‘I’ve told you not to come here,’ the boy next to me said confidently to the older boy on the horse.
Nate? What was he doing here?
‘Try to stop me. I deserve to be here just as much as you, Roman,’ he replied, staring down at him arrogantly. This was Roman? I shook my head with confusion.
Nate didn’t recognise me, and why would he? I was twelve years old.
‘No, you don’t. I’ll protect everything important to me at all costs. Last warning.’ As he spoke, Roman grew until he reached the same age as Nate. Armour appeared across his body and a horse at his side. Now I was the only one left in school uniform; a little girl watching two men fight in some strange medieval charade.
A crowd started cheering all around my head. I was standing in the middle of a jousting competition, the green and purple competitors at either end waiting for me to move out of their way. Their wooden jousting sticks were perfectly sharpened for the occasion, resting across their horses’ necks.
‘Wait,’ I screamed, not understanding what was happening.
A burly guard dragged me out of the way while I watched in horror as the horn blew and the official flag went down. The horses accelerated excitedly and the riders rose up in their saddles, poised to strike. Only their eyes were visible through their helmet vents; cold, hard, concentrated.
I looked up into the stands for a sign of a leader to petition to. Under a shaded gazebo, on large wooden chairs, sat what looked to be the royal couple hosting this ghastly event. They seemed slightly familiar. The female had striking light brown hair and a petite build.
She caught my eye before I had time to look away. She stared at me with cold, green eyes. Trapped under her gaze, I witnessed her morph into a different person with more extreme features; a paler face, white hair, glassy eyes.
I heard thundering on either side of my head and broke her hold on my eyes just in time to see Roman and Nate crash into each other.
My vision blurred.
My hands clung to bars in front of me, steadying my weak knees. When was I put into a cage? When was I put on top of a mountain over the ocean? If someone wanted me dead, this was a perfect way to finish me off. Craning my neck, I tried to measure the distance between me and the ground.
A speck a few hundred metres below my birdcage grabbed my attention. Purple and green cloaks flashed and mingled in the dirt, each trying to gain the upper hand. What were they doing now?
My heart thudded hard. Maybe one of them was coming to save me.
I hugged myself around my shoulders. They were bare.
What now?
The school uniform was gone. What remained was an older, more womanly body, with long hair and an old fashioned dress cut perfectly off the shoulders. It was white.
Who was I? Where was my family? Why were the boys constantly fighting?
Suddenly my hair clung to my neck and forehead. I was covered in moisture. Looking up into the sky, I tried to see if rain was coming. There was nothing but thick, silver fog.
The cage door swung open. It hadn’t been locked at all. Without hesitating, I jumped out of my prison and fell, screaming, through the fog, down the side of the biggest mountain I’d ever seen.
o my disappointment, my friendship with Roman continued to be a great mystery to me. I felt like I’d been blacked out of his life, like I didn’t mean anything to him anymore and there was nothing I could do about it.
I’d assumed his parents would support him if I went over there demanding answers. On the other hand it was highly unlikely that he would have told his parents anything; being a boy and all.
What could I do? I felt bad about being so hard on him this time last term, since our last big fight. Of course he’d be protective of me having a boyfriend. He was my best guy friend. He should want to see me happy.
The dream I had a few nights ago flashed into my mind again. I’d woken up in such a sweat; I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d dehydrated all the water in my body in one nightmare.
I couldn’t get back to sleep. Questioning the meaning of such a dream tormented me and the only thing I could think of to rid myself of it was to talk to Roman. Maybe it was my mind’s way of telling me that I needed to make it right with him.
A light bulb went on in my head. The perfect idea.
Who would know Roman better than James?
But where to find James without Roman knowing? I had to corner him. And fast.
My grand plan was pretty much to stalk him until he was alone so I could plead with him to tell me everything he knew about Roman’s current state of mind. After all, James liked me. I wasn’t weird and he knew that.
He was my answer.
