When I found the beach where my class was, I laughed at what they were doing-or rather, not doing. I'd never heard of a school that had beach strolling as a sport, but the Gold Coast Grammar sure as hell did. Then I realized only some students were walking the beach. The others were out on their boards, riding the waves. I had to admire them, but I didn't think I'd ever join them.
The teacher smiled when he saw me and came over. "As you can see, I'm pretty relaxed about what you can do out here. Do you surf?"
I laughed. "No. I'm definitely not a surfer."
"Right." He looked away, probably trying to keep an eye on the students. "Well, then go for a walk or something. Just be back here in an hour." He trudged back to the shoreline, where he yelled at some boys on their boards to keep out of the flagged area.
I turned to my right and saw one of the girls who'd tried to steamroll me in the classroom, so I headed the other way. When I reached the rocks, I sat down and stared out at the sea. My house wasn't that far away, and I wished I could run home, leaving behind all the psychotic people I'd met since arriving at the Coast. I'd never heard of such a huge group of people being so mean, especially when I hadn't given anyone a reason to hate me.
"Hi." The soft voice came from behind me.
I turned around to find a pretty, blond-haired, small-framed girl standing on the rock above me. "Hi."
"Mind if I join you?" she asked timidly.
Thinking of how horrible every person I'd met since moving to the Coast had been, I thought about telling her to fuck off, but something about her made me think twice. She looked broken. And I didn't mean in the sense of some batshit crazy chick that needed to be in a mental institute. The look in her eyes almost mirrored my own feelings. "Sure," I finally said.
She stepped down on the rock next to me then jumped onto the sand and sat. "I'm Lilly."
"Zara."
"Zara," she said under her breath.
I expected her to say something else, but she remained silent. Wasn't it her job to ask the new girl questions, not the other way around? I was about to ask her how long she'd been at the school when two of the girls who had set me up to be raped climbed down the rocks about twenty metres away from us. They didn't look in our direction, but I wasn't as relieved by that as I thought I should be. Something had changed inside me. I wasn't afraid of them, but I didn't know why. I looked at Lilly. Her face had gone white as... well, a lily. I bit my lip to keep from laughing at my stupid analogy. Her eyes were fixed on the girls, and I realised that was how I should've been as well. But I wasn't. And for some reason, she was.
"How long have you been at this school?" I asked.
She looked back at me, her face still pale. "Um... six months, I think."
I cocked my head toward Emily and Amy. "Who are they?"
She looked down at her bare feet digging their way into the sand. "Someone you don't want to know."
I wanted to ask her what made her so afraid of the girls, but if what I thought was the reason was indeed the reason, I didn't think it was something she would divulge to a complete stranger. I opted for another approach. "So they're the bitches, eh?"
"Something like that." Lilly tried to put on a smile, but it wouldn't have fooled anyone, especially not me. She put her hands on her knees, probably trying to stop them from shaking. "So when did you start here?"
"This is my first week. And I'm from Sydney, in case you were wondering."
She nodded then looked back down the beach at the two girls that she so clearly feared.
The teacher blew his whistle. "Okay, everyone, time to head back to school."
Lilly stood. "Time to go."
When we got up to the road, I expected a bus or something, but no, everyone had to walk back. I thought about leaving Lilly to walk with the others so I didn't have to worry about an uncomfortable silent trip back to school, but the fear in her eyes made me pause. God, what was wrong with me? When did I become such a bitch? I knew the answer to that question, but I refused to let the incident-incident?-change the person I was.
I grabbed her arm, and she flinched ever so slightly. "Want to ride with me?"
"You've got your own car?" she asked in surprise.
"Ahh, yeah." I led her away from the group. I couldn't be bothered with telling the teacher, and he clearly wouldn't notice us missing anyway. "Why are you so surprised?"
"It's just... not many people around here drive cars yet."
"Yeah, I did notice that."
When we got to my car, I stopped but Lilly continued on.
"We're here," I said.
She turned around, and the second she saw my car, her eyes practically bulged out of their sockets. "This is yours?"
"Yep. And your reaction is the reason why I didn't want to drive it to school." I used the remote to unlock the doors.
"I can't believe this is your car," she said with a gleam in her eye.
She jumped into the passenger seat. I guessed she was a car lover.
I got in. "It's my father's pity money. Actually, that's a lie. My father doesn't pity anyone. He just wants to make sure I keep up appearances."
She raised an eyebrow. "Like that, is it?"
I let out a strained laugh. "You have no idea."
As I started to reverse out of the parking space, I glanced out the passenger-side window. Someone stood about fifty metres away. My heart raced. My black-eyed boy was leaning against a motorbike, watching me. I slammed on the brakes.
"Hey," Lilly said, lurching forward against her seatbelt. She followed my gaze. "Ahh, you're one of those girls."
"You know him?"
She laughed, finally starting to loosen up. "Everyone knows Jett. Or at least, everyone knows of him, and countless girls wish they knew him."
I looked back at him. His gaze was still steady on me, just like the day at the canal. "He goes to our school, right?"
She shook her head. "Not anymore. I think he graduated last year... or maybe it was the year before."
"But I just saw him at school," I murmured.
She pulled her eyebrows together in confusion. "I don't know why he would be there. Maybe it was someone else you saw."
"Maybe. "As if I could confuse those eyes for someone else's. I didn't want to sit there gawking like a crazy bitch anymore, so I put the car into drive and pulled out onto the street. Looking in my review mirror, I saw him hop on his bike and speed away.
As we passed the class walking back, Lilly turned to me. "So how are you liking the Coast?"
I laughed, garnering a curious look from her. "Let's just say I've never met so many..."
"Horrible, mean, bitchy people?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Exactly."
"Well, just so you know, we're not all like that."
She looked as if she should be one of the popular kids with her blond hair, blue eyes, tiny frame and killer smile-when she did.
"They did something to you, didn't they?" I asked.
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Direct, aren't we?"
"Sorry," I said, turning into the school's parking lot. "Bad habit."
I thought she was going to ignore my question, but she paused after opening the car door. "A word of advice: don't ever trust those girls. And never think they're your friends."
I wasn't sure if I was able to hide the knowing look that tried to cross my face, but she didn't ask me anything about it, so I was probably safe. We got out of the car and walked toward the classroom.
"So where are you from?" I asked. "I mean, before you moved here?"
Her nerves returned the minute we were back at school. "I moved here from Melbourne. My parents split. Mum got custody, and she wanted to move as far away from my dad as she could just to piss him off."
"Only you suffer in the process?"
She nodded, and I had to wonder what it would belike to actually want to be around my father.