The Call of the Wild (20 page)

Annabel and I looked at each other. I knew she wanted to stay just as much as I did, but we couldn’t abandon Kimmi when she needed us most.

‘Of course we’re coming with you,’ I said. ‘We’ll just race back and tell the guys we’re going.’

Kimmi shook her head. ‘Don’t let Marco ruin your night, too. Just stay with Saia and Ryan.’

I grabbed Annabel’s hand. ‘We’ll be right back.’

We were just about to rush off when Kimmi’s parents pulled up beside us.

‘Hello girls,’ her mum called out the window. ‘How was the party?’

Kimmi opened the back door and climbed in. ‘Bad,’ she grumbled.

I looked at Kimmi, knowing what would happen if we ran off now. I really wanted to say goodbye to Saia, but there wasn’t time. Instead, I sent him a quick text explaining what was happening, then climbed into the back of the car, pulling Annabel in with me. As we drove off, I turned and watched Ryan’s house disappear behind us, feeling hollow. It was like I was leaving a little bit of my heart at the party.

‘So, what happened tonight?’ Kimmi’s dad asked. ‘I thought you girls were planning to stay at Annabel’s.’

‘Nothing happened,’ Kimmi replied flatly.

‘Nothing at all?’ her mum asked.

‘
Nothing
,’ Kimmi repeated. ‘Now, you two just talk to each other, because we’ve got private things to discuss in the back.’

‘I see,’ Kimmi’s mum said.

Kimmi looked like she was about to cry.

‘I can’t believe Marco did that to you,’ Annabel said. ‘That’s the last time I’m ever talking to him.’

‘I know,’ Kimmi said. ‘I can’t believe it either. But I saw it all for myself. He was actually kissing that girl. I had to get out of there.’

‘Who was kissing?’ Kimmi’s mum interrupted.

‘No-one!’ Kimmi snapped. ‘This is private.’

‘Fine, be like that,’ her mum said, and pumped up the volume on the radio. Some completely random old people’s music was on.

‘Mum, no!’ Kimmi screeched.

But her mum pretended not to hear. Then things got worse – her dad started singing along. He sounded even worse than my dad. Kimmi protested, but that just made him sing louder, and then her mum joined in.

‘You spin me right round, baby right round, like a record baby …’
I’d heard donkeys with better singing voices.

‘So embarrassing.’ Kimmi glared at her parents.

I couldn’t help smirking. It was definitely painful to listen to, but it was also pretty funny. Beside me, Annabel was dancing in her seat. When I nudged her, she started singing, too. It wasn’t even the proper song – just something she was making up as she went along.

‘Marco is a dirtbag, baby, dirtbag. He is such a slime ball, what a lo-ser …’

I looked at Kimmi, raising my eyebrows. She shrugged and put her arm around me. We both joined in.
‘Marco is a dirtbag, baby, dirtbag …’

It looked like Kimmi was beginning to have fun, but as soon as we finished singing, she got sad again.

‘You’re better off without him.’ I squeezed her hand, trying to console her.

She nodded. ‘But it still hurts.’

‘I know what will make you feel better,’ Kimmi’s mum said, interrupting again. ‘A chick flick! We can all snuggle up on the sofa and watch a movie.’

‘Mum!’ Kimmi protested. ‘Stop listening in! I’m fine, and I don’t need to snuggle with you on the sofa. I’m not three.’

‘It’s not a bad idea, though,’ I whispered.

Annabel nodded. ‘Popcorn, a movie, a box of tissues. You’ll be over Marco by midnight.’

Kimmi smiled. ‘Sounds cool. So long as Mum doesn’t join in.’

As Kimmi and Annabel talked about which movie we could watch, my phone buzzed with a message. I quietly checked it, hoping that it was from Saia. I wondered what he thought of me disappearing with Kimmi and Annabel. I was pretty sure he’d understand, but my fingers trembled as I opened the message, I was so nervous. Sure enough, it was from Saia.

Sorry you had to go
, he said.
Do you want to meet up tomoz? How about the cove?

My heart jumped as I read it.
Sure thing
, I replied.

Annabel saw me texting and leant across, peering at my phone. ‘You’re meeting Saia tomorrow?’

I glanced at Kimmi, who looked hurt. ‘But I thought we could do something together,’ she whimpered.

‘We will,’ I said. ‘We can all go to the cove.’

‘With you and Saia, all loved up?’ she said forlornly. ‘That’ll be fun.’

I thought for a moment and then sent another message to Saia.
Annabel and Kimmi want to come too.

Saia replied right away.
Cool. I’ll bring Ryan and James.
James says he met Kimmi at the party.

