by Robin Martin
Stepping back from her, I tried to lose that depressing thought.
‘So, you brought a friend,’ Chelsea said, turning to Rion.
He gave her a megawatt smile. ‘Hi, I’m Rion. I’m a friend of Zoe’s cousin. I hope you don’t mind that I crashed your party.’
As if. There were way more girls than guys at Chelsea’s party, and Rion was not exactly the ugliest of boys.
‘Of course not,’ she said, and giggled. ‘Gee, I had no idea Zoe’s cousin had such cute friends.’ Flutter-flutter.
‘Zoe has some pretty cool friends, too,’ Mr Smoothie said, and gave her another smile.
Chelsea giggled again. ‘Come with me and I’ll get you a drink.’
‘A Coke would be great, thanks,’ Rion said.
A Coke—and after all his lectures to me. I wasn’t going to let him get away with that. ‘I thought you said soft drinks were really bad for you, Rion. All those chemicals and sugar, wasn’t that what you said?’
‘Well, this is a party, Zoe. And isn’t that what kids our age do, eat junk food and listen to loud music?’ There was that infuriating lifted eyebrow again. ‘But you have a point. Make it a diet Coke, please, Chelsea. I’m in training.’
I glared at him, but Chelsea was oblivious to me. ‘Really? What sport do you play?’
‘Several, but I’m training for …’ He was at a loss.
‘Cricket,’ I said, forgetting it was winter. Then I added, ‘They’re getting in shape for the summer season.’
Chelsea continued to ignore me. ‘I’m very into sport,’ she said to Rion. ‘I’m on the cheerleading squad.’ Flick of the hair.
‘It doesn’t surprise me in the least,’ he answered. ‘You look very … athletic.’
I only just stopped myself from making gagging noises.
‘You should come and watch a game sometime,’ Chelsea said, edging closer to him. ‘Our footie team is the best.’
‘He’s only here for the weekend,’ I said. Hopefully no more than a few hours, I thought. Rion was attracting more attention than I’d expected, and I only hoped we could pull this off without making a mistake.
‘Oh no, really? Where are you from?’ Chelsea looked at him all wide-eyed, definitely interested now.
‘The Gold Coast,’ I said, trying to be helpful.
‘The Sunshine Coast,’ he said at the same time.
Chelsea looked puzzled. Jeez, I thought, if she really knew where he was from she’d look more than puzzled.
I stepped on his foot, signalling him to be quiet and let me handle this. He winced but didn’t say a word.
‘Rion’s parents are divorced, and he spends some time with his dad on the Gold Coast and some time with his mum on the Sunshine Coast.’ I felt rather pleased with myself for coming up with such a clever answer.
Chelsea pulled a sympathy face. ‘I know all about that. Mum’s divorced, several times, actually. But I see my real dad sometimes. He lives in Sydney. Come on, Rion, let’s get you that drink.’
‘No worries, I’ve got it.’ Jas came drifting over with a beer in her hand, which she shoved at Rion.
‘Rion doesn’t drink,’ I said.
‘I’m in training,’ he said again, giving the beer back to Jas. ‘But thank you anyway.’
‘Rion is really against underage drinking,’ I said. ‘He doesn’t approve of people who drink.’ I looked pointedly at the beer in Jas’s hand.
Rion gave me a look. ‘It’s not the people I don’t approve of, Zoe, but the practice. I’m into a healthy lifestyle, as you know.’
‘Just telling it like it is,’ I said, meeting his eyes. ‘Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong impression here.’
‘I’m so into healthy living,’ Jas said, as she slid the untouched beer onto a table next to her. ‘I did the green diet once. You know, the one where you only eat green vegetables. I lost five kilos on that and felt so good.’ She put her hand on her waist and stuck out her chest, not so subtly showing off her terrific figure.
‘A limited diet might be all right for short-term weight loss,’ Rion said, ‘but for overall health a balanced diet with a large proportion of fruit and vegetables is best.’