‘Aw geez Daisy I really don’t know how to answer your question,’ James said uncomfortably. He couldn’t look me in the eyes and shifted on his feet.
‘What’s so hard about it? You either know or you don’t know,’ I demanded impatiently.
He nodded. ‘Yeah I get that. But Roman’s my friend. I should be loyal to him and not tell anyone things he’s told me in confidence.’
My patience at said loyalty was waning. ‘James, let me break it down for you. This is our friendship here. I can’t access him to talk to him. I miss him and I want to apologise.’
‘Don’t you think if you can’t find him, he doesn’t want to be found? Isn’t that telling you something loud and clear?’ James asked frankly.
His words hurt, but I wasn’t going to give up. ‘He might want to hear what I have to say.’
‘He’s been busy lately. His life has changed a lot since …’ he stopped, debating with himself about continuing. ‘That’s all I’m going to say. Sorry.’
‘Please James. Can you tell me anything else? I don’t want to beg you, but it’s important.’
He avoided my pleading puppy dog eyes. ‘No. I’ve already said too much.’
‘Can you tell him I miss him then?’
‘Sure. I can’t guarantee he’ll contact you, though. Seeya Daisy.’
‘Bye.’ I turned to go.
‘Oh hey. Before I forget. I know you’ve been hanging out with Shana heaps lately,’ he looked sheepish asking, considering he’d just shut down my request. ‘Do you know how she feels about me? Do you think I’d be in with a chance to ask her out, or am I wasting my time?’
I debated within myself if I should spill to him or not. He should be finding out for himself, like he was expecting me to do. But what’s the point of increasing misery? It wouldn’t hurt to point him in the right direction.
‘Ask her. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t turn you down,’ I said sadly and walked away from the person whose love life was just about to begin.
My heart broke. My supposed best friend didn’t want to talk to me anymore. How had his life changed so dramatically in three months?
uys. There’s no room for losers on my team,’ Corby said with unnecessary seriousness. I rolled my eyes and tried to make eye contact with Nate. I knew he’d be in the starting line up; he was usually most valuable player along with Treston. I had been practising my kick and strengthening my ankles with Nate the last few weeks, but what if Corby didn’t give me a run in this final? I’d quit playing on his team, that’s what would happen.
After the kick off, I sat on the bench sulking. Cherice was on in my place, ‘for now’ apparently. Whatever. Treston had ruffled my hair before running on, telling me not to worry and to cheer for my favourite men instead. Do I look like a cheerleader?
The enemy had beaten us once before, but we’d beaten them once too. It was hard to predict who would win. Nate made a joke on the way to the game, saying he would shag me if we won today. I had laughed nervously, unsure how to take his statement.
Two figures approached slowly to my left. I wondered when they both would cotton on to what I’d done. I’d called James and said Shana would be at the game and wanted to see him. I’d also done the same to Shana. Meeting in the car park saved me time; they would be consumed by eac
h other now. Maybe they wouldn’t notice if I made a fool of myself and my team lost, either.
At half time we were two goals down. We had some good runs but couldn’t get our teamwork together in order to construct a proper play. Corby was getting frustrated; I could tell by the way he was tearing his hair at the sides of his head. He was starting to look more and more like Wolverine.
‘Warm up, Brooks. You’re on second half,’ Corby shouted at me. Quick as a flash I strapped my shin pads back on and pulled my socks above them.
Nate came over to me for support. He was dripping sweat and smeared his face on mine after the kiss that was supposed to be encouraging.
‘Gross. Thanks a lot,’ I grumbled, wiping it off using my sleeve.
‘You love it. Get used to it,’ he winked back. I blushed. Trying to ignore his comment, I started stretching and listened to Corby and Treston dress down the team.
Shana called out to me as I ran on to the field, but I didn’t wave. I was trying to focus on my game face. Corby wanted me as a forward, to assist Nate and Treston, or to score myself if a defender left me unmarked. I highly doubted they would, but I did as I was told.
