by Helen Goltz
And then he placed his thumb upon my lips, watching me with his deep ocean blue eyes. He moved closer to me, so close I could feel the strands of his hair touching my skin. Could he hear my heart pounding? It was so loud in my ears that it was drowning out my thoughts. All my nerve endings were tingling, my hair full of charge, he was so close to me.
He looked into my eyes.
JACK
I traced her lips, I wanted to kiss her so badly but I wanted this moment to last forever. She sat completely still, her breathing short and sharp, only her eyes moved as she watched my every move. I moved in closer to her.
I suddenly felt weak; she was draining me, not the other way around. How could that be? I looked from her lips into her eyes and I was lost. I closed my eyes to regain my strength; I had to be the one in charge ... what was happening here?
She was so close to me now, her sweet scent overwhelming, I had to kiss her but I was out of control. The power seeped from me into Ophelia, into the ocean, into the rock. I couldn’t let it. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself back from her.
A huge wave roared as it crashed against the rock, Ophelia screamed in fright. Did I create it? She leaped up in fear stumbling backwards, but I was up before she lost her footing and I swept her up and charged from the rocks onto safer sand. She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into my shoulder. I could have her now, take her with me, but it was too soon. I wanted more—more of these feelings, was this what life, what love was about? Was this what everyone else got to experience?
I continued to hold her, walking up the sand and hurrying to the entrance way to the beach near her home. I lowered Ophelia to her feet; she was safe now. I touched my hand to her face for just a moment and then slipped away to the nearby rocks, out of sight. I heard her call my name but it was lost just as quickly in the sound of the crashing waves.
Chapter 12
HOLLY
It was Friday and everyone was happy about it except Ophelia. You would think given she survived her first few weeks at a new school, the weekend would be the best news she could imagine. She was quiet all the way in on the bus while we all chatted around her. She smiled when addressed and spoke when forced to, but her eyes had a sadness. I wondered if it was maybe her mother or father’s birthday or something significant. I asked her if she was okay and she thanked me and said she was good. But she wasn’t.
At lunchtime we sat in a group in the shade of a Lilly Pilly tree. Ophelia leaned against the trunk with her eyes closed.
Harry prodded her. “What’s up with you today? Usually we can’t shut you up.”
Ophelia grinned. “Yeah, I know it’s hard to get a word in around me,” she agreed. “I just didn’t sleep at all last night. Do you ever get that?”
Peggy nodded. “Sometimes because I don’t stop studying until after ten o’clock, I go to bed and my mind is still racing. Takes me ages to drop off.”
We all looked at Peggy like she was an alien. Who could relate to that? Good on her though, when we’re all struggling to get into university, she’ll be knocking them back.
“I hear you,” Harry said, “I have that problem all the time.” We all laughed and Peggy blushed but still looked pleased to have Harry teasing her.
I agreed with Ophelia. “I woke up one morning at just after two and I was completely wide awake. Not in that sleep zone, half awake, half dead zone, completely awake! Now that’s annoying,” I said.
“Yeah, well you’ve got all weekend to catch up now, I loooovvvvve the weekend,” Harry said. “What have you got planned?” he asked Ophelia.
“I could show you around if you like?” Peggy jumped in, probably hoping Harry would come along.
“Thanks Peggy, you’re very kind to offer but Adam is taking me to the site of the La Bella, where his ancestor was a hero. It’s for my project,” Ophelia said.
“Are you going to dive?” Harry asked.
“No, I haven’t done a course, maybe we’ll scuba ... I’m kind of happy for him to just stand on shore and point in the general direction,” she shrugged.
Harry laughed. “Hey, don’t look now but Chayse is heading this way.”
We all looked now and it was true—tanned, gorgeous, golden Chayse was walking towards us. Sigh.
Ophelia sat up straight and didn’t look happy. He dropped down next to us.
“Hey everyone,” he said.
