Frankie and Joely (18 page)

Chapter 44

‘How are you feeling, Joely,' says Jill from the doorway.

‘Fine,' says Joely, wishing everyone would leave her alone.

‘Where's Frankie?'

‘Gone.'

Jill comes in and sits on Joely's bed. She strokes her hair. ‘Gone? Where?'

‘Home,' says Joely, wondering what everyone will make of Frankie leaving.

Jill nods. ‘Are you okay?'

Joely sighs. She doesn't know how to explain it, not even to Jill.

‘Joely?' Jill slides her arms around Joely, pulling her close.

It's all just too much for Joely and she bursts out with, ‘We like the same boy!' Jill holds her closer and Joely starts crying.

‘Oh,' says Jill.

Joely snuffles. ‘Frankie gets everyone she wants.'

‘Maybe. Maybe not.'

Surprised that Jill isn't more on her side, Joely looks up.

‘Maybe she wants someone to love her. That's all,' says Jill. ‘I know your mum can be a bit hard on you and a bit odd sometimes, but she loves you. You know she does. I don't
know what Frankie's situation is, but she seems a little
unattached …'

Joely nods, knowing that Jill is right. Even though her dad left and started a new family, at least she has one. Frankie just has a mum who doesn't seem to notice when she's around or not.

‘I do know one thing, Joely … Frankie loves you.'

It's about the last thing Joely wants to hear and it makes her start blubbering even more.

Frankie has fifteen minutes left before the train comes. For the last few hours she's been reading all the graffiti and learning quite a few things about Rory.

Apparently he's Payne's go-to guy. His number is even on the wall, several times over. There are a few other comments about him, nasty ones, suggesting he's a psycho. Frankie wishes she'd read these walls the first day before heading to the farm. She can't believe a boy like him played her. She's usually so good at avoiding the dangerous ones.

The more she thinks about Rory, the more she sees Joely on the road looking half-dead. And the more she thinks about Joely, the more she thinks about Thommo and Ged and Jill, and even Mack with his stupid comments. If she gets on that train, she's going home to her mum having loud sex with yet another guy that always leaves the toilet seat up. This wasn't her plan. She thought she'd be going home with a best friend forever. Not with a head full of sad thoughts.

She pulls a coin out of her pocket. Heads she stays; tails she goes.

She flips high. The coin smacks down in her hand. She covers it, desperately wanting it to land a certain way up, but not wanting to make a choice. She peels her fingers back and smiles.

Chapter 45

There are three different potato dishes for dinner, but nobody's eating much. Joely has mushed the same piece around in her mouth until it's become a paste. Mack's texting, Thommo's staring, Jill isn't talking and Ged just keeps slapping his leg, killing mosquitoes only he seems to see. ‘This is the last time we eat dinner outside,' he says to no one.

‘Can I grab a plate?'

Joely hears the words but doesn't really register them. Thommo jumps up but then he sits down again.

‘Frankie?' says Joely through the potato sludge.

‘I'm starving! I just walked back cos the buses weren't running. It was too hot or something and it broke down.' She laughs. ‘Only in the country, hey?'

Joely gets up, forgetting how sore she is, and rushes to Frankie. She wraps her arms tight around her waist, and pulls her in close. She doesn't want to let her go and scans her face to see how Frankie feels about her now. She's terrified her friend has just come back because she's run out of money, or there were no trains to the city. But then Frankie kisses Joely on the cheek and Joely hopes that whatever's happened, they will be okay.

Jill places a plate on the table next to Thommo. ‘Here you go, love. I must have known you were coming back. Made your favourite … potato salad!'

‘Jill, I'm sorry, but I don't actually like potato salad!' says Frankie.

Jill laughs. ‘Who does?'

Ged grabs the bowl and upends half of it onto his plate. ‘I do.'

And just like that, they all start talking again, freed from their silence by the return of Frankie with her short skirt and her shrug.

‘You feeling any better, Joely?' Frankie squeezes Joely's arm.

Joely manages to nod because she's not yet sure what she wants to say.

As Frankie sits down next to Thommo, he looks across at her and blushes. She reaches for his hand under the table and grabs it, holding tight.

