The Call of the Wild (16 page)

‘Phoebs, what about Liam?’ Annabel asked again, staring at me.

I looked at my feet. I felt my throat constricting, but I knew I had to tell her what was bothering me.

‘Liam texted me today,’ I said, my voice croaking. I cleared my throat. ‘He thinks I’ve got a boyfriend at Highgrove and I’m too involved with him to care about the Wild Club.’

Annabel raised her eyebrows. ‘Why does he think that?’

‘He said … you told him.’

Annabel gasped. ‘I did not! Why would I do that?’

‘I’m not saying you
did
,’ I said quickly. ‘I’m just repeating what he told me.’

‘I didn’t say that. Why would I say you’re not interested in the Wild Club, or that you’ve got a boyfriend?’

I looked at her carefully. She seemed genuine. ‘I know, right?’ Annabel might have been a bit boy-crazy, but she was still my friend. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’

Annabel shook her head. ‘I really don’t know where Liam got that from.’

‘Me neither,’ I sighed. ‘Sorry, Annabel.’ I hugged her, remembering for the first time all week what a good friend she was. This whole thing with Liam had really caused a rift. I felt stupid for getting so jealous. ‘Friends?’ I smiled.

‘Best friends,’ Annabel said, smiling.

We both looked at Kimmi and put our arms out so she could join our hug, but she didn’t move.

‘Come on, Kimmi,’ Annabel called. ‘Group hug.’

‘There’s something else Phoebe has to tell you,’ Kimmi said, still not moving. ‘About Liam.’

I glared at Kimmi. We’d sorted things out. It was time to move on, not reveal my feelings for Liam.

‘If you don’t tell her, I will,’ said Kimmi to me firmly.

I shook my head.

‘Phoebe’s in love with Liam,’ Kimmi announced.

‘I am not!’ I shrieked.

Annabel stared at me.

‘I’m not!’ I said. ‘We’re friends. Just friends. That’s all.’

‘
Phoebs
,’ Kimmi said. ‘Time for a full confession.’

‘There’s nothing to confess,’ I insisted, smiling insanely at Annabel.

‘Really?’ Annabel asked. ‘You promise there’s nothing between you two?’

I coughed, my throat getting tight again. I couldn’t lie to her anymore. ‘Okay, the truth.’ I took a deep breath. ‘We
were
just friends. Well, that’s what I thought. But after that day when we all went to the mall, I started to feel differently about him. And then things started going really well between you two … I got jealous. I mean, of course he likes you. Why wouldn’t he?’ I looked at my feet. ‘I’m not proud of it. But I was jealous because he likes you and not me. And that’s why I didn’t go to any of the meetings last week. I couldn’t cope with seeing you and Liam together. Stupid, huh?’

I looked at Annabel, waiting for her reaction. She didn’t say anything for a minute, but something seemed to soften in her expression. ‘Listen,’ I went on. ‘Just forget all about it. You and Liam should get together. I can just be his friend, like always. It’s no big deal. I’ve been jealous and stupid.’

‘Oh, Phoebe,’ Annabel cried, squeezing my hands. There were tears in her eyes. ‘I feel awful. I never would have gone after Liam if I knew you really liked him.’

I shrugged. ‘It’s not your fault. I didn’t even know myself, at first.’ I gave Annabel a hug. ‘What a mess.’

‘Yeah, it is,’ Annabel nodded.

‘It’s going to feel really small in that slushie stand tonight,’ Kimmi said. ‘Maybe I’ll go to the party after all.’ She laughed, but nothing seemed funny.

‘It’ll be fine,’ Annabel said. She looked at me and smiled, then grabbed her things.

‘It will?’ I asked. ‘How?’

‘I won’t go to the movie night.’

I stared at her, hardly able to believe what I was hearing.

‘You and Kimmi go,’ Annabel went on. ‘I’ll just go home.’

‘No!’ I cried. ‘You should go. I’ll just be in the way. I’ll go home.’

But Annabel pulled free of me and walked towards the bedroom door. ‘I’m not interested in Liam, if he’s going to come between you and me, Phoebs. I’m really sorry. I know how much the Wild Club means to you. You go.’

‘Wait!’ I said, trying to grab Annabel’s hand, but she stepped out of my reach and rushed down the hall.

‘It’s fine!’ she called over her shoulder. ‘Have fun! Go Wild Club!’ Then I heard the front door slam. She was gone.

‘O-kay,’ I sighed, falling backwards onto Kimmi’s bed. ‘I didn’t see that one coming. I feel really terrible now. Do you think I should run after her?’

Kimmi shrugged. ‘Weird, huh?’ She stared at the doorway where Annabel had disappeared. ‘But I don’t think there’s any point chasing after her. You know what she’s like when she’s made up her mind.’

I nodded. ‘She’s so determined.’

Kimmi fluffed up her hair and then packed the banner that she’d made with Jack. I checked the time. It was getting late. It seemed like the only thing we could do was get to school to help the guys with the slushie stall and let Annabel go. I felt sorry for her. I knew exactly how it felt to have your best friend like the guy you’re crushing on. There was no point ruining our friendship over a guy. I could only be Liam’s friend.

