by Sue Lawson
‘That’s only ten,’ said Sas. She leaned back and gripped the bars behind her, her long legs dangling towards the tanbark.
‘What?’
She stared across the park to the main road.
‘You said you had a thousand jobs, but that’s only ten, unless you’re counting each window and each piece of clothing.’
‘Okay, so I exaggerated, but this sucks. Who has to get up at seven-thirty to clean when they are on holidays?’
‘Technically, we’re not on holidays, we’re on suspension,’ said Sas.
The air between us felt thick. I shifted positions on the bars.
Khaden laughed, and Sas smiled. ‘Laugh, Ruby. God, what’s wrong with you?’
‘Nothing—I was just wondering if I’d shut the back gate,’ I lied.
‘How awesome did The Fink’s car look?’ said Khaden. The bruise on his cheek was mottled purple now and his lip didn’t look as puffy.
‘Fantastic. Can’t believe the school thinks we’re being punished. That trip to Torquay will be lame. Can you imagine Penny strutting on the beach, all boobs and bum.’ Sas shuddered.
‘Has she got big boobs?’ said Khaden.
‘Are you serious? She’s huge!’
I held my hands in front of me to emphasis my point.
Khaden’s mouth turned down and his eyebrows rose. ‘School uniforms hide a lot, don’t they?’
Sas and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. We used to laugh like that all the time.
‘What?’ said Khaden.
‘Your face,’ I said when my laughter eased.
‘You looked so serious.’ Sas mimicked Khaden’s face. She slipped and squealed, which set us off again. This time Khaden laughed too.
‘What did your dad say?’ I asked.
Khaden stopped laughing and looked at his knees.
‘Dad started to go off, but Taj forgot it was his turn to cook and that pissed Dad off more.’
His expression made me want to reach out and hug him, but I didn’t.
‘Mum had classes, so she said she’d deal with it today.’ Sas wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. ‘But last night, while she was out, I cooked dinner for the girls, cleaned up everything, tidied the lounge and ta dah—instead of a lecture this morning, Mum raved about what a fantastic help I am. She even gave me money to buy more stuff for my room.’ Sas lowered herself through the bars and dropped to the tanbark. ‘So let’s shop.’
Khaden jumped and landed with a deep whoomp. Tanbark flew up from his feet.
‘Doesn’t that hurt?’ I asked, staring down at him.
‘What? Jumping?’ Khaden shrugged. ‘Nah.’
‘Yeah?’ I said. ‘Kills my ankles when I do it—actually, it kills everything.’
‘Wuss,’ said Sas.
‘So where were we going?’ Khaden asked Sas.
‘Tram or train to Camberwell or bus to Chaddy?’
Dad was working around Chadstone this month. ‘I hate catching the bus and anyway, Camberwell’s closer.’
‘Is it?’ Sas sucked on her bottom lip. ‘Yeah, I guess it is. Let’s tram it.’
‘Okay, but I have to, seriously HAVE to be back home by three-thirty,’ I said, rummaging in my bag for my phone. I’d diverted the home phone to my mobile, just in case Mum or Dad called to check up on me. There weren’t any messages or missed calls, so I slipped my phone back in my bag.
Sas and Khaden strolled towards the railway line.
‘Hey, you’re going the wrong way. The crossing’s that way,’ I said, pointing up the street.
‘Short cut,’ said Sas.
They weren’t cutting across the train tracks, were they?
‘But—’
Sas turned, palms raised, ‘You’re the one with the time limit.’
I jogged to catch up to them.
‘What’s up with you today?’ asked Sas, studying my face.
‘Why?’
‘You look freaked out or something,’ said Khaden.
‘Nah, just thinking … about what we could do, you know, for a laugh.’
We weaved through native shrubs up the hill, twigs and leaves snapping and crunching under our feet.
Sas stopped on the top of the hill. ‘So what do you have in mind?’
To avoid looking at the steel tracks glistening in the sun, I kept my gaze on the houses the other side of them.
‘I thought—’
‘Don’t think, Ruby, just do!’ She ran down the hill and over the tracks.
Khaden followed, his skate shoes skidding in the loose gravel.
