Free Ocean Pearl by J.C. Burke Page B

the car pull up,' she answered. 'Shh.'
    One car door slammed followed by a second one.
    'So what do we do now?' I asked.
    'Nothing,' Kia said, climbing back onto her bed. 'The
big zero.'
    'Nothing?' I repeated.
    'That's right,' Georgie said, draping her arm around
me and squeezing my shoulder a bit too hard.
'Absolutely nothing, Miss Micki.'
    My head nestled into Georgie's shoulder. At that
moment I couldn't have cared if Kelly Slater had just
arrived at surf camp. I was busy soaking up the words
'Miss Micki'.

GEORGIE
    It wasn't even twenty-four hours and I missed Ace badly.
For all the obvious reasons but also 'cause it meant
pairing up with Megan in the first gym session. Megan
was here for me to compete against, not become gym
buddies with.
    As the session progressed, the awful realisation
drilled a hole through my brain. This arrangement of
me and Megan was going to be permanent. At least for
the next two weeks I had to focus on psyching her out
at every opportunity I had.
    But it was hard when Megan and I were linked
together at the feet like Siamese twins, doing sit-ups
and passing a medicine ball to each other. Especially
when Megan was chucking it at me like it was a ball
made of sponge rather than the slab of lead it felt like.
Thankfully I was managing to catch it 'cause if I
dropped it I'd crush my chest and then I wouldn't get
to have my revenge in the surf.
    For once, Ace hadn't exaggerated and I wished she
had. Megan was big . Really big. Like buff big. Her
shoulders had suddenly got so broad she looked like a
bloke from behind.
    The only positive thing I could squeeze out of it was
that she made me look good – light, slim, almost girly!
    'Hey, Megan.' Finally Jake heard my grunts. 'Easy
with the medicine ball.'
    'She's trying to kill me,' I puffed. 'How come we're
using a ten-kilo one for sit-ups? I thought that was for
the blokes?'
    'That's not a ten-kilo ball, is it?' Jake asked, taking it
out of Megan's hands. 'No, you shouldn't be using that
one. It's too heavy for this exercise.'
    'I told you,' I spat at Megan as my back collapsed
onto the floor.
    'Are you out of condition, Georgie?' She smirked as
I rolled around like a potato, holding my stomach and
groaning.
    'I wasn't five minutes ago.'
    Kia and Micki were taking turns boxing with Shyan.
Kia was packing the punches. Left, right. Right, right,
left.
    'C'mon Georgie,' Megan hassled, shoving another
piece of chewing gum into her ugly mouth. She was
looking down at my sprawled-out body. 'Let's have a
box. Up you get, slow coach.'
    'Piss off,' I sneered through my teeth.
    Just two more hours to bear then there was lunch
and a free afternoon. Not that it was really a free afternoon
for me. I had to meet Jules at two pm to hand
over the photo album Ace had put together for him.
    'Are we bringing a glass cabinet for it too?' I'd joked
to Ace, as she wouldn't let anyone other than Micki
carry it in their bag. 'Just say the album accidentally
touches Micki's underpants? I mean, it's a risk just
letting it roll around uncovered in Micki's bag.
Oooooh, it might get a germ!'
    'Ha ha,' Ace replied. 'Anyway, I trust Micki's undies
more than I'd trust yours.'
    Ace's arms were wrapped around the book of
photos. She was clutching it to her chest like it was a
baby she didn't want to let go of.
    'Where's Micki's bag?'
    'She just took it downstairs,' I answered. It was
only Ace and me left in Kia's room. 'C'mon, just put it
in my bag.'
    'No. No, I want Micki to pack it in her bag. Her bag's
so clean and tidy.' Ace's voice was shaking and a quietness
was slowly starting to strangle it. She still held the
album tight against her ribs. 'Your bag's too jam-packed.
It'll get squashed in there.'
    Something told me joke time was over. 'Ace, I
promise I'll get it to Jules in one piece.'
    'I was looking at the photos while you were in the
shower,' Ace began. I took a step closer to catch what
she was saying. 'Sometimes I look at that girl and I
don't even know who she