I was glad we’d cleared things up. But something was still playing on the back of my mind. If Annabel didn’t tell Liam I had a boyfriend, why did he say she had? One thing was for sure – I was going to find out tonight.

People were already starting to trickle onto the oval when we arrived. Groups of girls and guys gathered on the grass near the big screen. Couples spread blankets and unpacked their picnics. And on the bank above the oval, I could see the slushie trailer, with Jack and Liam already serving a customer. We’d missed the set-up completely.

‘So, when did you forget all about Marco?’ I asked Kimmi as we walked towards the trailer.

Kimmi shrugged. ‘I’ve just been hanging out with Jack a lot, and it kind of crept up on me. Jack’s much quieter than Marco, but he’s got swag – he’s so cool on a skateboard. He’s also arty and interesting. And I think he likes me too.’

I smiled. ‘Jack’s a great guy. I really hope it all works out for you.’ It was good to see Kimmi move on from her obsession with Marco. It probably wasn’t good for her confidence to be chasing a guy who didn’t seem to notice her.

‘Nice timing,’ Liam smiled when we climbed into the trailer. ‘All the hard work’s done.’

‘Didn’t want to get in the way,’ I joked. I watched him carefully. I’d expected Liam to be uptight, since he’d lied to me that afternoon, but he seemed completely relaxed. He was looking cuter than ever in his aqua shirt. His hair was pushed back off his face for a change, and his eyes seemed to stand out even more.
Friends
, I kept thinking to myself, determined to believe it.
We’re just good friends
.

‘What happened to Annabel?’ Liam asked.

‘Family crisis,’ Kimmi said. ‘She’s really sorry she can’t come.’

I glanced at Liam to check his reaction, but he just shrugged. ‘Oh, well.’

He seemed surprisingly chilled about it, given how much time they’d spent together in the past week. He must have been good at covering up his feelings.

Beside me, Kimmi and Jack were looking very relaxed, too, as they unfurled the Slushies in Paradise banner. They chatted and laughed as they hung it over the counter. I could already see that they were going to make a great couple.

‘What d’you think?’ Kimmi said when the banner was in place.

I went outside to take a look. The sign was painted with trees. There were little orangutans hanging from the branches, and a sun setting over the whole scene.

‘Really great,’ I said, admiring Jack and Kimmi’s work.

‘Beautiful,’ Liam agreed, joining me in front of the trailer.

But I noticed he wasn’t looking at the artwork – he had his eyes on me.
Awkward.
Or maybe I was just imagining things.

‘So, are you planning to do some actual work?’ Liam said. ‘Or are you just here for show?’

I laughed. Liam was obviously mocking me. But I wasn’t sure if it was because I was being lazy or because I was overdressed for the slushie trailer. Annabel’s top and wedges were a big mistake. Luckily Kimmi had thought to grab aprons before we left her house. I went back into the trailer and tied one on to protect Annabel’s top. I felt a pang of guilt. I was wearing her stuff and hanging out with the boy she liked while she was at home on her own. What kind of friend did that make me?

By then a queue had formed outside the trailer. I had to get to work.

It didn’t take long to work out that the trailer was only designed for two. Once it got busy, it was ridiculously crazy with four of us taking money, pouring slushies, leaning over each other and getting in each other’s way. Even after we divided up the jobs so we didn’t all need to be on the slushie machines, it was still chaos. Jack poured slushie all down my arm as I tried to fill a cup, and then I bumped into Liam with two full slushies, and one ended up going all over his shirt. Luckily he just laughed about it. Then he accidentally slopped slushie down my leg. That made me laugh at first, until it dripped onto Annabel’s wedges.

‘I think we need to work in shifts,’ I suggested.

‘Love the plan,’ Jack said, wiping his hands on his shorts. ‘How ’bout you guys stay here, and we’ll come back at intermission?’ We all agreed, and Jack turned to Kimmi. ‘Coming?’

The movie, a romantic comedy, had just started on the big screen. Kimmi shrugged casually and smiled, but I could tell she was jumping up and down on the inside. She’d be happy to snuggle up with Jack on the grass.

She hung up her grubby apron and smoothed out her dress, then followed Jack out of the trailer, turning to give me a big smile before she left. I felt so happy for her. I was glad things were working out with her and Jack.

I sighed. ‘Such a cute couple.’

Liam nodded, but he wasn’t looking. He was watching me again. I started thinking about how much I wanted to be snuggling up with Liam under the stars right now. But I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with Annabel. If only I’d realised how gorgeous he was
before
Annabel joined the Wild Club.

‘Five Borneo Sunsets,’ came a voice from the other side of the counter. I looked out to find the queue growing again.

‘I’ll take the till, you can make the slushies, if you like,’ I said to Liam.

‘Sure, whatever you want,’ he said and started pouring slushies.

I sighed to myself as we got back to work. What I wanted was never going to happen.