I held my phone out so Kimmi and Annabel could read it.

Annabel started bouncing up and down right away, but Kimmi frowned. ‘James? The guy that I fell on?’

‘Guess that’s the one,’ I smiled. ‘Cool, huh?’

‘But I don’t even know him,’ Kimmi moped. ‘What if we have nothing in common?’

‘As long as he’s nothing like that dirtbag Marco, it should be fine,’ Annabel said.

‘And besides,’ I added. ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re different. Don’t they say opposites attract?’

A tiny smile flickered across Kimmi’s face. ‘They say that, do they?’

I grinned at Kimmi and Annabel. ‘They do. And you know what? They might just be right!’

I let myself enjoy the feel of Liam’s hand on mine for several glorious moments – long enough to know that I didn’t want to be just friends with him. I knew for sure how much I liked him, and now I could see he was into me, too. But while I wanted to stay like this forever, I kept thinking about Annabel. What would happen on Monday when I saw her? Or the next time I saw Liam at the Wild Club? How was that going to work out? I gently slipped my hand out from under Liam’s and put it in my lap.

‘There’s something we need to talk about …’ I began, unsure what to say after that.

Sorry, I shouldn’t have …’ he paused. ‘You
do
have a boyfriend at Highgrove, don’t you?’

‘No,’ I whispered indignantly. ‘That’s not it. It’s because of Annabel.’

‘
Annabel
?’ Liam asked, a dumb look on his face.

I nodded. ‘Yes, that’s the one. Long blonde hair, bubbly, pretty.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, without smiling. ‘I know who she is. But what’s she got to do with anything?’

Now it was my turn to stare at him with a dumb look. ‘What do you mean?’

‘She’s just a friend. Annabel and I aren’t together,’ Liam said firmly.

I turned and stared at the big screen, confused. ‘You’ve been hanging out with her all week,’ I said, trying to work out the truth.

Liam nodded. ‘Working on the stall. It doesn’t mean we’re an item.’

‘What about the skate park? You invited her skating. I saw her. She was wearing your helmet.’

Liam shook his head. ‘I didn’t invite her. She just turned up. I thought she just wanted to learn to skate.’ He pulled his phone out of his pocket. ‘You want to check my messages? See if you can find anything incriminating?’

I looked at his phone and then shook my head. I didn’t want to trawl through his messages.

‘Okay, here’s one from yesterday,’ Liam went on. ‘Annabel asked me what time we were setting up. And this is how I replied.’ He showed me the screen.

Setting up at 5
, it said
.

That was it. There was no ‘love’ or kisses or smiley face. It was actually pretty abrupt. It seemed like Liam was telling the truth.

‘Why did Annabel tell me that things were going well with you, then?’

Liam shrugged. ‘I guess she wanted you to think they were. She also said you had a boyfriend.’

‘But she told me she didn’t say that!’

‘Well, okay. She didn’t say that exactly. I just thought maybe you did, because I saw you become friends online with this Highgrove guy called Saia, and when I asked Annabel about it she hinted you were together. And when you didn’t turn up to any meetings this week, she said you were too busy. I figured you didn’t want to hang out with me anymore.’

I swallowed hard as Liam’s eyes searched my face for a response. ‘I don’t even know Saia, I just got invited to a party he’s going to. And I’ve only been skipping Wild Club because I’ve been jealous of you and Annabel.’

‘You were … jealous?’ he smiled shyly. ‘But Annabel told me you thought we’d never be more than friends.’ He kicked at the grass with his toe. ‘Did she make that up too?’

‘Yes,’ I said. But it was a lie. I had said those exact words at the mall, right before Annabel started her campaign to get Liam. ‘Well, no. She didn’t make it up. What I meant was I
thought
we were just friends, and then …’ I dropped my gaze. How was I going to explain that my feelings for Liam had changed as soon as Annabel started flirting with him? ‘Things change,’ I said eventually.

And I realised that was true. Annabel hadn’t exactly been honest with me or Liam. But I hadn’t been honest with her about my feelings either. As soon as she found out the truth, she had stayed at home alone instead of coming between me and Liam.

‘What does that mean?’ asked Liam.

I took a deep breath. I could feel every hair on the back of my neck stand on end as Liam watched me, waiting for an answer. And I could have tried to explain everything, but it just felt right to show Liam how I felt. Enough words had been wasted in the past week, saying things that weren’t true. I leant towards him and gently kissed him on the lips.

‘I’d like it if we could be more than friends.’

‘Oh,’ he smiled. ‘I’d like that too.’