I nodded since I couldn’t form a sentence around him and Peggy’s mouth just stayed open. Harry grunted a sort of greeting.
“Hi Chayse, do you know my friends?” Ophelia asked and then introduced us before he could answer. He nodded to each of us as she said our names.
“What’s up?” she asked.
Before he could answer, one of Chayse’s friends came over and sat down as well. This was getting way too weird now. Two of the in-group with us ... why?
“This is Tyler,” Chayse flicked his halo head in the new guy’s direction. Tyler was tanned and fit too, with a buzz cut and the darkest brown eyes I have ever seen.
“Hey,” Tyler answered. Again Ophelia was the only one who found her tongue to greet him. Chayse was gorgeous but Tyler was gorgeous too, not as gorgeous but on a scale of one to ten with Chayse being ten then Tyler was nine. Right, glad we got that sorted. I glanced over to where Chayse’s group usually hung out and it is fair to say if looks could kill, we’d all be dead.
Chayse started. “I heard you got a note thrown at you, it was about me.”
“It was nothing,” Ophelia shrugged.
I found my voice. “We were on the bus on the way to school but we don’t know who threw it—it was just a pack of girls, sort of. It said to stay away from you and something else nasty.”
Chayse shook his head. “Have you got it?”
Ophelia bit her tongue and thought about it for a few seconds. “It’s so not important, really, I’m not worried about it.”
Chayse looked frustrated. “I’d like to see it.”
She drew a deep breath, opened her bag and pulled it from her pencil case. I don’t know why Ophelia decided to keep it, maybe just to remind her of new school blues. She handed it to him.
“How did you know?” she asked.
“Someone on your bus told me,” he said, noncommittally.
He opened the note, frowned and handed it to Tyler who read it and shook his head. He gave it back to Chayse who pocketed it. “This is bullshit,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Ophelia blushed. “Really it was nothing, not a big deal. We’re cool with it, aren’t we?” she turned to us.
“No,” I said. “I think it’s childish and rude.”
“Exactly,” Chayse said and gave me a smile. Yeah, a smile just for me with his glorious white teeth and those green eyes looking at me for all of fifteen seconds, okay maybe it was only five seconds before he turned them back to Ophelia.
“Leave this with me Lia, I’ll deal with it,” he assured her.
She began to protest but he shut her down. “It’s not on,” he said. “It’s just stupid and I’m sorry.”
Tyler turned to Harry. “Hey was that a Cell Lapa I saw you riding last weekend?”
“Yeah,” Harry looked surprise. “Been saving for it for a while and picked it up a few weeks back. I tell you, the flex-free frame is great, she just begs to be pushed harder. What are you on?”
“A Polygon,” Tyler answered.
“Nice,” Harry said.
“Yeah, it’s a good fit, but I’m thinking of trading up.”
Ophelia looked from Tyler to Harry and nudged me.
“What are they talking about?” she whispered.
I rolled my eyes and Chayse grinned.
“Road bikes, you know ... bicycles,” I told Ophelia.
“We should go for a spin on Saturday morning. Wouldn’t mind trying the Cell if you want to swap for a bit?” Tyler said.
“Sounds good. I’m usually on the road about five,” Harry said.
&nb
sp; “Five in the morning?” Ophelia exclaimed.
“Some say it’s the best time of the day,” Chayse teased her.
“Mm, I’ve gone to bed at that time, but never got up then.”
The bell rang and Chayse and Tyler returned to get their bags from their group.
I leaned in. “Can you believe that?”
Peggy shook her head, still with her mouth open, and Harry shrugged indifferently.
Ophelia looked at me confused. “What?” She didn’t get that those guys were kings around the school.
Harry rose and pulled us all up, one by one. He’s definitely going to charm school—Peggy blushed a deep red. I pulled my uniform down and grabbed my bag.
Ophelia fell in beside me as we walked to our last two classes for the day.
“Lia, I can assure you,” I began, “before you arrived, Chayse and Tyler wouldn’t know we existed, let alone come over and talk to us.”