‘Hey Mack.'

‘You're back. Great. Thommo will be pleased.' He stares at her across the table. She feels Thommo start to let go of her hand, but she grips it even tighter.

While the others all talk around her, Frankie thinks about what she'll say to Joely when they're finally alone.

Frankie knows that Joely's pretending to sleep again because her breathing isn't even. They still haven't talked about what happened because Joely rushed off after dinner saying her head was sore and she needed to lie down.

After flicking through her book and failing to find the right spot, Frankie slams it on the bedside table, making Joely flinch. ‘I might not be enough for you, Joely. But tough because I'm all you've got.'

Joely feels like she's back in that moment when her parents sat her down and told her they were splitting up. Knowing Frankie isn't going to sleep until they talk, Joely finally opens her eyes to find Frankie staring straight at her.

‘You're my best friend. I wouldn't have been with Rory if I'd known you liked him,' says Frankie.

‘I was jealous of you,' says Joely, hating herself and still not wanting to talk about it. ‘I never knew I was. But I wanted a boy to like me better than you.'

Frankie doesn't understand the feeling, but she understands the words. So she nods, trying to show Joely that she cares about how she feels.

‘I like you better,' says Frankie. ‘Better than pretty much anyone I've ever met.'

Joely can't say anything because she knows she's going to cry and she's so sick of crying. So she just nods. And nods. And nods. Until Frankie starts laughing. ‘Stop nodding!'

‘I can't!'

So Frankie starts laughing and shrugging, which makes Joely laugh too. Soon they are both laughing and shrugging and nodding and forgetting all about Rory and the fight that brought them here.

Then Joely reaches out, clasps Frankie's hand and squeezes it. It doesn't feel uncomfortable. Or awkward. It just feels right.

Chapter 46

Joely isn't well enough to use a shovel so she sits awkwardly on the back of Thommo's bike watching her cousin and her best friend dig. Today is not as hot as yesterday. The sun seems to be granting them an hour or two before it belts down and stings them again. It can't reach her anyway. She's covered in clothes and a hat and sunscreen. Not even her ears can be seen out of the shadows. Thommo laughs, but she can't hear what Frankie's said to earn it. She doesn't mind. She just likes watching them.

It's the first time she's been outside during the day since Thommo and Frankie found her here on New Year's. Jill managed to talk Joely's mum into letting them stay on for a few days, which suited Joely because she didn't want to go home when she was still blistered.

Thommo and Frankie drop their shovels and Thommo pulls on an old pair of gloves. He looks funny wearing them with a singlet and shorts. He holds his breath and reaches down into the ditch, pulling up what is left of the kangaroo. She sees him try not to vomit and Frankie turn away from the smell. Then he drags the body to the hole they've dug and rolls it in with his foot.

‘Your turn, Joely,' yells her cousin.

Joely climbs down from the bike and walks towards them. She picks up a handful of dirt, and closes her eyes. Making a silent prayer in her head, she tosses the dirt into the grave, adding the little tussie mussie she picked from Jill's garden. Frankie and Thommo start filling the hole and she watches as the kangaroo is slowly covered.

She hears a motorbike in the distance. For a second, Joely thinks of Rory then dismisses the thought. She refuses to let him ruin this burial. Instead, she watches Frankie work, red-faced and sweating.

She hears the bike stop, the engine cut short. She knows now that it's Mack without even turning round. She hoped he'd come. He walks up behind her and stands close. Then his hand takes hers and the two of them watch as Thommo and Frankie pat down the red dirt, and then drag the old branch over the top.

Frankie looks over at Joely and smiles, and Joely smiles back.

Chapter 47

Frankie starts to walk into the shop, but Joely stops outside and leans against the window.

‘I'm staying here,' says Joely.

‘Why? I thought you liked op shops,' says Frankie.

After everything that has happened, Joely's made a decision. She knows that every day will test it, but she has to start somewhere. ‘No. I hate them. I hate the smell. It's like dead old people. I'll wait here.'

Frankie laughs. ‘Dead old people. Nice. I must like that smell then!'

Joely looks into her friend's eyes and wishes she knew what Frankie was thinking.

