CHAPTER 12:
Unauthorised Beach Trip
Friday night arrived. It was the evening Chelsea dreaded, the one where she had to lie to her parents to be let out of the house the following day. Her mother and younger brother Glen were playing Monopoly on the lounge floor. She would have joined them, but just couldn’t bring herself to relax in that manner when she was feeling so nervous.
Her Dad wasn’t home that evening so it was just a matter of getting the okay from one of her parents, rather than both. She sat down in an easy chair to watch the television and when her mother and Glen finally finished their game, she plucked up the courage to speak.
‘Err, Mum…’
‘Yes darling?’
‘Um...’ she crossed her fingers, ‘Mrs Johnson asked me to help out at the St John’s Hall tomorrow.’
Mrs Johnson was the librarian at College and one of the leaders at the St John’s Hall that Chelsea attended every Wednesday night. Well, usually every Wednesday night, but of course, she hadn’t been able to get there this week because of the grounding.
‘Doing what darling?’
‘Well, they’re doing a clean up that’s going to take most of the day. They have some of the cadets coming but most of them aren’t too keen to help. I said I would last week.’
‘You are grounded you know.’ Her mother frowned.
‘Yes, but I already volunteered before I was grounded and I would just be working. I definitely wouldn’t be having fun. Not really. They really need me and I’d just be doing my duty.’
Her mother sighed. ‘I suppose it’d be all right.’
Chelsea breathed easy, but at the same time felt bad. She had made it a rule to always be truthful to her parents. They trusted her and had no reason not to trust her this time. The guilt seemed overwhelming.
Another concern was the weather. If it turned out too lousy, the beach trip would be postponed and the risk would be for nothing. If it were fine and sunny, then all that time in the sun would improve her tan significantly. That would normally be great, but not if she was supposed to be inside all day cleaning up. She would have to tell more lies to explain that.
The next day arrived soon enough and fortunately the weather was clear and it looked as though it was going to be a great day. She headed off with her swimming gear and lunch tucked away in her bag, leaving as quickly as she could, in case one of her parents changed their mind or offered to give her a lift to the hall. A ten-minute walk took her to a house belonging to one of the girls. Jacqui was already there and didn’t take much notice of her. She was busy yakking with the others.
A van was their transport and as they travelled along the main road, the girls chattered excitedly. The sun shone through the glass and they had their windows wound down as the van cruised along the open road. The subject was boys and how So-and-So was going to be there and how What’s-his-name was coming. It was beginning to sound to Chelsea like the boys were going to out number them ten to one.
Holly was the only one who remained quiet. ‘You okay, Hol?’ Chelsea asked.
‘Yeah, sweet.’ But there was little emotion in her voice.
‘What’s up?’
‘Oh…nothing… just thinking about a guy is all.’
Jacqui jerked her head around. ‘A guy? Who?’ All the girls in the van shut their mouths and fixed their sights on Holly. ‘Come on, spit it out. Please, don’t tell me it’s…’
‘Rick Maverick.’
‘Oh God, I knew it. The strange one.’
Holly frowned. ‘He’s not strange.’
‘Could have fooled me. Don’t tell me you fancy that guy?’
Holly shuffled around in her seat a little, but didn’t reply.
‘I don’t believe it, you do!’ Jacqui smiled with a snort. ‘Since when did you fancy him? You never told us you liked him.’
‘Well, you know, I’ve always liked him, but now I, you know, really really like him.’
Jacqui rolled her eyes. ‘You’re mad.’
‘Why?’ Laura Stott asked. ‘He’s all right. He saved her from that Tucker asshole didn’t he?’
‘Yeah, but still, I just didn’t pick him as your type, Holly.’
‘Neither did I,’
‘Maverick vs Robinson?’ Jacqui mused. ‘That just sounds warped.’
‘So what’s the matter, Holly?’ Chelsea asked.
Holly peered downward. ‘Well, you know, I don’t think he feels the same about me.’
‘He’s mad then,’ Jacqui commented. ‘He must be gay or something.’
‘No, he’s not.’
‘Then what’s his problem?’
Holly shrugged.
Chelsea wiped hair from her eyes as the wind blew through the car window. ‘He is coming today, isn’t he?’
Holly gazed hopefully out the window. ‘Well, he said he would.’
‘So he’ll be here,’ said Mandy Evans. ‘He wouldn’t have said he’d come if he didn’t like you, would he?’
Holly didn’t reply.
After a few minutes drive they arrived at the beach. The sea crashed down on the beach and the occasional gull screeched. It had a very rocky coastline and the surf was very rough. Chelsea could easily spend hours there, walking along the rocks and looking for sea anemones, small fish and crabs.
A cool breeze wafted along the shore. There were other people on the beach, mainly young people like Chelsea and her companions, some exploring the rocks, others sunbathing or swimming.
Some of the guys were already there - Ginge, as well as Wayne Radovich and Alan Wood. And yes! Sheep was there.