Neither of them looked. I did, both ways, twice. Certain there were no trains coming, I tiptoed over the steel rails, careful not to let my feet touch anything but rock and dirt. I was sure I’d heard somewhere that railway tracks could give you an electric shock. I was about to step off the stones onto the dry grass, when Khaden and Sas’s laughter blasted me.
‘What?’ I said, looking up.
They cackled like idiots.
‘What’s so funny?’ I asked, anger buzzing in my brain.
‘You!’ Sas pulled a terrified face and tiptoed through the trees, which made Khaden laugh harder.
‘I was not doing that.’
Khaden wiped his eyes. ‘Yeah, you were.’
‘I was just being cautious.’
‘Chicken is the word, Ruby,’ said Sas.
I gritted my teeth and stalked through the native shrubs, up the footpath to the tram stop.
As the tram rattled up Riversdale Road, Sas listed where she wanted to shop: Target, The Body Shop, Priceline, a new surf shop and Sanity.
‘What can you buy for your room at The Body Shop or Priceline? Or Sanity for that matter,’ I said, still burning after the way they’d laughed at me.
Sas raised her eyebrows. ‘Room perfume at The Body Shop, scarves to use as curtain tie-backs at Priceline and posters at Sanity.’
‘Oh.’ Now feeling stupid as well as mad, I jabbed the green ‘next stop’ button.
‘Sanity is for my sanity, too,’ said Khaden, jumping off the tram and walking down the lane to Target.
Christmas carols battered the air as the store’s automatic doors slid open. My mobile buzzed and ‘Home’ flashed on my screen. Panic flared, until I remembered I’d diverted calls, so any call to our landline would come up as ‘Home’ on my mobile.
I took a deep breath before answering. ‘Ruby speaking.’
‘It’s Dad.’
‘Oh.’
Sas and Khaden pulled faces, trying to make me laugh.
‘How are the jobs?’ he asked.
‘Working through them.’ I waved my hand at Sas and Khaden and turned my back on them.
Chimes sounded over the store’s intercom, interrupting the Christmas carol. A woman’s voice announced a child wearing denim shorts and a Wiggles T-shirt was lost.
‘Ruby, where are you?’ snapped Dad.
‘Home. Where do you think?’
‘Who was speaking?’
‘An ad on the radio—seriously Dad, what else would it be?’
‘Radio? You only listen to your iPod.’
‘I listen to the radio too…’
There was a cracking and a muffled sound, as though Dad was covering his phone with his hand.
‘You’re early.’
He sounded different. Happy.
‘Be with you in two seconds.’ Dad cleared his throat. ‘I’ve got to go, Ruby. Remember the windows. See you tonight.’ He hung up before I could say bye. A sour taste burned the back of my throat.
Teeth clenched, I turned to look for Sas and Khaden, who were at the sunglasses display. Sas handed Khaden a pair of aviator-style sunglasses. Khaden slipped them on and studied his reflection in the tiny mirror on the stand.
‘They suit you,’ I said, putting my phone back in my bag.
Khaden turn his head left then right. ‘You think?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Sas. ‘They make you look hot.’
&n
bsp; Khaden blew her a kiss. Sas’s eyes sparkled.
‘So buy them,’ I said.
‘Can’t afford them.’ Khaden took the sunglasses off and placed them back on the stand.
‘I thought you said you had a job,’ said Sas.
‘What job?’ I looked from Sas to Khaden.
‘Nothing major. I’m helping out at a friend’s tiling business, a couple of hours a week.’
‘When did you start that?’ I tried not to show I was hurt he hadn’t told me.
He shrugged. ‘Week. It’s no big deal. My first pay is tomorrow.’
Sas took the sunglasses from him, reached under her hoodie and scratched her shoulder. When her hand dropped back to her side, the glasses were gone. I glanced at Khaden to see if he’d noticed. If he had, he didn’t show it.
Sas stopped by the Napolean Perdis make-up stand.
‘Sas,’ I whispered, peeking around me. ‘Did—’
Sas cut me off. ‘I love this lipgloss.’ She tried the tester on the back of her hand, then stared straight into my eyes.