Within five minutes, we caught the enemy off guard and Andre broke free, passing the ball to Treston in time to trick the goalie into coming out of his goal. He threw a giant tantrum at his defenders, to say the least.
The defenders weren’t fast learners. They were so busy blaming each other for letting in the first goal that Nate and Tres got our next goal through a corner ball. Their coach wasn’t happy about this and made some quick subs. The funny thing was, we couldn’t understand a word they said.
Their entire team might have been Serbian; they were all dark haired, bad tempered and took their game very seriously; including the women.
Before I knew it, there was less than ten minutes left and we were still two-all. Nate whispered to me during a throw-in that he wanted me to run as fast as I could towards the goal, when we got the ball again. I tried to argue, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
‘Just do as I say. Trust me,’ he said, tapping me on the backside as he ran away.
‘Focus on the game,’ Cherice teased in passing. I shivered slightly, waiting for my chance to run. What I was supposed to do at the attacking end of the goals, I had no idea.
Treston tackled one of the Serbian players, sending him on to his back and half his team came over to defend his integrity. The ref was getting sick of their antics, deciding to make an example by giving him a yellow card. This only made them worse and me uneasy. I couldn’t wait until this game was over.
Nate set the ball back down and looked up, searching for me. I bolted towards goal, looking over my shoulder every few steps in case he kicked it early. I didn’t want a repeat of last time when the ball hit me in the head.
In a good position to the right of the goal, I put my hand up briefly to let him know I was ready. Wait, ready for what? I hope he wasn’t banking on me for our win.
Treston was making his way up the left side in case Nate planned to pass to him. The whistle blew, Nate kicked and I nearly wet myself.
The ball sailed in the air, towards me. Trying to remember my training, I waited until it bounced, checked around me for competition, guarded the ball with my chest and dropped it down to my feet. And I was running. Taking a quick look up, I saw Treston in perfect position in front of the goal, but with players making their way to him, too. I passed it diagonally to my left and thought of stopping right there. He cocked his head to his right, though, meaning he wanted to pass it back in a one-two play. I kept up my pace and waited for his point of return.
Treston slid his pass to me just in time to get tackled and I could see in the corner of my eye he was on the ground. When the ball was in front of me, I tapped it to my right and kicked as hard as I could at the goal, not watching where the keeper was.
My rookie mistake irritated me. I should have known better, but I wanted to get rid of the ball as soon as I could. Looking up, I watched in shock as the ball sailed into the top right hand corner of the net, out of reach of their goalie.
I turned around gasping, trying to find Nate. Within seconds he was at my side, scooping me up and on to his shoulder, my teammates following soon after. Shana and James were clapping from the sidelines and Corby was punching the air. Treston hopped slowly behind our conga line and those who weren’t helping to carry me had their shirts over their heads with arms outstretched like aeroplanes.
The other team let out tirades of what I could only assume was abuse at us. It certainly didn’t sound like congratulations. They sulked off the field and wouldn’t shake our hands. And why would they? We had won the final. We took home the trophies and the glory. Looking down, I rubbed the top of Nate’s sweaty head. I got to take home the guy who I was planning to pash for most of the night at the after party.
‘If I tell you a secret, do you promise not to tell anyone? I mean anyone? ‘ I whispered to Sarah in human biol. I knew I could trust her, but she still had to promise.
‘Uh, sure. What’s going on?’ she whispered back, writing on her notepad and pretending to work.
‘Nate’s birthday is this weekend.’ The nerves in my voice showed.
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Yeah, and?’
‘And … well … I want it to be special for him,’ I stammered.
‘What kind of special are we talking about here? Making him a mixed tape of love songs, or taking him out to dinner and dessert afterwards?’ she grinned knowingly at me and I winced.
‘That too. Kind of more serious. He has told me lately he wants to be closer to me. So do I,’ I said, ducking my head.
‘Oh. Oh.’ She pursed her lips and stuck her pencil into her eraser. ‘What can I do to help?’
