The Call of the Wild (6 page)

‘Hey, you made it.’ Liam smiled as we walked in and sat down with them.

‘You didn’t think we’d come?’ I said.

Liam shrugged. ‘Wasn’t sure.’

‘So, how’s the banner going?’ Jack asked.

Kimmi glanced at me and scowled. ‘The paint was still a bit wet,’ she explained, ‘so I left it at home. We’ll have to bring it to the stall tomorrow.’

‘Cool,’ Jack replied. ‘Can’t wait to see it.’

‘I’ve got something else to show you,’ I said, holding up my USB. ‘I was thinking we should use the fundraiser to educate people about orangutans. So …’ I put the USB into the laptop on the desk. Everyone gathered around as I ran the mouse down the files and clicked on
Save the Orangutans
. I could feel Annabel shuffling beside me, getting impatient, but she stopped fidgeting as the music started and footage of some baby orangutans came up on screen.

‘So cute,’ Annabel cooed.

Kimmi started
oooing
and
ahhing
too
.
‘They are so adorable.’

I had edited together clips of baby orangutans cuddling each other, clinging to their mother’s backs and sucking on babies’ bottles. There was some footage of adult orangutans too. My favourite was an old-man orangutan brushing his teeth.

‘Sweet,’ said Liam, laughing.

And then came the images of the bulldozers, bringing total destruction to the forest. Kimmi and Annabel stopped giggling.

‘What’s going on?’ Kimmi asked.

‘They’re clearing the forest for timber and palm-oil plantations,’ I said.

‘They can’t do that!’

Complete silence fell as some sad footage of starving orangutans followed, showing animals that had been forced out of their forest home by loggers. The film finished with a close-up of a helpless baby orangutan with big, round, sorrowful eyes. The caption read:
We must act now, or orangutans will disappear from the wild by 2023.

Kimmi wiped a tear from her cheek.

‘Wow,’ Liam said, blinking.

‘Powerful stuff,’ Jack added.

I pulled the USB out of the laptop and handed it to Liam, buzzing from the way everyone had responded to my film. It had really worked. ‘Hope you can use it somehow tomorrow night,’ I said. ‘There might be a laptop you can put it on, or something.’

‘Thanks,’ Liam nodded. ‘It’s amazing. I’ll make sure it gets used.’

I felt a tingle run down my spine as Liam looked at me. He seemed genuinely pleased that I’d gone to so much effort on the presentation.

‘It’s just a film,’ I said modestly. ‘But I wanted to do something to help. I was thinking maybe we could use it to raise awareness outside our school, too. It would be great if we could inspire some other groups to sponsor orangutans.’

‘That’s an epic idea,’ Liam agreed. ‘We could set up a website for other schools to access, and link it to one of the orangutan charities.’

I couldn’t help smiling. It felt great to be in sync with Liam again. I still felt bad about missing the movie night, but I didn’t feel so guilty anymore. I knew I’d be involved in the Wild Club’s other projects.

By the end of the meeting, Annabel was also excited about staying involved with the club, and Kimmi was determined to make the banner for the slushie stall really special.

‘I’ve got a few ideas,’ Kimmi said, as we walked off after the meeting. ‘Do you think we should have a jungle for the background, or should it be a sunset?’

‘It doesn’t matter what you do,’ Annabel said, smiling. ‘It’ll be fantastic.’

Kimmi shook her head. ‘I don’t want to do the wrong thing.’

‘How about we help you work on it tomorrow?’ I looked at Annabel.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I’d love to help, but I’ve got a hair appointment in the afternoon.’

‘Oh,’ I sighed, turning to Kimmi. ‘Looks like you’ve just got me for artistic support. I’m useless at art, but I can wash brushes.’

Kimmi smiled, putting her arm around me. ‘Perfect. I’m pretty good at art, but I hate cleaning up. We’ll make a great team. We’ll get started right after we watch the guys play rugby.’

‘Are these definitely the right guys?’ I asked as we stood on the sidelines of yet another sporting field at Highgrove. We had already spent an hour in the wrong place, watching guys we didn’t know play a game that I didn’t understand.

‘I’m pretty sure I can see Ryan,’ Annabel said. ‘On the far side. In the blue top.’

‘Duh,’ Kimmi teased. ‘The whole team is in blue.’

‘Obviously,’ Annabel said. ‘But I’m pretty sure it’s him.’

I watched as a player in a red jersey charged down one of the Highgrove guys. Another three red guys piled in on top. The ball was totally lost for a while, then it dribbled out the back and the whole process started up again.

‘Anyone got any idea what’s going on?’ I asked.

‘One side has to smash the other side out of the way, get the ball to the other end, and stick the ball on the ground.’

‘And they call this sport?’ Kimmi frowned. And then she squealed. ‘Oh my god! That’s Marco with the ball!’

Next to us, a bunch of girls started cheering as Marco ran. Then they groaned as he was smashed to the ground by a guy twice his size. ‘Poor Marco,’ one of them cried.

Kimmi, who had been focused on the game, turned to watch the girls. ‘Who are they?’ she muttered. ‘And why are they talking about Marco?’

Annabel glanced across at the group. ‘Probably Fairmount girls,’ she said. ‘The one with black hair lives in my street.’

‘You know her?’ Kimmi asked.

Annabel shook her head. ‘I just recognise her. Can’t say we’ve ever spoken.’