‘So why didn't you tell me that before?' says Frankie, looking back into Joely's eyes.

‘Because I wanted to like them. Because you do.' Joely can't believe how relieved she feels telling the truth.

‘Oh.' Frankie bumps Joely with her elbow and pushes open the door. ‘I'll just be a sec.'

Joely's never had a friend she can be honest with before. She's always pretended to like things, to want things because they did. She's never told anyone about how she felt when her dad had a new baby, and now, maybe she can. Maybe if she tells Frankie stuff, Frankie will tell her stuff, too. The thought makes Joely smile.

Joely looks at a gold mirror on display in the window and sees her reflection. The blisters have almost gone, but her face looks different. It's changed, like something has played out across her skin in the last week and a half and the story is there in her extra freckles.

Frankie sticks her head out of the shop door and flashes something bright red.

‘Is this colour okay?'

‘Yes. What is it?'

Frankie smiles. ‘You'll see.' She disappears back into the shop.

Joely watches Frankie at the counter, talking to the old woman and making her laugh. She wonders what Frankie's saying. Then because she doesn't like the feeling of not knowing, she turns around and leans against the glass again. She stares across the road straight at Rory Macleod. Joely panics. She wants to rush into the op shop, find Frankie, and be saved, but she can't move. She has to watch as he leans down to the girl he's with and kisses her on the mouth.

‘Ready for the pool?' Frankie's suddenly standing right next to her, swinging a plastic bag in her hand. ‘Joel?'

‘What?'

‘You okay?'

‘Yes,' says Joely, wondering how honest she's being now. She wishes Frankie would notice him, too, and together they'd storm across the road to kick him in the shins. Joely's tempted to tell Frankie he's there, but maybe it's better to just leave it and forget he ever existed. So Joely smiles, an almost-real smile. ‘Yes, I'm fine!'

‘So are you ready for the pool?' says Frankie again.

Before Joely can answer, Frankie pulls something out of the bag. ‘You can wear one of these!' Frankie holds up two bright red rashies that are so big they look like dresses.

‘Ergh,' says Joely. ‘I already have a rashie on. One that doesn't look like that!'

Frankie grins at her. ‘Yeah, but now we have matching ones. And if it means you'll come into the water with me, then I'll wear whatever it takes!'

Joely can feel the tears filling her eyes. Frankie laughs. ‘Don't cry. Just put it on! Come on. We're in Payne. Nobody has any idea of fashion here!'

Before she can change her mind, Joely pulls off her own rashie and pulls on the new one.

‘Nice,' says Frankie. ‘It suits you!'

Frankie strips down to her bikini and, for a second, Joely is terrified that Frankie was kidding. But then her friend wriggles her way into the other rashie. It's even worse than Joely's: all puckered and stretched like a whole family were using it together.

‘Gorgeous!' says Joely, only half-joking because, despite wearing such a hideous thing, Frankie does look gorgeous. Frankie always looks gorgeous.

‘Come here,' says Frankie, pulling the rashie material tight around Joely's waist and knotting it at the front to give it shape. ‘That's better.'

Frankie grabs her hand and they scuff their way across the road towards the pool.

As soon as they get through the gates and reach the grass, Frankie and Joely kick off their thongs and run laughing and screaming into the cool water. Together.

Acknowledgements

This book has taken some time, and there were a lot of great readers and listeners along the way. Thanks to Jo, Paula, Pip, Teens, Saurenne, Selin, Mum and Lou. It's great to have such excellent women around to get feedback from when the book you're writing is all about intense female friendships. A huge thanks to Simmone Howell for reading and saying such nice things just when I needed to hear them. Thanks to my kids for their honest advice about cover art! To Aidan for taking a photo where I smile and my eyes aren't completely closed! To Penguin for letting me use
Picnic at Hanging Rock
– a book I loved desperately when I was a teen. And a huge thanks to all the work my amazing editor Kristy Bushnell put in on this one. It was so lovely working with someone who got it. And, as always, thanks to everyone at UQP, particularly the wonderful Kristina Schulz for reading this book when it was rough and not ready and seeing something in it.