We stood outside the most expensive lingerie shop I could find; a boutique with a name I’d rather not repeat.
‘I’ve never been into a shop for this reason,’ I said, mouth open in awe and shock.
‘Me either. Let’s go in.’ Sarah grabbed my arm gleefully and pushed open the jingly door.
Inside were racks of multi-coloured night attire, ranging from bras, not much more than bras, underwear, nightgowns and another section I wasn’t keen to look at, partly because I didn’t want to know its purpose.
Sarah immediately pulled out garments from their racks and held them up to my body for comparison. My face burnt with embarrassment; this was as bad as buying tampons by myself in a supermarket.
‘Oh stop. This was your idea remember. You have to dress to impress,’ Sarah scolded.
‘I didn’t say it would be easy, did I? I’m trying to relax, but it’s so new to me,’ I replied in a low voice. I thumbed the material of the nightgown she had against me. It was beautiful, more beautiful than anything I’d ever felt. It was black satin, with lace around the bodice, but not over the top. I liked its simplicity and plain class.
Sarah saw the awe in my eyes and reached out to check the price tag. I put my hand over hers.
‘I don’t want to know. It’s probably out of my budget and I don’t want to be disappointed.’
‘No worries,’ she said, until I moved my hand away. She flicked the tag over before I could stop her and grinned. ‘Not bad, we can afford this.’
‘We?’
‘If you need. I want this to be special for you. You deserve it. Do you want to try it on or do we just buy it?’ she asked, taking the hanger to the counter.
‘Buy it. If it doesn’t fit I’ll bring it back tomorrow. I can’t wait to get out of here. I don’t belong,’ I said, digging my hands in my jeans pocket.
‘We can go somewhere else after, if you like? It’s late night shopping so everyone will be open for a while yet.’
‘Yeah, maybe I’ll get some matching briefs. Less expensive,’ I smiled at her.
‘You got it.’
My heart was thudding so hard inside my chest as we left the store. Sarah was ecstatic about our purchase and about helping me in my
awkward quest.
‘You’re sure about this, aren’t you Daisy?’ she asked, leaning forward to catch my eyes and read my face.
I stared straight ahead, not wanting her to see the scared look in my eyes. ‘Of course I am. I love him.’
‘Have you told him that?’
‘No. This will help,’ I said, holding up the shopping bag.
‘I’m not questioning your decision; I just want to make sure everything is OK. You’ve been quiet about it since you told me. Are you having second thoughts?’
The more she questioned me about my intentions, the more I wondered if I should be questioning myself about my intentions.
‘No Sarah, I’m scared witless. Everyone has to go through it at some point in their life, so I’ll get over it. Hey, is that Shana?’ I pointed to a small cafe on the corner of the street.
Sure enough, sitting in a cosy window seat under a tall heater were Shana and James, most probably on the first date James was asking me about not long ago.
‘Good on them,’ Sarah gushed. ‘They make such a cute couple, don’t you think?’
‘Yeah, definitely,’ I replied absent-mindedly. My head started throbbing with the amount of thinking I’d done lately.
‘Come on, you need a coffee. Don’t die on me now. I’ve got a list as well, you know,’ she said, linking arms with me and dragging me into the nearest cafe, away from Shana and James.
appy birthday, babe,’ I whispered nervously, gazing deep into Nate’s eyes as I handed him my humble wrapped gift.
‘What’s this?’ His eyes lit up and he turned it over in his hands. We sat on my bed, door locked. My brothers were working or at friends’ places and my parents had gone out to dinner and wouldn’t be home until late. My plan worked out perfectly.
‘There’s more to come,’ I mumbled.
He took the Nixon t-shirt out of the wrapping and instantly stripped off his shirt and put on the new one. A lump rose in my throat as I watched the show before me. He still had no clue what I had prepared for him. I heavily considered backing out and leaving it for another time, but I wanted it to be special for him, and a surprise. So it would happen one way or another.
Friendship on Fire Page 25