She shrugged. “Maybe they just didn’t have a reason to before.”
Sometimes, I don’t think Ophelia realises the amount of attention she has circling her orbit.
OPHELIA
I am in agony. I walked up the path to my house—my house, there I said it—and I was so relieved to say goodbye to everyone and be alone. I guess the distraction today was good but I just need to think. I opened the front door and the lovely Argo and Agnes sensed my despair and sidled up to me. I gave them both a big hug. I had the house to myself, well people-free anyway. I grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge, went up the stairs, threw my bag into my room and continued up the stairs to the attic. Agro and Agnes came with me and we sat in front of the large windows looking out to sea.
Why did he leave without saying something, without kissing me? Did he change his mind? Did I turn him off or say something wrong? I replayed it in my head all day, a thousand times—touching my lips, scooping me up and racing down the rock so in charge, so confident in his movements. Then he moved away slightly and rubbed his eyes. He touched my cheek for just a minute, his hand was icy cold, and then he was gone. Why? What was he seeing that I wasn’t?
All through art class I kept looking out for him, but he didn’t come. Unbearable, I’m an idiot making myself sick over him.
It’s Friday night, will he come tonight? Who is he with tonight? Why, Jack? Why have I done this to myself?
I’ve been here a minute and instead of mourning my folks, I’m losing my head, or heart, to someone I only just met and now I am in twice as much pain. I’m seriously stupid. I stood up and paced, sat down again and then rose and paced again, clueless as to how it went so quickly from almost kissing me to running away from me.
He said he missed me, I just reciprocated. Maybe telling him what was in my head was too much. God, I’m such an idiot. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths.
He might come tonight. Maybe I should just join my parents ... I could be buried at sea. Not a healthy thought, but I didn’t have many bright thoughts at the moment.
Chapter 13
ADAM
She wasn’t happy about something—maybe it was a bad day at school or after the first few weeks, it was all just a bit overwhelming. We both noticed it—Sebastian and I—and we discussed it after she turned in early last night, really early especially for a Friday night. Around midnight Seb went up to check on her but she wasn’t in her room. He saw her in the attic seat watching the beach, but didn’t invade her space. Kind of hard to know whether to interfere or not, but she might have wanted some time out to think ... about her parents, school, whatever was in her head. None of us were good communicators.
Next morning, I glanced over at Ophelia as we pulled out of Seb’s garage and began our drive to Warrnambool together. We were both rugged up—it was a cold morning. We would be back from the wreck site just after lunch or earlier if she didn’t want to eat. I bit my lip, while deciding whether to raise it with her or not. Our communication to date hadn’t been great, she was direct, I was tactless. What the heck.
“You okay?”
She looked over at me and smiled. “Sure, how are you?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I rolled my eyes. “But you’re not.”
She sighed and looked away.
“Okay, dropping it,” I said.
“Good,” she turned to look at me. “How long will it take to get there?”
“About twenty minutes. Why? You want out already?”
She rolled her eyes and smiled again. “No Mr. Paranoid, I just like to have my bearings. So, since you’ve got a captive audience, tell me about your great, great, descendent who became a hero.”
“Ah, yes, runs in the family,” I said to get a laugh and it worked.
“Go on you big ham,” she encouraged me.
I headed towards the Highway and drawing a deep breath began my tale.
“My ancestor, a very handsome young man lived and worked in Warrnambool and he was in the right place at the right time, not to mention he was phenomenally brave when a shipwreck went down. Still with me?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s hardly complex yet. A lot different from Chayse’s storytelling,” she added.
“Mm, yeah that would have been a dry telling,” I took my eyes off the road to momentarily glance at her. She only mentioned that to get back at me for my last wisecrack, I’m sure.
“Go on,” she said.
It felt nice to have her beside me ... to be friends with a girl and enjoy each other’s company without all the other tension and drama.