‘Great colour, isn’t it?’
She hadn’t spelt out the words, but she’d made it clear she wanted me to steal the lipgloss.
‘Wonder if there’s a matching nail polish?’
Did she want me to steal both?
‘Come on, Khaden, let’s look at lamps. We’ll meet you out the front in fifteen, Ruby’ she said.
I watched them walk away. Sas was already blowing hot and cold; what would she be like if I didn’t steal the stuff? I clenched and unclenched my fists.
Calm. Natural. The words swam through my soupy brain. I tried the tester on the back of my hand, screwed up my nose and then tried a pinker one. At the same time, I peeked around me to look for staff, but there weren’t any staff or even customers near me, which seemed strange for this time of the year. I picked up two of the pinker glosses and strolled towards the belts. As I tried on a silver belt, I slipped one lipgloss between my jeans and belly. With a frown, I put the belt back and headed to the checkouts. I held the other lipgloss out for every one to see. I was sure anyone close to me would also have seen my heart thudding against my T-shirt.
At the checkout, a woman with a broad back waited while the guy scanned three of the biggest bras I’d ever seen.
The air became thick and hard to breath. I glanced up at the airconditioning vents to see if they were working. The vents moved left and right and the plastic strips over them fluttered.
To distract myself, I tried to imagine what it was like to have bazookas as big as the woman in front of me.
The guy shoved the bras into the woman’s shopping bag and handed her a receipt. She lumbered to the door.
‘Next.’
I uncurled my hand and showed him the lipgloss. He took it from my sweaty palm. I shifted my weight from foot to foot. What if he saw the lipgloss hidden near my hip? What if there was a bulge? I pulled down my T-shirt and chewed my bottom lip.
‘That all?’ drawled the guy.
‘Yes.’ The word stuck in my dry throat.
‘Seventeen ninety-nine.’
I fumbled with my wallet.
‘You all right?’ he asked.
‘Gastro—thought I was over it.’ I thrust a twenty dollar note at him.
He stepped back and took the money with his finger and thumb, placing my change, lipgloss and receipt on the bench.
My skin felt cold and sweaty and my legs shaky. Was I going to vomit, collapse, or die? I muttered thanks, snatched up the receipt and change and fled. Any minute a security guard would stop me and haul me to the police station on Camberwell Road, I knew it.
At the automatic doors, my eyes blurred and my knees buckled. Someone touched my shoulder. This was it. I whimpered.
‘Are you all right, love?’ asked the security woman.
I chewed my lip, fighting the tears springing to my eyes. ‘Bit sick.’
‘You look shocking. Want me to call someone? Your mum?’
I shook my head.
‘Mum’s next door at the supermarket. I just came in to buy a birthday present.’ I opened my sweaty hand and showed her the lipgloss and receipt. It scared me how the lie just slipped off my tongue.
She looked around.
‘I can have someone find her—’
‘No. The car’s close. I just need fresh air, but thanks.’ I stumbled through the doors and down the ramp to the public toilets next to the car park, slamming the cubicle door behind me.
Slumped on the toilet seat, the lipgloss I’d paid for on my lap and my head in my hands, I sucked in a lungful of air. The stolen lipgloss dug into my hip. Once my heart slowed and my knees felt like they were made of bone again, I washed my face and hands and headed outside.
Khaden and Sas were waiting under the trees. Khaden was wearing the sunglasses Sas had stolen and Sas held a lamp with a cream shade.
‘What took you so long?’ asked Sas.
I tossed the lipgloss at her.
She caught it and smiled. ‘Ruby! Nice work.’ Her face collapsed into a frown. ‘Except for the receipt sticking out of your pocket.’
‘I paid for the one you’re holding.’ I pulled the stolen lipgloss from between my shorts and knickers. ‘But I stole this one.’
‘That’s ten bucks, Sas,’ said Khaden, holding out his open hand, palm up.
‘Pay you next week.’
The pavement buckled under me.
‘Did you have bet on whether I’d do it or not?’
They glanced at each other.
‘When did I become such a joke to you two?’ I yelled.
‘Hey, Ruby,’ said Khaden, his eyes wide, ‘don’t be like that.’