Then he launched into a spiel on the relative merits of different diets, and soon had the crowd—the female crowd, at least—transfixed. Any other guy would have sounded like a complete geek, but Rion, looking like a cross between the lead singer in a boy band and a star in a vampire movie, soon had a bunch of groupies around him, hanging onto his every word. I had heard his monologues on a healthy diet too many times to be impressed.
I stepped back away from the group and found myself standing next to Chad Everett, who was looking abandoned and downcast.
I was very good at comforting people, so I said, ‘Hey, Chad, how you going?’
He smiled and shrugged.
Awkward pause. Why couldn’t I think of something scintillating and sparkly to say?
‘Your cousin’s friend seems to be very popular,’ he said.
‘Yeah, Rion sure loves to talk.’ And lecture, and preach … I could write a book about that, I thought.
‘You know him well?’
‘I only met Rion recently.’ I wondered what Chad would say if I told him the real story of how I met Rion. He’d probably freak out. ‘But he’s very friendly and we get on really well.’ I should’ve crossed my fingers behind my back when I made that statement, such a lie it was. But I remembered my agenda to make Chad jealous so he’d think I was interesting, desirable and even cool.
‘Oh,’ Chad said.
Silence. What had happened to that promising start we’d had when he first came to the party? I’d thought for sure we’d had something going, or at least could have. But I knew the answer and it was just one word: Jas.
I tried again. I tried to shake my brown hair over my shoulders, but because it was chin length it came right back and flicked me in the eyes. Ouch.
‘Yes, we’ve met a few times when I’ve visited my cousin,’ I said, ‘and we really get on. That’s why he’s here, to see me. He says I’m one of the most interesting, attractive girls he’s ever met.’ Maybe I was laying it on a bit thick, but that seemed to work for Jas.
‘Rion’s like, your boyfriend, then?’ Chad said it as if it didn’t matter to him in the least one way or another. So not good. Maybe I needed to drop a hint or two.
‘Oh no, no, no,’ I said, ‘at least not yet. I like him, but, you know, there’s a lot of nice boys here, too.’
I gave him my most dazzling smile and tried for a careless laugh, which came out as a high-pitched giggle. Chad gave me a weird look, which was not what I was going for. I really needed to brush up on my flirting skills.
‘Jas seems to like him, too,’ he said.
Jas had put her hand possessively on Rion’s sleeve and was laughing at something he said.
‘Jas likes lots of people,’ I said. It was definitely time to change the subject. ‘So, Chad, how are you finding our school?’ Okay, it was the lamest question in the world, but I couldn’t think of anything else.
He made an effort to drag his eyes away from Jas and look at me. He really did have the most beautiful blue eyes. ‘It’s okay. People are very friendly.’ He smiled. At last we were getting somewhere. ‘Although I still miss my old friends,’ he added.
‘Anyone in particular? Like, did you have … a girlfriend or anything?’ I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
He hesitated a moment and then said, ‘Yeah, but we broke up before I moved. She looked a lot like Jas.’
Okay, another stupid question, but also a lightbulb moment. So that was why he liked Jas, as well as the other obvious reasons. She reminded Chad of his ex. He probably still had feelings for her, so what chance did I have? For a moment I felt dejected, but then I decided to take a chance.
‘Well, then, nothing like a change,’ I said. Flutter-flutter. My eyelashes weren’t long, but I did the best I could
‘Is there something
in your eye?’ Chad asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You keep blinking,’ he said, moving away from me.
My hand dropped loosely to my side. ‘I’m fine.’ I was annoyed. I wasn’t cut out for this. Obviously I needed help.
I looked over to where Rion was still the centre of attention. Wasn’t he supposed to be helping me? ‘I think I’ll go and rescue Rion,’ I said.
‘Good idea,’ Chad said, perking up and sounding more cheerful than he had since I’d been talking to him.
Chapter Five
I pushed my way through the girls and stood in front of Rion. ‘Hey, Rion, you want some food? I think there’s pizza here somewhere.’
I tried to signal him with my eyes that we needed to get moving on our original agenda. If only we had that mind thingy going on right now, I thought. I could tell him how I felt about all this needless flirting with the wrong people. Not that I wanted him to flirt with me, or anything, but hey, it was part of the plan. And I was getting desperate.