I continued: “La Bella was a Norwegian-built ship, a barquentine—that’s a sailing vessel with three or more masts—quite beautiful.”
“I saw a picture of her in the library, when I started my assignment,” she said.
I nodded. “Seb’s got a model of her in his study. Well, La Bella was approaching Warrnambool with a load of timber. She’d come from New Zealand. The seas were really rough and there was a mist too. It was November 1905 and the captain, Captain Mylius ordered the ship steer for the light, as you would. But as it came around, she was hit by a really rough sea.”
I saw her shudder and she rubbed her arms.
“Cold?” I asked, reaching to adjust the air conditioning.
“No,” she assured me. “It’s just that I was on the rock when a huge wave hit and it just roared. Scared me half to death, so I can’t imagine what it would be like being out in a ship in a roaring sea.”
“I know. While I’ve been surfing, I’ve had some huge waves that pinned me to the bottom of the ocean and I thought it was all over. The sea is a harsh mistress,” I said.
“Mm, what’s that from?” she asked.
“So you’re saying I couldn’t come up with a line like that?”
She laughed again.
I was good for her, I’m sure. “Okay, some poet,” I agreed.
“Oh well, that narrows it down,” she made fun of me, again. She was winning. “Please, continue.”
“Ah yes, La Bella. The huge, treacherous ocean struck her, knocking her around, waves breaking over her, until she was literally thrown on to a submerged reef.”
“Ouch,” Ophelia winced.
“I know. You can almost hear the grinding of the reef on the ship’s bottom, can’t you? So, the Warrnambool Harbour Master, whose name was Captain Roe—but spelt Roe not row—and four lifesavers rowed out in a whaleboat to help. Most of the usual lifeboat crew were away and so volunteers were called in,” I stopped for breath.
“And this is where your great, great, great ...”
“Grandfather volunteered,” I finished her sentence. “The other volunteers got the whaleboat out but it was pretty impossible to get near the La Bella because of the breakers. The rescue went on for about ten hours but the lifeboat crew couldn’t get close enough to the ship and were forced to return to shore. The sailors got weaker and were suffering from exposure and exhaustion, and a few got washed overboard.”
“So terrifying,” she shuddered again.
I stopped talking for a moment to negotiate some traffic and we continued on. “So, three of the men were eventually rescued and my relative, William Ferrier sculled out twice in a small dinghy and saved two others including Captain Mylius. The rest of the La Bella crew of twelve were washed overboard. The captain was suspended for twelve months and William was awarded twenty pounds and a silver medal,” I finished on a high.
“One of the drowned men was Chayse’s ancestor then?” I asked.
“Yeah, Pierre Johann was his name. He didn’t make it. Neither did the captain in the long run. It’s said that the stress caused him to have a heart attack six months after the incident; he never sailed again and died at aged thirty-seven.”
“Poor man, I can only imagine. And the wreck is still there, that’s where we’re going,” she stated.
I nodded. “She lies on her port side in the sheltered water inside the reef she struck. This bow section is relatively intact and the reef where she struck is now called La Bella reef.”
“I wonder why more people didn’t do what William did, you know grab a boat and help,” she said.
“Too risky. He seemed like a pretty humble guy though—there’s a record somewhere of his thank you speech and he says ‘I only tried to do my duty, and I am sure that every man ... would have done as much’,”[i] I said in my best imitation of delivering a speech.
“It was heroic,” she agreed. “I couldn’t do it. Could you?”
I frowned. “I don’t think any of us really know unless we’re tested.”
OPHELIA
I was relieved to spend the day with Adam. It was nice sitting beside him, watching him handle the drive so effortless, taking charge and distracting me for a while.
I had a bad night—Jack didn’t show. I don’t know why or where he is. I wish I had never met him. I found myself moving from the aching pain to the anger stage.
I’m just going to have friends from now on, like Adam and the twins, Peggy, Argo and Agnes. Just trust in Uncle Seb and keep life simple for a while.
