by Alison Evans
The three of us walk into the room together, and I stay.
We take our seats on one of the big square tables, and get out our sketchbooks, and I’m still here. My warmth bubbles up into the whole room.
Miranda doesn’t give us a spiel about how term is ending, she just tells us to keep going with our projects, and that she’ll be coming around to check in.
I’ve decided to use mostly watercolours, then Iris will help enchant the page so it shimmers. The glitter I tried to apply always looked wrong, like it wasn’t quite real. But if I infuse the paper with magic, surely I can make it work. They’re going to do the same thing, and Hasim as well. Our projects won’t look the same, but like three of a set.
Miranda comes around, gives Iris some pointers. I think what they’ve got looks amazing, watercolours and shining light. Hasim tells Miranda that that’s his name now, and she uses it several times without making it seem forced. And when she gets to me, she brings out some references of geometrical patterns from a book and finds the perfect one. It almost matches my first tattoo design, the one from before I got the rose.
‘These are all looking really good, you three,’ she says, and she smiles that genuine smile of hers. Even though we’re only average at art, I think it’s our favourite class now.
As art class ends, I feel a bit lighter. We separate to get our bags from our lockers, then we meet out the front of school to go down to Eaglefern.
Livia hugs me when we walk in. ‘I was so worried,’ she says. ‘Your mum told me what was happening. And you two!’ She takes their hands. ‘You’re very brave.’
Hasim and Iris look like they don’t really know how to respond. He shrugs, they smile.
We get our drinks and sit on the couches. The flowerboxes now take up almost half the window, and the blue bees look even bigger.
‘So I was thinking,’ I say, after our drinks arrive, ‘we should probably go camping for real in the summer holidays once school is done. We can go to this place Mum took me to a couple times. There’s a cave you can explore, and a river nearby, and it’s gotta be magic, I swear.’
‘That sounds nice,’ Hasim says, smiling softly.
‘I’ve always wanted to explore a cave!’ Iris says.
As the two of them talk through the logistics – who has what, if we need to get another tent, how long to go for – I smile at them. I can feel the warmth of them both in my bones, and I know it’ll be the best summer.
Acknowledgments
This book was written on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. Sovereignty was never ceded. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
I am an uninvited guest on these lands and waters. The homes I have lived in have been on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people. I grew up in the Dandenong Ranges and you can take a cultural tour to learn more about the area, see wurundjericulturaltours.com.au.
A lot of people go into the writing of a book. Since releasing my first YA, Ida, I have been welcomed into the #loveozya community. A huge thanks goes to Sarah and Alex for having Ida as their first book of the month for The YA Room, and thanks to Sarah, Shaun and Bianca for their ongoing support.
To any teen who has come up to me after an event to thank me, or to get a book signed, I remember all of you. And to the ones who quietly read, who I will never meet, thank you. It is an honour to write for you all, and I cannot express how much it means to me to hear that my books have helped you. It is a privilege to write for you. Thank you thank you thank you.
YA authors are very kind people, and I would like to thank Lili Wilkinson, Cally Black, Marlee Jane Ward, Nicole Hayes, Jodi McAlister, Katya de Becerra, Amie Kaufmann, Leanne Hall, Jes Layton, Jordi Kerr, Jess Walton, Rafeif Ismail, Alec Te Pohe, Carolyn Gilpin, Erin Gough, Michael Earp and Michael Pryor in particular. And while they are not necessarily YA authors, I would like to thank Katherine Back, Rae White, Benjamin Law, Amelia Lush and Gene Smith. Everyone on this list is inspiring, thank you for your dedication. You’ve taught me a lot. Thank you for the friendship, the kindness, and the help. Even if we have only spoken a handful of times, or rarely see each other, you’re appreciated.
Two books showed me that I could write a book like this one; Night Swimming by Steph Bowe and Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near. Thank you both for writing these beautiful books.
I would like to thank Nevo Zisin in particular – I am so glad we found each other. Your friendship means so much and has healed me in a way I didn’t know I needed to be healed. Working with you, writing stories and being on panels together has been the highlight of my career, and I’m truly grateful we are friends.
Thank you to the bookstagrammers, the reviewers, the bloggers, and the vloggers of the YA community. You all put in so much work. The community is strong because of you.
“Dear Reader” is a direct influence of my Queerstories speech “World School” from July 2018, which I wrote while writing the beginnings of Euphoria Kids. Thank you to Maeve Marsden for asking me to be a part of the event, it helped me articulate a lot of what I want to do with my work.
To my mum, my brother, my Nanna and Grumps, and all the hundreds of other Evanses, thank you for being a wonderful, kind, thriving family. I am very lucky to be with you all.
Thank you to Joni, my fiancee and soon-to-be wife. Thank you for being my first reader, for your edits, ideas, questions, and answers.
The Echo team – I couldn’t have done any of this without you. Liz, thank you for the first edit of Euphoria Kids that helped me find the real starting point. Although we rarely see each other, thank you to Benny and Sandy, for all your work behind the scenes that I don’t see, but I know you work so hard. Thanks Brendan for your email updates and excellent highlighting system, having you in my corner is amazing and I feel so lucky. Thank you to Shaun for making my words look beautiful again, and for hanging out with me at other Echo book launches. Thank you to Jo Hunt for another amazing cover design, and thank you to Jem Bradbrook for the illustration that is more wonderful than I could have dreamed. And Kate, where would this story be without you. Thank you for all your advice and gentle but firm direction, and for staying up with me until the wee hours of the morning.
And finally, thank you to Angela Meyer, who by the time this book is released, will be on a new journey. You have been a wonderful editor, publisher and friend. This book would not be here if it weren’t for you. You have continually made a safe space for me to make art and I have adored working with you. Thank you for believing in me and my work, thank you for your endless support, and thank you for helping me grow as a person and a writer. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
About the author
Alison Evans’ first YA book, Ida, was published in 2017 (Echo Publishing). Ida won the People's Choice Award in the Victorian Premier's Awards 2018, was shortlisted in the 2017 Aurealis Awards, and longlisted for a 2018 Gold Inky Award. Their second YA book, Highway Bodies, was published by Echo in 2019. Alison is the co-editor of the zine Concrete Queers, which they started with Katherine Back in 2015. So far, the zine has featured over sixty queer artists. Alison has been an artist at Melbourne Writers Festival, Emerging Writers Festival, National Young Writers Festival, Reading Matters, and Feminist Writers Festival, and has done many library and bookshop events.
Echo Publishing
An imprint of Bonnier Books UK
80-81 Wimpole Street
London W1G 9RE
www.echopublishing.com.au
www.bonnierbooks.co.uk
Copyright © Alison Evans, 2020
All rights reserved. Echo thanks you for buying an authorised edition of this book. In doing so, you are supporting writers and enabling Echo to publish more books and foster new talent. Thank you for complying with copyright laws by not using any part of this book without our prior wri
tten permission, including reproducing, storing in a retrieval system, transmitting in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, or by photocopying, recording, scanning or distributing.
First published 2020
This ebook edition published 2020
Cover design by Jem Bradbrook and Jo Hunt
Page design, typesetting and ebook creation by Shaun Jury
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia
ISBN: 9781760685850 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781760686499 (ebook)
echopublishingau
echo_publishing
echo_publishing