‘Pizza? Oh, Rion wouldn’t eat anything like that. Think of the carbs.’ Jas gave an elaborate shudder as if I’d offered him arsenic or something.
‘No, Rion’s into paleo,’ Chelsea said.
‘I thought he was vegetarian,’ one of the other girls said.
‘I think it was vegan,’ said another.
Rion just stood there, lapping up all the attention. His ego was even bigger than I thought.. I knew he was vain and opinionated, but I hadn’t realised he would get away with it just because he looked hot.
I was sick of subtle. ‘I need to talk to you now, Rion.’ I grabbed his arm and pulled him away. ‘And Chelsea, I think I heard a car pulling up outside. It’s probably parents. Maybe you should tell the guys to put the beer away. Jas, honey, mascara.’ I pointed to my eyes.
Chelsea was immediately alert, and Jas’s hand went to her eyes. Both girls disappeared quickly. Why wasn’t I this good with the opposite sex?
Rion seemed to snap out of it. ‘Zoe, where have you been all evening?’
‘About two metres away from you,’ I said. ‘Observant, aren’t you?’ I dragged him over to a corner.
‘I was preoccupied.’
‘So I saw. What did you think you were doing?’ I stepped back from him and crossed my arms over my chest.
Rion looked at me in surprise. ‘Why, helping you, of course.’
‘Helping me? How?’ I really was bewildered.
‘By distracting the other girls so you could talk to that boy. What’s his name again? Oh yes, Chad. How did you get on? Not too well, by the look of it, otherwise you wouldn’t be here with me.’
Trust my friendly little soap alien to make me feel better.
‘Don’t feel too bad, Zoe. I told you Chad was out of your league. Why not try that boy over there? He looks more your type.’ He was pointing at Harry Crosby, who was eating pizza and trying to look as if it didn’t matter that no one was talking to him. ‘Mind you, he does look as if he suffers from low self-esteem and body-image problems, but between the two of us we could do him a lot of good.’
I mentally counted to ten before I said or did something I regretted. ‘That’s not why you’re here,’ I said as calmly as I could, ‘so leave poor Harry out of this. I actually do talk to him sometimes. He’s a friend, but he’s not … boyfriend material. And, by the way, you’re not doing anything for my self-esteem either.’
I felt a bit guilty about Harry. I knew I should have said hello to him before now. I gave him a wave and he smiled back.
‘But I’ve already improved you. You express yourself very well now, thanks to me. And I don’t mean to be harsh, but perhaps you’re not girlfriend materi—’
I took a step closer to him and stuck my finger in his chest. ‘Don’t say it,’ I warned.
He backed off and put his hands up. I was beginning to notice my alien didn’t like physical confrontation. ‘Calm down, Zoe, your aggressive behaviour isn’t your most admirable trait. What do you want me to do?’
‘Stick with the plan. Refocus. You were supposed to make Chad jealous so he would think I was great.’
‘Instead, you’re jeal—okay, I won’t say it, but you know it’s true.’ He looked at me with a smug expression.
‘I am not jealous. Unlike the girls who were hanging onto your every word, I know exactly what you’re really like. This pretend body you’re occupying doesn’t change a thing.’
‘It’s not pretend,’ he said. It’s quite real, actually. I can eat, drink, run—’
‘Can you feel pain?’ I tried my own eyebrow lifting.
He got the point. He took another step back. ‘Where’s Chad?’
We looked around and saw him over in the corner talking to some of the guys. Apparently they were more interesting to him than I was, because at least he was laughing at what they were saying.
‘Okay, I’m going to put my arm around you. No hitting, right?’ Rion looked at me anxiously.
I rolled my eyes. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
His arm snaked around my shoulders and I found myself nestling into the contours of his body. Okay, it didn’t feel altogether terrible. If only it was Chad doing this and not my alien. We walked over to where some of the boys were standing.
‘Hi, guys,’ I said. ‘This is Rion. He’s just visiting for the weekend.’
‘Hey, mate,’ Con Adams said.