‘How should I be? One minute you’re normal and the next it’s like you hate me. Like you don’t want me around.’
Sas scoffed. ‘Paranoid.’
‘Paranoid?’ My voice was screechy. ‘You’re always picking on me, laughing at me or blaming me for stuff, like Grace being hurt. How was that even my fault?’
Sas folded her arms, her eyes like steel. ‘You know what, Ruby, if you want to act like an idiot, fine, but I have stuff to do.’
‘Whatever Sas.’ I turned towards the tram stop.
‘Hey, Ruby.’ Khaden reached for my arm. ‘We were just mucking around. We didn’t mean anything…’
‘Yeah,’ I said, shrugging off his hand. ‘Gotta go.’
On the packed tram, I sat on a backwards-facing seat beside an old granny who clutched her bag to her chest and hummed. As we lurched away from the junction, I kept watching the laneway, just in case Sas and Khaden came after me. But they didn’t.
Khaden
Khaden had to trot to keep up with Sas. Every few steps, he looked over his shoulder, hoping Ruby would run after them. What had happened, sucked.
Sas took a sharp left turn and stopped at the traffic lights. She poked the button, her right leg jiggling.
Khaden placed his fingers on the arms of his sunglasses.
‘Hey.’
When Sas turned to look at him, he stuck out his tongue and wiggled the glasses, making them jump up down on his nose.
At first Sas frowned, then she laughed. ‘Idiot.’
The lights changed. As Sas and Khaden crossed the street, Khaden’s hand brushed against Sas’s. He linked his finger around hers and felt the tension ease out of her.
‘Feel like a shake?’ he asked when they neared a café.
‘Sure.’
They ordered and sat at the window seat.
Khaden stirred his drink with the straw and watched Sas sip her vanilla milkshake. She flicked her hair back from her shoulder and sunlight sparkled on her nose stud. All the words he’d been piecing together jumbled.
Sas looked over her milkshake at him. ‘You going to drink that?’
‘Yeah, just thinking.’
‘What about?’
Khaden took a deep breath. ‘Ruby.’
Sas’s shoulders slumped. ‘Khade…’
‘What’s going on with you two?’
‘I don’t know.’ She leaned back in her seat and the words flowed from her in a rush. ‘Ruby always thinks she has it worse than anyone else. She complains all the time, about everything, but what has she got to complain about? Her life is dead easy. And what’s the deal with her being so scared all the time?’
Khaden poked a bubble with his straw.
‘I’m trying, honest, Khade, but she’s so frustrating.’ Sas sighed and rested her chin on her palm. ‘Has Ruby said something to you?’
‘Nah, it’s just there’s something up with her, and you.’ He looked straight into Sas’s eyes. ‘How come you don’t talk about your dad anymore?’
Sas ran her thumbnail along the edge of the wooden bench top. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘Complicated I get.’
‘Should I try harder with Ruby?’ asked Sas, her brow furrowed.
‘I reckon.’
She finished her drink. ‘So, I’m being mean?’
Khaden took a deep breath. ‘A bit.’ He sipped his drink and waited for Sas to speak.
After a few minutes she looked up and smiled. ‘Ready to go?’
‘Yeah, I’ll take this with me,’ said Khaden.
Ruby
At home, I dumped my hat and bag on the bench and pegged out the load of washing still in the machine. I was folding the dry clothes at the kitchen table when Harrison came home, wearing his supermarket uniform. Mojo, who’d been moping at my feet, jumped on him, her tail wagging like crazy.
‘Thought you worked until six,’ I said.
Harrison reached down and scratched Mojo’s ears. ‘Tomorrow’s shift is ’til six. What’s it to you anyway?’
‘Just making conversation.’
‘Or trying to work out how you can sneak out again tomorrow.’
‘Yeah right, I snuck out today and went shopping.’ I snatched a towel from the basket and shook it with a snap. ‘And the fairies I employed did all the cleaning.’ I took another towel from the basket.
‘I came home for lunch.’
The blood drained from my face is a cold rush.
‘I’m right! You did take off.’ Harrison’s voice was filled with delight. He’d been baiting me, as usual.