They chose a spot near the water and set out their gear. Everyone stripped down to their swimsuits. Jacqui got Ginge to rub sun tan lotion on her back and Sheep appeared to be there as backup if needed. Chelsea sighed. She had hoped that Sheep might come, sit and talk to her. Maybe she really had blown it with him and she was destined to sit this one out and be depressed.
She laid her towel next to Holly who seemed more concerned with scanning the beach than making herself comfortable. Chelsea glanced over to Sheep and their eyes met. Her first instinct was to look away, but she didn’t and her heart leapt when Sheep smiled, got up, walked over and sat down beside her. ‘Hi, Chels. Good to see you here. Man, you are looking hot!’
Chelsea blushed, and gazed down at her one-piece swimsuit. Did he really mean that or was he just trying to flatter her. ‘It’s err… it’s good to be here. I’m glad you’re still speaking to me.’
‘Yah, geeze, sorry, I know I haven’t said much to you over the last few days. I guess I was still a little miffed about what happened on Monday, but don’t worry about it. I thought about what you said at school and it’s ok. I wouldn’t want to be the jerk that was trying to push you to do something you weren’t happy with.’
‘I don’t blame you for being a little miffed. I’d probably feel a bit the same way.’
‘It’s just that, well…’ He twisted the corner of his mouth. ‘If I’m gonna go around with a chick, I kind of expect that we’re gonna be able to do stuff like that, you know?’
Chelsea gazed at him for a few seconds. She really wished that it was that easy for her, but there was a lot of conflict in her head. A huge part of her believed that it should be possible to go see a guy without it having to get physical in the manner that Sheep wanted. The other part of her still wanted him, despite his cigarette smoking and the way he treated people who weren’t part of his crowd. ‘Rog, it’s not that I don’t want to do all that stuff. It’s just that I don’t want to just do it for the sake of it, you know what I mean? I want it to be special.’
‘Hey, I can make it special.’
‘I guess I just like things to move a little more slowly, you know? Just a little bit more slowly.’
Sheep curled up the side of his mouth again.
‘Does it have to be fast?’ she asked. ‘Like the first time we ever spend any time alone?’
Sheep shrugged. ‘I guess not.??
?
Just then one of the other girls called out to him. ‘Hey, Sheep! We’re going in the water. Coming?’
‘Yeah, ok!’ Without another word or even glance at Chelsea, Sheep climbed to his feet and scurried off down the beach after them. She watched sadly. She would have gone herself if he’d encouraged her to. Besides, Jacqui and Holly were still there sunbathing. If she wanted to be accepted by Jacqui, she figured it best to remain there with them and only enter the water when they did.
Jacqui had a large two-litre bottle of what looked like orange juice and poured some into some plastic cups. ‘I have been so looking forward to drinking some of this.’
‘What is it?’ Holly asked.
‘Try it.’ She handed Holly a cup.
Holly raised it cautiously to her face and took a sip. She pulled a face. ‘Jacqui! Have you been raiding your father’s bar again?’
‘Yep.’ Jacqui grinned. ‘It’s Screwdriver. I mixed it myself. A little bit extra vodka though.’
‘Jacqs, if we get caught with this, we’ll be in big trouble.’
‘Oh shut up and enjoy it.’
‘What about, Chelsea?’
‘Oh, she won’t drink this. She’s too much of a square, remember? She’d just be wanting chocolate milk or something like that. She’s even too scared to make out with Rog Shepherd.’ She drank some from her own cup.
Chelsea couldn’t handle the thought of being left out, even though she dreaded the thought of drinking something alcoholic. ‘I’ll have one.’
Jacqui nearly spat out the drink from her mouth. ‘Oh right! Sure you will. Miss Goodie Two-Shoes Brown would never drink anything that didn’t have some kind of cartoon animal on the label.’
‘I will!’ Chelsea frowned.
‘Alright then. But you better not puke it up. I don’t want to see a drop wasted.’
She handed Chelsea over a cup. Once Chelsea had it in her hand though, she became afraid and nearly chickened out. She probably would have if it wasn’t for both Holly and Jacqui watching her.
‘Come on,’ Jacqui said. ‘Or are you just gonna be a geek?’
Chelsea finally took a mouth full. She had to do her best not to gag as the taste of the vodka was extremely bitter. The entire drink reminded her of some disgusting tasting medicine. She refused to let her repulsion be known to the other girls though and smiled. ‘Wow. That’s nice.’
Jacqui smiled. ‘Well, I don’t believe it. Maybe you’re not the total dweeb we thought you were?’
Chelsea pretended to drink some more and let out a fake sigh of satisfaction. This seemed to please Jacqui and she turned her attention to one of her friends on the other side of her. Holly turned her eyes back to the beach.
Quickly, Chelsea took what was left of her cup of drink and poured it out onto the sand. She covered the wet patch over with dry sand and went back to sunbathing.
CHAPTER 13:
Unexpected Hero