Starfish Sisters

by J. C. Burke

  'Well, hide your phone then,' he snapped. My fantastic out-of-nowhere excuse had not impressed him. 'Let's do phone sex.' I hated it so much when he talked like this. 'Don't my messages make you horny?'

  'Yeah.' That was the biggest lie of all.

  'So, what are you wearing?'

  'Um? Hey, good I got into the top group.' My eyes were shut so tight I could see little orange stars. 'That'll help my chances with the trial, don't you reckon?'

  'I said, what are you wearing?'

  'Don't, Tim.'

  'Don't, Tim what?' he almost snarled. 'Stop being so boring, Ace.'

  'Um?' The orange stars were starting to spin around my head. 'So, what are you up to today?'

  'Dunno.'

  'Are the boys still with you?'

  'Yep,' Tim mumbled. 'See ya later, Ace.'

  It took me a while to peel myself off the bathroom floor and into the sunshine to face the others – the others who envied Ace and Tim. Dolly had called us 'A couple so blissed out just being in each other's company.' Hmmm.

  On the oval everyone was sitting around, waiting. When they saw me they started cheering.

  'Mrs Parker's entered the building,' Kia announced.

  When everyone started laughing I did too, but inside I wasn't laughing. Inside, my stomach was tying itself into knots. I was terrified I'd just blown it with Tim.

  Georgie got us organised into teams and explained a few offside rules. Jake was the ref. Shyan and Taylor were recruited to play and Carla said she was 'support and first aid'.

  'What's the prize for the winning team?' one of the girls asked.

  'I was thinking about that.' Carla looked at me and giggled. 'A date with Tim Parker perhaps?'

  Whistles and cheers erupted again. I put my hands over my face, pretending I was all embarrassed. 'No way!' I squealed.

  Carla put her arm around me, giving me a teasing squeeze. 'We're probably pushing our luck there, girls.'

  'Just a bit,' I replied, concentrating on keeping the corners of my mouth upward.

  'Whichever team wins,' Carla told us, 'gets to pass off one kitchen duty to the losing side.'

  'Great,' Kia said, 'I'm on dinner tonight.'

  'Well, it doesn't have to be the next rostered duty. You've got till the end of this week.'

  I was thankful to be in goal. I wanted to be alone. All that stuff was nagging in my head.

  Georgie was standing up the back, near me, in the defence position. Kia and Micki were light and fast so she had them up the front in attack. Shyan, who was playing for us, was positioned in the midfield.

  Micki was all over a Dolphin girl, tackling the ball from her then weaving it through legs and passing it back and forth with Shyan.

  'Go, Micki!' Georgie called. 'Take it out wide. Good girl!'

  Then with a big kick for a little girl, Micki booted in our first goal! Shyan, Megan and Micki did the aeroplane run. They were so excited, I was almost expecting them to put their T-shirts over their heads.

  'She just can't get over it,' Georgie growled from the corner of her mouth. 'Look at her.'

  'Who are you talking about?' I asked.

  'Duh! Kia. Check her out.'

  Georgie was spot on. Kia was standing there with a sour look on her face. I hoped Georgie hadn't seen through my expression too.

  'What has Micki ever done to her?' Georgie said.

  'But Kia was acting all keen about the bikini parade and getting Micki a new surfboard.'

  'That's 'cause you were there,' Georgie answered. 'She's totally in awe of you.' The ball was coming up our way. Georgie ran ahead. Without an inch of panic, she waited patiently for the ball, then belted it so hard it landed down the other end of the field.

  'Way to go, Georgie!' I cheered. She was good.

  Georgie came jogging backwards, saying, 'But then I s'pose the whole camp's in awe of you. Well, probably you and Tim. No offence.'

  'But you're not.'

  'I'm different,' Georgie said. 'I don't belong here.'

  'Yes you do!'

  'You'll be a professional surfer, Ace.'

  'So will you,' I told her. 'I was – was totally freaked when I found out you were here. I'd heard so many good things about you.'

  Georgie suddenly screamed, 'Boot it again, Micki!'

  I think I'd almost forgotten we were playing soccer.

  'In fact,' I confessed, 'I was kicking myself that I hadn't checked you out better. I was totally all ready to hate you, then we did lunch duty together and I changed my mind.'

  'Oh?' Georgie seemed surprised. 'I didn't even realise you'd noticed me. Offside, ref,' Georgie called. 'Did you see that?'

  'You know lots of people say that.'