The other guys, including Chad, gave him a nod. Then they all started talking about footy, and I was surprised at how much my alien knew. A couple of the girls drifted over, and one of them suggested dancing, looking pointedly at Rion. What was I, invisible?
Chelsea put on some music.
‘Come on,’ Rion said, pulling me towards a tiny free space. ‘I want to dance with the hottest girl in the room.’ It was all I could do not to roll my eyes at that one.
He grinned down at me as we started to dance. I slid my eyes sideways towards Chad, who looked surprised, as did everyone else in the room.
‘You’re a convincing liar,’ I shot back as we moved to the music. Rion was, surprisingly, not totally uncoordinated.
‘I’m quite proficient at everything, and technically speaking I wasn’t lying. Your temperature is a little elevated,’ he said.
‘Thanks, buddy, it matches your ego.’
‘Don’t complain. At least it got their attention. Oh good, the music has slowed. I was hoping it would.’
He pulled me into his arms and I let myself sink into his broad, rock-hard chest. For a moment I closed my eyes and let myself imagine it was Chad who was holding me. Rion felt good, and I might even have been just a tiny bit attracted to him if he’d been a real person. I could even feel his heart beat—his fake, pretend heart that seemed so real.
I allowed my arms to wrap themselves around his neck, and without thinking I found my thumb caressing the back of his neck. I felt a shiver go through him. Hey, did I do that? I was beginning to wonder what other reactions I could get from him, just purely out of intellectual curiosity, when I remembered my purpose.
I looked over to see where Chad was. To my surprise he was still watching us. Great, the plan was working.
‘Okay, I’m going to dip you,’ Rion said. ‘Are you ready for it?’
Before I could answer, he dipped me low, like they do on Dancing with the Stars, and then swung me up again. Then he twirled me around and swung me back into his arms. I looked up into his dark eyes, which were shining. Somewhere I heard a little clap, but it was obviously for my alien and not me.
‘Wow,’ I said, ‘where did you learn that?’
‘One of my previous hosts was a dancing instructor. I picked up a thing or two, but I’ve never physically danced before. I didn’t realise how exhilarating it is.’
‘Not bad, mister,’ I said. ‘What other moves have you got?’
‘Praise, Zoe? How unusual,’ he said, as he dipped me again.
We did a few more dips and swings, and I was ac
tually having fun when Jas sidled up to us. She was dancing with Chad, of course.
‘We’re cutting in,’ she said. ‘Come on, time to change partners.’
Rion moved smoothly to her and they were away. Chad and I stood together awkwardly, looking at each other. This was what I’d wanted, wasn’t it? He held out his arms and we danced slowly. He wasn’t a terrible dancer, and he was trying to be polite and all, but his eyes kept drifting towards Jas and Rion. He wasn’t holding me closely; you probably could have driven a truck in the space between us.
I looked up at him. He was just as gorgeous as ever, but I knew that even if I did backflips naked he still wouldn’t notice me. All that scheming and plotting for nothing. As long as Jas was in sight, I simply didn’t exist for him.
After the dance, he drifted away from me and I made no attempt to stop him. Instead, I moved to the table and took a large slice of pizza. What difference did it make if I got fat? No boy would ever notice me. Even Harry had disappeared. Maybe he’d gone home, and who could blame him?
I was halfway through my third bite when I had an idea, a brilliant idea. Rion was still dancing, only now with Chelsea instead of Jas, who had moved back to a much-relieved Chad. Maybe I could still get something out of this little venture, even if it wasn’t Chad.
Rion had said that we were still connected, even though he had materialised. I wasn’t sure if I believed that, but I was going to test it out. It would be so good to be rid of him once and for all. I would be free again.
I looked over at him; he was totally engrossed in being the star. No one would notice if I left. Maybe if I went far enough away I could break the bond between us. I moved to the door slowly so he wouldn’t notice me. Then I slipped out.
I’d forgotten how cold it was, but what did it matter? I was making a break for freedom. As I left the house, a small part of me felt guilty. I might be making it hard for Rion to be a soap bubble again and go back to his mothership or mothercloud or whatever. I might never see him again. Or hear him.