Kimmi seemed completely put out by the girls, who were now whispering to each other and pointing to different players.

‘Look how dressed up they are,’ said Kimmi. ‘Who are they trying to impress?’

‘Totes overdressed,’ Annabel said.

I nodded, deciding not to mention the fact that we’d spent hours last night texting each other with possible outfits for the rugby game, and that Kimmi was wearing a brand-new top. She clearly wasn’t happy about the competition.

I still had my eye on the Fairmount girls when Annabel nudged me. ‘You might want to pay attention. Your boyfriend’s about to score.’

‘He’s not my …’ I began, and then squealed as Saia pounded up the pitch (or was it an oval?) with the ball under his arm. ‘Go Saia!’ I whispered excitedly.

He had one player to get past to reach the goal end. Saia ran straight at him. Then, just as the guy lunged, Saia swerved to the right. The guy missed him completely. Saia shot to the line and put the ball down right between the goalposts.

The girls beside us screamed and I watched Saia’s teammates jump on top of him. I was so proud.

‘Saia made a goal!’ I shouted.

‘It’s called a try,’ Annabel corrected me, suddenly the expert on rugby. ‘And look! Ryan’s about to kick the conversion.’

‘The what?’

‘They get a kick at goal, like a free shot, after they score a try – for extra points,’ Annabel said.

I watched as Ryan kicked the ball high and long. It sailed right between the posts and over the crossbar. Judging by the squealing that came from the Fairmount girls, it seemed like Ryan had done the right thing. The referee blew his whistle and then the siren went for the end of the game.

The Highgrove guys all jumped on top of each other, celebrating their win.

‘Let’s go and congratulate the guys,’ Annabel said, dragging us across the field.

The guys had gathered on the far side for a war cry. I was so excited, I just wanted to give Saia a big hug. But as we moved closer, they left the field and huddled under a tree. Then they sat down while a guy, who I guessed was their rabid-dog coach, started barking at them. It seemed he did that whether they won or lost.

‘Oh, man,’ Annabel complained. ‘How am I going to give Ryan a kiss with the coach there?’

We hovered for a few minutes, not far from the players, waiting for our chance to talk to the guys, but it seemed they were going to be stuck there forever. Saia was practically facing me, but his head was down.

‘Hurry up, crazy coach,’ Annabel said impatiently. ‘I’ve got a hair appointment to get to.’

‘We should go,’ I said. ‘We might get the guys into trouble, hanging around here. Or he might just turn round and shout at us.’

Kimmi nodded. ‘Yeah, we’ve still got the banner to do, too.’ She glanced at the Fairmount girls.

‘Okay,’ Annabel sighed. ‘We can congratulate the guys tonight. Ryan totes deserves a kiss for that!’ She waved to him even though he had his back to her.

Kimmi blew a kiss to Marco. He didn’t see it either, so I thought it would be safe to blow one to Saia, but just as I did it, he looked up – right at me. He smiled and gave me a wink.

Awkward! I turned away, feeling my cheeks burn. ‘Saia saw me blowing him a kiss!’

‘That’s so cute!’ Annabel squealed.

‘Guess who else was watching?’ Kimmi said, nodding to the Fairmount girls, who were looking at us and sniggering.

‘Double awkward,’ I said, grabbing Kimmi’s arm and rushing off.

Annabel caught up to us. ‘I feel sorry for those Fairmount girls,’ she said. ‘They can cheer all they want, but the cutest guys on that team are already taken.’

I lay on my stomach on Kimmi’s kitchen floor, touching up a section of sunset. Kimmi put the finishing touches on a baby orangutan that peered through the palm fronds at the other end of the ‘Slushies in Paradise’ banner.

Finally, she took a deep breath and jumped to her feet. ‘Finished!’

I put my brush in a jug of water and stood up beside her, admiring the sign. ‘It’s amazing!’ It looked like a professional artist had done it. ‘
You’re
amazing!’

‘So are you!’

‘I didn’t do anything. But thank you. Liam is going to be so impressed.’

Kimmi frowned.

‘Not that it’s all about impressing Liam,’ I added quickly. ‘But you know how grumpy he got about us going to the party.’

‘He got grumpy about
you
going to the party,’ Kimmi said. ‘With a bunch of cute Highgrove guys. Are you sure there’s nothing going on that you haven’t told me about?’

I shook my head. ‘Of course not. Liam and I are friends. He’s great. He’s passionate about the same things I am. That’s it. And besides, he’s in the grade above.’

‘So you say. But there’s no law against dating older guys, you know.’

‘We’re just friends,’ I said.

Kimmi raised her eyebrows. ‘So, if he asked you out – to the movies or something – you’d say no?’

‘Well, no. I’d say yes,’ I replied. ‘Because we’re friends.’ And then I thought about it more. Sure, I’d gone weak at the knees when I first saw him, but then I’d got to know him. He really
got
me. He understood what was going on in my head – sometimes better than my friends. I liked hanging out with him in the Wild Club, and of course I’d be happy to see more of him outside school. I liked spending time with him.

‘What about if Saia asked you to the movies?’ Kimmi asked playfully.

‘I think the answer would be yes to that one, too,’ I said, smiling. A shiver ran down my spine just thinking about Saia’s beautiful smile.

‘You’ve got goosebumps!’ Kimmi shrieked.

I laughed, trying to stroke down the hairs on my arms. ‘That happens every time I think about him. I just melt when he smiles at me.’