  'Say what?'

  'Say that I wouldn't even notice them.'

  Georgie was constantly watching the play. Just once she turned to look at me as we spoke. That's when I saw something in her face I hadn't seen before. My dad would've called it 'hunger'. I recognised it straightaway 'cause I got that look before a surfing contest.

  At least I used to. Now, I wasn't sure. It seemed so long since I'd seriously competed.

  Almost two years ago, when OP first signed me up, I was determined to win every single contest. Most of the time I did too.

  I wanted to prove to Ocean Pearl, and prove to myself and every other person who thought I had a sponsor because of the way I looked and not the way I surfed, that it was different to that.

  But then I hurt my shoulder and had to take time off. That's when the magazine stuff really took off. I couldn't surf for OP so I became their model instead. It was during that time I met Tim and then everything started to change, though I don't know what changed first and how it was all suddenly different, everything.

  'Hey, Georgie?' I asked. 'Do you think this whole "awe" thing is just because I go out with Tim?'

  'Huh?' Georgie was positioning herself as the ball was flying towards us. Natasha from the Seahorses was shouting, 'Shoot, shoot!'

  Was I relieved Georgie hadn't heard my question?

  'Come out of the goal, Ace,' Georgie instructed. 'Get ready.'

  'Okay.' I focused on the ball that was flying towards me at a thousand kilometres an hour. I crouched, leapt, then dived onto it.

  'Save!' Georgie screamed.

  A second later, there I was doing the aeroplane run around the field. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Kia was doing it too.

  'I am so glad I got rid of my dinner duty,' Kia mumbled through a yawn as we made our way back to the bungalow. 'I am so tired. I am going to be asleep in one second.'

  'Me too,' I agreed. 'I bet Micki's already asleep.'

  'No, I saw her at the payphone a little while ago.' Georgie opened the door to our bungalow, then went and belly flopped onto her bed. The mattress vibrated for a few seconds.

  'Break the bed, why don't you, Georgie?' Kia said.

  'Piss off.'

  'Oh, and do you have any messages, Ace?' Suddenly Kia was bubbly, and I was not in the mood.

  'Where's your phone? Where is it?' Miss Nosey said, picking things up off the table. Yesterday I'd had it sitting there, out on view, close enough for them all to see and hear if a text arrived and close enough for me to keep a check on curious eyes and fingers. Now it was hiding under my mattress. 'Ace? Where'd you put it?'

  'How many bikinis did you bring up?' I asked Georgie. It was the only way to stop myself from biting off Kia's head and telling her to butt out of my business. 'I thought I'd ask Carla about the fashion parade tomorrow.'

  'I'm not sure. Kia, count how many we brought up.' Georgie handed Kia the bag of them.

  'Not now.' Kia went back to her bed. 'I'm too tired.'

  'I will,' I volunteered, shaking out the contents of the bag.

  A tangled vine of metallics, prints and fluoros spilt out onto the white sheets of my bed.

  'This is so cool.' I untwisted a dark blue one flecked with tiny strands of gold. 'You know who would look amazing in this? Nat
asha from the Seahorses. I was checking her out during the game. She has got a really hot body. I reckon we should see if she wants to help model.'

  There was a yellow bandeau top stamped with tiny little black peace signs.

  'I'm not sure about this fashion parade idea.' There was definitely an edge in Kia's voice. Like me, Georgie stopped what she was doing and looked at her. She must've heard it too. 'Like, what are we going to do? Have a parade and then what? Who're going to be our customers? There's no point really and I don't want Bikina being a flop. It'll look bad – for us,' she said to Georgie. 'Don't you think?'

  'We just have to work those bits out,' Georgie answered. 'You're sounding like a spoilsport.'

  'No I'm not!'

  'Kia, it's so obvious you don't like Micki,' Georgie said.

  I began to shove the bikinis back into the bag.

  'How can you say that?' Kia whined. 'I helped suggest the fashion parade too.'

  I let them bicker away while I stretched out on my bed. My hands reached underneath the mattress until my fingertips felt the hard edge of my phone.

  'I just remembered, you even have something about Micki on your myspace page.' Georgie was still going. 'I saw it in the "about me" section. You said she annoyed you.'

  'That was ages ago,' Kia barked back.

  I turned away from the girls and quietly flipped my mobile open. One message received.

  'Anyway, what does it matter to you if there was something about her on my myspace?'

  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'.

  GEORGIE

  '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.