tank in
the middle that housed a bunch of baby sharks.

By the time we
got there it was almost 10pm and the place was already jumping, the
moment we entered, it was like being enveloped in an underwater
cave. It was dark besides the flashing lights of the dance floor
and the blue illumination of the fish tank and the bar lights.

“One more
before we dance?” I yelled into Trina’s ear as we moved toward the
bar. She nodded and took my hand, following close behind me so we
didn’t lose each other in the crowd.

“Let’s do
shots!” she suggested once we made it to the bar, then leaned over
my shoulder and yelled at the bartender that we wanted six B-52s.
Glancing at her, my eyebrows shot up in question. “We agreed to get
hammered,” she yelled back at me.

“We still have
to make it home.”

The bartender
set our drinks in front of us, and Katrina slapped the money down
on the counter to pay for them, picking up the first shot and
handing me mine. “Drink up.”

I held the
glass to my lips, watching her as she downed hers quickly then
reached for her second. Once again, she was holding mine out to me.
“Drink!” she urged me again. “You’re falling behind.”

I downed my
shot, then took the second, then the third, knocking them back one
after the other. I was fairly tipsy from drinking the Southern on
the train, and the shots were very quickly mixing with what was
already in my veins.

Katrina let out
a loud whoop and raised her hands above her head, swaying her body
as she started to make her way to the dance floor. Following close
behind her, I couldn’t help but laugh and feel glad that we were
out at this club instead of stuck with all the dickheads we went to
school with.

With the drink
buzzing through my body and the music pulsing through the air, I
started to let go. Trina and I danced together among the crowd,
slowly pressing closer and moving as one.

My heart
thudded in my chest as my hands started to roam her body, pulling
her closer to me. Our legs became intertwined as we swayed
together, her arms wrapped around my neck and mine around her
waist. We were as close as we could get.

I moved my
head, desperately wanting our lips to brush. But when our eyes
locked, there was something in hers that told me to stop.